FIVE WAYS to create a simple Easter tablescape

Easter is one of my favourite times of the year. I enjoy the simple crafting with my son, dying eggs, choosing an easter branch, making a garland as well as the food, hot cross buns and chocolate!

There aren't the same pressure as Christmas or such a focus on gifts, but more a sense of spending time with our families, enjoying the milder weather, the flowers in bloom, lambs in the fields.  

This year will be different. We won't be with our families and the bank holiday doesn't seem to mean all that much. That combined with it being tricky to get hold of things you may usually buy at this time of year like bunches of flowers or Easter chocolates, it would be easy to dismiss and pass it off as just another weekend.  

But, wouldn't it be better if we could enjoy the process, simplify things and use what we have to celebrate this annual tradition? 

I decided to write a list of things you can do using what you have around the house or can collect on your daily exercise to lay a beautiful Easter tablescape this Sunday. 

1. Use a tablecloth

   If you don't have a tablecloth, a bed sheet would work, or get creative and set your children (or you!) up with a potato stamp and some wrapping paper to make a table runner.

2. Forage for flowers

   Go out in the garden or take some scissors out on your daily walk. A tulip or a daffodil, a blossoming blackthorn branch, even a sprig of rosemary or lavender in a little pot will brighten up your table.

3. Light the candles

   Add some height with tall tapered candles, or stick tealights in eggshells for a quick Eastery feel.

4. Use napkins

   You could make your own using an old pillowcase, or scraps of fabric. You could have a go at hand-dyeing them with natural dyes or add a little embroidery to the corner. Here's a simple tutorial on how to sew your own with mitered corners, but even just hand sewing using a blanket stitch in a contrasting thread around the edges of a scrap of fabric would be just as lovely.

5. Add a little something extra

   Write place cards or use some ribbon to tie around the cutlery for a little extra touch. You could use an eggshell to plant a pansie, or paint a pebble for each person in your family.