Have A Magnificent Easter Weekend!

Lovelies, I'm signing out this week a day earlier to start on the Easter celebrations. First stop, picking up friends from the airport tonight. Balazs already started preparing the ham as we are hosting a brunch on Saturday but on Sunday we all are off for a huge lamb feast to our favourite restaurant. Besides that I'm planning to eat my weight in Cadbury eggs that arrived this morning from England (thanks, mom) and enjoy filling up our flat with overall chaos.

My sweet darlings, how about you? What are your plans for this long weekend? Wish you a beautiful one filled with egg hunts, full bellies and tons of kisses. I see you Wednesday morning. Miss you already and here are a few fun links for you to check out between the celebrations. Enjoy!

Same here:)

Fourteen stunning French sunsets.

Perfect Easter cupcakes!

Are you as busy as you think? (Great read).

How to turn any cheese into dessert.

A Family - friendly workplace. (the European parliament).

This house is amazing.

Did you hear? The sock bun is taking over!

A tumblr all about celebrity close-ups. (uh-oh, I can't stop looking at it).

Snazzy.

Such a fun kitchen wall.

Hot cross buns remind me of my mom:)

Micro house for only $200!

Ever wondered what does it take to come out with a really great idea? Here it is:)

Seeing NYC by bike.

DIY: snazzy elbow patches.

Sweet.

I want to go hiking here.

Photobooth fun!

Eight pretty spring lipstick shades. (This one is my favourite).

Bag-licious.

And how about these two exPress-o posts all about Easter that you might have missed?
* Grass eggs.
* Homemade Cadbury eggs:)

(Photo via Amanda Jane Jones)

The Braided Bun

Oh boy, don't you just love this bang-licious hairdo? It oozes simplicity in the most adoring way and it would look great with a pair of red pants, slouchy blouse and ballerina flats this Sunday for an Easter brunch. I really want to try it but I need to have my fringe trimmed first - le sigh. I'm on it! Loves would you give it a go? xo

P.S: Full tutorial here.
P.P.S: More sassy bangs and some cute braids on loose:)

(via Angela + Ithyle)

Happy Easter!

Beside peeps and bunny rabbits, I always associate Easter with flowers, pastel colors, and family gatherings.  Hope you enjoy this photographic ode to the holiday and spring! Happy Easter and belated Passover!

House Beautiful

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Carlos Mota

House Beautiful

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Martha Stewart

Dolce & Gabanna Residence

Raymond Meier for Vogue

House Beautiful

Tory Burch for House Beautiful

House Beautiful

Unknown

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Elle Decor

Unknown

Elle Decor

Elle Decor

Elle Decor

Anna Spira of Absolutely Beautiful Things

Domino

Elle Decor

Martha Stewart

Domino

Yves Saint Laurent

Elle Decor

Patrick Demarchelier

Happy Easter!

Have a great Easter weekend!

Easter Decor Inspiration

Once I put together my Easter Tree, the whole apartment started to feel more like Spring. It may still be chilly outside, but inside we're celebrating the ever closer arrival of warmer weather. I've been making a few more little tweaks here and there, but I need some more inspiration, so I turned to the wonderful world of the web. Its amazing the ideas and inspiration that you can get from the creative people out there!

My all-time favorite inspiration is Martha Stewart and her amazing creative team. Just looking at this image of a bunny-inspired Easter Party makes me remember being a kid and going to the fun parties that my mother and her friends would put together. There would be games, colourful decorations and delicious pastel confections. I think that is where my chocolate Mini Eggs addiction started.

There is something about the whimsical drawings of this Tablecloth and napkin set (Pottery Barn Easter Bunny Floral Garden Napkin $39.50) that evokes all the colours and growth of Spring. If I didn't have a knack for spilling blueberry jam on nice white linens, I'd splurge for a set of these adorable napkins.

These fun Crepe Carrots take a little work to make them, but it seems worth it when you see them all nestled in a basket together. These would also be cute as place cards at an Easter Brunch, or as the topper on a sweet Easter present (perhaps a box of Carrot Cupcakes?)

Brightly coloured eggs are symbolic of Spring's arrival and these Speckle Swirl Glass Eggs (Crate & Barrel, $19.95 for set of 12) are a beautiful addition to Easter decor with their soft speckled design in soft pastel colours. I saw these in person the other day and they were just as pretty as the look here!

Those eggs would look great nestled in a potted hyacinth like these eggs above.

With so much new life growing outside right now, it wonderful to bring the outdoors inside. Martha Stewart showed this great (and simple) way to add some colour to your table. Place a painted egg shell inside an eggcup and fill with beautiful flowers from outdoors. I especially love the use of the crisp white Lily of the Valley with the vivid violets of the pansies.

How do you like to decorate to celebrate the arrival of Spring?

How to make an Easter Tree

Things are finally starting to feel a little like Spring around here, which means that its time to get some Easter decorations out! This year I decided to make a little Easter Tree to put on the bookshelf in the living room. It seemed like just the ticket for brightening the place up for the new season!

I tried to use some things that I already had like the terracotta pot, paint and filler, and in the end the whole project only cost me $7, including the bunnies! Not bad considering how expensive a tree like this would be from a decor store.

To start off, I applied shellac to the interior and exterior of the pot. Using a foam brush, I made a thin layer, allowed it to dry and then applied another thin layer. Just to be sure that it was no longer sticky, I let it completely dry overnight.

The next morning, I used a small foam roller to apply pale yellow acrylic paint. To prevent any uneven areas, I did several thin layers, allowing drying time between each coating. Once it was completely dry, I cut a piece of craft oasis (foam) to fit the inside.

These sticks made the tree so much easier to made. Originally I was going to attach my own plastic eggs to branches I found outside, but when I noticed these at the dollar store (Dollarama, for all you fellow Canadians) I realized that my work was done for me. At $1 a branch, I picked one in every colour - pink, yellow, purple, green and blue.

I love the sweet little buds and the speckled details in the eggs. I still can't believe that these were only a dollar!

Before putting the branches in, I made sure that the oasis block was firmly in place.

I cut the branches to the desired height, then wrapped them together with some brown florists tape. I didn't want them to wobble in the oasis, so I wrapped some blue poster putty around the base to secure everything.

To hide the oasis and the putty, I used some packing grass that I had from a package that was delivered. Its nice to find a way to reuse something like that!

These sweet little bunnies were also a dollar store find. Originally I was going to paint them over with matte paint, but in the end I loved the little hand painted details, like the nose, ears and eyes.

Its amazing how a little bit of colour in your apartment can do wonders for your mood!

Next time I made something like this, I might take the time to grow some real cat grass to have along the edges, but that takes about two weeks of forethought, and I'm lucky if I have two hours.

To keep with the theme, I also rearranged the books on the shelf to try and match the Spring colours. I usually keep them organize in a rainbow pattern (or even red and pink for Valentine's Day), but this decor just seemed to call for pastels.

I've made a few other little Spring tweaks to the apartment lately and I'll be sure to post them this week.

Have you been doing any Spring decorating?

How excited are you for warmer weather to be on the way?