Easter Fireplace Mantel

I decorate our dining room fireplace mantel for every special meal!  It just becomes an extension of the table decor.  I've done this for years and folks seem to enjoy looking, so I'll keep doing it.  Memorial Day is the last decorating until autumn pumpkins, because we don't use the dining room much in the summer!  We eat outside!  You'll see that post in upcoming weeks, but for now ... here is a little more Easter!

I've mentioned my favorite collectible shop in many posts.  Our friends in Union County, Illinois worked diligently to raise money to restore an old store in the little town of Cobden.  They are members of the Union County Historical and Genealogy Society, and one side of the store is an incredible museum ... and the other side is the collectible shop that supports all their efforts.  Most recently, they purchased another building and are using it to store all their genealogy archives, have special collection exhibits and have classes and lectures.  This little collectible shop is doing a fantastic job for them.  We donate to the shop, but we buy plenty and our shiny mantel eggs and garland came from that little shop!

I embellished the garland with strands of sheer ribbon in a variety of colors!  I love the way it looks!  A little bit shabby, but the ribbon makes it fancy enough to blend well with the shiny eggs!

I'm sharing this post with a couple parties, so make sure you visit my list on my sidebar so you can hop to the parties!

Halo Bunny Easter!

My Halo Bunny Easter tablescape was built around this painting that I found at Kirklands.  As I shopped that day, I found something at Pier 1 that was perfect and a couple weeks later, I found bunnies at Tuesday Morning.  The remaining elements came from my closets and cabinets!

I was so surprised to find these straw bunnies in coral, yellow and sage green ... and of course I had a bag of plastic Easter eggs that matched those colors.

My place setting is a mixture of many things ... Pioneer Woman dinner plates atop Walmart place mats; Fostoria stemmed glasses from the 1980s; Cambridge flatware in perfect colors;  Pier 1 salad plates with the cutest bunny and squirrel!

This tablescape is all about SPRING with bright colors and flowers.  I'll share with a couple blog parties, so make sure you click through to see other party-goers!  Happy Spring!

The Warmest Italian Chicken

I live in Southern Illinois and in the spring and fall, we can have a 75 degree day ... then a 40 degree day!  Today, it is cold when it should be warm, so it is a perfect day for a "one-potter".  My husband was the king of one-potters!  That was his favorite way to prepare comfort food and probably his favorite to eat!  He loved this.

There are two things that make this recipe better than any other time I've prepared it.  I used bread crumbs made with a couple stale Hawaiian (sweet) slider buns, and I used imported cherry tomatoes.

The recipe for Italian Chicken with Peas, Potatoes and Tomatoes is easy.  You begin with simple ingredients including 4 thin chicken breast portions; 1 can of stewed, diced or whole tomatoes; a few tiny yellow potatoes; and a handful of frozen green peas.  I used dried Italian spices, fresh dill, and fresh thyme.

You simply begin by mixing and egg and some water, dipping the chicken in it, then dredging the chicken in bread crumbs mixed with a couple tablespoons of flour and a teaspoon of dried Italian herbs.  Gently fry them in olive oil.  Remove them from the skillet and add the tomatoes with their liquid, another can full of water, the potatoes, a big sprig of dill and a couple sprigs of thyme.  Bring that to a simmer, put the lid on and cook until the potatoes are done.  Then you add the chicken back to the skillet, add the frozen peas, put the lid back on and simmer another ten minutes.  After turning off the burner, the final step is to put a piece of provolone cheese on each breast, replace the lid and let the heat melt the cheese.

It is delicious.  I'll share with a couple blog parties so make sure you click through to see other posts.

The Easter Tree!

I have a piece of furniture ... a work bench ... that my husband built for himself several years ago. I was actually amazed when it was finished because it has a highly polished finish on it and actually matches much of the rustic furnishing we have in our house.  I say 'we', but Joe has been gone for almost 8 years.  What to do with his work bench?  That remained a question for a couple of years, but I eventually decided it deserved a special place in our home and should not be hidden away in the 'craft room'.  I moved it around a bit, but finally found the perfect spot.  It sits in the kitchen and it is no longer a work bench.  It is much more fun to decorate it for holidays than to work at it!  I consider all those vignettes as tributes to a man who enjoyed family and holidays.

Joe thought I was crazy the first year I kept a little Christmas tree up after Christmas and said I planned to decorate it for each holiday.  Later in the year, he became genuinely interested in how I would change it and even suggested things like "lilacs for spring ... sunflowers for summer".  I have a small tree on his work bench that I change with the seasons.

Here's the 2019 Easter tree!

 I know ... you can't really see the Christmas tree!  That is the whole idea.

The little plastic baskets remind me of things from my childhood, but they are not that old!  The butterfly was a gift from a friend when I hit 20 years cancer-free!  Bird nests filled with eggs, silk flowers and a few other things are added to galvanized string lights and some ornaments that remain since Christmas!

The little ceramic bunnies sit at the base of the tree ... with a few inspirational quotes!  I'm into words!

A vintage basket joins a new rabbit picture and ceramic birds ... sitting atop a wooden fruit basket.

Lastly, I added some of the new Pioneer Woman jade dinnerware to the vignette.  I bought this because it looks almost exactly like my collection of Fire King Jadite!  I'll show you how much ... in a post later on!  Hope you are ready for Easter ... or hope you are getting ready!  I'll share this post with a couple parties, so check my sidebar and click through.

Buffalo Checks for Easter!

When I saw the buffalo check Easter decor in the Pier 1 2019 Spring catalog, I knew I had to set that table!  Did you know that Pier 1 Imports was founded with its first store in 1962 in San Mateo, California?  The first time this Midwest rural chick had a chance to visit a Pier 1 was 15 years later in San Francisco!  I fell in love!

Back to my Easter checks!

The first adorable item I saw was the napkin!  I thought I could build an entire tablescape with just the napkins!  I could have, but I was later really enticed by the table runner ... especially because it was on sale!

 Then, I found this cute basket at another store and the checked carrots on Ebay!  I sure was sucked in!

Here's the  complete table ... and no, this isn't really our Easter table!  That is yet to come, but I decided I'd set a series of Easter themed tables for posts and to photograph to include in a family cookbook I'm finishing!

If you follow me, you know that I don't get rid of things I really love.  I can almost always set a table with treasures in my house or in my storage!  The centerpiece, however, contains lots of new things!  Little stone-looking rabbits adorned with black checked bows, the carrots ... the small galvanized milk can and the cute brown eggs!  All very natural looking. The only re-purposed treasures are the wooden box at the bottom of the stack and the tray that holds all of it!

This centerpiece could keep a group of ladies for lunch ... talking for hours!  A black and white theme for Easter is very unique!

As you look at the place setting, you will see all kinds of things that have been seen before!

The rabbit salad plate is Pier 1.  The black and white china is Staffordshire, and the flatware is Cambridge.  The charger is galvanized tin and the place mat is burlap with a little sparkle!  The stemmed glass is Fostoria.  I love the mixture of formal and country!

I'll share this post with a couple blog parties!  Click through the list on my right sidebar and have fun!