Looking back on Easter...

Well, the Easter Egg Hunt is now behind us and we're all trying to recover from the sugar overload.  The weather in Durban was just gorgeous for Easter, we couldn't have wished for better!  A very light breeze with a humidity free, gloriously sunny day at around 29 degrees!

Looking for inspiration again, I looked to the gorgeous flowers I bought at the Pick n Pay Flower Market (Yes people! A fraction of the cost of the other florist I visited and the most stunning assortment of blooms!)

The Protea which is so much in fashion at the moment. The texture and contrast of these blooms are breathtaking.

Still one of my favourite blooms, the Tulip. Look at the amazing blend of colours inside the bloom!

As we had a small group of friends over for lunch, I decided to make little Easter Egg 'baskets' which we hid in the garden, together with the usual ton of marshmellow Easter Eggs, so that the kids could have a second hunt with their friends.  Based on the colours of these blooms I decided to combine lime green and magenta and then as a 'pick-me-up' colour,  burnt orange.  I roped my daughter into helping me as I grabbed my ever-faithful Pinking Sheers and an assortment of tissue papers in those gorgeous colours and we set ourselves to the task.  We both had so much fun!

The children just LOVED these as they had the added benefit of being little gifts so they couldn't wait to tear open the layers of brightly coloured tissue paper.  My 10 year old daughter made the little name tags for each child and I think she did a fantastic job.  She was so excited she couldn't wait for the hunt.

These gorgeous colours inspired me further when I stumbled across some in-expensive rolls of book cover wrap!  What a treasure! A roll containing 10 sheets of brightly coloured, matt paper at a fraction of the cost of a roll of gift wrap!  I am always scouting about looking for alternatives to gift wrap and I thought this was a fantastic find.  I grabbed one of the new pottery hearts that I bought at the I Heart Market ... I've been dying to use one ... and some glossy double-sided satin ribbon.  Easter is all about celebrating rebirth.  I think that these bold, fresh colours all reflect the theme of rebirth and hint at Spring...despite our stunning Autumn.

So whilst I still have a few days of leave left, I'm going to get busy with designing my first range of co-ordinated gift wrap sets in preparation of the I Heart Market in June.  I'm just going to start off with a few and see how they are received. Hopefully they will become popular by taking the guess work out of your gift wrapping.

So until next time...