PLAYING EASTER 2022
A rainbow deconstructed - colors burst to deliver hope, wrapped in a sense of mystery with it's elusive beauty. This blog is dedicated to my nephew, Karl, who was Merrymaking and Co’s biggest fan, and my niece, Maya, who both celebrate their first Easter in heaven.
Welcome to our Singapore Sunrise Easter Breakfast. A brand-new city with fresh smells and vibrant energy. Well-known for its many instagramable spots, this city has colourful buildings and alleys to inspire second-to-none.
We can finally celebrate surrounded by friends and family with Singapore relaxing its pandemic curbs, and celebrating we are! Our little boys have added their touch to every corner of our table - they are brimming with pride and they are delighted to see their artwork incorporated into our glamorous table.
“The bursts of colour remind us of hope and joy, but their unorganized nature reflect how our lives, as we knew them, have been shaken up, forging room for new ways of planning and dreaming.”
Our theme has been rainbow-inspired, but in a deconstructed form. Rainbows speak directly to the heart and soul, fill us with awe and exude an air of mystery. A rainbow has a sense of magic and makes people pause to admire its elusive beauty. Rainbows bring the promise that the troubles of today will surely come to pass; remind us of fresh beginnings and new prosperity. The bursts of colour remind us of hope and joy, but their unorganized nature reflect how our lives, as we knew them, have been shaken up, forging room for new ways of planning and dreaming.
If you look closely, you will see that we used our 2020 Easter placemats again. They are still lovely and complement our look perfectly.
Judging by last year’s Easter here in Singapore, we will have to keep our umbrellas close. We shall deem anything fewer than four thunderstorms on Easter-Sunday good weather and sincerely hope for more rainbows than rain 😊.
Here is a quick guide to how the table setting was crafted, implementing the hands of our small kids to perfect it. Be inspired.
Table Runner
Our colourful runner sets the stage for this year’s Easter table décor.
Sewn into a runner from a left-over piece of material, thereafter the kids and I painted it – with Chalk paint of course! A golden handprint from each family member completes the masterpiece, treasuring who we are and what we have.
Lamb
Throughout the world the most popular Easter symbol is the lamb. Since we are going back to the roots of Easter this year, the lamb takes CenterStage.
This little cutie is easy to make, but vaunts a vast impression.
You will need:
· One egg shell, contents removed by piercing a hole with a sharp knife on the long side
and shaken out
· Paint for the face (I used golden Chalk Paint) and paintbrush
· Three balls of cotton wool, opened
· Five white pompoms from a craft store
· Fine-tip marker
· Two small pieces of pink paper, cut into ear shapes
· All-purpose glue
Paint the sharp side of the egg for the face.
When dry, apply glue around the rest of the egg and stick the cotton wool over the body.
Draw a face with the fine-tip marker and glue the ears into place.
Add the pompoms to form the feet and tail. Don’t forget to fill the egg with candy before settling the lamb into its new home!
Paschal Candle
This year we have started a new tradition in making a Paschal candle. Our candle turned out quite extravagant, but it boasts all colours of the rainbow and delivers a message of hope – the centerpiece of our table.
The Paschal candle has an alpha above the cross and an omega below (the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet) indicate that Christ is the beginning and end of all. The current year is written on the four sides of the cross. It is lit on Easter morning, and is lit thereafter every day or every Sunday until Pentecost. During the year it is lit at all baptisms and funeral services - a beautiful reminder of the true meaning of Easter.
I have discovered a very handy trick to produce a print on a candle in no time.
You will need:
· Candle
· Artwork on thin paper
· Wax paper
· Hairdryer
Place your artwork on the candle and cover with the wax paper.
Secure it, then carefully work over it with the hairdryer (careful, hot!) until the outer layer has just melted.
Remove the wax paper and voila! That really is IT!!
Easter-Egg Hunt Bucket
Our kids have never had the best buckets for the oh-so-exciting Easter-egg hunt, and I am allergic to buying more plastic - so we decided to upcycle their Halloween buckets. I love the explosion of colour that they created, and their different personalities are most definitely reflected in what they did!
Chalk paint really can be used for almost anything, which made it the perfect choice of paint to splurge onto cheap plastic.
Eggshell Candles
Our kids have been fascinated with candle-making since we melted all our left-over Christmas candles into bigger and better candles 😊 I now constantly need to rescue candles from the pot before eager hands transform them.
The arrangement looks happy, cost next to nothing and has the kids’ stamp of approval.
I had previously bought a candle-making kit, which is probably the easiest way to get started with candle-making.
After the eggs have been emptied and rinsed, carefully break open the shell about half-way. Paint the outside (I used chalk paint) and place in an egg carton when dry.
For the wax, I ended up buying cheap pillar candles from a small local supermarket around the corner named "Grindelwald" (not much resemblance to the real Grindelwald here in Singapore!).
After breaking the candles into pieces, I melted the chunks on the stove and poured the liquid wax into the egg shells.
Make sure that the wick remains in the center of the candle while it cools and hardens.
For the arrangement, I kept the candles in the egg carton, but piled some moss under them and mixed them with other eggs filled with flowers.
Church
No need to ask our boys twice when it comes to swinging a saw or striking a nail! We created this very simple wooden church out of wood scraps and everyone lent a hand.
I painted the three different panels a base colour, after which our kids were given free reign with one part each, using water-based ink markers. Each panel tells a story, but they might need to tell it themselves :).