Easter buffet centerpiece

I know! It’s only been 10 days since my self-induced “break” – but it’s the day before Easter and I can’t help myself!

Just in case you haven’t already figured out your Easter meal decor, and since there is still time to get to Costco or the grocery store… I felt like I should at least share this cheap and easy floral display today.

I was at Costco yesterday to buy Easter supper stuff. I knew I wanted to get the carrot soup taken care of, well ahead of time, and I didn’t have the patience or the time to go to the grocery store to buy the carrots.  Instead, I bought a huge 10-pound bag of carrots at Costco!

Laziness wins out over practicability!

I knew that having an extra 6 pounds of carrots in my house wasn’t a problem because if I peel, trim and cut them, Dave will have those polished off in a matter of days. He LOVES carrots!

I also picked up three bunches of tulips and one huge bundle of white stock.  I knew what the plan for the tulips was but hadn’t given much thought to the stock until this morning while I was peeling the 4 pounds of carrots for the soup…

That is when it dawned on me to use all those extra carrots in a buffet centerpiece, along with the beautiful white stock.

Here’s How:

Find a large and tall clear glass container.

Then, find another glass, ceramic, or plastic container that is smaller in circumference.

Place the smaller container in the large container, it needs to be small enough to stand the carrots up between the two containers and form a ring of carrots that will cover and hide the smaller container. Plus it needs to be wide enough to hold all the flowers.

Place fresh cold water in the smaller container, filling about 1/3 to 1/2 full.

I wasn’t sure if I wanted to peel the carrots or use them ala natural. I decided that peeled looked fresher.

My large vase was too deep for the length of my carrots. I took out the smaller vase and added a thick layer of sphagnum moss to even it all out. I like the look so much, that I suggest adding it even if you don’t need it for height.

Peel enough carrots to ring the inside of the larger vase.

Insert the carrots alternately, tip side down and tip side up. If some of the carrots come above the top rim of the vase as they are above …

… use the vegetable peeler to even them out while taking care to keep the natural shape of the carrot tips.

Place a flower frog in the center of the smaller vase to hold some of the flowers straight up.

Now, line up your flower bunch with the vase and determine the length of stem you want. Don’t cut the entire bunch at once.

Cut two or three flowers and push them into the flog to be sure you like the look, then continue cutting and pushing half of the flowers into the frog.

Cut the remaining half of the flowers a bit shorter, and place those around the center upright flowers, avoiding the frog, so that they lean out and over a bit. The leaves on these shorter flowers will hide all those bare stems and make the arrangement more full and lush.

There you have it. I’m going back into hiding, so have yourself a Happy Easter! xoxo