Growing up, my favorite part of Easter was Pysanka eggs. From my birth until a few years ago, my grandmother painstakingly made all of her grandchildren a new design each year, and I loved (and still love) to look at the eggs each year when we take them out of their crates. They’re so delicate that it’s impossible to ship them and challenging to travel with them, so my whole collection is at home in Connecticut right now and unable to be shared with you all. Some day! Until then, I’m inspired by these five marvelous and modern techniques…

From top to bottom: watercolor Easter eggs by Spoon Fork Bacon; gilded Easter eggs via HGTV; neon dip-dyed Easter eggs by Merriment Events via Oh Joy (photo by Katie Stoops); golden marbled Easter eggs by SheKnows; speckled Easter eggs by Sandy Toes and Popsicles

Which one is your favorite?

I did it! We braved the corn maze last Friday, and picked up a few small pumpkins at the same time. I started the transformation by applying a base coat with some spraypaint I already had in the house. It wasn’t the perfect color (a silvery gold, not the rich metallic I was going for), but it worked to tone down the orange!

I let them dry overnight, then painted on a rough coat of liquid gilding I picked up at Michael’s (with a 50% off coupon, it was about $3.50). The gilding was extremely forgiving — it kind of melded into a smooth coat all on its own, and only one coat was needed. The only bad thing about it was that it needed to be cleaned up with turpentine, which, if you haven’t used that stuff in a while, let me remind you — it stinks HORRIBLY. So much so, that I’d recommend one of the following two courses of action to myself if I were to repeat this project:

1) Buy the correct color of gold spray paint and forgo the gilding all together.
2) Use a paintbrush that you don’t mind throwing away at the end of the project.

In the end, though, the outcome was so cute for so little effort and expense! Highly recommended.

Of all the options out there for decorating with pumpkins, adding gold accents is my top pick. Five of my favorite examples:

Top to bottom: Country Living | Martha Stewart | Martha Stewart | Twig & Thistle | Martha Stewart

I particularly love when they’re mixed with cream and natural pumpkins — gives a little earthiness to this glam look! If you’re interested in trying this (I am!), I think the key is to get a darker, more yellow gold than white gold spray paint. I found some tips for gilding here, too, if you choose to go that route!

Have you picked out/embellished pumpkins this year? We’re hoping to get ours this weekend — since we don’t carve, they might last through Thanksgiving!

Don’t you just love when something lives up to your expectations? I’d been eying a store – On Board Fabrics – for years, every time we drove past it on our way to and from our cottage in Maine. It’s housed in an old barn, and it looked so cute from the outside! This past week we finally stopped, and I’m so happy we did.

I was tempted by many different patterns, but I walked out with just a yard and a half of the adorable oilcloth above. Isn’t it awesome?? Now to decide what to do with it. I’m thinking placemats or perhaps an outdoor tablecloth, but am open to your suggestions. I’ve also done a little project scouting, in case any of y’all have some oilcloth on your hands!

Oilcloth lunch bags from Martha Stewart | oilcloth placemats from Martha Stewart | oilcloth placemats with bias tape edging from Wren Handmade | oilcloth origami picnic basket from Martha Stewart | oilcloth tablecloth from Better Homes & Gardens