Welcome your guests with flights of fancy. Line tiny wicker baskets with plastic wrap, fill with clump moss, and adorn with bright butterflies (or dried or silk flowers).
Direct guests to their seats with name cards topped by leaves that look like they just blew in. To make each card, fold a piece of brown cover-weight card stock in half. Write guest's name with a white gel pen. Cut 1 or 2 notches (about 1 inch wide) in card, at an angle. Slide fallen leaves -- fresh or dried and pressed -- into each notch.
Unless they're down on hands and knees for an outdoor egg hunt, people tend to overlook the exquisite shapes and tones of minuscule spring flowers. Give these plants the close-up they deserve by using eggcups as vases, which can hold pink lilies of the valley, species tulips, grape hyacinths, narcissus, violets, pansies, bleeding-heart leaves, and other small wonders. Try several cups on a tray for an Easter centerpiece or a single one to cheer up a desk or a bureau.
Transform reusable bamboo utensils with a few deft strokes of model paint, which can withstand hand-washing.
To create stripes, tape off the areas you don't want painted using painters' tape; then paint, let dry, and ring the picnic bell.
Sources
Similar bamboo flatware (#20-2006), totallybamboo.com
Enamel paints, testors.com
From the Sunflower State of Kansas, here's a way to welcome guests to the table with a great big hello. Trim sunflower stems short, so they fit into juice glasses. Cut paper into petal shapes and write guests' names on them. Then add the extra petal to the flowers with dots of tacky white glue.
Marguerite plate, $71, johnderian.com
To dry leaves, lay down a sheet of newsprint, followed by paper towels. Arrange leaves on paper towels, then place a second layer of paper towels and a sheet of newsprint on top. Set stack in a phone book, and place in a dry, ventilated spot for several days. To make place cards, use a gel-ink pen -- ours had white ink, but metallic shades will also work well -- to add guests' names.
