Hop to it: Easter is Cloche

Today I’m sharing two sweet little scenes my mom and I made that provide instant cheer and a pop of Spring wherever you set them. These displays were inspired by the adorable Garden Bunny Cloche Pottery Barn featured in their catalog last year.  My mom saw it and sent it to me as Easter craft inspiration.  (Pottery Barn’s cloche was $169, with a sale price of $101 – way out of our budget!)  When I saw Michael’s had cloches on sale for $12.74, I picked up one for each of us.  Their cloches are really nice glass domes with wood bases and were a good value for the price.  I liked how Pottery Barn’s bunny scene used natural materials so I looked through Michael’s and Joann’s Easter and floral sections to see if I could find similar materials to create our own less expensive versions of the cloche.  Since it was late in the Easter crafting season, things were picked over a bit but I still found enough material to work with.

In the base of each dome we placed Styrofoam rounds (15/16 in X 5 7/8 in foam from FloraCraft) and then covered the white foam with “grass” made of Spring green Spanish moss.  We arranged the decorations in a trial layout to see how we could make everything fit on the base and within the glass dome.  Floral picks were then separated and snipped with wire cutters to the desired height, then stuck into the Styrofoam base. For my cloche, I set the rabbit, chick and basket on the base and nestled them in the grass.  It was a snug enough fit that I didn’t have to use any glue.  Once everything was in place, the lid was carefully placed on top, tucking in the bits of grass that popped out around the base. The grass acts as filler, providing a tight fit at the base, and ensuring the dome stays in place.  In theory, I could reuse the dome later and change out the scene, but the thought of arranging everything just so again leads me to think this will be a permanent display – unless I get really tired of it at some point in the future.  Mom’s cloche features two sweet little chicks, one of which she glued to the basket of eggs.

I was so thrilled we pulled off the Pottery Barn look for much CHEEP-er. I actually like our DIY versions better!  Which one of the three is your favorite?