Turquoise?

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or yellow?

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That was the question on all of our minds when photographer Mikki Duisterhof, Woman's Day editor Ayn-Monique Klahre and I compared cover tries during an Easter shoot at our house/studio in January.    

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The editors eventually chose turquoise, tweaking the color slightly so it popped on newsstands. 

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You'd never know it from the Easter egg workshop in our kitchen, but… 

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…on the day of the shoot, we had about 25 inches of snow in 12 hours! 

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That's our assistant's car under there.

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So while the icicles grew longer and even more spectacular outside our windows…

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…inside, we readied paper mâché and plastic egg boxes for adornment.  

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Some we glittered…

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…others we covered in Caspari napkins.

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Getting to the point outside…

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…and inside too.

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Vintage silverplate bread baskets got a modern makeover filled with candy and decorated eggs. 

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Here are two we made that didn't appear in the magazine.

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And one that did!

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There's nothing like a hard day of glittering to work up an appetite. Here's Ayn-Monique toting a generous dish of scalloped potatoes that tasted just as good as they looked. Recipe here.   

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Her "skirt" I fashioned from a vintage dish towel, pinned in place.  

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While the food editors from Woman's Day worked their magic with a batch of warm cheddar and chive buttermilk biscuits

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…I started pulling props for the buffet. 

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On Sunday, we're having six friends for Easter, and I'm making every dish from the shoot. 

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Here's the table I set in the kitchen for Woman's Day, but we'll be eating in the dining room where it's more formal. 

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Come back on Wednesday to see how it all turns out! Have a wonderful weekend, everyone, and Happy Easter!