Bunny Cakes

Mother's Day Brunch & DIY Plant Labels

This year for Mother's Day we had the usual family brunch at our house.  Chef M treated us with S'more French Toast, challah bread stuffed with chocolate and marshmallows coated with graham cracker crumbs.  It was delicious to say the least.  I treated my fellow mothers with little gifts at their place setting.  Succulent plants for my mom, who always welcomes more plants.  To make the plants more special we added personalized plant labels.  The clay labels were made by following the DIY instructions from Say Yes to Hoboken.  They were very easy to make and didn't take too long (we actually made them before everyone came over for brunch).  For my sister we gifted snack containers and sprinkles.  Who doesn't love sprinkles! 

Gifts for Grandma...

Gifts for A...

S'more French Toast...

Finally, here is the inspiration for the clay plant labels from Say Yes to Hoboken...

Hope you had a wonderful Mother's Day!

-K

Custom Soccer Bag Tags

This spring the boys are playing soccer again and Hubby is their coach.  He wasn't planning on coaching, but had to step in at the last minute due to a coaching shortage.  The team decided to name themselves the Speedy Turtles.  As soon as they had a team name I was off creating their logo (I couldn't help myself).  I found the perfect turtle image and then added the soccer balls.  Of course once I created the logo I really didn't have a use for it until the end-of-season treats.  Then after seeing the badges my work made for all the kids on Take Your Kids to Work Day I got the idea to make luggage tags for the players to tie to their soccer bags.  After creating the design for the tags it was time to call in the professionals.  I turned to my copy center at work, which also takes on personal jobs and does amazing work.  They mounted the tag images on heavy card stock and then laminated them and punched the holes.  For those of you who don't have a copy center at work, I am sure this is something (at least the lamination part) that Kinko's can handle for you.  The cost of the tags came out to $0.50 each, I couldn't believe how cheap it was.  Both the kids and parents loved the tags!

I usually get a lot of questions on what software I use to create my images.  To create the above tags I used Google image search to find tow images: the turtle with the rocket and the soccer ball.  The turtle image didn't need any clean up, but for the soccer ball image I had to remove the white background.  To do this I used Photoshop's magic wand to select the white background and then delete it, so I was left with just the soccer ball on a transparent background.  If you don't have Photoshop, but do have some other photo editing software then chances are you can remove the white background.  To put the images together with the lettering I use Adobe Illustrator, but if you don't have that then you can also do this easily with Microsoft Powerpoint or Word.  If I don't need to do anything special I usually turn to Powerpoint because it is easy and fast to use.  The latest version is surprisingly powerful, so don't be shy to give it a try!

Teacher Appreciation Gifts - Apple of My Eye

For this year's Teacher Appreciation gifts we were inspired by Amy Atlas' Apple of My Eye dessert table found in her latest book: Sweet Designs.  The boys and I collected a bunch of apple flavored goodies and even made our own apple shortbread cookies and then packaged them in baskets for their teachers.  Of course we had to add our traditional gift of a movie gift card too.  Teachers work really hard and do amazing things for our kids.  I hope they know the little gifts we bring them are just a small token of our gratitude.

Here are the goodies we gathered...

To make the apple shortbread cookies we used red, green & brown royal icing to make little apple images on the store-bought shortbread cookies.  We used squeeze bottles for the icing so the boys could help create the apples.

Here is the inspiration from Amy Atlas, who is truly an endless source of inspiration...

And finally, the baskets...the boys wrote out 'You are the Apple of my Eye' on hang tags tied to the baskets.  We also added a little red ric-rac to the baskets with fabric glue to match our color scheme.

-K

Cardboard DIY Gift Tags

I get excited about wrapping presents.  I know most people dread it, but I think of it as an opportunity to get creative and make something look good.  Plus, it also makes the recipient feel special--at least I like to think it does.  After seeing Natalie Jost's DIY Stamped Hang Tag post, I knew I wanted to make some.  A baby shower gift gave me the motivation I needed to head to the craft room and get busy.  Instead of stamping on paper I stamped on cardboard.  Then after letting my designs dry I cut them out and punched a hole.  The trickiest part is finding out what color ink shows up best on the cardboard.  I found that either very bright or very dark colors work best, the medium shade colors get lost on the cardboard background.  Here are the results...

Here is the inspiration from Natalie's post...

-K

Garden Elements - Boxwood

Every Spring my mind turns green while dreaming up possibilities for our landscaping.  We have a small backyard with a high sloping hill at the halfway point.  With two energetic boys we want to devote most of the space to a grassy play land.  This leaves the boarders of our yard and around the exterior of the house for planting.  Even with such limited space I still love to drool over inspiration pictures and dream of what could be.  To me the perfect landscaping includes at least these three elements: boxwood, hydrangea and roses.  

I love boxwood for the form, structure and greenery they provide.  They add a classic look to anything.  The other bonus to them is they are versatile, you can pot them, hedge them or use them to create amazing shapes.  They are also evergreen, so they will keep your garden green all year round.  Here are a few more reasons why I think boxwood (or any evergreen shrubs) are a must...

I could truly go on and on, but hopefully I have made my point.  If you want to see more you can check out my Pinterst 'Garden Inspiration' Board.

Our Easter Table

When setting up our Easter table I usually let the flowers dictate the color palette, so I am always at the mercy of our local flowershop (aka the grocery store).  I count on ranunculus being available at this time of year and I am usually not disappointed.  They are the perfect spring flower, bright and colorful with buds that look like they will burst open at any moment.  I cannot walk away from them.  This year I combined two bunches of ranunculus (light and dark pink) with two kinds of tulips (a parrot tulip and a soft baby pink tulip) to create our Easter centerpiece--total cost: $33.  I used our pink glasses and white & pink table runner to pick up the dark pink of the centerpiece and grounded everything on a soft blue linen table cloth.  A few bunnies and washi paper easter eggs finished the table.

The selection of ranunculus at our grocery store...check out the new maroon & gold variety and the spikey green variety!  The peachy color in the bottom picture is dreamy, I may have to use those next year.

-K

Jelly Bean Carrots - An Easy Easter Craft for Kids

The boys wanted to do an Easter craft while they were home for Spring Break.  I was going to have them make more Egg Animals, but I couldn't find my stash of wooden eggs.  Then Martha came to the rescue with her easy-to-make jelly bean carrots--see link here for the how-to directions.  We ended up buying 1.3 lbs of orange jelly beans and 0.5 lbs of green jelly beans which made eight carrots.  The boys enjoyed the craft and now we have fun Easter decorations.

-K

P.S.  You can use piping bags as your 'cone-shaped' cello bags.

Easter Cookies

I realized I forgot to post on last year's Easter Cookies.  I love making sugar cookies for Easter, there are so many cute bunny and chick shaped cookie cutters and inspiration abounds.  For extra special cookies, be sure to add a second layer of royal icing to either give texture or additional detailing.

The boys brought in some Easter cookies for their teachers.  We packaged them in favor boxes from Martha Stewart Crafts and added a carrot decoration.

-K

Sweet Designs

After watching the two videos below I quickly signed up to pre-order Amy Atlas' latest book: Sweet Designs: Bake It, Craft It, Style It.  I can't wait to find out some of her styling secrets! 

This one gives a nice behind the scenes look at what went into the book: pow wows, propping and photo shoots.

In case you are unfamiliar with some of her work, here is some of her eye candy...

-K

Color Block Easter Eggs

I love color block Easter eggs because they couldn't be easier to make.  Here is some inspiration for you...

The first and last images come from Oh Joy where you can find step by step instructions on how to create your own neon dip-dyed eggs.  The second image is from our 2011 Easter table post.  The third image comes from Shelterness' collection of Cool Easter Table Ideas.

Happy Coloring!

-K

Washi Paper Easter Eggs

Every year I look forward to getting our house ready for Easter.  I welcome the spring-like feel our house gets with the cute little bunnies scattered about.  But what I look forward to most is displaying the washi paper eggs made by myself and my grandmother.  For those of you who don't know what washi paper is, it is a decorative Japanese paper that has a thick and flexible quality.  Unless you are lucky enough to have a Japanese grandmother with her own stash, then you can find washi paper at Paper Source or other fine paper stores.  The key to washi paper is to never throw away your scraps, you can always find a use for them down the road--in fact these eggs can be made with larger pieces of scraps.  

The washi eggs created by my grandmother use actual real eggs, but the ones I created use wooden eggs found at the craft store (have you ever tried to blow out an egg? it is really difficult).  I saw a tutorial on Martha a few years back which does a decent job of explaining the process to create your own eggs.  Once you've made your eggs the displaying part is the fun part.  I put mine in milk glass eggs cups and a big wire bunny, but they also look great in a bowl or just on their own.

-K

It's Been a While...

Please pardon my absence.  It was certainly unplanned, but I feel ready to come back!  First, I have some exciting news to share...I am preggo!  The morning sickness certainly took its toll, but I am getting over it and managing it (unisom & B6 is a wonder).  The baby is due at the end of August and we will be finding out the gender in a couple of weeks.  It has been 10 years since I was last pregnant and the truth is I am still in shock, though the shock is finally starting to fade.  Well, I have some craft projects to catch up on...

-K

One Day Without Shoes - Get Ready!

Last year on April 5th I participated in TOMS One Day Without Shoes Challenge to raise awareness and help shoe the children of the world.  From TOMS' website: We might not spend a lot of time thinking about shoes, but they can have a real impact on children’s health and ability to attend school. Children who are healthy and educated have a better chance at living up to their potential.  This year the challenge date has been set for April 10th, 2012.  My company participated last year, which is actually I heard about the challenge.  It also made it a lot easier for me to participate.  So what should you do?  Get your company or a group of people to participate and sign-up for the challenge, you have plenty of time.  And of course, buy some TOMS shoes!  For every pair of shoes you buy, you also buy one for a kid who doesn't have any.  Last year my Kenya Stripe wedges became my default shoe for the spring and summer.  I also have the classic TOMS in black, which go perfect with anything.  I also see a pair of their new ballet flats in my future.  Here is an inspirational video from last year's challenge to get you motivated for this year...

-K

This Year's Valentine's Day Cards

Now that the boys are getting older (4th grade), they have a lot more opinions on what their Valentine's Day cards should be like.  When trying to come up with this year's theme we first decided on what to include with the cards.  After some searching we went with the classic novelty gift, a whoopee cushion.  From there we came up with a skunk theme and added our own version of Roses Are Red to our cards.  A flower lollipop completed them and added the obligatory sweet element.  

The cards were assembled by folding the whoopee cushions in half (use a craft glue dot to keep them folded), then we added a card on top, which read: Roses are Red, Flamingos are Pink, I Hope Your Valentine's Day Doesn't Stink.  Finally we placed the cut-out skunk on top and tied it up with the lollipop.  We later ended up having to drop the lollipop from our cards due to changes in the county v-day policy prohibiting candy, but they still turned out cute!

I hope you have a wonderful Valentine's Day!

-K

Stylish Valentines

Check it out, our Zebra and Sweetheart Valentine's Day cards showed up on Stylelist, one of my favorite fashion & style sites!  I feel so honored and stylish!

-K

Valentine's Day Update

If you are a regular reader of our blog, then you will know Valentine's Day is one of my favorite holidays.  And you will also know I haven't posted in a long while.  One of my New Year's resolutions this year was to post more frequently, but as you can see the opposite has happened.  The truth is, I haven't been feeling well and have been utterly useless outside of my regular work hours.  Somehow I can keep it together for work, but as soon as I come home I am worthless.  For this reason I was planning on passing on personalizing Valentine's Day cards this year.  However, it only took one person to ask and I found myself opening up my etsy shop.  So if you are interested in getting your hands on a personalized version of our cards please check out our shop.  The personalized cards are $4.50 for a PDF file (with 6 cards) you can print as often as you want.  The non-personalized cards are free to download: Zebra cards, Sweetheart cards, Love is All You Need cards, Playbill Valentine's Day cards, Love Big cards & Penguin Treat Holder cards.

-K

Christmas Review

It is hard to believe the New Year is upon us...Happy 2012!  You may have noticed my sparse posting during December.  I wish I could say it was because I was so busy being crafty, but the truth is, I was busy not being crafty.  Hubby and I went on an amazing trip to Costa Rica in the middle of December and the rest of my time was spent shopping, getting ready for the holidays, relaxing, playing Apples to Apples and reading the Game Of Thrones series (I just started book 4).  Oh well, I have lots of ideas for next year.  I did manage to take a few pix of our simple Christmas table, decked with tartan and pine cones.

Here's my favorite picture of the evening...little O donning his new hand knit keyhole scarf from mama...

Hope you had a wonderful holiday!

K

How to Hang a Wreath

The wreath is one of my favorite Christmas decorations.  I love fresh boxwood wreaths, but I also like wreaths made from dried natural items that can be used year after year.  Wreath hooks and temporary hooks are easy ways to hang wreaths, but another easy method is with ribbon and a staple gun.  This method does require a little extra effort because you will also need a ladder and an extra set of hands, but produces a very nice, clean, professional look.

Start by cutting your ribbon a little longer than you will need.  Have someone hold the wreath in place why you staple the ribbon in place (I use three staples).  Trim any excess ribbon or add a bow if you wish.  It's that simple!  This method is great for hanging on a door or in front of a window (as long as you have trim around the window).  

A pretty natural wreath made from pine cones hangs on the door to our mudroom.

Fresh boxwood wreaths are hung in our kitchen.  I might add bows, but I ran out of ribbon.  3 yards doesn't go a far as you might think.

-K

P.S.  If you don't have a staple gun, add it to your Christmas list...it's a handy tool all crafters should have.

Christmas Crafts To-Do 2011

Here are some crafty projects I have my eye on...I am hoping to get around to at least one of these projects.

1.  Felt Ornaments - possibilities are endless.  Here is a sweet example from Rosie Little Things.

 

2.  Clay Ornaments - easy to personalize or capture a little hand print.  Here are some how-to steps from GardenMama.

 

3.  Pink Ornaments - I love this color scheme.  I need to buy some or make my own pink ornaments.

 

4.  PomPom Snowman - this little guy is adorable.  Here are the steps from BH&G.

 

 

5.   Shrinky Dink Gift Tags - I would love to use the boy's artwork to create some cute gift tags.  These would be great to add to their teacher gifts.

 

6.  Stamped Gift Bags - turn plain muslin bags into festive goodie bags.

-K

Turkey Day 2011

We had a very lovely *Thanksgiving*.  We stayed true to our family traditions and only veered slightly.  We went sans tablecloth (loved it, no last minute ironing) and because I missed out on making sugar cookies for Halloween I had to make some for Thanksgiving.  I added our guests names to turkey cookies and had intended them to be place-markers, but my icing script needs some work so I saved them for the dessert table.  We also made mini turkeys, fall leaves and flowers with the extra cookie dough.  This year's centerpiece was my favorite from last few years.  It consisted of four flower bunches from our local grocery store (salmon colored roses, orange and red berries & greenery) with some red leaves from our yard and peasant feathers added in to complete the look.

Little O had his first meal and year ago last Thanksgiving and he surely enjoyed his Thanksgiving meal again this year!  In this picture he looks so much like my sister as a baby.

-K