Non Edible Easter Egg Filler - Flower Cabochon Assessories

Last weekend I had the pleasure of coordinating the annual Easter egg hunt for some of our favorite young ladies, my six year old included.  Since there is always a candy overload this time of year I wanted to fill some with something other than sugary treats.

My solution was to turn some super cute flower cabochon's I'd ordered awhile ago on flash deal site.  I just glued them onto some earring blanks, both pierced and clip-ons.  They made dainty little accessories for the girls that will be enjoyed long after the bunny has come by.

I also put together some sweet little hair pins after I was happened across a package of blanks of Joann's.  I was so excited to find these, I used to have to order them online so it was great to know they are more readily available.

There's almost and endless supplies of these beauties available on Etsy.  Wouldn't they also make great party favors for a little girl's party?  They'd also be fun to make as an activity at an older girl's party or at a sleepover.

Scapbook Page: Tip Toe Through the Tulips for Eggs

It's a two-fer week as far as scrapbooking goes, not only did I have my weekly Baby Boy Scrapbook Pages post but now I have a seasonal layout to show too!

I just fell in love with Pebbles Inc.'s Hip Hip Hooray.  It may officially be a birthday line, but the first thing I thought of was spring, the papers are just so colorful and happy!  When I bought my supplies I could only find it at scrapbook stores but now several pieces of the collection can be found with the scrapbook supplies at Target!  They have a 6X6 pad of the paper that would be perfect for creating a layout similar to this one that I used it to scrap our last egg hunt.  The paper was just perfect!  I love that the back sides of their patterned paper is just as lovely as the front.  I had lots of patterns to play with. 

Here are some of the delightful embellishments that coordinate with the line.  The banner kit comes with four different designs and lots of die cut sticker banners, tons of yumminess there!  I popped mine up with foam for dimension.  The stitched circles are also really fun and I could not resist the big paper blooms with a brad center.  But who are we kidding, I did not even try!  You can fluff them up a bit too.

I used my Martha Stewart Crafts butterfly punch to add some more layers.  Just loved using it to make butterflies, that are layered to give them an in flight look.  I used the reverse side of the patterned papers to make the butterflies and punched circle.  The yellow polka dot strip of paper is actually from the bottom of one of the papers, the reverse side of the label.  So nice how Pebbles Inc. gives you ways to stretch your scrapping dollar. 

My favorite part of the layout is the sweet little pin wheel.  I added one of my favorite song lines to the banners I made and slipped them onto the toothpick handle.  Some My Mind's Eye yellow twine finishes it off.  Because everything is better with twine, these days!

On Spring Break

Have a wonderful Easter weekend!  I wish you beautiful weather and happy times with family as we rejoice in His rising.  We'll see you next week for Project Life Tuesday.

Easter 2009 Scrapbook Pages

I got these pages done awhile ago during one of Maryanne's Online Crops and have been waiting until it was seasonally appropriate to share them.  They are both pretty simple and the Easter Treats layout above has really fun details.  I used the cutest stickers from Doodlebug Design Inc. to make a layered border across the page.  Below is how I scrapped several family pictures on one page.  The sticker borders made this one come together really quickly. 

Candy Easter Baskets

My friend Margaret gave ER the cutest little edible Easter basket over the weekend.  It's based on an idea she pinned.  She just hot glued the candies together and made it right before they had to leave to meet us for lunch.  How neat that it's a mini basket and a treat in one!  Looks like a mini Lalaloopsy also stowed away inside.

This clever idea originated with Beth-A-Palooza.

Easter Weekend in Recap

I hope your Easter weekend was wonderful!  We had two busy days, beginning with heading out to the Zoo Saturday afternoon for the annual Bunnyville event.  We thought we'd have to skip it due to rain this year, but it was an absolutely beautiful day, temps made it all the way into the 70s!  I was sorry I'd put ER in corduroys as we all got a little hot.  Even though he was pretty covered up, Brad still managed to get a little sun burnt.  

Being at the Zoo really reminded me I'm six months along!  I had a hard time being on my feet for several hours and really felt some aches and pains.  I saw a bunch of mommies to be with really big bellies running around after toddlers and pulling wagons.  I have no idea how they do it, I must be an "old" mom!  Brad took ER to the playground and sitting helped me recover enough to make the long walk back to the car in the overflow lot across a very busy main road.

After the Zoo we went to my parents and spent the night so we wouldn't have to drive back across town again the next day.  We went with my brother Dave out to dinner and to Barnes & Noble to pick up a cover for Nook.  My mom was getting Polish kielbasa and the lemon pie ready for Easter and they kept an eye on ER for us.

On Easter morning we waited too long to head off to church and it was packed!  We ended up in the library, that had a few extra seats in it.  My Dad couldn't find us at first and was sitting in another extra room, but the priest saw him and then saw my Mom and the rest of us in the other room.  He joked and said, "What'd he do," when he saw my family sitting apart.  Mom had to go over and get Dad; we teased him that he was trying to ditch us on Easter. It was odd sitting way in the back; we think most of the people around us weren't regular parishioners as the room cleared out,along with the extra back rows, before the priest made it back up the aisle during the recessional at the end of mass.

After starting the day, focused on the real reason for Easter, we went back to my parents' for some bunny related fun.  ER had a huge egg hunt all and got three Easter baskets with goodies.  This in addition to the basket she got from my Godmother the night before.  That is one kid without a shortage of candy!  We packaged her stuff from us in a sweet Little Princess Vera Bradley purse.  I put a mini Chloe doll and the Veggie Tale DVD she's been wanting inside.  My brother, who's her Godfather, gave her The Gospel for Children.  But I think the biggest hits were from my mom and dad, Tangled on DVD and the book  Mary Englebrite's Fairy Tales.

We had just enough time for a light breakfast and to pack up the car before we had to get to Grandma Norma's for part three of our Easter weekend.  Guess what, even more treats were waiting for ER there.  Grandma Norma gave her some new Legos, a joke book, neat rubber duckie soaps, suncatcher kit, a New Baby book, and a mix & match layette set for her Bitty Twin.

My family joined us for another egg hunt, this time outside in the backyard, because the sun was still shining.  During the rest of the afternoon a little baseball was watched, some Legos were built with, and Brad's old Star Wars toys from childhood also made an appearance. 

Dinner was a big holiday spread with ham, Polish kielbasa, sauerkraut, green bean almondine, carrots coins, corn on the cob, potato salad, deviled eggs, and rolls.  Everyone was stuffed but somehow we managed to fit in pie and ice cream before the official Easter meal was done. 

Easter weekend was busy and the weather was lovely, it kinda makes up for the rain we're supposed to be getting all this week.  We were so tired when we got home last night, everyone was in bed by ten o'clock.  I still have to unpack, but am so unmotivated to do so!  Hope your weekend was fun filled too!

Credits: Spring into Easter Kit by Jady Day Studios, Freebie Digital Template via Heather Roselli, Freebie Quick Page from Connie Prince, Freebie Digital Template by Jen Caputo.

Happy Easter

Happy Easter! I hope you are all rejoicing in His resurrection, surrounded by loved ones! We will be and each time we celebrate a blessed occasion with our family, I am reminded that it was the right to move back to where we grew up. The memories ER will have spending time with her Grandparents are priceless!

What memories have you been creating around Easter this year?  For us, the big one is it's the first time we've dyed eggs all together.  ER was so excited and Brad seemed like he was not that interested, until we actually got started.  It was cute to see how involved he got!  Well, when she'd let him.  She really wanted to to everything by herself, that's the new catch phrase around here, "I can do it myself!"   It must be a four going on five thing, I don't know if I'm ready for this whole independence thing.  After our hard work, we all thought we deserved a big bowl of chocolate ice cream, sliced strawberries, and whipped cream...egg dyeing is hard work!



Digital Kit Credits: Spring into Easter by Jady Day Studios

Spring Into Easter Decorations

On Palm Sunday we met friends of ours at a popluar little eatery in downtown.  It's really neat with exposed brick walls and really small too!  I'm glad we had enough people in our party to make a reservation, each of the girls started out with a Snowball Waffle.  While not exactly the healthiest of starts to the day, it sure was a big treat, and yes that order above is bigger than her head!

After a big meal everyone came back to our house for play time and an egg hunt while our meals settled.  I dressed up our table with fresh flowers, my robin egg blue tablecloth, and the Easter egg plates, bunny napkin holders, and bunny candle holders I got a few years ago at William Sonoma.  I love using all my cute stuff!

I dressed up the girls table too, with a pretty free spring subway art printable from eighteen25.  It's meant to be a larger size, and didn't quite resize to the Toslby 6X4 frame I wanted to use.  To remedy that, I used an adorable kit from Jady Day Studios: Spring Into Easter, to decorate the bottom.  The rag wreath from my friend Holly was the perfect finishing touch to the girl's table centerpiece.

I used the same digital kit to make a few more decorations for the girls.  Each one got a name banner tied to their chair and a personalized paper treat basket.  I created my own template for the name banners and used Kelleigh Ratzlaff's Easter Basket Template for their treats.  I also made little favors for the adults and added candy wraps to each.  My friend Margaret made the cute little bird's nest desserts out of ramen noodles, chocolate, and a little oil.  We also enjoyed a fresh fruit tart from Whole Foods. 

Shared at Blue Cricket Designs, Seven Thirty Three, Sew Much Ado, Sugar and Dots, Lollipops  and my own linky party A Crafty Soiree. Have you joined us lately, c'mon we'd love to have you!



Spring Topiaries

After setting out my decorations, I decided my Easter mantle was looking rather bare. It just needed a few things to fill it out and as we're in the mist of decluttering and reorganizing in preparation for the baby, I wasn't in the mood to go buy anything else.

While cleaning out my craft closet, I found two bunches of silk flowers bought on off season clearance. When I'd purchased them I'd had another project in mind, but upon rediscovering them I knew they were just the thing to finish up the long planned for project from Lolly Chops.

Mine is rather loosely based on hers, in that the only thing remaining is I also stuck flowers into a foam ball. But I'm still giving her credit for it, as had I not seen it way back when, I wouldn't have thought to do it at all nor bought the pot, foam ball, and foam chunk that have been sitting in my closet for two years

I have the felt, flower die cut, and metal brads too but to save time I just pulled off the flowers and leaving the centers intact, stuck them into the ball. Most have stayed without anything else, you just have to make sure you really give 'em a good shove into the foam. A few fell out, a little dab of hot glue in the hole before pushing them in again has taken care of that!

My "stem" is made out of five candy sucker sticks, leftover from my failed attempts to make Bakerella's cake pops, and secured with hot glue in both the foam ball and chunk. I added a few clear pebbles to the bottom of the dollar spot bucket I put it all in. This helps it from being too top heavy and toppling over. A little Easter grass and ribbon finish off the topiary that I plan to keep out all spring long. The second topiary I made was even easier. Using another chunk of foam and the pot I'd originally bought for the Lolly Chops project I just stuck in one of the little moss bunnies from Pier 1 that are all the rage across bloggerland. I still have two bunnies left to make the additional decorations I saw on Jenny's blog Our Nifty Notebook.

Shared at: Strictly Homemade's very first Strictly Homemade Tuesday - there's even a giveaway to celebrate so hurry over to link up and enter!!!  Also sharing at Flamingo Toes and my own weekly linky party A Crafty Soiree - have you joined us lately? C'mon we'd love to have you!

Easter Weekend

I hope everyone's Easter weekend went as planned, we actually managed to get to everything on our list. Starting with the Bunnyville event at our zoo, which was super crowded - a lot more than last year. But once we actually got parked and through the enormous line just to get in, things went smoothly. We met up with our good friends and ER got to spend some time in the game area with Margaret's girls.I am biased, of course, but I think ER was the cutest little thing walking around with her two little piggy tails. It's a new "do" for us and so exciting for Mommy! On our way out of the zoo, we heard an announcement letting visitors know that a big storm was predicted in 30 minutes. Whew, finished just in the nick of time, we watched the rain drops fall from inside the restaurant at a late lunch.It was on to my parents' house afterward. ER was pretty excited to spend the night at Grammy's and Papa's house. She thinks it super special to spend the night in the tent my cousin Mary Beth sent her. With her sleeping bag and lots of blankets, she's as snug as a bug. The next morning it was up for an early mass at eight. Isn't ER's Easter outfit just darling? I know biased again, but I just love how it all came together. This is one of my favorite photos, ER with the little bunny on my parents' porch. These are after church photos, ER was really good, a whole lot better than expected. Maybe it was because she was half asleep for most of it. Normally she isn't even up until nine-thirty. It was an doubly special mass because my parents were recognized for their 35th wedding anniversary, which was yesterday.As usual the Easter Bunny was especially nice to ER, leaving a lots of candy and treat filled eggs. He also brought the one thing she was hoping for, a ballerina bunny. We all went over to my Godparents' house for Easter brunch, which was delicious! French toast casserole, baked eggs, fruit salad, breads, ham...I was stuffed and then there was cheesecake! Plus another egg hunt, but the best part was seeing my Godbrother Mike and his wife Jessica, who we've not seen for way too long.The day ended with egg hunt number three at Grandma Norma's. It was a beautiful day, nice and sunny, much better than predicted and finally warm enough for ER to hunt outdoors.Not all the treats came inside of eggs or baskets though. Grandma Norma helped ER made vanilla ice cream for the first time. It was colored a lovely shade of blue that just happened to match her shirt. How fun.
After a big Easter dinner we finally made it home. We were all rather exhausted and everyone was in bed by nine-thirty. Which if you know anything about us, you know that's shockingly early.

Happy Easter!

{Courtesy of The Graphic's Fairy}

Isn't this picture a hoot? I wonder how long it took the photographer to get the animals in the right positions. I think it's pretty old so it wasn't Photoshopped.

I am writing this late Friday night because if the weather cooperates, we'll be having a busy Easter weekend. Which will leave me no time for blogging Our plans for Saturday are to attend the Easter event at our local zoo, we went last year and it was a lot of fun. Then we'll have Easter dinner number one with my parents and spend the night there.

Today our plans are to get up early for eight o'clock mass and then head to my Godparents for brunch. We'll end our day with Grandma Norma and another Easter feast. I hope you're weekend finds you surround by love and rejoicing in our risen Lord. Happy Easter to you and yours!

Easter Crafts

Hi Everyone! I want to thank everyone for their heartfelt condolences. Last weekend was tough and very emotional, but it was good to have closure and see Grandma lowered into the ground. I am still taking some time off but since...

I already has this round up of last year's crafts prepared for last week and with Easter this weekend, it seemed like a good time to remind you of them. This way if you're inspired, you have time to do some of them. The children's art project and baking activity are especially easy to add to your last minute plans.
It wouldn't be Easter without treat basket! When you only need something small, these upcycled Easter treat holders are perfect. It's hard to believe they started their life as toddler snack containers.

I always love a handmade touch to any holiday! Below are some special things I've made for family and friends;
I've got three simple Easter cards you can make and use up some of those paper scraps. A handmade greeting is always a great way to show someone you care.
I made this cute sign and framed Spring Has Sprung art for a Handmade Easter Swap. Both started out with bases that were only a dollar each! Decoupaging paper and adding embellishments make them cute one of a kind decorations.
These next two crafts are easy ways to get your kids involved in Easter and if you're like me, you already have most of the materials on hand!
Paper plates never looked so cute! Turn two into this fun paper plate chick, easy toddler art for kids who love to paint and paint!
This Easter Peep Sunflower Cake is easy to decorate, even with a toddler doing most of the work it still turns out super cute. Plus it's surprisingly good!



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