Bunny Cakes

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

Halloween Redux

Today I started to gather up all my Halloween decorations to pack away till next year.  It makes me a little sad, but I am comforted by the fact I can bust out my Christmas decorations soon.  Before I say good bye to Halloween officially I thought I would share some final Halloween pictures.  

This year for Halloween costumes one of the boys stated he wanted to be something 'simple--nothing fancy'. He decided on Indiana Jones, while my other son oscillated between a million choices.  The tricky part with kids is to get them to commit to a costume and stay committed.  I thought the Indy costume was perfect and wanted to lock it in before he changed his mind to something else.  Then we came up with the idea that the boys, who are identical twins, would be Harrison Ford: Indiana Jones and Han Solo.  The boys received much positive feedback on their selection from relatives and other adults (who doesn't love Indy & Solo?), so I knew it was a go.  Putting together the two costumes was fairly easy and required only minor fabrication on my part.  

For our Halloween table I almost didn't do anything at all.  Things were too chaotic with the kitchen cabinets getting painted and all their contents spilled throughout the house.  In the end I followed the boys' lead and went with something 'simple--nothing fancy'.  Just a few elements made it festive enough: a black cat centerpiece surrounded by a few pumpkins, Halloween straws and black & white plates.

-K

Halloween Brownie Kabobs

Traditionally we always send in a treat to the boys teachers for Halloween.  Despite our kitchen being 'down for the count' we still managed to bake some brownies.  Instead of doing our typical candy roll packaging for the brownies, we decided to try something new: brownie kabobs!  We layered candy corn and orange & white M&M's on the bottom of a festive glass.  Then we piled on the mini-bundt cake brownies and stuck them through with a wooden skewer (mainly to make sure they don't fall over).  Finally we topped it all with a Ghostly peep.  We found that peeps leave a gooey mess on the skewer if you have to push it through far, so we just added the peep to the top brownie with a toothpick.  Wrap the whole thing in cello and tie with Halloween tag (ours are from Martha Stewart's Craft line) and ribbon for the perfect treat!

-K

Halloween Baking To Do List

My kitchen is out of commission because we are having the cabinets painted.  The timing is such that I will not be able to get my bake on for Halloween.  However, I thought I would still share some of the *Halloween Baking Ideas*  (found on Pinterest) I was thinking of making...

*Halloween Graveyard Cake* - this idea comes from Country Living.  Essentially it is a box cake baked in a rectangular baking dish then topped with store-bought cookies (tombstones fashioned from Pepperidge Farm's Milano and Bordeaux cookies & fence made from Rademaker chocolate sticks).  More details can be found here.

*Ghosties with the Mosty* - White chocolate will transform almost anything into ghosts.  All you need to do is dunk your items (pretzel rods, Milano cookies, Nutter Butter cookies or anything else) into white chocolate.  You will need to do a few coats and then add eyes (use mini chocolate chips, pipe chocolate/icing or use a black food marker).  Here are some examples (also found on Pinterest)...

*Halloween Trifle/Parfaits* - Go crazy and stack up your favorite Halloween candy.  You can keep it 'dry' or add layers of pudding, whipped cream, cake bites to make it a gooey, delicious mess.  More details on the parfait can be found here.

*Halloween Cookies* - A true favorite of mine and the kiddies.  I found some really cute decorating ideas I worth giving a try: skeleton cookies and the cutest ghost cookies ever.

Happy Baking & Eating!

-K

Halloween Table & Mini Halloween Cookies

I just realized I never posted last year's *Halloween Table*, so here goes...as per usual, ignore the wrinkles on the tablecloth (Martha would be so disappointed).  

Last year was baby O's first Halloween, so I wanted the table to have a fun vibe.  I set the it with an orange, retro tablecloth from Target and added a centerpiece of Halloween treats (brownies, chocolates & candy corn).  I also added black cat buckets filled with plum-colored leaves and bluish berries.  The best part of the table, however, were the little buckets of *Mini Halloween Sugar Cookies* set at each placesetting.  To make the little cookies I used cookie cutters from a Halloween Linzer Cookie cutter kit (can be found at A.C. Moore).  I am hoping to make more mini cookies this year, other than that I haven't figured out what else I will do for this year's Halloween table.

-K

Off to London

Cheerio!  I'm off to London sans kids and hubby!  Two of my college roommates live in London (two blocks apart) and after many, many years, I am off to enjoy their company for a few days.  I am so excited!  

-K

Pumpkin Bounty

When it comes to pumpkin picking my philosophy is Pick Early, Pick Often.  So last weekend when the rain finally broke, we put on our boots/high tops and headed out to our favorite local farm, Wegmeyer Farms.  We have never disappointed by the wide variety of pumpkins there and this year was no different.  The boys were instantly won over by a long pink variety called the Pink Banana, while I was intrigued by the Knuckle Head variety, a traditional pumpkin with lots of fun, warty knobs.  Besides picking out pumpkins my other mission while I am at the farm is to take pictures of the boys.  Sadly, each year their tolerance for posing for pictures diminishes, but I still managed to get a few good ones.

Here is a picture of our pumpkin loot piled on our kitchen counter...

 

and the boys at the farm...

-K

Halloween Oreo Brownies

For some reason I think the Halloween oreo cookies taste better than the regular oreo cookies.  I was thinking that very thought last weekend while I was dunking an oreo into my milk and decided I needed to add them to something.  I was formulating a cookie concoction in my head when the need arose for me to make brownies (yes, that is true, I needed to make brownies).  So...I decided to crush up some Halloween oreos and add them to the top of my brownie batter.  I only covered half the batch of brownies with the oreo crumble in case they turned out horribly wrong.  I was pleasantly surprised when they turned out AWESOME.  They really tasted as good as they looked.  The oreos had a slight burned taste (like golden roasted marshmallows) and added a nice crunch to the brownie.  So next time you need to make brownies, add some crushed up oreos to them!  Project notes: (1) To crush the oreos, placed them in ziploc bag and whack with a wooden spoon.  Try to leave some larger chunks; (2) You may have to bake the brownies with the oreo topping a little longer than usual; (3) Be very careful not to burn yourself on the oreo topping when you take the brownies out of the oven, the oreos will be extra hot and some pieces will be loose; (4) Eat them while they are still warm, they tasted so much better that way.

Here are the brownies before baking.  Another tip is to use Baking Pam to spray your mold, it works much better than regular Pam.

-K

Make Your Bed

The boys make their beds as part of their daily chores.  Normally they hastily throw their comforters over their beds and stuff their pajamas under their pillow and call it a job done.  I fine with this daily rush job, as I just want to get them into the habit of making their beds and school mornings are hectic anyway.  However, every now and then they surprise me by making their beds really neat and intricately setting up their stuffed animals.  Today was such a morning.  They were so proud of their handiwork and wanted to know if I would put it on the blog.  So here are the pictures...complete with some of their vignettes.

They had a double surprise for me, because they even made my bed!  Sometimes it the smallest things that can knock your socks off.

-K

P.S.  The boys were so excited to get in their beds tonight.  Here's a picture right before they dove under the covers and 'messed up their fancy work'.

Easy Halloween Treat Containers

If you're like me, then you're already thinking about Halloween.  I've already picked up a giant pumpkin (at the grocery store--couldn't resist) and gotten the boys to commit to this year's costume (let's just hope they don't change their minds).  Of course I have also been stalking my local craft stores to check out their Halloween goodies.  I am happy to report this is a great year for Halloween stickers.  There are some especially nice varieties of raised stickers.  I used some as a quick and easy way to embellish wooden boxes that I had painted orange.  

I got the idea to use the wooden boxes from Martha, the Queen of Halloween, but she has you cut out witches and bats and then apply them to the boxes with a glue stick (if you're interested, here is her template).  However, I think stickers are a much easier way to get a nice look.  The wooden boxes can be found at most craft stores and will cost $1 for a 3-inch box.  To paint them, mix equal parts acrylic orange paint & water (to create a wash), then apply with a foam brush (no need to paint the inside of the box).  Line boxes with wax or parchment paper if you plan on using the containers for food items.

-K

Pinkberry

All the rain has made our bushes explode with berries!  Right now the berries are various shades of pink.  I couldn't help snipping off some branches to bring their loveliness inside.

 

-K

Pippa's Bag

I have a standard corporate laptop which I dutifully carry to and from work every day.  About 4 years ago I ditched my laptop bag.  It was too heavy and bulky, so I went bare, preferring to just carry my laptop under my arm.  More recently I thought about getting a neoprene sleeve for my laptop, but was never quite sure of the dimensions I needed when standing in front of the selection at Target, so I would always pass.  Then I spied my ideal laptop bag carried by Pippa Middleton.  It was perfect: small & stylish.  I prepared myself for an outrageous price tag as I did a little research to find the maker of her laptop bag.  I couldn't believe it when I found it available at the Apple store for $80: Knomo 13" Slim Sleeve.  I quickly purchased it and had it within 4 days.  I love it!  I couldn't be happier with the purchase.  It is the perfect laptop bag for a woman, it even has a bright pink lining inside.

I wish more things came with a pink lining inside.

-K

Happy First Day of School

To make the boys' transition back to school a little easier, I gave them a small treat for them to enjoy during lunch time.  Its a tiny reminder half way through their day that I am thinking about them (little do they know, I am actually trying very hard not to think about them, so I can focus on my work, so that my day will end faster, so that I can finally how their first day back at school was).  A few years ago, we extended this tradition to include the boys' past and present teachers.  A small reminder to their teachers that they were not forgotten and still appreciated.

This year I ended up making standard Nestle Toll House chocolate chip cookies (a favorite in our house) for the treats.  I tested out oreo stuffed chocolate chip cookies, but was unimpressed with the results, so I went with the tried and true CCC.  The illustration on the cookie packaging was inspired by artist bubi's Love Stationary (I love the colors and design).  The cardinals on the design are a nod to the boys' school mascot and the cupcake was added for extra cheer (who doesn't love cupcakes).  I hope this made everyone's first day back at school just a little sweeter.

-K

Tissue Wrap + Ribbon Flag + Bakers Twine

My new wrapping accessorie is a ribbon flag.  It provide added cheer to any gift!  For a great wrapping combo use tissue paper (2 sheets), bakers twine and a ribbon flag.  It also go great with stamped cards.

-K

My New Obsession

For the past month I have had a crazy obsession.  As with most obsessions, it is a complete time-suck and consumes my precious free time.  The worst thing about it is, it's an online obsession.  After staring at a computer screen all day at work, the last thing I want to do is spend my free time in front of a computer, yet there I am.  I consider my obsession to be one of the best internet services of all time--pure freakin genius.  As a 'visual' and 'creative' person, I really had no fighting chance against it.  I have also gotten my sister hooked.  Now for the reveal...my obsession is Pinterest, a site that let's you keep track and organize pictures and content you find online (more here).  Instead of saving url links and not being able to find them later, all I need to do is 'pin' the picture from the website and Pinterest will save the picture on my virtual pinboard and the link back to the site where I found the picture.  I can create as many pinboards as I want to organize my pictures and links (i.e. Holiday Baking, Halloween, Etsy Finds).  Pinterset also makes it easy to discover more content and ideas and allows me to follow other pinners who share my style or interests.  You need to have a Facebook or Twitter account to join.  If you do not have either of these, then you can easily create a Twitter account and get started pinning.  Check out my boards and my sister's.  Here are some of pins from my 'For the Home' board...

Here is what my main Pinterest page looks like, which shows all my recent pins as well as any pins from the people I am following:

Happy pinning!

-K

Another Year

Today I turn 29 again.  I remember when the boys were real little, I used to feel old because I was a parent.  Now the boys actually make me feel younger.  They are at the age now where we can laugh together and joke around; its so fun.  I am looking forward to lots more!  Here are pictures from the birthday brunch this past weekend.  

-K 

Angry Bird Party

I hate to say it, but I don't have too many details to share about the boys' Angry Bird Birthday party.  The party was held a 'cyber club', so I didn't need to do anything for the decorations.  The cupcakes were simply topped with an Angry Bird figurine and some mini M&M's.  The goodies bags contained candy along with an Angry Bird key chain (perfect to adorn backpacks)--but that's it!  I feel like I hardly did anything this year for the boys party, but I guess they are getting older.  Good thing my nephew only just turned 1!  Here are a few pictures...

-K