Bunny Cakes

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