Bunny Cakes

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

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

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

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

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

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

Baby Blankets

It’s been a while…a very long while.  As I sat down to write this entry, I honestly had no idea where to begin. If you have been reading BunnyCakes for over a year and half, you might know me…if not, I am A (K’s sister and [new] mother to O). After taking a little bit of a breather (tough pregnancy resulting in a precious baby who doesn’t nap), I am back. Well, back for the time being.

My first post back is not surprisingly baby related, although, not my baby.  My group of friends is experiencing a bit of a baby boom. Exciting stuff! Baby boom equals baby quilt boom. In my opinion, nothing says welcome to the world like some handmade love! Although my free time is now very limited, I still try to do a little something for friends who are having babies.  My old standby was a knitted baby hat and although I still enjoy knitting, I have been lured away to the world of faster gratification that quilting offers (yes, I am a turtle slow knitter).

The first baby blanket is a pattern called “Winner’s bouquet.” I originally discovered this pattern in my local quilt shop and fell in love.  After being convinced that “it’s really not that hard” I decided to take the plunge (which resulted in a generous down and dirty lesson from said quilt shop---I bet they don’t tell anyone that “it’s really not that hard” anymore!). After learning a few quick tricks, the quilt pattern and I came to an "understanding." Since my co-worker is having a girl she wanted a color palette of pink. Luckily for me, my baby is a boy, and so the stash is well stocked with pinks. A majority of the fabrics are from Amy Butler’s Midwest Modern and Midwest Modern II… fabric lines that I just love! 

The second baby quilt is a slightly modified version of a pattern in Jodi Barrow’s Square in a Square booklet. This quilt is also for a co-worker (I seriously stopped drinking the water at work…it’s spiked with something). This was one of the first time I used the square in a square ruler and I have to say, it lives up to the hype! This quilt top came together in just a few short, enjoyable hours. The fabrics are: Alexander Henry’s Teeny Tiny Zoo and the green fabric is Michael Miller’s Zen Garden (in pear).

~A

Pot Luck Mother's Day Brunch

This is the first year my mom, sister and I are all mothers, so we decided it was fitting to have a pot luck brunch.  This way no one had to over extend themselves on their special day and we didn't have to fight the crowds for a table at any of the local restaurants.  We all brought a little something and ended up having a nice, relaxing meal together.  The table centerpiece had peonies and ranunculus (two of my favorites) and I placed a little gift on the plates of each of the moms: succulents for my mom, a craft book and fabric for A and a little vase of ranunculus for me.  

The centerpiece was easy to create and only cost $30 in flowers ($15 for 5 peonies and two bunches of $7 ranunculus).  I also added in some willow branches I had from Easter to give a little more interest.  The urn shaped vase is a classic from Crate & Barrel and makes any larger arrangement look great.  Also, sometimes you when you unpack your ranunculus, you may find a few of the stems bent or broken.  Don't throw those away, just float them in shallow dishes and add them to your table.

I hope you had a wonderful Mother's Day!

-K

Teacher Appreciation Gift - Wild Thing Cookie Stack

It is that time of year, *Teacher Appreciation Week*--time to show your teachers how much you appreciate them.  I know managing my two boys can be rough at times, I can't imagine managing 25 kids and getting them to learn!  Don't let this week pass by without letting them know you appreciate them.  The class moms have really taken charge this year in both my sons' classes, but I still wanted to give a little something extra from our family to let them know we are thankful for all they do.  Usually I convey our message via song lyrics (examples here and here), but even after reviewing a ton of Beatle's songs I couldn't come up with anything new.  So I reused the lyrics from Wild Thing, but with a different spin: a Wild Thing theme.  After looking online at some Wild Thing parties for ideas, I was inspired by Caroline Armelle's invitations for her son's third birthday--loved the font she used (Kohicle 25).  I created a simple wrappers to decorate individually packaged Chocolate Chip Cookies.  The top cookie had a Wild Thing image with the message, 'Wild Thing, You Make My Heart Sing.'  The the other cookies had messages from the boys.

Finally, the cookies were stacked on top of a gift card and tied with baker's twine to create a sweet Teacher Appreciation gift.  For details on how to attach the bands check out here.  Download the Wild Thing Cookie Wrappers here: Wild_Thing_Cookie_Wrap.

 

-K