Bunny Cakes

New Year's Eve with the Kiddies

This year we held our second annual New Year's Eve Olympics.  It has proven to be an excellent way to keep the kids awake and energized as we wait to ring the new year in.  It almost worked too well, as the boys were bouncing around all night with endless energy and excitement.  

To set the games up we picked 7 events (e.g. Horse, Wii Bowling, Tripoli, Sorry) and split into two teams (randomly).  For each medal received in an event your team gets awarded points according to the medal color.  The team with the most points at the end wins.  As it happened we ended our Olympics in a tie--everyone was a winner.  One of the events (Connect Four) was scratched because Hubby felt I had an unfair advantage.  As soon as the Olympics ended and the ball dropped the boys passed out.  Hubby and I were rewarded with a restful morning as the boys slept till 11am.

 

Instead of picking countries we went with the National & American baseball leagues since we had corresponding baseball jerseys.  We also used Uglydolls for mascots.  And since there was a blue moon this New Year's Eve the medals were moons!  

Happy New Year!

K

Merry Merry Christmas

This year for our Christmas card we decided to include a disc of Christmas songs.  We had done this many years ago when the boys were first born and decided it was time for Volume 2.  Since we had included almost every good Christmas song we knew on the first album, the second album was much more difficult to pull together.  Somehow we still managed to find some more good xmas tunes though I am pretty sure there will not be a Volume 3.

 

 

Here is the list of songs we included in Volume 2:

• Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree - BRENDA LEE
• Baby, It's Cold Outside - LEON REDBONE & ZOOEY DESHANEL 
• Jingle Bell Rock - WAYNE NEWTON 
• All My Bells Are Ringing - LENKA (good song!)  
• Cool Yule - LOUIS ARMSTRONG & THE COMMANDERS 
• It's Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas - DIONNE WARWICK  
• Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas - DIANA KRALL (love this version!) 
• Winter Wonderland - PEGGY LEE
• Up on the House Top - JACKSON 5 
• Step Into Christmas - ELTON JOHN  
• I'll Be Home for Christmas - HOLLY CONLAN 
• Christmas Is All Around - BILLY MACK (song from Love Actually)
• Linus & Lucy - VINCE GUARALDI TRIO  
• I Saw Three Ships - STING 
• Sleigh Ride - KT TUNSTALL (great version)  
• A Holly Jolly Christmas - BURL IVES 
• I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm - Kay Starr  
• Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer -  BILLY MAY & HIS ORCHESTRA 
• Merry Christmas (I Don't Want to Fight Tonight) - THE RAMONES  
• Maybe Next Year (X-mas Song) - MEIKO

  -K

Peace, Love & Pecans

Due to the prevalent lack of Christmas spirit this year our annual Cookie Night was canceled.  So instead of handing out cookies A decided she would give out sugared pecans to her coworkers.  She put me on the hook for making labels/tags to dress up the pecans.  So while I sat on endless hours of conference calls I came up with some simple *Peace, Love & Pecan* tags, which are available for download here: PeaceLovePecans.

 

Here are some tips for putting together the sugared pecan treat bags:

1. Cut the tops of the cello bags with scalloped shears or rotary cutters for a nicer look.

2.  Use a 2 inch circle punch for cut out the 'Peace, Love & Pecan' tags.  The punch can be found a craft stores.

3.  Use bakers twine to tie up the bags and attach the labels.  I actually broke down and bought a 2 lb spool of red and white bakers twine ($17 for the spool and S+H from Country Clean Paper Supply).

(Some special recipients got the 'Deez Nuts' tags - email me if you want that template).

-K

Peace In

The hottest Christmas theme this year is *Peace*.  Most likely this influence comes from Barney's 2008 Hippie Holiday theme which celebrated the peace symbol's 50th anniversary.  Pottery Barn is a great source for peace themed ornaments and the like.  I picked up a little box of 50 sparkly peace symbols from there for $10.  They make excellent ties-ons for gifts or little ornaments to add to your tree.

 

Here is look at Pottery Barn's collection of Peace ornaments, some of which you could easily make yourself.  If only I had more time I would make some of the hearts with the embroidered peace symbol...maybe next year.

  

-K

Oh La La - Happy Shopping & Vintage Ornaments

As you may know, when it comes to cake stands and platters I have all the bases covered, however, when it comes to service ware, it is quite a different story.  I was seriously lacking in that department, until recently (though not in time for Thanksgiving) when my latest purchases from Rue La La arrived: Barbara Barry's 'Curtain Call' Service & Hostess Set from Wedgewood.  I now feel adequate in the service ware department.  

Now on to the shopping...you are all invited you to sign-up and start shopping at Rue La La...its free and if you sign up before Dec 24th, they will give $10 credit.  The way Rue La La works like this: everyday different boutiques will open.  The boutiques offer seriously discounted items (mostly clothing & jewelry with some home stuff here and there).  These boutiques will usually be open for 3-4 days or until they sell out.  And believe they sell out!  If you are interested in an upcoming boutique then it is best to be online and ready to shop the minute it opens (11am EST), fill your cart and then check out quickly (a beautiful Juliska pitcher and a $250 Fendi purse slipped through my hands). *Happy Shopping*!

Now on to the *Vintage Ornaments*...don't you love them?!?  They are seriously drool worthy.  I especially love their shapes and colors!  I picked them up a garage sale during the summer at $2 for a box of 12.  Even though I have given them to my sister, A, who really appreciates vintage finds, they are still in my possession.  She doesn't have a Christmas tree yet and promises, 'maybe next year.'  I was hoping these lovely ornaments would tempt her into getting a tree, but atlas they failed.  Oh well, they will just have to go on my tree this year.

-K

Bright & Cheery Thanksgiving Table

This year for Thanksgiving we went with a fuschia colored table cloth and a muted cream table runner.  The bright centerpiece made with fuschia roses, mini pumpkins and fall leaves (from our yard) complemented up on the cheery table cloth.  We weren't sure if the mini pumpkins were going to work, but they turned out to fit in nicely and I was happy to have one final use for the pumpkins before they got tossed.  We just used wooden skewers to hold the pumpkins in place.  Check out the results below:

The boys wore turkey headdresses from Joann's to help celebrate the day....

 

And it turned out that I didn't need to worry about the pumpkin shortage, but instead faced a toffee bit shortage.  It seemed that everyone and their grandmother had planned on trying out Martha's Blue Ribbon Pie recipe and I couldn't find any toffee bits anywhere.  Luckily Hubby picked up some mini Heath bars that were easy enough to chop up so I could still make the pie.  It turned out OK, but I am sure my version would not have won any ribbons.

 

 -K

Vampire Love

If you remember my Twilight Fever post from early September on the boys' Halloween costumes, then you will remember I was trying to convince the boys to be twin Edward Cullens (aka handsome Robert Pattinson Vampires).  Well I am happy to report the boys decided to be Vampires for Halloween.  It was mostly because they couldn't find anything else they wanted to be and less because of my (fading) All-Powerful-Mommy-Influence.  I followed Martha's instructions for making the capes and added an embroidered patch to personalize each cape.  Overall the cape project was pretty easy and I would highly recommend giving it a try (you only have to sew two straight lines per cape).  I had a lot of fun doing their hair...check out my twin vampires:

And of course this post wouldn't be complete without my other Vampire Love fresh from the Vanity Fair photo shoot...

Photo by Bruce Weber

-K

Halloween School Treats 2009

OK, so I pretty much followed the same technique as last year to make *Halloween Treats* for the boys to share with their classmates: Stamp, Stuff & Sew.

 

At Micheal's I purchased Glassine-like favor bags (in the wedding section, 100 per pack) and stamped them with Halloween motifs (Martha makes great stamps -- not the clear kind, but the block kind).  Then stuffed them with Halloween goodies.  I enlisted the boys to help with the stuffing part and they quite enjoyed it.  Finally, I sewed the bags shut.  The sewing step is completely optional.  I was feeling lazy about the sewing part and was just going to fold over the tops of the bags and seal with a clear circle sticker, but I couldn't find them at the craft store (I didn't check any office supply stores though).

For their teachers the boys brought in mini-bundt cake brownies tied up to look like a giant piece of candy.  To make these use wax/parchment paper, colored tissue paper and cello to wrap up your baked goods, tie with bakery twine and add card.

 

-K

Glitter Spiders in Action

Halloween is almost here!  I wish I were a kiddie again so I could get dressed up and go out trick-or-treating!  What would I be?  Just what any girl would want to be (besides Edward Cullen's beloved)...a princess.  Princess Leia that is.  Okay, so I am too old to go out ringing doorbells for candy (not too old to be Edward's gal), so I will have to settle for some glittery Halloween decorations.  Here is how we put the Glitter Spiders to good use...

1.  Bling on a stack of pumpkins:

 

2.  A tie-on for a bag of Halloween Goodies:

 

3.  Extra spook an a Halloween Wreath:

-K

Halloween Football Treats

This Fall the boys took a break from soccer to try out flag football.  Though they missed soccer and their soccer teammates, football turned out to be a lot of fun.  For our traditional end-of-season treats the boys passed out these cute little bat 'tins' filled with Halloween Chocolates.  To give the bat tins some extra Halloween character we attached labels adorned with sparkly & spooky Halloween stickers from Martha's craft line.  Both the plastic tins and stickers were purchased at Michael's.

To make the treats, start by assembling the supplies: tins, sitckers, circle punch, chocolates & labels. The labels were printed on light green paper and then punched out with the circle punch.  The fonts for the label can all be found at dafont.com: the 'Happy Halloween' font is Bone; 'Connor & Jackson' font is Matchbook; Spider font is Trick or Treat BV; Football Helmet font is WC Sold Out B Bta; and the Bat font is KiddyHalloween.

Next, fill the tins with Halloween candies or other treats.  Then tie with ribbon and label.

Lastly, distribute the tins!

-K