Bunny Cakes

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

Color Block Easter Eggs

I love color block Easter eggs because they couldn't be easier to make.  Here is some inspiration for you...

The first and last images come from Oh Joy where you can find step by step instructions on how to create your own neon dip-dyed eggs.  The second image is from our 2011 Easter table post.  The third image comes from Shelterness' collection of Cool Easter Table Ideas.

Happy Coloring!

-K

Washi Paper Easter Eggs

Every year I look forward to getting our house ready for Easter.  I welcome the spring-like feel our house gets with the cute little bunnies scattered about.  But what I look forward to most is displaying the washi paper eggs made by myself and my grandmother.  For those of you who don't know what washi paper is, it is a decorative Japanese paper that has a thick and flexible quality.  Unless you are lucky enough to have a Japanese grandmother with her own stash, then you can find washi paper at Paper Source or other fine paper stores.  The key to washi paper is to never throw away your scraps, you can always find a use for them down the road--in fact these eggs can be made with larger pieces of scraps.  

The washi eggs created by my grandmother use actual real eggs, but the ones I created use wooden eggs found at the craft store (have you ever tried to blow out an egg? it is really difficult).  I saw a tutorial on Martha a few years back which does a decent job of explaining the process to create your own eggs.  Once you've made your eggs the displaying part is the fun part.  I put mine in milk glass eggs cups and a big wire bunny, but they also look great in a bowl or just on their own.

-K

Bright and Colorful Easter Table

Usually for Easter I let the flowers dictate the color scheme for the table.  This year the flower arrangements had pink, bright yellows and soft green.  Lemon custard starters (no reason you can't start and end with dessert) with little spring chick cookies picked up the bright yellow color.  Colorful Easter eggs, sea blue glasses and our traditional plate of Easter sugar cookies completed the table.

-K

Marzipan Carrots

Today I made these cute little *Marzipan Carrots*.  I thought it would be a fun project to do with the boys, but they didn't get into it too much.  So I happily made them solo.  I'm still not sure what I am going to do with them.  I am thinking cupcakes or custard, but we'll see.  This was my first time working with marzipan and I found it pretty to easy to work with.  I followed Martha's instructions here.  The most time consuming aspect was coloring the marzipan.  Make sure you use food safe gloves (if you don't have any, you can use sandwich bags) so your hands don't end up looking like Easter eggs.  I also found when I was making the carrot leaves, the marzipan started to dry out a little and it was difficult for me to get a clean cut with my knife.  When I put a tiny tiny bit of water on the blade it remedied the issue.

-K

Easter Basket Fillers

In case you are stumped for fun things to fill your Easter baskets with, here are a few last minute suggestions...

Clockwise starting from upper left: Chocolate Bunnies from Vosges Chocolates; Steiff Stuffies from Williams Sonoma; Star Wars Cookies also from Williams Sonoma; Godiva bunny from Target; blue bunny ring holder from Urban Outfitters; personalized peep plushie; bunny rocking horse from Restoration Hardware; Sophie Bath Buddy from Pottery Barn Kids; The Runaway Bunny--a classic board book by Marget Wise Brown & illustrations by Clement Hurd.

-K

Custom Colored Easter Grass

Instead of going with plastic Easter grass, try using 100% biodegradable fine wood shred (also known as wood excelsior or wood wool).  This shred can easily be dyed using gel icing coloring found in your craft store's cake decorating section.  Just mix up some of the gel, water and a little bit of vinegar (I used a tsp or so) to the color you desire.  With all the different gel colors available you can mix up your own custom color!  Then soak the wood shred until it reaches the color saturation you want.  Finally let air dry on some paper towels.  Once you get going, it will be hard to stop yourself as you will be tempted to make many a rainbow of colors.  You can also add glitter to the grass to give it some sparkle. 

Here is the'before' shot of the Easter grass still in its natural shade (which is still lovely, but for Easter it is fun to have some color).

-K

P.S.  I found the vintage Italian pressed glass dessert cups at a Thrift Store ($1 each!).

Birthday Brunch for Grandma

This past weekend we celebrated our mom's 28th birthday.  The boys thought this was funny and according to the them, A & I would not exist if that were the case.  All I can say is they better not laugh in August when it comes to celebrate my 28th birthday!  

To celebrate the occasion, we did what we normally do...brunched and ate cake (I wish I could do this every day!  I would even settle for once a week).  The cake was kept simple with a single flower in the middle and a beaded border.  The table was also kept simple with 3 orchid stems in a vase surrounded by a few floating orchids in mis-matched dessert cups.  Orchids are so beautiful on their own, they don't need any other flower or require any fullness to make the arrangement look great.  This simple setting would also be perfect for Easter.

-K