Showing posts with label easter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label easter. Show all posts

Saturday, March 30, 2013

Jelly Bean Prayer - free printable


I will be using this Jelly Bean Prayer to help my little guy better understand what tomorrow is all about. While Easter is fun for candy and baskets filled with goodies, I want him to understand why this day is important to us, and why we rejoice in the fact that Christ has Risen!

To print and use this cute Prayer, just right click and save to your computer, then print. 

~ Have a joyful Easter, Miranda


Friday, March 29, 2013

Bunny Butt Cupcakes... so easy to make!


I have been a baking fool lately, and I have to admit... it's been fun! These little cuties were so easy to make and it cracks me up to hear my little guy ask for a bunny butt cupcake! 

Here is how to make these fun treats... 


After your cupcakes have cooled completely frost them white. After doing so cut up some marshmallows into a tail and 2 feet for each cupcake and place accordingly. The should stick with the frosting. 

Now with your pink frosting (I just put a dollop in a bowl with a drop or 2 of red food coloring for this part) use a toothpick to draw the details on the feet.


And that's it. Wasn't that easy? And cute as a bunny button too I might add! 


Enjoy~ Miranda

Thursday, March 28, 2013

Door step Bunny drop, last minute Easter fun!


"Some Bunny" loves you! Who doesn't like to feel the love every now and then from friends? What what better way than with a door step bunny drop? I found these cute little felt bunny baskets for $1.00 at Target today. Aren't they cute? I also picked up 2 small containers of Hello Kitty bubbles for $1.00 total. Threw in some Easter basket grass, along with plastic eggs filled with goodies like candy and peeps. Then put a note inside saying "Some Bunny Loves You" and dropped it at some neighbor's door steps. 

What a cute, easy quick way to let someone know you are thinking about them this Easter, and really fun for the kids too!

~ Miranda

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

A Very Manly Easter Basket

Easter isn't always about the kiddos, sometimes we show our love to a spouse by making a special Easter basket. Here's some ideas for the special man in your life this Easter:

-Ties
 Fun ones, serious ones or holiday ones, most men appreciate a new tie. Ties are great to roll up and put in an Easter egg too!

-Beer
Maybe instead of Easter eggs the bunny left something a little more suited to your honey's taste? Individual beer bottles placed here and there in his basket will make him smile wide (especially since most stores are closed on Easter!)

-Bottle Opener


How else are you gonna open all that beer? There are so many cool options for beer openers especially if you've got a nerd for a sweetheart!








-Book
Buy him the next book in his favorite series (Game of Thrones, anyone?). Or one he's been drooling over for a while. If he's an electronic reader then maybe a gift card instead.

-Video Game
Speaking of entertainment... the new Army of Two came out just in time for Easter!

-Jewelry or Watch
You can even go big with his basket and slip a new watch (pocket watches are coming back!) or his choice of jewelry into an Easter egg. I bet he'd never expect it.

-Giant Candy!




What guy wouldn't like this?! Find it at Vat19.com













And last but not least:

-Coffee Mug
Get it personalized or nerded out, whatever the mug, just know that he'll never let you use it!


Happy Easter!
-Kelsey

Sunday, March 24, 2013

Easter Basket Ideas for kids ages 1 to teens. *NO CANDY*

No candy Easter basket ideas for kids from ages 1 to teens. We even some ideas on fun themed baskets!

AGES 1-2

Pull and go soft race cars
B. Wheeee-Is! Soft Cars 4-pack

Safe car keys set
B. FunKeys

Favorite movies or CD of favorite songs

Clifford's Happy Easter, Norman Bridwell


Easter book
Clifford's Happy Easter, by Norman Bridwell

Easter life the flap book
Where are baby's Easter eggs? By Karen Katz

God Gave Us Easter, by Lisa Tawn Bergren, Laura J Bryant





Blocks
Mega Bloks Farm Blocks

Sidewalk Chalk
*Couldn't find a link, but the dollar section of Target has some with a holder so it doesn't get messy on little one's hands*

Kids this age love to open up plastic eggs, put fun things inside them in their Easter Basket
*socks
*squirt toys
*Little People Princess pack or Super Hero pack
*stickers
*Coins for piggy bank (it goes without saying, under adult supervision)

Sunglasses

Baby safe crayons and Easter coloring book
My First Crayons, Crayola Washable 2 pack

Stuffed bunny or chick

Snack Mix (like Goldfish or Cheerio's)

Spring Time PJ's

Instead of a basket, put gifts inside a bucket or bin that can be used for storage.


AGES 2-3
Step 2 Waterwheel play table


Maybe the Easter Bunny left a big present outside, like a water table?
Step 2 Waterwheel play table

Bubbles

Sidewalk Chalk

Snack mix - Like Annie's Pretzel & Cheddar Bunnies

DVDs or CDs

Books
Llama Llama Red Pajama, By Anna Dewdney


Again with the plastic eggs, here are some ideas for this age group
*temporary tattoos
*money
*stickers
*mini bottles of bubbles
*mini coloring books or note pads
*mini nail polish
*matchbox cars

Water color paint set

Spring Time PJ's Carter's Boys or Carter's Girls

Flip Flops

Hair Bows

Hat

T-ball and bat

Again, a bucket or bin that could be used to store toys later would be a good idea, instead of the traditional basket.

Themed Baskets for kiddos!

"Summer Fun Basket/vacation to the beach planned"

Sunglasses

Flip flops or crocs

Swim suit

Sand toys, like hand shovels, molds etc. Sizzlin' Cool 11 Piece Beach & Garden Set

Beach ball

Floaties

Beach towel

Activity book for summer trip car rides

Items could go inside a beach bag instead of basket


"Super Hero Basket"

Spiderman Flipout car


Action figures  Marvel Spider-Man Adventure Playskook Heroes

Peel and stick wall decals Roommates Batman Wall Decals

Bandaids with their favorite super hero

Superhero mask and accessories Spider-Man Marvel Mask

Superhero PJ's


Books about their favorite Superhero Marvel - The Incredible Hulk

A Cape

Superhero shirt

Big boy Superhero undies


"Girly-Girl Basket"

Tiara

Dress up jewelry

Dress up clothes

Wand

Beauty Shop Play Play Circle Beauty Shop Hairdressing Set

Play makeup

Hair bows

Pinkalicious Tickled Pink, by Victoria Kann
Princess Barbie doll

Pinkalicious book Pinkalicious Tickled Pink Paperback, by Victoria Kann

DVD Barbie : The Princess & The Popstar

Princess puzzle, or memory card game

Princess PJ's

Big girl princess undies


"Construction/Working Man Basket"

Instead of a basket, use a large construction truck and put goodies in the bed of the truck...

CD of songs John Deere: Crazy About Tractors

Mini trucks Caterpillar Mini Machines 5 Pack

Building blocks

Hard hat

Tool belt Tomy Talking Tool Belt

Ruler

Play-doh

Colored pencils (for drawing blue prints!)

Ideas for tweens & teens

For a girl, maybe a new purse instead of a basket and inside...

New phone cover

Amazon gift card- for music, books or anything

Make up

Sunglasses

Season pass to local water park or amusement park

Gift card to their favorite store

For a boy, how about a new pair of tennis shoes and inside...

New phone cover

Amazon gift card- for music, books or anything

Season pass to local water park or amusement park

New wallet

Gift card to their favorite store



Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Easter Basket Ideas for Babies (no candy!)

When my now 3 year old little boy celebrated his first Easter he was only 6 months old. It was difficult to find cute stuff to put in a basket for a child that age, everything was candy or unsafe little trinket toys he couldn't have. So I had to go the non traditional route with things for him. Here are some ideas for Easter basket goodies for your baby under the age of 1, with some links on specific items!

Teething Rings
Here is a cute chick teether from Target

Plush Blocks
Infantino Discover and Play Plush Blocks

Plush Bunny or Chick
Floopy Bunny Plush Security Blanet

Age appropriate snack foods, like Gerber Puffs

Soft Books
Sassy's Baby's First set of books
photo credit: Leap Frog Leap Frog My Puppy Pal Scout & Violet






Interactive Toy
Leap Frog my Puppy Pal








Sippy Cup Trainer
http://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=13277187

Spring time PJs

CD with fun songs
Baby Einstein Traveling Melodies

Special night time book
Biscuit's Pet & Play Easter





Simple, Adorable Cotton Candy Easter Cake *frugal alert!*

I had to redeem myself after my pastel colored deviled eggs incident. I thought the best way to do that was with a cake, a treat for everyone! This one was super easy, and super frugal! May I present... cotton candy Easter cake-


I am no baker. Store bought cake mix is usually my go to and was in this case. Here is what I used to make this little cutie...


I got all ingredients at Walmart. Gotta admit, I haven't seem little icing decorations for cakes like this in years so I picked up a pack. 

So I got to mixing, all the while my 3 year old is at my feet asking if the birthday cake was for him. "Where are my balloons?", "I want Spiderman party!". My explanation of this being an Easter cake for everyone went unheard. 

I decided to make the batter purple, mixing blue and red food coloring, this part is up to you. I just like purple, it's such a spring-y color!

So just follow the instructions on your cake mix, and let it cool after it's finished baking. In the mean time I mixed up my cotton candy frosting creation! *Note- I had never used this before. It's a good idea to not have your face anywhere near the container of frosting when you begin to mix, the power from the flavor mix pack just exploded everywhere and covered me!*

So after the cake cooled I got to frosting. I am not a good at this step.. don't expect a cake from me to look professional in anyway! :)

The I put the little bunnies around the cake, my little guy was yelling with glee "The bunnies are dancing around the cake!". 

Finished product...


Little Man was trying to sneak some frosting... and then tried to bribe me with kisses for a piece of cake.



So of course I caved in a gave him a piece. 



Happy First Day of Spring! ~ Miranda

Monday, March 18, 2013

Easter Fortune Eggs

Wow, can you believe it's almost Easter?! When time flies by this fast, It can be so easy to lose touch with those who are truly important in our lives. That's why I like to try to make every holiday a family event and that usually means a meal.

This Easter we are having a Pre-Egg Hunt brunch, in order to fill those bellies before the big chase. I wanted everyone to participate in the egg cracking so I decided to have an Easter fortune egg waiting on every plate.

It's can be as simple or elaborate a project as you like!

First start out with the fortunes. I used a heavier paper like construction or scrapbook paper because I wanted it to withstand any torture I might be putting it through in order to suit my needs ;)


There are many different ways you can cut or edge the strips of paper. I decided to forgo the scissors and use the 'fold, lick, rip' tactic in order to get an antique edge. You can also use the kid shape scissors that will give it a ziz zag or scallop edge.


















You can also antique the paper with tea staining, just be sure to let the paper dry completely before writing anything on it. This would be really cute if you decide to put a bible verse instead of a fortune for a post-Church brunch!


















Now, for the paper to fit nicely into the egg, just roll it up! It turns out well if you wrap it around something like a pencil or pen.

I bought a few eggstra (haha) packages of plastic Easter eggs this year just knowing that I'd use them for some project or another for the holiday and here it is!



Have fun with this! Break out your stamps or paper punches! It's easy and cute and can fit any theme.

Happy Crafting!
-Kelsey

Sunday, March 17, 2013

Just cause it ain't pretty, don't mean it ain't yummy!

So the colored deviled eggs seem to be pretty popular on Pinterest  right now with Easter coming right up. I decided to try my hand at it this evening.

Here is my FAILED attempt at this project, and what I learned along the way.

First off, I found a new method (find detailed directions here) for making hard boiled eggs so to avoid getting that grayish/blueish ring around the yolk. It was pretty simple starting off.

Get your eggs out and find a tack. Now poke a hole into the shell of the egg on the bigger end, but don't go too deep.


Now put your eggs in a pot and cover with cold water, put on stove and bring to a boil. Once water is boiling lower the heat to a low boil and let it go for 10 minutes. 


As soon as the 10 minutes are up using a slotted spoon immediately put the eggs into a bowl of ice water. Let them sit until cool.*** Please keep reading to find my experience and advice with this last step***


While the eggs were cooling I got a couple of bowls of water out and put a few drops of red food coloring into one, and then red and blue into the other to make a light purple. Once the eggs were cooled I proceeded to ATTEMPT to remove the shell. This was quite a task. Usually my hard boiled eggs are easy to peel, but I think putting them in the ice water made it more difficult. The shells broke off into tiny pieces and took chunks of the actual egg with them. So next time I attempt this, I will skip the ice water. This was my misstep #1. 

So after seeing how gnarly my eggs looked, I thought about nixing this whole thing. But I didn't want to waste perfectly good food just because it didn't look appealing. So I cut them in half and was pleasantly surprised at how brightly yellow the yolks were! No grayish/blueish rings! The insides were perfect. I think I'll stick to the method of putting a hole in the egg before boiling from now on! So I scooped out the yolks and put them in a bowl to mix up later. 


I moved onto the dying of the eggs. Sigh... I thought this would be easy peasy. Not so much. I dropped a half an egg into the pink water and waited a minute them removed. No color. Tried again... still no color. So avoid my mistake of only putting in a few drops of food coloring... seems to me you need a lot for this project. So I put some more drops of food coloring in and dropped the egg in... whoops- I forgot to stir the water! Misstep #2. Now that I had color (albeit not as smooth as I wanted) showing up after pulling them out of the colored water I put them on a paper towel to rest and dry. BIG MISTAKE. The paper towel weaving was imprinted onto my eggs! So this was my misstep #3.

So after sighing and griping about what I thought would be an easy project I got to mixing up the filling for the eggs. My recipe is simple. A dollop of mayo, small drop of mustard, sprinkle of paprika and pepper and super yummy deliciousness ensues. I put the mix back into my weird looking eggs. 

So here is my finished project on pastel colored deviled eggs. 


Not exactly the picture perfect plate floating around on Pinterest. But they were yummy!

So here is what I learned... 

*In my experience peeling an egg that is a bit warmer will probably guarantee a cleaner break in shell, making for a nice looking egg.
*You need more than a few drops to dye a hard boiled egg!
*Don't let your eggs rest on a paper towel after dying them, put them on a plate!
*Just because it ain't pretty don't mean it ain't yummy!

This is not my last attempt at you, pastel colored deviled eggs! I will try and try again, feeding my husband as many of you little suckers as I can until I have perfected you. Or until he tells me his stomach can't take anymore. 

~ Miranda