Easter Finery

The Easter skirt was a reality this year!  Great pictures of my girls in their dresses, not so much.  Also, quick disclaimer: I am not a model.  But I did have fun making the skirt!  I bought the pattern from Make It and Love It, called the Lily Skirt.  It was well-written and easy to follow, and I love that the waistband is super stretchy.  The skirt did end up with a little bit more pouf than I expected, so if I make another one I won't use as much fabric.

This is seriously the best picture we could get of the kids, but there were a few things going against us.  They had to sit because of the cast, we didn't have time for photos before church, and we didn't have a great location.  Maybe next year.  Looking back, I also wish I would have had my picture taken with the girls.  Instead, here's a full-length shot of me trying to look serious.

I'll have to work on that.

 Linked up: Sugar Bee Crafts

Easter Dresses 2012

I decided to try something new for Easter dresses this year.  Last year, I didn't even consider making my daughters' dresses.  I guess a lot has changed in the last year, and thanks to discovering a lot of new sewing blogs, I felt like this might be something I could handle.

I picked up a pattern at Walmart, New Look 6448, and decided on variation A.  It said "Easy" right on front, so I thought it would be on my level, but that was a bit of an overstatement.  I ended up needing a lot of explanation of pattern terms and techniques from my sewing instructor. (hi, Mom!)  I'm sure I would have messed something up without her.  Now that I have done these, though, I do feel like I might be able to do more by myself in the future.

For the fabric flower embellishment, I sewed together three rolled fabric flowers of different sizes and a little bit of lace trim.  They turned out exactly how I wanted, so that was great.

The sashes just tie in a simple bow in the back. 

I hope I can get a good photo of my girls in their dresses.  My oldest went and got her leg broken on the trampoline over the weekend, so that hot pink cast has become an unexpected accessory and will make an adventure for Easter egg hunting.

Now the real question: Do I use the leftover fabric to make some sort of banded matching skirt for me. . ?  I have a simple pattern I have been meaning to try, so maybe I'll get brave and energetic and give it a try.

Linked up: Sugar Bee Crafts

Wooden Easter Eggs

Easter is fast approaching, so with that in mind I bought these unfinished wooden egg cutouts from Wood Creations and gussied them up.  I am not always huge into wood crafts, but these were just too cute to pass up!  I also had a lot of fun with the design and method on these.

I got all my supplies at Hobby Lobby, which include the paint, ribbon in a scrap pack, scrapbook paper, and that awesome flocked glitter.  Isn't that just neat?  First, I painted each egg with about three coats of acrylic craft paint.  Once that was dry, I decoupaged the paper onto each egg.  Next, I did the flocked glitter.  I used a Martha Stewart ball point glue pen (best idea ever) and drew a line of glue along all the paper edges.  I spread the flocked glitter along the glue and kind of pressed it down to make sure it got glued evenly.

As a finishing touch, I tied lengths of ribbon around each egg.  On the two biggest eggs, I tied little extra pieces around the knot to give it a little bit more substance.

 

I just love how bright, fun, happy, etc. these little babies are.  Who else is super excited for Easter now?!?

Chillin' with My Peeps Stenciled Shirts

I was in the middle of about four other projects, when I had this idea for Easter shirts for my girls this year.  I am someone who is easily suckered by seasonal items at the store.  Before, it was mostly candy and decor, but now that I have kids my little love of all things holiday reaches into clothing as well.  This year for Easter, I wanted to make dresses for the girls (which are almost done!), and I got to thinking about other kinds of holiday-themed clothing, which is when I had the idea for these shirts.

Admittedly, the idea wasn't entirely my own.  I first saw it as a wood craft, but thought the concept could easily be really cute for Easter shirts.  Plus, I was able to use things I already had on-hand, so I didn't have to spend a penny on these.

My method was the same I have used on my stenciled shirts in the past, using vinyl cut on my Silhouette as a stencil.  It works pretty well, although I'd love to try their stencil vinyl or freezer paper.  I tried cutting freezer paper on my Silhouette a year or two ago, and it didn't work at all, but now that I have new mats(yes!) I am thinking it might work after all.

After I designed the graphics and cut the vinyl, I put the vinyl on each shirt and used my fabric ink and brushes to paint the shirts.  I had to do three coats of the white, which was a little bit ridiculous.  Once I was done painting in the stencil, and I pulled off the vinyl and let the paint dry.  For the eyes and noses, I dipped the other end of my brush in brown fabric paint and dabbed it on.  To make sure the ink was cured, I baked each shirt in the oven for one minute at 350 degrees.  This was mostly for the silver paint, since it doesn't cure just by air drying.

If you'd like the Silhouette .studio cut file for these shirts, just leave a comment with your email or send an email to audzipan at gmail.

Linked: Craft-O-Maniac, Skip to My Lou, Sugarbee Crafts, Shwin&Shwin, Tatertots & Jello

Cadbury Egg Popcorn

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So, it's no secret that I am a huge popcorn lover.  I eat popcorn as a snack at least once a week, if not more.  Check out my Scotcharoos Popcorn and Microwave Caramel Popcorn for more of my favorite recipes.  This easy recipe is a fun seasonal variation of the simple popcorn/candy coating mix.  Throw Cadbury Mini Eggs in anything, and you can bet I will eat it.  I've even substituted them for the chocolate chips in my Manntastic Chocolate Chip Cookies.  That was a good idea.

It's so simple I can hardly call it a recipe, but here we go!  For a treat to share with a group, I'd double this.

Cadbury Egg Popcorn
1 bag microwave popcorn or 1/3 c. unpopped kernels
6 oz. white candy coating (a.k.a. almond bark, but not white chocolate chips)
5 oz. Cadbury Mini Eggs candy (1/2 normal size bag)

First off, pop your popcorn, either in the microwave or with an air popper, then add to a large mixing bowl.  Put your Cadbury eggs in a ziptop baggie and whack it with a rolling pin or hammer, so that each egg is at least broken in half.  You don't need to go crazy here, just make sure that you don't have any whole eggs.

Add the broken candy eggs to the popcorn bowl and set that aside.  Next, melt your candy coating in 30-second intervals in the microwave, stirring every 30 seconds until smooth.  If your coating came in a block like mine, make sure you chop it up into 1-inch cubes before melting.  Once the coating is all melted and smooth, pour it over the popcorn and Cadbury egg mixture.

Stir or fold everything together to combine.  I have found that folding the melted coating into the popcorn is the best method to evenly distribute the coating and keep the popcorn mostly intact.  When everything is evenly coated, pour out onto a jellyroll pan (cookie sheet with lipped edges) and let cool.  Once the candy coating is hardened, which shouldn't take long, break it up and you are ready to enjoy.

And believe me, you will enjoy!

Linked: TT&J

Chow Mein Bird Nests

Instead of dyeing eggs this year, even though I bought 18 eggs for just such an occasion, I made these cute little nests out of chow mein noodles and marshmallows.  Think rice crispy treats.  I used the mini-sized robin eggs to fill the nests.  I can't take all the credit, though.  I found the idea and the recipe at Bake at 350.  I made mine a bit smaller than hers, so I ended up with sixteen nests, each with three robin eggs.

Chow Mein Bird Nests
(adapted from Bake at 350)
3 c. mini marshmallows
3 T. butter
1/2 t. vanilla
1 package dry chow mein noodles (between 3 1/2 and 4 cups)
48 Mini robin's eggs, mini Cadbury eggs, or jellybeans

Melt marshmallows and butter in a saucepan over medium-low heat.  Once everything is melted and combined, stir in the vanilla, then remove from heat and stir in the noodles.  Line a cookie sheet or the counter with parchment paper.  Coat your hands with shortening before working with the noodles.  Grab a golf-ball sized bit of the mixture and form a nest by sticking your thumb in the middle of the ball and working your way around, keeping your thumb in the inside of the nest and using the rest of your hand to pinch from the outside.  Makes about 16 nests.  You may have to go back to some of the first nests you made and reform them slightly as the marshmallow cools.

I had my parents, in-laws, and brother over for Easter dinner, so I used these as place card holders.

They were super easy- just print the names on the right side of file folder labels and fold them over on themselves with a toothpick in the middle.  I know it's too late for Easter, but these would be cute for any spring dinner or bird-themed party.

Easter Banner Free Printable

Hello!  Today I am sharing with you my very first free printable.  I make things like this for myself all the time, so I thought I had better get spreading the love.  This is a simple circular Easter banner.  For mine, I tied the beaded eggs ornaments along a length of ribbon and taped the circles over each knot.  Then, I just used pushpins to secure it to the wall above my entry hall mirror.  Piece of cake!  I got the beaded eggs at Tai Pan Trading, for those of you with one of those around.

  To download the printable, click on the image.  It will take you to a new page, where you can right-click and save the photo.  Then, just print the image the original size and cut out the circles.  You can make them into a banner, like I have done, or you could use them as party decorations, Easter tree ornaments, etc.  Use your imagination, and show me what you come up with!

If you do use this printable and post it on your blog, please give me a link back.  Thanks, and enjoy!

Linked up: Get Your Craft On with Today's Creative Blog,

Feature: Easter Eggstravaganza

Today's feature is all about Easter eggs in all varieties. 

I am sharing with you some of my favorites.  For a link to the site, click on the caption below the picture.

Eggs Easter Letters by JC BloomingBoutique

Giant Peanut Butter Easter Egg by SweetMcBirdie

Small Hand Painted Pearl Green Paisley Egg by KimArt

Bird Egg Pillow by Giardino

Hand Painted Glass Egg by Schemata

Easter Egg Lasso Necklace by TheWhirlwind

There you have it!  Have a great weekend, and most of all:

Happy Easter!