Pink Peppermint Blogger

I’ve been stuck in a Beatrix Potter vein this Easter season. I saw some awesome faux cabbage leaf chargers in a catalog, and it got me thinking how cute it would be to use real carrots, cabbage, lettuce, radishes (do rabbits eat those?) and other bunny fare to decorate for an Easter party!

On a whim, I grabbed some produce and used items I already had at home to make this festive bunny snacks centerpiece!

What you’ll need:

• whole carrots
• 3/16″ dowel rods
• green yarn, raffia or string
• Spanish moss
• a container deep enough to sink the dowel rods at least 3 inches and provide stability to each carrot
• foam, oasis or a wood piece with drilled holes for your dowels cut to fit your container
• decorative ribbon if desired

My dowels were a bit long at 12 inches, so I snipped about 3 inches off with some heavy duty scissors before getting started.

I had a HUGE skein of yarn left over from several Halloweens ago (witch’s hair), which I split and used a single thickness of to wrap my dowel rods like such:

I didn’t have to adhere the yarn to the dowels. Instead I just wrapped the yarn at top and bottom to hold itself on. You can leave about 1/4 inch at the top exposed and whatever amount at bottom that will be hidden in your base. If you wrap it all the way down, the yarn will bunch a bit when you slide it into the foam.

Then, I snapped the green tops off the carrots and pushed the 1/4 inch of unwrapped dowel about that far into the base of the carrot. Be gentle or the carrot may split. Here’s what you end up with.

I prepared my base, threading my container with this awesome burlap ribbon.

Then I used some bright green Spanish moss to camouflage my foam.

As you can see, my container was oblong, but I think there are a variety of shapes that work – square with 3 carrots across and 3 down or maybe even potting each carrot by itself. The trick with the single carrot will be to find a pot that doesn’t visually overpower one carrot but is deep enough to secure the dowel and heavy enough not to tip over with the weight.

I placed the center carrot first, and then the carrot on either end and worked toward the middle to ensure equal spacing.  For extra stability, you could use low temperature hot glue to keep the dowels from wobbling. After inserting the carrots in my base, I filled in the top of the arrangement with more Spanish moss and that was it!

Here’s the finished product.

Here are a few more pictures of the table you might enjoy as well as a source list at the bottom of the post.

The carrots lasted for quite a few days in the fridge even after the dowels were inserted. I’d say you could easily do this the day before a party and still have them look great. I soaked mine in water too and that seemed to help preserve their freshness. They’re supposed to look a little rough–it adds to the sort of rustic, fresh-picked look. After three days of leaving mine on the counter, they were a little tired and on the fourth day, I was left with this:

I’m going to wait until closer to Easter and redo the centerpiece with some fresh carrots. Hope you enjoy!

Sources:

• Melamine cups, bowls and plates, coordinating drinking straws – Target
• Coordinating napkins – Party City
• Grass mats and small felt carrots – Hobby Lobby

Totally need your help here! I recently did a round of custom invitations for an egg hunt birthday party. I know which version the birthday mom picked. And I think I know which is my fave.

Seldom are the client’s pick and mine one and the same. It’s funny to me how often someone picks an invitation different from the one I think they’ll go for. It happens a lot, and there really is no right answer. I guess we are all right as long as we pick the one that makes us most happy! Actually, I have two favorites among these Easter party invitations plus a third that just makes me extra giddy so I’m torn.

So here’s where I need your help. I typically only put one version of each invitation up for purchase in my online store. I guess I started that to avoid having a million options, many of which were just slight variations from the one before.

I’d love to hear which is your favorite design and which is your favorite wording option. Everybunny who participates will be entered to win a $15 gift certificate to our new online store! Details below. Here are the contestants:

Number 1 – Gingham Bunny

Number 2 – Party Chicks

Number 3 – Peeking Bunny

Number 4 – Bright Basket

Number 5 – Egg Polka Dots

Number 6 – Brown Bunny

So, which design will it be?

Two entries per person:

1) One comment on which are your top two fave designs {feel free to say why}

2) One comment on which is your fave wording

Leave your comments on this post before midnight CST on Wednesday, April 6th. The winner will be drawn at random and announced on Friday, April 8th. Hey, I might even tell you which one the birthday mom chose.

Thanks, as always, for your input and good luck!

I love you Spring. You are my fave time of year {save for my outrageous seasonal allergies}. That’s alright though. I love you anyway! Don’t tell Fall.

I think there’s nothing perkier than a little touch of green to get you in the mood for Spring. Case in point:

Doesn’t this image make you want to do a cartwheel? It’s one of my all-time fave customer images. I suggested it. She tried it with stunning results and then taught me how to do it myself!

If you’ve never tried your hand at growing your own wheat grass instead of paying $20 for a flat at your local nursery, I highly encourage you to give it a whirl this year. It’s perfect for Easter, for baby showers and bridal teas this time of year. Around here you can get a large solo cup full of wheat grass seeds for $2. All you need is some seeds, a container, some dirt and water. Start about 7-10 days out since you have to soak the seeds for a time first. There are all sorts of directions online for growing decorative wheat grass. It’s super simple.

Last year for Easter I gave our teachers these:

I bought lined baskets and cute, inexpensive bunny figurines, grew the wheat grass, nestled the bunnies in and added a bright Eastery plaid bow to each basket handle. Note: there will be a fretful moment when you think your grass won’t be ready in time, but it grows and fills in AMAZINGLY quick! Just make sure you keep it moist. It’s a sweet gift for teachers or hostesses and for $10 each (less if you’re a real bargain shopper), you can’t beat it.

Happy Spring!

I’ve got quite a few to share with you, but the kids are out this week and time is scarce, so I’ve decided to share these as they are ready. First up are these sweet little brownie cups. I first shared these on my Facebook page, and I got so many comments that I thought I’d repost them here.

This is a great project to do with preschoolers or older kiddos. My son and I made these together. We made brownies in muffin tins. I made the mistake of baking them in paper cups. They stuck SO badly even after I had sprayed them. Then, another friend had the same problem using just a greased muffin tin with no paper. I have heard that the fudgie brownies turn out better as muffins than the more cakelike ones. Anyhoo, if you know what we are doing wrong, please do share a comment! Or just make miniatures with the store bought brownie bites.

We shaped the edible Easter grass (Target, World Market) like birds’ nests. Then, we piped a bit of chocolate icing on top to give the nests something to hold onto. Those are Cadbury mini chocolate eggs placed in the center. Yum!

Here’s another sweet treat that we made last year. I thought they turned out so cute that we decided to try them again for my daughter’s classroom goodies this year!

There are lots of places online where you can find cone-shaped bags. Sometimes they are in quantities of 100, but really they are cents each and you can use them up within a year or two or go in with a friend and make these together. I have also seen them locally at Hobby Lobby. The beauty of these cone bags is that you can make the treats as big or as small as you like by just lopping the excess off the top of the bag. Here, I used those tiny rubber ponytail holders for little girls to close the bags. I pulled apart some raffia for the green attached to each carrot and used one of my personalized bunny tags complete with a cottontail. I think they turned out super sweet. Hope you agree!