Bunny Trail

Our Lord has written the promise of the resurrection,

 not in books alone, but in every leaf in spring-time. 

Martin Luther

College Girl was the first to see an Oriole visit our backyard. Now we know it's Spring! Handyman quickly hung the Oriole feeder outdoors and I wrote oranges on the grocery list. Placing orange halves outside is a sure-fire way to attract these pretty yellow birds.

My friend Patty sent a charming bunny dish to me last week and I immediately displayed it in the kitchen when it wasn't being used to serve toast, fruit or muffins. 

Whole wheat pineapple and carrot muffins were on the tea table today...or should I say the patio table? It cooled off enough to sit outside in the late afternoon and have a cuppa while watching the hummingbirds perform aerial maneuvers. 

Bell bone china cup

See the land, her Easter keeping,
Rises as her Maker rose.
Seeds, so long in darkness sleeping,
Burst at last from winter snows.
Earth with heaven above rejoices...
Charles Kingsley

If you haven't already colored eggs or want to try something really unique and fun with your kids or grand kids, check out this tutorial for egg geodes.

Wishing you a blessed Easter!

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Weekend-Retreat #113

Moon Shadows and Irises

There was a lunar eclipse the other night that was visible in our time zone beginning at 1:50 a.m. College Girl and I went outside at 1:35 and were amazed at just how bright the moon was and how well we could see everything. I took this photo of the patio and the fire pit and table can be clearly seen, as well as the yellow color of the sunflowers! I didn't use a tripod so the sunflower photo turned out blurry, but you get the idea.

The shadows looked so stark - such high contrast!

This week I played along again at CSI and made another scrapbook page. Here is the Case File for the page I created ~ You have to use all the colors, two items from Evidence and one Testimony.

I made a page about how every year the Easter Bunny places an egg in the Iris blooms in our backyard for the egg hunt. How strange! It's amazing that the Iris blooms just in time for Easter, even though Easter falls in March some years and in April in others. 

SEE THE EASTER EGG RESTING IN THE IRIS BLOOM?
 LOOK AT THE CENTER OF THE RIGHT PHOTO


I machine-stitched around the page edges. I also stitched yarn and string onto the page on opposite corners. I did stamping and embossing in both corners, too. I got the idea to use embossing powder on the page from my friend Patty - she always uses fun techniques.

You can see the glitter and shine of the melted embossing powder along with a purple heart button, brads, and stitched yarn.

I overlapped the photos of the Iris and placed the right one on foam adhesive for a little lift and dimension. The purple mesh peeking out from underneath the photos came off the top of a honey jar. Waste not, want not! 

Did anyone see the lunar eclipse? What crafty

 thing are you working on right now? 

Have a great Friday :)

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Made You Look

Time Travel Thursday

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City Of Creative Dreams

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Here Comes Peter Cottontail

Ever do things that amuse yourself? Every time I think about how I got this photo I have to chuckle! This idea came to me last week - why not place colored plastic eggs on our lawn where the wild cottontails come to nibble our grass?  We often place carrots or apple peelings out there for the visiting rabbits, and I thought that they wouldn't mind a few plastic eggs on the grass and I could snap a fun photo. 

It worked! Every time I look through the kitchen windows into the backyard I have to smile. The eggs are still out there and the bunnies don't seem to mind at all. As we prepare for Easter we have been 

~coloring eggs~

~decorating~

~gathering supplies for a glow in the

 dark egg hunt~

~assembling baskets~

~thinking of the reason behind the holiday~

photo from photobucket

College Girl and I are going to try a new cake recipe this weekend. It's for Hummingbird Cake and has bananas and crushed pineapple in it with cream cheese icing.

 I will definitely be drinking lots of tea, so the bunny pot will be washed and made ready for duty!

Here comes Peter Cottontail, hopping down the bunny trail, hippity hoppity Easter's on it's way!

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Happy April, No Foolin'!

 Hope you had a lovely weekend! Ours was quiet, restful and fun. At our house, Easter Bunny leaves clues regarding the whereabouts of College Girl's basket. What a clever Bunny he was to embellish her basket with two Kappa Alpha Theta symbols; twin stars and a cute little kite! 

 

 When we looked outside during breakfast we spotted this adorable baby cottontail - so tiny! He nibbled on grass and we nibbled on cinnamon coffee cake.

No April showers in the forecast this week, but I look forward to a few sometime this month. 

 

 Do you know how April Fool's Day got it's start?

  The most popular theory alleges that the custom originated when King Charles IX reformed the calendar, moving the start of the year from April 1 to January 1. People who continued to celebrate New Years on April 1 were mocked and had pranks played on them, thus initiating the custom of April 1st foolery. 

College Girl and I hatched a perfect April Fool's joke for Handyman to find this morning. I can't wait to see his reaction - haha!

 

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Mosaic Monday 

Nail Art, Egg Art, the Art of Family

There's a good chance if you have a daughter under age 25 she likes painting her nails for special occasions. College Girl took a break from homework to color eggs with us today and I saw that she had given herself a manicure. Depending on the colors you choose, this design could go from 'after 5' to South West. I can picture her using a black base, then a golden yellow, then black again for a fun Kappa Alpha Theta event! 

 I got out our Paas kit, some vinegar and a variety of mugs for dipping. Nothing fancy this year, just a wax crayon and a rubber band, but we had fun nonetheless. Even Handyman got into the spirit of it and dyed eggs with us! His egg is the two-toned one in the upper left corner~

A couple eggs have a Scripture verse, there is a bunny, an egg for Captain America, Loki, The Hulk and more. Here are ten of the eggs we colored. Later we made cinnamon coffee cake and a baked egg dish for Easter breakfast.

The best part was being together in the kitchen overlooking our sunny backyard, talking and reminiscing about past Easters. "Remember when..?" I remembered when College Girl was a pre-schooler and couldn't wait to hug a big white Easter Bunny at the store! I was so surprised since she was still afraid of Santa, but a life-sized bunny towering over her - no problem! 

 

Here is the easy tutorial that College Girl used to do her manicure.

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Get Your Glow On!

I am excited to share this idea with you! Handyman and I did this last year and everyone had a blast looking for eggs in our backyard. 

OK, you need;

• plastic eggs, the bigger size is easier to use
• flexible glow in the dark sticks

 

 Shortly before your egg hunt, place a glow in the dark stick inside each egg. Of course, your egg hunt needs to be held after dark to get the maximum glow! We held our glow-in-the-dark Egg Hunt on Saturday evening. 

 

 


 The eggs have a small hole in one end. On some of them we knotted string inside in order to hang them in trees. Can you picture it? Glowing eggs hidden here and there in the yard, and dangling from trees?! 

 Have fun!

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Speckled Eggs, Bunnies and Tea

I'm a kid at heart! I'm rarely bored, I find it easy to amuse myself and I enjoy things that many have long ago put aside, like child-sized tea sets. Holidays give me the opportunity to display toys, children's books and whimsical decorations. Instead of sharing elegant Easter china this week, I decided to give you a peek at a charming bunny tea set belonging to College Girl. She is home on break this week and is a great help to me as I hobble around on my sore knee. We kept it informal and set everything on our farmhouse style kitchen table overlooking the backyard.

Kirkland Bunnies In The Garden Tea Set

Four bonnet-wearing bunny teacups await lemonade or Cambric Tea.

Cambric tea derives its name from a resemblance to cambric cloth, a very thin white fabric often used to make lightweight garments. It is believed that the French were the first to develop cambric tea, most likely as an alternative to the strong teas generally reserved for adults. Cambric tea was deemed suitable for young children since it was mostly milk and sugar with a wee bit of tea.

This tin sign has golden glitter around the edges. Aren't those chicks adorable?

 The Cottontail Family live in a tree stump, covered in flowering vines.

  

Would you like a Snickerdoodle? They smell so good and cinnamon-y, and are perfect with tea!

   

Our centerpiece is a pretty white rabbit, nestled in Easter grass, and she looks like she is covered in sugar! Her coat sparkles. Next to her is an egg with a tiny scene inside. Seated on a bench, Peter is busy painting eggs.

What would Easter be without a bit of chocolate? Here are some crunchy, creamy malted balls.

  

 The backdoor was open and we could hear the birds chirping at the outdoor feeder - that's all the music we needed today as we chatted about what to bake for Sunday morning! Hot Cross Buns? Poppy Seed cake?

Speckled eggs remind us of the empty tomb and resurrection of Jesus. 

For a completely different type teatime, wouldn't these simple cups be lovely? I can imagine sipping genmaicha or oolong from them. They are Kiyomizu ware and available online.

 

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March Card Party

For this monthly card party you select four photos previously shared on your blog that you think would make nice note cards. Now that the shamrocks are stowed away, my thoughts turn to Easter. Can I interest you in buttery warm scones and fresh strawberries?

Awake, thou wintry earth -
Fling off thy sadness!
Fair vernal flowers, laugh forth
Your ancient gladness!
~Thomas Blackburn, An Easter Hymn

I love spring anywhere, but if I could choose I would always greet it in a garden. 

 ~Ruth Stout

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March Card Party 
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