March Crafternoon

Last Saturday was my Easter crafternoon. I decided to make things even more fun by doing a mix of Easter and Alice in Wonderland as the theme, and it was a lot of fun to put together the decorations and all the bits and pieces for the party.

My original plan for the table was to have a table runner made out of real moss...however Pete wasn't too keen on the idea (probably a good thing I'm married to a sensible fella!) so I stuck with a simple purple tablecloth, a scattering of playing cards and some succulents in teacups to adorn the table. The favors this month are one of my favorites out of all the ones I've made so far! I made edible terrariums inspired by a post on My Paper Crane. I filled cute jam jars with crumbled chocolate cake mixed with chocolate frosting to make the 'dirt'. I topped that with some desiccated coconut I mixed with some green food coloring to make 'grass'. I made little fondant icing toadstools on toothpicks and for the finishing touch added a few candy pebbles! (Thanks to my family for getting some for me on their recent holiday to Norfolk) Everyone loved them, and I was so happy with how they turned out. 

I asked Emma Jane's Bakery to make an Eat Me cookie stamp, and it worked so well for the little cookies I gave everyone. And of course I filled some tiny bottles with lavender syrup and tied on a 'Drink Me' tag! 

There were plenty of tasty vegan treats to enjoy, including these little aquafaba meringue toadstools I made! 

We enjoyed a good natter while munching on yummy food and drinking lots of cups of tea. 

Our craft this month was making our own tea blends! There were loose leaf black tea, earl grey, green and mint to choose from as a base and then different freeze dried fruits and sprinkles to add in for flavor! It was really fun and everyone made different blends. We put the tea in some little tea bags I found on eBay for about £1, and then made little washi tape tags!

Everyone got to keep one of each person's tea to try! So fun, like a tea lucky dip!

And of course, as it was the Easter crafternoon we made Easter Baskets for the gift swap. Everyone really went all out and it was so fun to see everyone unwrapping their little basket of gifts.

I loved the Easter Basket I put together, and it was definitely a little bit painful to part with it!

I filled my basket with Easter Confetti, Cute Easter Stamps, a sweet handmade Pencil Case, a bunny Tsum Tsum, Egg Candles, a dairy free Chocolate Bunny, a Chick filled with Toffee Apple Tea, a Glittery Carrot Brooch I made and lots of little colorful chicks! I admit, I loved the carrot brooch so much I made one for myself too!

It was such a great afternoon of fun and friendship! Next month I've got Hal's 2nd Birthday party (what!?) so we aren't having a 'proper' crafternoon, but in May we will be back to usual.

Donut Cereal

 I'm a sucker for miniature food. It's pretty high on my cute-list! (If you were wondering, my cute-list goes; my kids, baby cats, tiny food, anything pink...you get the idea) Anyway, at Christmas I saw a few people made mini-donuts out of Cheerio cereal as part of Elf on the Shelf, and I thought they were super cute and wanted to make some of my own, and then I thought - hey! Why not make them into cereal, creating the cutest breakfast food ever!

They take a bit of work, but they're so sweet and really tasty, they'd be great for a special occasion! I might make some more for my Birthday in June.

Donut Cereal
Makes 5 cups

5C loop cereal*
50g vegan white chocolate 
1/2tsp pink food coloring (optional)
1Tbsp sprinkles

*Cheerios aren't vegan, but most supermarket own brand loop cereals are.

 Break the white chocolate into chunks and melt (I use the microwave for this, heating for 20 seconds at a time until the chocolate is completely melted, smooth and glossy) Mix in the food coloring and set aside.

Line a baking tray with grease proof paper and set aside.

Take two cups of the cereal (you are only going to turn these two cups into mini-donuts) and individually dip each loop into the pink chocolate. Place carefully onto the baking tray and top with a few of the sprinkles. Continue dipping and sprinkling until the two cups of loops are all done (if the chocolate solidifies before you're done, you can reheat it once to melt it again.) Place the tray of mini-donuts in the fridge to set for an hour and then mix them into the three cups of plain cereal.

Store in a large jar or an airtight container for up to a month.

Sunday Snapshots - 13/03/16

One of the highlights of this past week was getting my hair done on Monday! I love it so much and can't really imagine my hair without the green now!

I'm trying to embrace the little moments of quiet that I get these days, enjoying the little things like having a hot cup of coffee while the boys played together (for all of ten minutes!)

I recently discovered the shop Tofu Cute and ordered some Konpeito - the sweets that the soot sprites eat in Spirited Away! How delicious is it? Well...lets just say there aren't any left!

Sweet smiles from Ez and an improvement in his sleep (and ours) - he's been diagnosed with silent reflux and is now much more comfortable thanks to the antacids the doctor prescribed.

My colorful house is looking even more colorful thanks to some beautiful flowers (a Mother's Day gift) and my Easter decorations.

Sweet links:

-How cute are these Tiny Easter Cones by Heidi Kenney!?

-Nicola's post about creativity (also how amazing are her new bunting necklaces!)

-Bunny macarons Lacey of Avocados and Ales made using my recipe!

Tell me the highlights of your week!

Valentines Crafternoon

I totally forgot to post about my Valentines Crafternoon! Better late than never! It was quite a small party this time, just four of us in total. I went all out with the over the top valentines themed tableware (all from Sainsbury's) I love combining red and pink, and think the table looked super cute!

I made valentines sprinkle mixes as favors for the ladies, mixing little sugar hearts and sprinkles with some dried rose petals and freeze dried raspberry & strawberry pieces. I can't even describe how incredible the sprinkle mix smelled!

I kept the decorations fairly simple, I especially loved the XOXO garland my sweet gal pal Brittany sent me all the way from the USA! 

I made a little buffet for my ladies with some rose flavored heart macarons, pain au chocolat, glittery raspberry jelly, mini sprinkle cookie sandwiches & bacon flavoured crisps. It was all super yummy!

I made each lady a personal heart shaped pizza, keeping it simple with tomato & herb topping and vegan cheese.

We did our usual gift swap and I stuck with the theme and got all pink, red & love themed bits and bobs! I actually got all of the little pressies at Wilkos, and I think I spent *just* over £5.

Our craft this month was crafting with Hama Beads (who else remembers these from their childhood?) It was really nice and relaxing as we were able to chat a lot as we were crafting, and as usual everyone made something different.

I made a cute little cactus which I've put in a little pot, it looks really cute! I also made Isabelle from Animal Crossing, and I think I'm now hooked on Hama beading! I want to make all the other characters now too!

As always, it was a lovely time with my fantastic friends. There's only a couple of weeks until my Easter Crafternoon! Can't wait!

To see more crafternoon posts just click the Crafternoon tab in the sidebar.

Everything Crispy Bars

If you could peek inside my mind, I reckon it would look a little something like these Everything Crispy Bars! 

Some days less is more, but the day I made these bars was definitely NOT one of those days! 

These Crispy Bars are super fast and easy to make, and they're deliciously peanut-buttery-crunchy-goodness!

Everything Crispy Bars

Makes 16 squares

bars:

3C rice crisp cereal

1/2C smooth peanut butter

1/2C golden syrup or brown rice syrup

1Tbsp vegan margarine 

1/2tsp vanilla extract
1/4tsp sea salt

toppings:

4 sandwich cookies

1/4C dark chocolate chips

4 sugared chocolate eggs (I used these)
1Tbsp mixed sprinkles
Edible shimmer

In a small pan over a medium heat melt together the peanut butter, syrup & margarine until the mixture is smooth. Remove from the heat and add the vanilla and salt. 

Put the rice cereal into a large mixing bowl and pour over the peanut buttery mixture. Mix with a wooden spoon until the cereal is all nicely coated and press into a lightly greased square cake pan. Sprinkle over your chosen toppings and press down lightly using a spoon. Refrigerate for a few hours until firm and then cut into squares and serve.

Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week.

Easter Baskets for Little Vegans

Easter is one of my favorite times of year, and now that Hal is nearly 2 I decided to do proper Easter Baskets for the boys this year. And seriously, I had way too much fun putting them together. I mean, any excuse to buy cute, pastel colored stuff and I'm in! I can't wait to see Hal's face on Easter Sunday morning! 

I wanted to keep everything affordable, and of course vegan so ended up finding lots of non-edible bits and bobs to include (although there are a couple of Choices Chocolate Bunnies in there because, you know, Easter!)

I got the felt bunny and chick baskets from Hobbycraft for £2 each, then I picked up the bunny ears, bubbles & cup from the pound shop and the bath washer, little chicks, golden eggs, finger paints & pinwheel from Wilkos - all for £1 or less. I found these gorgeous chalk eggs in Paperchase and the Choices bunnies at the supermarket. I couldn't resist adding an Easter bath bomb from Lush and opted for Fluffy Egg. I think in total I spent about £15, which is pretty good I think!

Do you do Easter baskets for your kids?

What do you fill them with?