Monthly Archives: March 2016

Happy, Bunny-Filled, Colorful Easter and Spring!!!

This week, we share some colorful Easter and Spring ideas. Check out our Easy Easter Cupcakes, quick holiday decorating tips, a plant update, our healthy Bunny Dip Crudite Platter, one of our special Easter traditions, and of course, the bears!

EASY EASTER CUPCAKES

Get the kids involved in this easy holiday dessert. The Peep Bunnies seem intrigued!

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Prepare your favorite flavor of cake mix according to package directions for cupcakes. For Easter, we use carrot cake. Frost them with canned white frosting. Of course, you can make your cupcakes and frosting from scratch, but the cake mixes and canned frosting are quite tasty and save time. Save even more time – decorate store-bought frosted cupcakes!

To make the “grass”: mix 2 or 3 drops of green food coloring into one cup of shredded coconut.

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Sprinkle the frosted cupcakes with the dyed coconut and top with jelly beans, malted milk eggs or the candy of your choice. The Peep Bunnies add whimsy to the plate! Fun for kids!

Bonus tip:

If you’re Easter Cupcakes are travelling and you don’t have a cake cover, invert a dutch oven over your dish of cupcakes. Great in a pinch!

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 A TOUCH OF GLASS

Plastic Easter eggs make a simple, fun display in various glass containers. Mix and match the colors you want. Use white or clear lights to add a little more sparkle. Festive!

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The forsythia is not yet in bloom, but this faux forsythia adds a touch of Spring to this early Easter holiday. The hummingbird on the pillow is looking for nectar!

SOME OF OUR OTHER DECORATIONS

This bookcase is filled with rabbit figurines we’ve collected over the years. The hanging ornaments in the back row on the top shelf never come down – Red Sox, Patriots, UCONN, sand dollar and rainbow flag. (On a side note – UCONN women’s basketball team going for 4th straight national championship. GO HUSKIES!!!)

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LIKE A FINE WINE, LAST YEAR’S IDEAS GET BETTER WITH TIME!

Check out our post from Easter 2015 – some fun ideas for Easter baskets.

https://funclesarts.com/2015/03/29/baskets-for-both-easter-and-the-final-four/

PLANT UPDATE

Our beautiful Amaryllis blooms are gone, but the leaves stand strong and our patio is being prepped for Spring planting.

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FOOD ART/BUNNY DIP CRUDITE TRAY

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This week’s food art is a great appetizer for Easter celebrations. To balance out Easter’s sweet treats, we created this Bunny Dip Crudite Tray. Place a bowl of dip on a sheet tray covered with parchment paper and decorate it to look like the Easter Bunny.

Details as follows:

  • Ears: Endive, split, rinsed and sprinkled with chili powder.
  • Nose: Olive
  • Eyes: Capers
  • Eyebrows: Celery leaves
  • Mouth and whiskers: Chives
  • Bow tie: Bell pepper and a cherry tomato
  • Dip: one 16 oz. container of fat-free sour cream and 2 – 3 tablespoons of Mrs. Dash Garlic Herb Mix. This is one of our favorite, healthy and quick dips. Any light-colored dip will do.

Surround with celery, carrots and other veggies.

EGG CRASHING GAME:

Kevin’s family plays this every year. It is traditional holiday game with roots in many cultures. Read more about it:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egg_tapping

A TRIO OF EASTER JOKES:

You’ll be the hit of the party with these comic gems!

Who is the Easter Bunny’s favorite actor? Rabbit DeNiro!

Where do the Easter bunnies go for new tails? The re-tail store! (When Roy asked this question to Kevin, he said the tuxedo store – take a minute.)

Why is Easter like whipped cream and a cherry? Because it’s always on a sundae!

Source: Fundootimes.com

The bunnies, er, we mean the bears, shown above, have gotten into their Easter baskets!!!

HAPPY EASTER!!!

Enjoy!

Roy & Kevin

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St. Patrick’s Day 2016

We love St. Patrick’s Day, and this year we came up with some fun things suitable for the whole family. Find out about our easy shamrock cake, a traditional potato recipe, a simple holiday drawing tip, some gifts for the wee ones, a garden update and, of course, the bears!

EASY SHAMROCK CAKE

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This no-bake cake was easy to create. We were going to stencil the shamrocks onto the cake with green decorating sugar, but early attempts didn’t go well. After looking around the candy aisle for an alternative, we thought that mint dark chocolate M&M’s would make perfect shamrocks. They did!

For the shamrock cake we used:

  • store-bought angel food loaf cake
  • 1 can white frosting, dyed with 2 drops green gel food coloring
  • green, dark chocolate mint M&M’s
  • 1 tube green cake decorating gel
  • green decorating sugar

How to prepare:

  • Place cake on plate lined with pieces of parchment paper (will keep plate clean).
  • Frost thoroughly with green frosting.
  • Sprinkle entire cake with green decorating sugar.
  • Arrange M&M’s in groups of three as shown above.
  • Create shamrock stem with decorating gel.
  • Remove parchment from beneath cake.
  • Clean excess frosting from plate with a paper towel.
  • Surround cake with leftover M&M’s.

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OH, AND WE LEARNED SOMETHING:

Shamrock tip

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To draw a shamrock: Left over St. Valentine’s Day hearts can be used to make shamrocks. Trace 3 foam heart stickers and add a stem. Instant shamrock!

POTATOES

Here is a traditional Irish recipe.

http://chefgeorgehirsch.com/dailyfood/colcannon.html

GIFTS FOR THE WEE ONES

We love to send little holiday fun packages to our great and great-great nieces and nephews. They enjoy getting mail and having special items to celebrate the holidays. We are now sending holiday-themed photos of ourselves in the mailing so the little ones can know who sent the packages.

For St. Patrick’s Day, the mailings include barrettes, stickers, sunglasses and green toy cars. Candy would be a great addition, but we decided to skip it this time.

A fun and inexpensive surprise.

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TRIVIA

The first St. Patrick’s Day parade was not in Ireland but in Boston in 1737.

PLANT UPDATE

We have had a great time with our Amaryllis plant!!!

Here it is in full bloom.

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FOOD ART

Brussel  O’Sprouts!

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JOKE OF THE DAY

Why should you never iron four-leaf clovers? Because you don’t want to press your luck!            Joke and trivia source: Examiner.com

THE BEARS

The bears (above) have decided to wear a bit o’ the green for St. Paddy’s Day and so have we!!!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

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Enjoy!!!

Roy and Kevin