Easter Chocolate lollipops

I love chocolate, so when the lovely people at Hotel Chocolat sent me a load of white chocolate drops, I was so excited. I love how easy it is to melt the chocolate drops and the taste, well yummy!

What could I make this time? I started by ordering some bunny and leaf lollipop moulds as I love how sophisticated the bunny moulds look. After making some white chocolate Easter bunny lollipops I had a go at colouring the chocolate using powdered green colouring. I made the chocolate leaf lollipops in green chocolate and thought they looked like lettuce leaves that the bunny could sit amongst. After experimenting with a few glasses, jars, pots etc. I settled on using the shot glasses filled with some edible green grass I picked up on a recent trip to Butlers.

I will be using them tomorrow as table settings for my guests at my Easter Monday tea party. Now I must dash as I have lunch at my folks and a special little lady is playing the Easter Bunny this year! Then later tonight I will be setting up my Easter table and adding the finishing touches to my cupcakes!

Easter Chocolate lollipops
What you will need:
Sitting bunny lollipop moulds
Leaf lollipop moulds
White chocolate drops
Green dusting powder
2mm pink double faced satin ribbon
2mm blue double faced satin ribbon
5mm blue gingham ribbon
5mm pink gingham ribbon
Edible green grass
Six shot glasses




Instructions

1. Temper (melt) and colour your chocolate, place lollipop sticks in moulds
2. Squeeze chocolate into moulds
3. Lightly tap moulds so chocolate lays flat and air bubbles are removed, and leave to set
4. Turn out chocolate lollipops





5. Tie gingham ribbon around bases
6. Make a bow and trim ends
7. Repeat step 1-4 with white chocolate in Easter bunny lollipop moulds
8. Tie 2mm ribbon into a bow around neck of bunny





9. Shred edible grass
10. Fill shot glass with edible grass
11. Place leaf lollipops in edible grass
12. Place Easter bunny lollipop in centre of leaf lollipops

Have a sweet Easter!

Candy Filled Easter Eggs

Hanging candy-filled eggs for my Easter tree

I had a few spare clear hanging eggs so I thought I would fill them with pretty coloured vanilla, green tea and cotton candy flavoured Jelly Belly beans to hang on my Easter tree. After tea I am going to hang them in the garden as part of my Easter Egg Hunt!

Candy Filled Eggs
What you will need:
12 transparent plastic eggs
Green 2mm double face satin ribbon
Green gingham ribbon 5mm wide
Jelly Beans
Double sided tape




Instructions

1. Cut gingham ribbon to size and lay double sided tape on back, trim to fit
2. Stick ribbon to top half of egg around opening
3. Cut ribbon to size and knot ends, thread through hole in top of egg
4. Fill with jelly beans and snap together

Have a sweet Easter!

Hand painted surprise eggs!

Hanging surprise eggs for my Easter tree

Years ago I remember seeing in a magazine some glass jars that had been painted on the inside and I loved how they looked. So I thought I would have a go at painting the inside of my clear plastic eggs. They looked great except for the ugly looking join. That was fixed by covering the join in gingham ribbon. I then filled them with chocolate Easter eggs and a little chick and hung them on my Easter tree! Now only if I could find time to finish my hand-made birds.....

Hand painted surprise eggs
What you will need:
12 transparent plastic eggs
Pink embroidery thread
Blue embroidery thread
12 White beads
Double sided tape
6 pink mini fluffy chicks
6 blue mini fluffy chicks
12 Foil wrapped chocolate eggs
Pink gingham ribbon 5mm wide
Blue gingham ribbon 5mm wide
Pink paint
Blue paint




Instructions

1. Paint inside of top half of egg, leave to dry
2. Paint inside of bottom half of egg, leave to dry
3. Cut embroidery thread to size and thread ends through top of egg, thread a white bead through both ends of thread and knot
4. Cut ribbon to size, and cover back in double side tape





5. Peel off double sided tape backing and carefully secure ribbon round open edge of top half of egg
6. Place one chocolate egg inside bottom half of egg
7. Add small fluffy chick to bottom half of egg
8. Snap together

Have a sweet day!

Découpage Eggs

Hanging découpage eggs for my Easter tree

In recent years I have needle felted eggs, hand painted eggs and sewed eggs. This year I thought I would have a go at some découpage eggs to hang on my Easter Tree. I had some pink spotty napkins I had picked up last year in Clas Ohlson and some blue gingham napkins I had bought earlier this year on a trip to Berlin. They were a perfect colour match to this year's Easter theme so I used them for the découpage.

After covering half an egg in masking tape I carefully removed it and cut into the centre until I could lay the masking tape out flat. I used this as my pattern to cut out the napkins. I love how they turned out and think the pretty egg hangers in silver really make them special.

Later today I will be sharing with you my hand painted eggs with a surprise!

Découpage Eggs
What you will need:
12 Ribbon hanging plastic eggs
12 Egg hangers
3 Pink spotty paper napkins
3 Blue polka dot napkins
PVA glue
Pink gingham ribbon 5mm wide
Blue gingham ribbon 5mm wide




Instructions

1. Remove plastic stopper
2. Cut out oval from napkins, and remove all backing so you have a single sheet of napkin
3. Paint half of egg in PVA glue, and carefully place napkin in centre, brush PVA glue on top of napkin with a paint brush, smoothing out all wrinkles, leave to dry
4. Repeat on other side





5. Cut ribbon to fit around egg
6. Paint a line of PVA glue around joins of decoupage, place ribbon over joins and paint PVA glue on top smoothing down edges
7. Push egg hanger into top of eggs through hole
8. Tie white ribbon from egg stoppers though hanger loop and knot at end

Have a sweet day!

Blue Flowers for my Easter tree

Easter Blue Flowers for my Easter tree

Earlier today I showed you the paper pink flowers I am using on my Easter Tree and now here are the pale blue ones. I used the Bird Trail fabric as inspiration for these flowers too!

Easter Blue Flowers
What you will need:
Petal Pairs Box Set 2
Pale blue Card
White sequins
PVA glue





Instructions

1. Cut 1 pale blue flower from one punch
2. Cut 1 pale blue flower from the other punch
3. Fold in petals on the petal punches, tuck one petal punch into another
4. Dab a small amount of PVA glue in centre of flower, press sequin down, leave to dry

Have a sweet day!

Pink Flowers for my Easter tree

Pink Flowers for my Easter tree

When I saw the paper punch petal pairs on the Tonic Studio website I just had to give them a go! I made loads of different varieties with them just to see all the combo's. I then had the idea of making some paper flowers for this year's Easter Tree. I used the Bird Trail fabric as inspiration for the flowers I would use on my Easter Tree. First up are the pretty pink paper flowers with a dark pink centre.

Easter Pink Flowers
What you will need:
Petal Pairs Box Set 2
Petal Pairs Box Set 1
Pale Pink Card
Dark Pink Card
Flamingo Fun pink paint





Instructions

1. Cut 2 pale pink flowers
2. Cut 1 dark pink flower
3. Fold in petals on the three petal punches, tuck one pale pink petal punch into another
4. Paint the pale pink flowers, stick dark pink petal in centre

Have a sweet day!

Easter Hanging Butterflies

Easter hanging butterflies for my Easter tree

On a recent trip to the New Covent Garden Market in London I spied a massive box of clear acrylic butterflies. I had bought similar looking maple leaves just before Christmas and had loved how they looked after a lick of white paint and some baker's yarn. I knew I had to purchase some of the butterflies with the view to paint them in pink and blue to match my Easter Palette.

I love how they turned out and now I need to get on with making this year's Easter Tree to hang them on.

Easter Hanging Butterflies
What you will need:
14 Acrylic butterflies
Pink frosted glass beads
Blue frosted glass beads
28 green wooden beads
Mono filament 0.23mm
Flamingo Fun pink paint
Blue paint





Instructions

1. Wash butterflies in warm soapy water and leave to dry
2. Paint seven butterflies in pink (I did three coats) and leave to dry
3. Repeat with remaining butterflies in blue and leave to dry
4. Cut 20 cm of mono filament





5. Thread mono filament through hole in centre of butterfly and tie in a knot
6. Thread three beads in alternating colours down both ends of thread, and push below knot
7. Thread ten beads in alternating colours, finishing with one green bead down each side
8. Knot ends

Last year's Easter Tree hung with hand painted eggs and bunnies

2009's Easter tree hung with hand made felt Easter birds

Have a sweet day!

Easter Butterfly Bird Houses

Easter butterfly bird houses for my Easter table

For the past couple of years I have decorated each guest's table setting on my Easter table with a hand-painted bird house with a little straw nest filled with chocolate eggs inside. This year I wanted a change so I have gone for small wooden bird houses which I have decorated to match my new colour theme of pink and blue, and decorated them with painted paper butterflies to match the butterflies on my bird trail tablecloth.

Easter Butterfly Bird Houses
What you will need:
Six wooden bird houses
Pale blue and pale pink card
Tonic Studio multi-detail craft punch - Butterfly
PVA glue
Flamingo Fun pink paint
Blue paint
Green paint
White paint
Blue feathers
Pink paper filler
Foil wrapped chocolate eggs




Instructions

1. Masking tape body of house below roofs
2. Paint three roofs in pink and three in blue (I did three coats of each colour) and leave to dry
3. Masking tape off roofs and paint body of houses in three coats of white, leave to dry
4. Masking tape off body and paint bottom of houses in green, leave to dry.





5. Punch out three butterflies in blue card and three in pink card
6. Fold wings back
7. Paint front and back of pink card butterflies in pink paint, paint front and back of blue card butterflies in blue paint, leave to dry
8. Put a small dab of PVA glue on back of butterflies





9. Stick a pink butterfly to a blue roof and vice versa until all roofs have a butterfly on top
10. Separate pink paper shredding filler into three piles and blue feathers into three piles
11. Fill blue roofed houses with pink paper shredding and pink roofed houses with blue feathers
12. Fill houses with loads of foil wrapped eggs!

Easter Bird Houses from 2009 and 2010

Have a sweet day!

Decorating for my Easter Table 2011

As my regular blog readers know, I love decorating for the holidays. Easter is no exception, in fact I think it is my favourite holiday to decorate for. What's not to love: the pretty pastel colours, the abundance of chocolate and the cute bunnies and birds.

My favourite part is decorating my Easter table and filling it with lots of handmade goodies like last year's handmade honeycomb filled chocolate bunnies or the spun toffee nests from the year before.

For instructions and recipes on my Easter Tables from past years check out my holidays page.



This Easter I wanted to create a new theme and colour palette so, after much searching and deliberation, I decided to go for a butterfly and bird theme based on my bird trail fabric from Clarke and Clarke, as shown in my Easter Mood Boards post. This week I will be sharing with you the handmade crafts I have made for this year's Easter table.

Next week I will be stepping into my kitchen and making an abundance of sweet treats to sit on my Easter table and fill my Easter hunt basket with. So stay tuned for all things Easter!

My Easter mood boards

Butterfly floral napkin holders

Have a sweet day!

Butterfly floral napkin holders

Butterfly floral napkin holders

What you will need:
Paper parchment rose flowers in pink, white and red
12 blue organza flowers
6 wooden craft butterflies
Pale blue and pale pink card
Tonic Studio multi-detail craft punch - Butterfly
PVA glue
Flamingo Fun pink paint
Pale green embroidery thread
Pale green 3mm satin ribbon




Instructions

1. Make a circle with a blue flower and twist on a pink flower in the opposite direction to make a circle.
2. Continue twisting flowers to the circle in two clusters, leaving a blank section at the front for the butterfly and the back empty.
3. Wrap pale green embroidery thread over bare wire on front of napkin holders.
4. Wrap pale green ribbon over bare wire at back and glue to secure in place.
5. Make five others as above.

Instructions

1. Cut three butterflies out of the pink card using the butterfly punch.
2. Cut three butterflies out of the blue card using the butterfly punch.
3. Fold wings in on butterflies.
4. Paint pink card butterflies front and back in Flamingo Fun paint.
5. Paint blue card butterflies in blue paint.
6. Paint three wooden butterflies pink.
7. Paint three wooden butterflies blue.
8. Leave to dry.
9. Glue card butterfly to wooden butterfly.
10. Glue 3D butterfly to flower napkin holder

Easter Paints

Last week I took my Easter sketchbook with me to The Ideal Home Show so that I could get a couple of colours mixed up for me at Dulux. The nice gentleman at Dulux scanned a pink bird from my Bird Trail fabic and the colour was Flamingo Fun - don't you just love the name!

As soon as I got home I tried them out on my bird houses, plastic eggs and wooden butterflies. I love the colours and they are a perfect match! Thanks Dulux.

Have a sweet day!

My Easter Mood Boards

This Easter I wanted to do a new theme and colour palette so, after much searching and deliberation, I have decided to go for a butterfly and bird theme based on my bird trail fabric from Clarke and Clarke. I had recently purchased a couple of metres of oilcloth and a metre of the cotton duck to use in my laundry room but I thought I would use the oilcloth as my Easter table cloth first!

The kind people at Dulux mixed me up a tester pot of the pink and blue used in the bird trail fabric at The Ideal Home Show. I have started to paint bird houses, butterflies and eggs in pink and blue.

I have also bought an array of pretty ribbons to hang my eggs from, to wrap around gifts and to decorate jars. Felted polka dot fabric to hand stitch birds with and plenty of chocolate moulds and cookie cutters to make the prettiest Easter sweet treats.

Stay tuned and I will be sharing all my new Easter craft projects here...

Have a sweet day!