These cute-as-a-button cottontails, made from spray-starched square napkins, will energize any Easter table.

Perhaps these adorable napkin folds are not a new idea for you but they were for me and I love them….

The bunny on the pink plate is from Good Housekeeping just click on the link I have created here at Good Housekeeping and find simple step by step instructions with lots of pictures that should make them easy for anyone.  I do have to give Living credit for having the bunny on the yellow plate in this month’s magazine and their website led me to Good Housekeeping.

I hope to try this for my Easter Tables this year.  If you have already completed this project, leave us a comment and let us know if it is as easy as the tutorial says.

I made this terrarium for myself and enjoyed it so much I decided to do one for my son and Debbie.  However my middle daughter Kim came over the weekend and wanted me to make her one with a purple African violet and I could not find another so this terrarium ended up in her house That’s how mommy’s are you know.

This is David’s and the turtle that I got at Hobby Lobby for $2.00 on sale jsut makes this my favorite.  He does have a pose David is familiar with

And this pink African violet is Deb’s.  She is hopefully going to find that forgetting to water for a couple of weeks won’t be too big a problem with a terrarium.  I put a small piece of fern in hers as I love ferns in terrariums.  Her’s also has a small piece of mirror in the center, to look like a lake,  that was impossible to get a good photo of.

This ended up being mine.  I love violets of any color but thought this soft lavender was perfect with the begonia I used.

Easy to do and lots of fun to make, terrariums can be expensive or on a budget, however if you make four you will blow the budget .  I hope you enjoyed my creativity with terrariums and will give it a try for your home.

As promised, I wanted to share with you my favor bags and birthday stickers I used for my granddaughter’s recent birthday party. The pink paper bags were picked up at a craft store in the food prep aisle I believe. They’ve been sitting in my pantry for some time so I can’t say I quite remember where I got them.

What you’ll need:

- hole punch

- bag of tootsie rolls

- cookies, or candies to put inside favor bag

Place candies or cookies into the bottom half of the bag. Fold down the top of the bag one time.

Hole punch through the folded down portion of the bag two holes about 2 inches apart.

Slide tootsie roll stick through the punched holes to hold the bag closed.

Place sticker or other embellishment on the bag. That’s it! That simple.

So here is a set of the Thank You stickers for you to use.  Just click on the image to download to your computer to print. These are 2″ stickers.

Please honor my copyright and not redistribute this download; but I will gladly let you link to my blog so others can download it for free also.

I’ve got a recipe for punch that is sure to please your guests. I’ve made it twice now and both times my guests drained the punch bowl so fast my head was spinning!

Now I also put fresh pineapple and maraschino cherries on the little cocktail umbrellas and placed in each cup of punch for flavor and mostly for fun!

I created the napkin rings out of paper strips. All you need is a little clipart, imagination and an image editor.

Or you can download a set of these napkin rings to use for your own party if you prefer to have this already done for you Just use the solid green lines as a cutting guide. Roll paper napkin rings around napkin. Use two sided tape or craft glue to attach the two ends together.

Please honor my copyright and not redistribute this download; but I will gladly let you link to my blog so others can download it for free also.

Tomorrow, step by step on creating party favor bags and another free download of Thank You stickers.

While in JoAnn’s I became enamoured with this sewing book (Making Children’s Clothes available on Amazon) on children’s clothing.

Now mind you my youngest is 16 and the smallest child I have happening around here is my 5 year old granddaughter. But so many ideas are in this book, oh and the patterns are included!

So my granddaughter just turned 5 and I made her up a few dresses as gifts, including one similar to the cover of the book. Ok, mine isn’t quite as cute.

I had a remnant just sitting around, kind of  a seersucker pink with white daisies. And yes, I love pom-pom fringe.

I also whipped up this one that is a bit more detailed and frilly with lace and princesses and castles and all things Aria loves!

One way to beat the long winter blahs is to have growing plants indoors.  A suggestion is make a terrarium, time required an hour or less.

What is A Terrarium? A terrarium is a miniature landscape with living plants and even sometimes small animals like lizards or turtles.

A terrarium is a miniature ecosystem which is a complex system of relationships between organisms and resources of different types.  If you have a good balance of plants, soil, nutrients, and water in your terrarium you will be able to seal it up and watch it grow and thrive for very long periods of time – sometimes even years.

It’s quick, easy and doesn’t have to be expensive. To save money, on your terrariums, look around your house for a container or shop discount stores, flea markets or consignment shops to find glass containers, jars or even goldfish bowls. The plants you’ll use are generally small houseplants, which can often be bought for a couple of bucks each, so the whole project, depending on the size of your jars, can be made for well under $20. Terrariums also make wonderful and impressive gifts, even for people who consider themselves plant-challenged.

There are lots of tutorials online to help you along the way, here is one I found that has very specific easy to follow instructions.  Kerry Michael at about.com has a great tutorial with lots of pictures..here is an example of her finished project.

When your done send me a picture and I will post a picture of mine.

On the left are my Valentine roses looking a little sorry, faded and droopy. I rarely remember to refresh the water in the vase. Robert usually gets me a bouquet of mixed colors which I love for the variety. So when they are looking so sad, I know it’s time to make a vase of rose bloom potpourri. You can too!

Step 1: Get an empty bowl, vase, or pretty container that is see through. I chose a round crystal bowl that was my mother in laws.

Step 2: With a pair of scissors, snip the buds off the rose stems. If there are any that are not dried yet, you might consider leaving them on a paper towel in the sun and letting them finish drying out. Most of mine were already dried.

Step 3: Carefully place them in your container, letting the petals face outward if possible. This will give you a nice color around the bowl.

Step 4: Place one or two roses face up on the very top so you see the petals which will give it a nice appearance.

There you go! Quite beautiful and colorful isn’t it? I put it right beside my reading chair so I could enjoy it every day.

Reminder:  Leave your comment this week and tell us what is your least favorite chore around your house.  Your comment will enter you in the drawing for this cute embroidered towel.

Now the final item from my sister’s crocheting you won’t want to miss.

Everyone knows nothing makes us “ooh” and “aah” more than a precious little baby…but take a look at this adorable outfit she made…it is an “ooh” “aah” item for sure.  Can’t you just picture someone’s new baby in this for a photo shoot?  I can.

This little baby blanket and hat are also adorable…what made them very special for her was she used some of Mother’s buttons on the blanket and hat.  What a keepsake for her grandchild to have.

Carol thank you for sharing, we have so enjoyed your crafting and the stories that accompanied them.

Reaching back into my photo archives, I ran across this project that me and my daughter did together. It was a “Love Notes” book project courtesy of Ali Edwards. You can find the project instructions and free downloadables HERE.

It required a little printing, a little cutting, a little sewing, a little gluing and a dose of patience too.

But we had so much fun working on this craft project together. Robert must have liked receiving it too. He has it placed in his box of “special keepsakes” that consists of mostly lovey dovey things I’ve made or written to him. It’s not too late to do this project yourself. You probably have the materials already needed on hand

I can fault my husband for not following directions (or specifically not following MY directions), but when I do it myself then I only have myself to be mad at. In my case I’m not talking about driving, but sewing.

Remember this beautiful fabric bundle I shared with you a little while back?

Well I started working with it this week, so excited to try a new pattern for a Mom. I’m ok with how it looks but not flabbergasted either. It just needs something.

It is a reversible apron (like getting 2 for 1). The back side uses just the pink fabric, no birdies.

The extra wide waist ties are pink and can be tied in the front or back. I’m not sure if it is “done” yet or not or if it needs something extra added. I think once I have the mother and daughter apron hanging side by side I’ll have a better idea. Feel free to give me suggestion!!!

So now I’ve moved on to the children’s apron. This is where I deviated (or chose) not to read the directions, which was rather foolish.

It is still a work in progress as I have a few seams to rip out and rework.I like the addition of pretty polka dot ribbon and bows.

So a project that I should have been able to whip out in less than 2 hours is now well within the 5 hour range. Go figure!

So next time I give my husband a hard time about following directions, perhaps I should keep my tongue in check and remember this little incident where I was really no better