There seems to be the same routine with all holiday traditions. This weekend is Easter, and parks will be filled with screaming children looking for Easter eggs while homes smell like vinegar from egg dye.
This year, I decided to take it upon myself to try something besides ordinary egg dyeing to give my home a happy, spring feeling. This was new for me because I’m not crafty at all. I have to admit I was pleased with what I ended up making.
Sock bunnies
When it comes to making cute Easter basket stuffers, forget the classic sock-monkey and make a sock-bunny. Of all the projects I tried, this was the easiest one. All you need to do is grab an old sock and stuff it about halfway with cotton balls, beads or whatever you want. Tie the top of the stuffed part of the sock off with a ribbon and cut the remaining sock on the top in half for the ears.
You can finish the bunny off with googly-eyes and a small pink cotton ball with string for a nose and whiskers. To make it more fun, you can a tie-dyed or colorful sock. In addition to making great basket stuffers, these cute little sock bunnies make great decorations.
Plate basket
These plate baskets are perfect for handing out to neighbors or to hold gifts at an Easter party. Use a pen to draw the plate into fourths. Draw a square in the middle of the plate so the corners connect with the lines. This will eventually be the bottom of the basket. Cut along the lines until you hit the square, then fold the edges of the plate to the center and staple the corners together so it forms a small bowl. For the handles, pipe cleaners are probably the easiest things to staple or hot glue to the plate. I used some colorful duct tape to make the edges of my basket more fun.
Flower hair pins
For a stylish year-round project that fits perfectly with Easter, I made denim flower barrettes. This project only requires cutting up an old jean jacket or pair of pants into flower shapes, a hot glue gun, buttons and your favorite hair fastener.
Cut a flower shape from your denim and mark the center of the flower. Grab your hot glue gun and drop a bead of glue on the center and push a button into the glue. Add more glue, either several beads or a line of glue, to the back of the flower and apply it to your favorite barrette, bobby pin or other hair fastener. These can be pinned in the hair or attached to a headband and are an easy, quick project.
Log cake
Who doesn’t love a pretty and delicious cake at Easter time? Try baking a chocolate cake and rolling it into a half-log shape. Place full-sized marshmallows along the side to create the illusion of cute little bunny bums. Adding two mini marshmallows per full sized marshmallow will give your cake bunnies adorable little marshmallow feet. To demystify the bunny bum illusion, I placed a dot of frosting to form a tail at the ends of the marshmallows.
