Easter Round-Up

Over here at Casa Riley we're in full blown Easter mode. Decorating eggs with the kids, making handmade presents with my sister, cooking big family meals and even whipping up half a dozen batches of fudge to hand out as Easter gifts for the grown ups. After Christmas, Easter is the most important time of the year for me and I love to spend it busy and surrounded by family!

Seems I'm not the only one that feels this way... So many of my favourite bloggers are busy, busy, busy too! I've teamed up with some amazing bloggers to share a round up of some great Easter crafts, DIYs and recipes! Just what you need to find all kinds of amazing inspiration just in time for Easter! Make sure you take a second and stop by to visit these amazing bloggers and check out their great ideas!  

**Note: When pinning, pretty please pin directly from the original blog. Just click on the links or image and pin away!!**
 

DIY Easter Coloring Pack at Hubby Made Me

Rainbow Fruit Salad with Caramel Toffee Fruit Dip at The Baker Upstairs

No Sew Easter Baskets at Max & Me

Kentucky Derby Wreath at Cleverly Inspired

Adorable Easter Cupcakes at High Heels & Grills

Spring Pinwheel Wreath at The Cards We Drew

Easter Hors D'ouevres Party at Strawberry Mommycakes

White Chocolate M&M's Pudding Cookies at The Recipe Critic

Easter Bunny Glitter Jar DIY at A Bubbly Life

Chocolate Easter Bunny Cards at Bloom Designs

Paper Dahlia Wreath at Love, Pomegranate House

Robin's Egg Nests at Mama Miss

Berry Gift Basket at Sweet Rose Studio

Lemon Chess Bread Pudding at Something Swanky

Free Easter Printable Pack at Kiki & Company

So much amazing inspiration! I hope you all have a blessed Easter surrounded by people you love.

No Sew Easter Baskets

My lovely sister and I have quite a few family traditions that we enjoy doing together, and one of them is making handmade Easter baskets and bunnies each year.

The oldest three still love the baskets we made last year and they often get used in their imaginative play games. Lately Max's one has been used as a shopping basket, a catapult and as a means to carry the toys he likes to 'reclaim' from Lincoln's room...

This year I wanted to make something again that they could keep using year round, but this time I decided to go down the 'no sew' route. I absolutely love how they turned out!

These were so fun to make and nice and quick too. I did all four in a day (including working out how I wanted to make them).

Here's what you'll need to whip some up:

   - round kraft box with lid
   - fabric
   - batting
   - ribbon
   - fabric glue
   - hot glue
   - scissors
   - wool
   - scrap cardboard
   - paintbrush

Start out by smearing fabric glue around the outside of your box and then wrap the batting around it. Hold for a minute or so until dryish, then trim your batting down level with the top and bottom of the box.

Next up lay your fabric right side down on the table and measure off a section the same height as the sides of your box (mine was 7cm). Paint that section with fabric glue and then wrap around your batted box. You want the edge of the fabric to be even with the bottom of the box and all the excess to be up at the top of the box because the excess fabric will be folded in to cover the inside.

Once you've folded all that fabric in it's time to make the inside base (which will cover up all that extra folded fabric). Take your lid, cut the lip off of it and then trim it down so that it will fit snugly inside the box. Using your fabric glue again stick some more batting to the circle and trim it into shape. Then cover your circle in some more fabric (I used some cheap white poplin I had left over from making Max's headboard).

Leave it to dry from a couple of minutes before pushing the circle down into the inside of your basket.

To make the ribbon handle, attach some ribbon to the underside of your basket with hot glue and then secure the ribbon up the sides of the basket using some more fabric glue. Then glue a thick ribbon around the base of your basket.

Last but not least make a sweet little pom pom (tutorial here) for the bunny tail and hot glue it to the front of your basket.

 

 
Done! One very sweet little Easter basket (or in my case four of them!).

Jenny's working on some co-ordinating Easter bunnies to go in the baskets, I'll share them as soon as they're ready to go :).

A Tale of Two Thefts

Seems I've been a little absent-minded of late...

The other night as I started to cook dinner I couldn't find the bacon. As I was checking the fridge I realised that I didn't remember unpacking it, so I checked the receipt and sure enough it wasn't on there. I figured it must have fallen out of my trolley and made dinner without it.

Late the next day when I picked up my bag to go to the grocery store again (because I'm ridiculously disorganised and tend to shop for dinner one day at a time...) it felt kind of heavy. I fished around in there to see what was weighing it down and I found one kilo of bacon. Whoops! I must have put it straight into my handbag when the lady at the deli handed it to me. I felt even worse when I realised that after almost 24 hours in my handbag it would have to go in the bin.

I went grocery shopping again today (seriously I go every day, I need to do something about that), as I wheeled the pram back to the car I noticed two things. One, Max had fallen asleep in the pram and two, he still had a kinder egg in his hot little hand.

I'd given it to him as we started shopping and said he could hold onto it until we got to the check-out. I was even high fiving myself for coming up with a plan that kept him from asking for every second thing he saw. Turns out he may have been so quiet because he was asleep...

Anyway in that moment I knew what I had to do, I turned the pram around, went back into the shop and paid for the $2 egg. Once is an honest mistake, but two times would have practically made me a career criminal!

Tell me, have you (or your kids) ever inadvertantly stolen something? Did you fess up?

Easy Washi Tape Magnets

Something happened this weekend that's pretty rare in my house. I completed a DIY project without spending a cent. It's a miracle! Seriously though I almost always get a great idea for a quick and easy project, then it spirals out of control and ends up costing my at least $50-$100 (like the icecream shop for Max that I'm currently planning in my head). Not this time though. I had everything I needed already for these magnets. Even if I had needed to buy supplies I think it would have only cost a few dollars.

I've seen magnets like these just about everywhere already on the internet and they were so easy to make. It was just a matter of sticking the tape on my magnets (which came in a packet with the ones I used for Max's fishing game) and trimming the tape down to size. I cut each one in half and then snipped the ends of each magnet to give it that 'torn tape' look.

It took me less than ten minutes to make them and they look so cute on the fridge!

 

What do you think about sticking things on the fridge? Before I had kids I was 100% adamant that my fridge would never be covered in photos, invites or scribbled artwork. Of course that changed the minute Max drew his first picture! Now I proudly display everything on the fridge and I wouldn't have it any other way!

(Oh and if you love the washi tape I used you can find all of it at Chibi Run one of my favourite online shops).

Sharing the Love

This week has been a crazy one. Sean jetted off to a fancy corporate conference leaving me alone with my two gorgeous little boys. We survived (and had fun), but we were all definitely very happy to see him when he walked in the door this afternoon! I was so happy that the first thing I did was palm the kids off on to him and go shopping on my own. I didn't buy anything, but I did get a much needed haircut. My thick glossy pregnancy hair has started falling out in handfuls, and what I was left with was anything but thick and glossy... I had a good 15cm cut off and it feels so much healthier now.

(another awkward selfie taken in my bathroom...)

Anyway seeing as I was solo parenting this week and busy with orders I don't have a 'real' post to share, so I thought I would link to a couple of gorgeous mood boards floating around the web that feature my products. I always get such a kick out of seeing that actually likes my stuff! And yes I still pinch myself  every time I get a sale :)

Lil Sugar - Ribbon Mobile

Love & Lace - Pom Mobile - Love Cushion

The Doctor's Closet - Pom Mobile - Love Cushion

The Everygirl - Gold Dipped Jewelry Dish

Johanna Lynn Johnson - Love Cushion

So jealous of all these lucky bloggers that get to plan out sweet little girl's rooms! Maybe one day I'll get that chance, all I have to do is convince Sean that we need more babies. Easier said than done!!

I hope you all have a great weekend!