Bunny Bunting

I had seen some cute bunny bunting on Pinterest lately, here and here. So I knew I wanted to make one of my own. Plus, Little O is completely obsessed with bunnies right now (goats are still her number one favorite, but bunnies are a close second).

I didn't want to spend a fortune on a Spring mantel. With Easter being so early this year, we won't get to enjoy it for too long. So I sifted through my stash of scrapbook papers to find any that represented Spring and Easter.

I also checked out my Cricut cartridges for a cute bunny silhouette. This one came from the Noah's ABC Animals cartridge. I cut each bunny out at 5.5 inches (the largest my Cricut cuts). For the width of my mantel, I needed 21 bunnies. After cutting them out, I laid them out on the floor of my craft room to decide the order in which to place them on the ribbon.

Once I had them placed the way I wanted them, I hot glued them to the ribbon and attached little white pom poms to the tails. I had these on-hand from a toddler busy box I created for Little O.

I originally planned to drape the bunny bunting on the mantel, but it just didn't look right. Instead I used Tacky adhesive to attach the ribbon flush along the edge of my mantel.

I'm really pleased with how my bunny bunting turned out, but it made me realize that the rest of my mantel looked so naked! I decided I needed to do something about that.

Check out what the finished Spring mantel looks like here.

Spring Mantel

After finishing my Bunny Bunting, I realized just how naked the rest of my mantel looked. I knew I had to do something to make it look finished, but I didn't want to spend a ton of money. The bunny bunting didn't cost me a penny. I had everything I needed to make it on hand already. Score!

So I scoured my craft room for other bits and bobs that I could use to complete my Spring mantel.

I found a really cute Spring Subway Art printable that you can customize by Janet over at Today's Fabulous Finds. I chose Olive and printed it out, but I needed a frame to put it in. I found one I really liked over at Hobby Lobby. It wasn't on sale, but I had a 40% off coupon, so it cost me $11. This is the only thing I purchased for this mantel.

In one of my random craft supply boxes, I found some fake flowers leftover from last year. The pink ones were from Little O's first birthday portraits and the white ones I used on a gift basket for a friend's birthday. I also found small Styrofoam balls from way back when I was in grad school. They've been in that box for five or six years. Time to use them up! I stuck the flowers around the Styrofoam ball to make two pretty pompanders. I used hot glue on a few of the flowers that wouldn't stay put. Then I placed them onto two candle holders I found in my basement. They used to be black, but I spray painted them with some yellow spray paint I had.

The other two things on the mantel are a purple floral bunny my mother-in-law bought for us last Easter and a pink and white tea set I usually keep in my craft room.

And here is the finished product. I'll post a little bit more about the Bunny Bunting on Monday, so check back!

Tutorial: Caterpillar Bug Jars

I'm working furiously to finish all the crafts I have planned for Little O's birthday party. Check out the invitations I made a few weeks ago. I have two weeks left. I think I can do it. If she takes some really LONG naps!

Today I worked on the centerpieces for the four tables in the party room. I decided on caterpillar bug jars to continue the Very Hungry Caterpillar theme.

You will need:

1. An assortment of pompoms. I used red, green, and yellow. The red one (for the head) is a slightly larger size than the green and yellow. I think it would be just as cute if all the pompoms were the same size.
2. Googly eyes
3. Pipe cleaners (one per caterpillar)
4. Hot glue
5. Plastic jars (you could use glass, but since mine are for a baby party, I opted for plastic). I got mine in the painting supply section of Hobby Lobby.
6. An assortment of green card stock
7. Scissors or a Cricut (I used my Cricut)

First, I hot glued the pompoms together to create the caterpillar body. Then I glued the googly eyes to the head.

Next, I attached the antennae. These are made out of black pipe cleaners. I placed the pipe cleaner under the caterpillar in the joint between the head and the first body segment. I wrapped the pipe cleaner around the "neck" and twisted it to hold it in place.

After securing the pipe cleaners, I used a pencil to curl them into antennae.

Here's what they looked like when they were finished.

I used my Cricut to cut out leaves to decorate the inside of the jars. I used dark green and light green and two different styles of leaves.

Here's the finished product. I think they turned out really cute. The caterpillars are a little larger than I had originally planned, but I like them anyway.

Jessica

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