Easy Easter Egg Banner

I was decorating for Easter a few weeks ago, and I had all these foam eggs.  At first I was going to hang them in various places in the kitchen, but then I got this fun idea to turn the eggs into a banner.
This is a very easy and inexpensive project, and I was really pleased with how it turned out.  And it just happened to go great with this “Happy Easter” banner I already had.
What you need:
Foam Egg Sheets
Ribbon
You should be able to find the foam egg sheets at Wal-Mart, a craft store, or possibly a dollar store.  The holes were already punched in these, but you can always use a punch that works with foam if you can’t find any sheets like these.
Cut your ribbon in to 6-8 inch pieces.  You could actually go shorter with the ribbon, but I like the look of the longer ribbon.  Loop the ribbon  through the holes of two foam sheets. Tie the ribbon into a knot.  Keep adding eggs in the same way until you have the desired length.  On each end of the banner, take a piece of ribbon and loop it through a hole; tie a knot.  (These ribbons on the end will be used for hanging.)   To give the ends a more cute and “finished” look, take a second ribbon and loop it through the hole, but this time tie the ribbon in to a bow.
Another thing to consider is adding additional ribbons.  I thought about tying additional ribbons through the bottom wholes or tying ribbons through the middle of the eggs, but in the end I just decided to keep it simple.
This post is sponsored by Petite Rouge. Are you looking for the perfect finishing touch? Petite Rouge has it. Simple, elegant blossoms to brighten up any outfit. Dainty enough for your smallest princess. Sophisticated enough for your growing girls. Clip on a headband or wear alone.
I’m linking up at the Decor to Adore Spring Craft Party and these weekly parties.

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If you’d like to sponsor some posts on my blog, email me for details.

The Sweetest Easter Tablescapes

I think I’ve got Easter Fever!  I had so much fun sharing all the great Easter wreaths last week, that I couldn’t wait to share some Easter tables that I found!  These photos are so cheery!  And everything is so cute!  It really makes me wish I was going to an Easter party!

See what I mean?  Don’t you want to go to this party? I Do!  Evertything is so cute—even the carrot centerpeice! Just adorable!  This is fromWants and Wishes.
Loved this!  It’s so whimsical and pretty! I love the soft pastels, and I love both of these egg trees.  You can see the tutorial at Torie Jayne.

Okay! Believe it or not, this isn’t a real tablescape! Surpise!  It’s actually dollhouse size!  But it was so cute I had to include it, and I think it would be great inspiration for a life size table. Check it out at Hummingbird Miniatures.

So many beautiful things here!  It’s Always a Party at the Parkers is a site that I found long time ago and forgot about.  I don’t know how I forgot because they sell some totally unforgettable party supplies!  And after you check out the party table, you can pick some free printables.

This one’s actually an Easter Brunch Table.  Isn’t that a cute concept?  Check out The Party Dress to see what is being served up.

I love the simplicity of this, and the tree with the birds is gorgeous.  I’m not sure of the original source, but this and other tablescapes are being featured at 79 Ideas.

For more cute Easter ideas, check out my Easter board.

This post is sponsored by Petite Rouge. Are you looking for the perfect finishing touch? Petite Rouge has it. Simple, elegant blossoms to brighten up any outfit. Dainty enough for your smallest princess. Sophisticated enough for your growing girls. Clip on a headband or wear alone. 
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Sunflower Peep Cake

Photo Credit: Taste of Home

As I was looking through my collection of recipe photos for something to post this week, nothing really inspired me, and since I’m running a little late on the post anyway, I decided I’d just look for something cute from an outside source.  I immediately thought of my husband’s birthday, which is next week!  For those of you who are new and do not know, I have to always make a yellow cake with chocolate icing for his birthday.  It’s his favorite.  It’s what he likes.  End of story! 
Don’t get me wrong! It’s actually one of my favorites too!  But I just can’t blog about the same cake over and over! So for today’s post I thought it would be fun to share an alternative to the plain yellow cake with chocolate icing.  I remember seeing this Sunflower Peep Cake along time ago on Taste of Home.  I can’t believe I never shared it before because it is so cute!
I don’t think I’ll be making one of these next week, as I’m certain that hubby’s birthday is a Peep-Free Zone, but it’s fun to think about just the same!  Hope you enjoy!

Recipe for Sunflower Peep Cake:

Ingredients:
1 package (18-1/4 ounces) yellow cake mix
2 cans (16 ounces each) chocolate frosting
19 yellow chick Peeps candies
1-1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:
Prepare and bake cake according to package directions, using two greased and waxed paper-lined 9-in. round baking pans. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks to cool completely; carefully remove waxed paper.
Level tops of cakes. Spread frosting between layers and over the top and sides of cake.
Without separating Peeps and curving slightly to fit, arrange chicks around edge of cake for sunflower petals. For sunflower seeds, arrange chocolate chips in center of cake.
Linking up at these parties.

This post is sponsored by Petite Rouge. Are you looking for the perfect finishing touch? Petite Rouge has it. Simple, elegant blossoms to brighten up any outfit. Dainty enough for your smallest princess. Sophisticated enough for your growing girls. Clip on a headband or wear alone. 

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If you’d like to sponsor some posts on Simply Sweet Home, please check out my PR page.

I Love Easter Wreaths

Photo Credit: UpTown Originals
Here lately I’ve been all about wreaths!  Last month I created an etsy treasury of St. Patty’s Day Wreaths as well as a Celebrate St. Patty’s Day treasury, and so this month I followed these up with a treasuy of Easter Wreaths and another called Celebrate Easter.
Also, this month (actually last week) I joined Pinterest. It’s a new bookmarking and social network site.   I’ve pinned some lovely things for Easter on there as well.  So today I’ll be sharing some wreaths from my Etsy Treasury and my Pinterest Page. (By the way, if you’re already a Pinterest member or you’re going to sign up, please visit my page and follow me, and I will follow you back!)

I hope you enjoy these finds!

Springtime Easter Egg Wreath from A Work of Heart
Easter Wreath from CraftyArtist

Bright and Colorful Easter Egg Wreath from Always Present

Feather Easter Egg Wreath from Every Crafty Endeavor

Spring/Easter Wreath from Loving Every Second
Easter Egg Wreath from Crocheted Creations

Easter Wreath Topiary from Cozy Home Scenes

For more Easter Wreaths, please check out my treasury.

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Thrifty Basket Decor

Here’s something cute and simple.  I got these baskets at the thrift store.  They were a whopping 50 cents each!  Oddly enough I found these on two separate occasions, and both are in good condition and both appear to be hand painted. 
And I just happened to have some plastic eggs here at home to put inside them.  I’m currently displaying these in the kitchen for Easter.
In the future, I may decoupage these eggs for fun, but till then, they are fine for me as is. 
So if you’d like to decorate for Easter, but you don’t want to spend a lot of money and/or you’re not that crafy, just get you some plastic eggs at the dollar store and stuff them in a basket.  It works!

-Jerri

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I’m posting a link to this post at:
It’s So Very Creative & It’s So Very Thrifty hosted by It’s So Very Cheri
Make it for Monday hosted by Cottage Instincts
Made it Mondays hosted by The Persimmon Perch
Making the World Cuter Monday hosted by Making the World Cuter
Make Your Monday hosted by Twice Remembered
Metamorphosis Monday hosted by Between Naps on the Porch
DIY Day at A Soft Place to Land
Market Yourself Monday is hosted by Sumos Sweet Stuff
Marketing Mondays and Sharing Ideas Wednesday is hosted by The Trendy Treehouse
What Your Working with Wednesday is hosted by Me and My Bucket
Show & Tell Wednesday is hosted by Blue Cricket Design
Tip Me Tuesday is hosted by Tip Junkie
Week End Review is hosted by Tator Tots & Jello
Star on Saturday is hosted by Craft-Werk
Penny Pinching Party is hosted by The Thrifty Home
Show & Tell Friday is hosted by Romantic Home

Homemade Easter Garland

After Christmas the kitchen cabinets looked so bare! So I added a little garland from the craft store for Valentines. Then I was fortunate to win some homemade Valentine Garland from Liz at Hoosier Homemade. It was such a cute prize that it inspired me to make my own garland for Easter. I don’t sew or anything. In fact, I’m not very crafty at all. (Although I am getting better!) So I took Liz’s design and did my own variation on it. (Sorry the pics aren’t any better. Our house doesn’t have the best light. Plus, I’ve decided that I’m in need of a new camera. I always thought I had a pretty good one until my niece got one for Christmas, and the megapixels were about 2x better than mine. I had no idea how much cameras had impoved….then again, I should have known, since I’ve had the camera now for 3 yrs…but I digress! Sorry!) Let’s just get to the tutorial…

Here’s What You’ll Need:
Scrapbook paper. (I used 4 different colors, but I only used half the sheet of paper on each.)
Ribbon
Stencils or cookie cutters
scissors
glue or tape
pen or pencil

Garland Tutorial:
-Use cookie cutters or stencils to trace shapes onto the back of scrapbook paper. You can use a single shape or multiple shapes. (I used an egg shape and two different flower shapes. And again, I used 4 different color patterns and about a half a sheet of paper of each pattern.)
-Next take your scissors and cut out the shapes. (I made 24 cut outs for a seven and a half foot string of garland)
Cut off a line of ribbon. Make the ribbon as long as you like. I suggest cutting off at least a foot more than the intended length. (I made a 7 1/2 foot garland, but I actually cut about 8 1/2 foot of ribbon off. I used the extra length on each end to wrap it around the “edging” on the top of the cabinets.)
-Now attach the shapes to the ribbon. (I placed them about an inch apart from each other.)
-There are a few different methods you can use for this. Liz actually sewed the cutouts to the ribbon. I, however, am not a seamstress and decided to use a short cut method. I used tape to attach the shapes. I used two small pieces of tape on each shape (making a t or x with the tape on the back of each shape.) I used two pieces to make sure it was secured, and put them on there cross-ways so that the garland would be more flexible/movable. For this step you could also mod podge or a glue gun if you prefer. (I just used tape because it’s quicker, there’s no mess, and it would allow me to make adjustments if I needed to.)
-Then hang your garland and enjoy!

-Jerri

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I’m posting a link to this post at:
It’s So Very Creative & It’s So Very Thrifty hosted by It’s So Very Cheri
Make it for Monday hosted by Cottage Instincts
Made it Mondays hosted by The Persimmon Perch
Making the World Cuter Monday hosted by Making the World Cuter
Make Your Monday hosted by Twice Remembered
Metamorphosis Monday hosted by Between Naps on the Porch
DIY Day at A Soft Place to Land
Market Yourself Monday is hosted by Sumos Sweet Stuff
Marketing Mondays and Sharing Ideas Wednesday is hosted by The Trendy Treehouse
What Your Working with Wednesday is hosted by Me and My Bucket
Show & Tell Wednesday is hosted by Blue Cricket Design
Tip Me Tuesday is hosted by Tip Junkie
Week End Review is hosted by Tator Tots & Jello
Star on Saturday is hosted by Craft-Werk
Penny Pinching Party is hosted by The Thrifty Home
Show & Tell Friday is hosted by Romantic Home
Tackle it Tuesday is hosted by 5 Minutes for Mom
Strut Yourself Thursday is hosted by Somewhat Simple
Easter Link Party is hosted by
Bird Crafts

Sweet Thursday: Easter Parade of Goodies

Is everyone ready for Easter? The people who made these lovely desserts certainly are! Thanks everyone for allowing me to feature your lovely work here!

Next month’s theme is going to be a little different, and I’m sure you’ll all enjoy it. Next month we’ll be featuring Cupcakes! If you’d like to be included in the cupcake round-up just send your pic and/or link in an email to simplysweethome@hotmail.com. And let me remind you that it’s okay to submit a pic of cupcakes you’ve decorated, even without a recipe. In fact, you don’t even have to have a blog! And it’s okay to send in something from an older post.

Now for the due date: I will be posting the round-up on Thursday, May 14, so as long as you get your stuff sent in before then, you’ll be fine. For more information on Sweet Thursday, click here.

Thanks you guys and enjoy the Easter Parade!

Flower Power Brownies Five Star Sweets

Birds Nest Macaroons from Five Star Sweets

Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Eggs from ROOTSANDWINGSCO

Crunchy Critters from Georgikids

Rolled Fondant Sugar Cookies from The Parson’s Wife

Chocolate Dipped Peeps at Forever Wherever

Easter Cupcakes from Nina’s Culinary Creations

I found this the other day and wanted to share it here as well. It’s a Rich Chocolate Cake with Truffle-Egg Nest from Martha Stewart.
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I’m sharing this over at Ultimate Recipe is Swap, hosted by Life as Mom.


-Jerri

Craft Corner: Fun Easter Projects

Just in time for Easter, here’s a collection of craft projects that you can try. There are so many cute ideas out for Easter eggs, including these lovely flower and bird decoupage eggs that would look lovely in your home year round. I’ve also been finding different ideas for making your own dioramas, which are very cute!

Oversize Botanical Decoupage Eggs from Martha Stewart

Elegant Eggs from Country Living

Easter Diorama from BHG

Bunny Painting Egg at Favecrafts.com

Bright Ribbon Eggs at Favecrafts.com

Bird’s Nest Easter Card from Kaboose


-Jerri

Easy Easter Bunny Party Favor

Here’s a cute treat that you can make for your child’s Easter party or Easter basket. As a kid, I used to love getting candies and treats with a decorative/crafty twist. But some of us were not born with the craft bone, so this post goes out to all the people who have considered themselves “craft-challenged” but are trying to get better (myself included).

For this project, you’ll need:

mini chocolate candy bars

kleenex or gift tissue

a black pen

string/ribbon/fishing line.

Take 2 or 3 candy bars and stack them on top of a piece of tissue.

Roll up the tissue with the candy inside.

After rolling up the tissue completely, the ends will be used to make bunny ears.


Grab each end of the tissue. Pull it toward the top of the “bunny head.” Twist the tissue and use string or ribbon to tie the ears tight and fluff them out till you get the desired look and shape.

Use your black pen to draw a face on your bunny.

Make a few of these and arrange them in your child’s Easter basket, or make one or two of these for each kid at your child’s Easter party.

Recipe of the Week: Easter Bunny Cake

Hello all. This week’s Recipe of the Week is Easter Bunny Cake. This recipe is from Betty Crocker. (The link is below the pic) However, there are several other versions of the Bunny Cake all over the net. It’s a great treat for kids and adults of all ages.

I just love looking at all these great crafts & desserts for spring. Yesterday, when I wrote the Sweet Thursday post, I couldn’t help but hum to myself…..”in your Easter bonnet, with all the frills upon it.” Now suddenly I’ve got “The Bunny Song” from Vegetales in my head…and “Here Comes Peter Cotton Tale.” Is anyone else with me? No? Oh well, enjoy the recipe!

Bunny Bake

1 box cake mix. (the recipe calls for carrot, but I like yellow or white)
Water, vegetable oil and eggs called for on cake mix box
Tray or cardboard, covered with foil
1 container white frosting
1 cup shredded coconut
Construction paper
Jelly beans or small gumdrops
1 cup shredded coconut
Green food color

1. Heat oven to 350°F (325°F for dark or nonstick pans). Make and cool cake as directed on box for two 8-inch or 9-inch round pans.
2. Reserve 1 layer for another use or to make a second bunny. Cut 1 layer in half as shown in diagram. Put halves together with frosting to form body. Place cake upright on cut edge on tray.
3. Cut out a notch about one-third of the way up one end of body to form head (small end) as shown in diagram. Attach half of cutout piece from tail with toothpicks. Frost with remaining frosting, rounding body on sides. Sprinkle with 1 cup coconut. Cut ears from construction paper; press into notch on top. Use jelly beans for eyes and nose.
4. Shake 1 cup coconut and 3 drops food color in tightly covered jar until evenly tinted. Surround bunny with tinted coconut. Add additional jelly beans if desired. Store loosely covered.

High Altitude (3500-6500 ft): Follow High Altitude directions on cake mix box for two 8- or 9-inch round pans.