Free Easter Bunny Tails Printables

Coming off the huge success of the Christmas Reindeer Feed printables (here), I have done up some similar ones for Easter!

I suggest using some white marshmallows or other similar white lollies of that size.

The width of the toppers is 210cm, however you can trim them to the size of your cello bags.

Trim UNDER the bottom of the headder, and then fold the blank top part over the bag. Secure with either double sided tape or a staple.

Ill do some up tomorrow and take some photos, but thought you might want to get printing and bagging tonight!

Download the file here:

Rebecca ox

A Quick Easter Craft Activity

Im feeling a bit unorganised with the whole Easter craft thing at the moment with Archie's birthday falling on Good Friday! So we did some impromptu bunny making yesterday with things we had already lying arund the house (well, in the recylcing box).

For this activity you will need:
Scissors
Glue
Texta
Toilet rolls, alfoil/glad wrap rolls etc
Pompoms (found at the bottom of craft boxes)
Pink and white paper (or just white)

Print out the bunny ears template. I printed the larger ears on pink paper, and the smaller ears on white paper (template from here).

Cut out 2 sets of ears and glue the smaller ear on the larger ear.

Stick the ears on the top of the cardboard roll.

Draw in the face features.

Glue on the pompom tail.

Voila!

Our little bunny family :)

Rebecca ox



Molly's Mac 'n' Cheese Muffins

Well this is a little strange blogging the food from a party before I have written about the party itself BUT oh my goodness- I have been inundated with requests for the Mac 'n' Cheese muffin recipe that I made over the weekend...

I combined two recipes, using this one for the mac 'n' cheese part (via):

Preparation Time: 10 minutes

Cooking Time: 6 minutes

Ingredients (serves 4)

• 400g macaroni
• 50g butter
• 2 tbs plain flour
• 2 cups (500ml) milk
• 2 cups (250g) grated cheese (gruyere, tasty, vintage)
• Chopped parsley

Method

1. Cook the macaroni in a large pan of boiling water according to packet instructions (different brands may vary in size & cooking times) until al dente.

2. Meanwhile, melt the butter in a medium saucepan and add the flour. Cook, stirring, for 1 minute over medium-low heat.

3. Gradually add the milk, stirring until smooth. Stir gently until the mixture comes just to the boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 2 minutes. Remove from the heat, add the grated cheese and stir until melted and smooth.

4. Drain pasta and return to the pan. Pour cheese sauce over the pasta and stir until well coated. Season with salt and white pepper to taste. Serve immediately sprinkled with chopped parsley.

And then this one for the muffin part (via):

1. Spoon into the prepared muffin tin. Sprinkle the reserved cheese and the bread crumb mixture over the tops.               
2. Bake for 30 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the topping is nicely browned. Allow the muffins to cool for a few minutes before removing from the pan. This will allow the cheese to set and they will hold their muffin shape.               

My first batch came out a bit dry so the second batch I made sure the mixture was extra cheese before I put it in the miffin tins, so didnt quite add as much pasta as the recipe said (I removed a serve just big enough for Archie's lunch :) ).

Here is one from the party that I will write about tomorrow, complete with all of the other recipes I used :)

So go forth and bake, eat and enjoy!

Rebecca ox

Lunchbox baking- spiced carrot cake

Another goodie for the lunchboxes- a spiced carrot cake that tastes delish!

I took Angry Chicken's lead and followed her changes from the original Martha recipe, including:

- using 1/4 cup melted butter instead of the oil
- using 1/2 teaspoon of my spice mix for the spices (cinnamon and nutmeg)
- using a mix of 1/2 cup white and 1/2 cup white wholemeal flour.

I didnt worry about the glaze as it just maks the lunchbox sticky and messy.

(i love recipes with 2 eggs- saves fights!)

  

Ingredients

1/4 cup vegetable oil, plus more for pan
1 cup (spooned and leveled) all-purpose flour, plus more for pan
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom, or 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup packed light-brown sugar
1/3 cup low-fat plain yogurt
1 cup finely shredded, packed (about 2 medium) carrots
Quick Glaze, or confectioners' sugar

Directions
1.Preheat oven to 180 degrees celcius. Brush loaf cake pan with oil. Place a round of waxed or parchment paper in the bottom; brush with oil, and dust with flour, tapping out excess. Set aside.

2.In a medium bowl, whisk flour, baking soda, cardamom, and salt; set aside. In a small bowl, whisk eggs, sugars, yogurt, and oil until smooth. Gently mix egg mixture into dry ingredients until moistened; mix in carrots. Transfer batter to prepared pan.

3.Bake until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 40 to 45 minutes (if browning too quickly, tent cake with aluminum foil). Cool in pan, 15 minutes. Turn out of pan, remove paper, and cool completely on a rack, right side up. Apply glaze, or dust with confectioners' sugar.

Enjoy!
Rebecca ox

Baking on a cold summer's day

This unusally cold weather for February is crazy- but making me want to bake! Thanks to Sarah for this amazing banana cake recipe (via Women's Weekly Cook Book)- I couldn't wait for it to cool down to ice it. Delish!

 My two little helpers:

Banana Cake with passionfruit icing



125g Butter, softened
3/4 cup (165g) firmly packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups (225g) Self-raising flour
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 teaspoon mixed spice
1 cup mashed banana
1/2 cup (120g) sour cream
1/4 cup (60ml) milk

Passionfruit Icing
1 1/2 cups (240g) icing sugar
1 teaspoon soft butter
2 tablespoons passionfruit pulp, approximately

Preheat oven to moderate (180/160 degrees fan-forced)
Grease 15cm x 25cm loaf pan; line base with baking paper
Beat butter and sugar in small bowl with electric mixer until light and fluffy
Beat in eggs, one at a time, until combined
Transfer mixture to large bowl
Using wooden spoon, stir in sifted dry ingredients, banana, cream and milk
Spread mixture into pan
Bake, uncovered, about 50 minutes
Stand cake 5 minutes then turn onto wire rack; turn cake top-side up to cool
Place icing sugar in small heatproof bowl.Spread cold cake with passionfruit icing

Stir in butter and enough pulp to give a firm paste
Stir over hot water until icing is of a spreadable consistency, taking care not to overheat

Enjoy,

Rebecca ox

Paper Doll Nursery

I had the pleasure of putting together an {Inspiration Board} for a lovely lady who was looking to set up her little girl's nursery. She had seen some of the other rooms I had put together [here] and wanted me to do something similar for her. Um yes please!
She wanted something pretty, feminine but not owls, birds or princess! A Paper Doll theme immediately sprung to mind, inspired by the amazing pattern botique Oliver + S. Even if you are not a sewer, do yourself a favour and head over and check out their beautiful site and creations [here].
Here is my {Inspiration Board} for the Paper Doll theme, complete with links where to but all of the goodies listed below. I always include Porter’s Paint colours in the boards to help clients with colour choices for the walls and other features in the room. Check out their amazing range (and paint names too!)[here].

Pompoms: Little Spunky Monkey  | Wall Decals: Mae | Personalised Print: Kathy Panton |
Cot Quilt: BabyRoo | Crochet Beanie: AnK Bowtique | Lamp: Carousel Designs |Softie: Mulberry Road

Cushion: Kido Store | Rug: Kidzone | Basket: Kido Store |
Rebecca ox

Practicing Handwriting

With all the back to school excitement, the kids are right into the idea of homework (well, this week anyway!) so I'm embracing this enthusiasm and have been searching for some cool websites with worksheets that will suit both of their ages (5 and just about 4).

This site proved to be fabulous! You can enter the text you want and it makes your words into tracing dashes, puts them on writing lines and also includes starting point dots. It's brilliant and there are lots of variables you can play around with like single words, sentences, sizes, cursive fonts and prompt arrows.

I had Molly practice her full name

and Ned asked me to type in "Fred is a lovely cat"

It certainly made for a cool activity that they loved, and asked to do again tonight.

I promise my next post will be nothing to do with education, and be far more pretty to look at :)

Rebecca ox

"Twas the night before school started, when all over town, parents were cheering...It was a riotous sound!!!!, by 8 the kids were washed and tucked into bed..... where memories of homework filled them with dread!!!! New pencils, New folders, New notebooks too!!! New teachers, New friends, their anxiety grew!!! The parents just giggled when they learnt of this fright and shouted down the hallway, go to bed it is a school night!!"
I did have a chuckle at this doing the rounds tonight. I will miss Ned terribly (and Molly with be completely lost without him around), but Ned is excited about returning to school tomorrow and thats the best part.

Another thing doing the rounds tonight on Pinterest, is the "Back To School Interview" questions. A lot of the links I found were for paid files, so I thought I'd ask a couple of the mums out there what they would like to ask their child on the eve of returning to school, and make one up myself. I also wanted to accommodate a photo, and I will do this interview at the start of each school year (until they will let me lol). I think it will be a hoot to look back on in years to come.

Please feel free to download the file and I'd love to hear and see some of the replies!

Please email me at info@littlespunkymonkey.com.au if you have any trouble with the file.

Enjoy tomorrow, those with kiddlets returning to school, and enjoy even more your quieter coffee straight after that ;)

Rebecca ox

Well 28 days into the new year and I am finally getting to my new year's resolution of reigniting my poor poor blog. I missed her. I missed sharing ideas with people. I missed rambling.

I guess the fact that my tardiness is due to getting back on track after a super busy end to last year, means things are a good busy. Already this year promises many new products, new party themes, new inspiring customers and hopefully a new exciting venture.

In the lead up to Christmas I offered some free printable 'Reindeer Feed' bag toppers and instructions (here), and after emailing out over 100 copies to customers, I was so happy to hear that they bought so much happiness to so many families. The many messages of thanks I received were so lovely, and were what spurred me on to get back on the blogging bandwagon (that coupled with the fact I can now blog from my phone in the car, doing a middle of the night feed or while making dinner, sure does help when you don't have to be in front of the computer!).

Many of you said that my projects and posts inspire you to try new things and give new recipes, craft ideas and party ideas a go. I love and live DIY, and am throwing myself into up-cycling at the moment. Thats a whole other post though.

SO... with a busy couple of weeks ahead (3 parties this weekend, butterfly/garden party next weekend, balloon party the weekend after that, then Molly's 4th party to organise and then a couple of weeks later Archie's 1st birthday to get my head around) I am kicking of this exciting time with the {Inspiration Board} for the butterfly/garden party next weekend.

Its a 1st birthday to be held in a park, with lots of kids of all ages and a pretty fun theme to work with!
I had a lot of fun with the invitations, which can be viewed here.
Hope you enjoy it, and hope you have recovered from the shock of this old lass being fired up again.

Till next time, take care,
Rebecca ox