How we let nature dye our eggs

The past few years we have taken to Pinterest to find new and fun ways to dye our Easter Eggs. As a photographer I love taking the time to set up shots and document our egg dying adventures.  In 2012 the co-op that we use, Bountiful Baskets, had an egg dye kit of fruits and veggies. We decided to be adventurous, leave the Paas kit at the store and color our eggs a more natural way.

The kit came with a nice variety as well as some basic instructions. I went to Google & Pinterest to find out more info. This site gave easy instruction and a color chart: http://whatscookingamerica.net/Eggs/EasterEggDye.htm
Along with this is a pin from our good friend Martha Stewart: http://www.pinterest.com/pin/69242912990944165/
It didn't look too hard. Boil eggs, boil veggies, and then let the eggs soak in the liquid in the fridge.  We started with cabbage, strawberries, carrots, beets, broccoli, and then tea bags since I didn't have coffee in the house. 

I added enough water to each pot to just cover the fruit or veggies. Then I let them simmer on the stove until the water had a nice color.  Some didn't give off much color, like the carrots. Others gave off a color different than I expected, like the beets.

I then strained them and placed them into various cups and containers.  I added a few tablespoons of vinegar per container before adding the already boiled eggs.

Because I wanted the eggs to soak overnight, I stacked all the closed containers in the fridge and then we left for the day to go to the fair.  The next morning was Easter, so the "easter bunny" found our eggs in the fridge and hid them for the kids.

These are how our eggs turned out. I did find that the more we handled them, the more the color kind of rubbed away.  My favorite eggs are the bright blue, funny that these were the ones from the beets.
Have you tried any creative Easter Egg dye methods?

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Surf’s Up! 1st Birthday

Seriously, did 4 months really fly by! So, so sorry we have been living life, making memories, and blogging just got away from us.
What better time to resurface then to share this Little Dude’s 1st Birthday.

With a June Birthday and a pool it’s a no brainer but to throw him a Surf’s Up Pool Party.

So we hit the internet and came up with some cute idea’s that we twisted a bit.

We knew we wanted to use my son’s surfboard. We liked how this looked from My Sweet and Saucy. Our board wasn’t old like that one but we like how it turned out. I used a piece of cardboard cut uneven, spread a bunch of glue all over it and added sand from our beach. Once in place I added more loose sand making it look natural. I filled 2 candy dishes with sand and sat the  board on those. Since I used the board upside down, the foot grips worked perfect to hold it in place.
                  
            
We also included cakes for the Birthday Boy’s uncles.
The main cake was made by Yuma Couture Cakes and the airbrushed ones were done by Goldsboro Bakery here in Yuma. In case you didn’t know, my boy’s are identical twins, one is a fireman and the other a policeman, thus the surfin’ dudes hangin’ 10.
What Surf’s Up Party wouldn’t be complete with surf boards. Of course it would have been awesome to use all real surfboards everywhere…

But we had some big boxes from our business that worked out great. Ok, so they weren’t the perfect shape but we were able to make different sizes so to use them in a number of ways. Plus the kids got to help paint them too.

I used foam board for a few of the smaller ones that also got an antiquing done making them more retro. We used these on the Snow Cone station and on the adults table.

We used a shade structure by Pacific Suntents  for the beach or park…

…well, I turned it into a Food Shack.
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I added some old weathered rattan fencing I had using some thin gauge wire (another staple in my tool box). A skirt around the table, a chalk board for the menu, adding some tropical  plants and the food area was complete.
It worked great to protect our food and it fit perfectly on the table. The tabs that would be used to stake it down worked great to secure it in place so that any wind we might have wouldn’t make it fly away.
The little kids table was made from an old wooden spool. Each beach bucket had a painted surfboard with their name, suntan lotion, beach ball, sunglasses, and other miscellaneous treats.












The adults table was  put together using 2 table clothes (60 x 84) from Target to fit my 72” round table. Another one of my tricks to having multiple table toppers for such a large table. An 85” square works perfect but can cost up to, if not over $40 and there is a limit to what colors and patterns are available. Two this size can come close to that price but the variety makes up for it to me. When I splurge like I did for these it’s usually because I know I will have a use for them after the event.  The colors were perfect, not just for the party but they coordinate well with my pallet of other linen too. The small surfboards along with frames painted to match looked really nice with the woody, some sand, and shells. To get the surf boards to stand up I made a square from the foam board and cut a slit in the middle the size of the bottom edge of the board. A bead of glue and wahlaw. I then covered the flat stand with the sand and shells.









The older kids table was out on the lawn where they had easy access to the water games and pool. I love using coordinating gift wrap for place settings. Usually I use double stick tape but ran out and used dabs of glue instead…not a good idea. I should have known it would be noticeable but one must do what they can at the last hour. There are certain staple a party planner must never run out of and double stick tape is one of them!

We pulled out the water games from last years Thomas party for the kids.

Hubby made the frame for the photo op stand out of PVC.  (Which will now be used as a backdrop frame for future candy bars and/or treat tables.) The photo vinyl was bought at Party City and after taping it to the PVC on top, I secured it with a noodle. For the bottom I used a wooden dole, added the noodle and that kept it weighed down yet moveable. Cutting a noodle is easy with a razor knife in case you wondered. Plus the size of the dole was the same size as the middle hole of the noodle. Win, Win!

The Sunset Bar was fully equipped…

Nothing better then Ice Tea and Lemonade on a summer day! We also had an ice chest below for the ice and Gatorades. Beer was around the corner for those who would like to enjoy a cold one.

Next to the beverage table was the Snow Cone Station. Boy was this a BIG hit! Good thing I over 2 dozen molds. Each mold will give you 2 small cones, or for the older kids and us adults 1 LARGE cone.

                            

We had a lot of fun putting this party together. Perfect weather, good food and awesome family and friends made it a splash!

Making the whoopie pies

These turned out so well they flew off the platter at our Boo Bash. 

Source: bhg.com via Amber on Pinterest

 

A can of pumpkin puree and a box of Spice cake. Mixed up the scooped out onto the cookie sheets. I cheated and used canned cream cheese frosting instead of making it by hand. My tip, if your cookie scoop leaves a little line like mine did then pat it down with a little water. 

3rd Annual Boo Bash 2011

Wow! What a bash we had this year! It was our 3rd year and bigger than ever before. Lot of prep work (and lots of Pinterest inspiration) went into making a grad party. You already saw my Spider Web fails, but I did make some very successful pumpkin whoopie pies

Source: bhg.com via Amber on Pinterest

Made some carmel apples

Source: ourbestbites.com via Amber on Pinterest

Made a giant pumpkin for our balloon pop

Source: marthastewart.com via Amber on Pinterest

Dipped some nutter butter ghosts

Source: tablespoon.com via Amber on Pinterest

along with some oreos

Source: howdoesshe.com via Amber on Pinterest

Then arranged the veggies into a pumpkin

Source: tasteofhome.com via Amber on Pinterest