Recently I saw some cute pom-pom Easter bunnies and chicks on Pinterest, and well you know how much I like to try some of the things I see on there, I thought I'd give these a go. I looked at the original post and thought it should be relatively easy enough to do. In fact the trickiest bit was probably drawing the templates, but I reckoned that they didn't need to be perfect and just needed to look enough like a bunny or a chick - you might already have seen these on my Easter tea party post on Sunday!
So with my bunny template and some small scraps of wool I was ready.
1. You'll need two bunny shaped cut-outs and then simply wind the wool from the centre hole around the bunny's middle. I used small lengths of wool as that made it easier to get it through the central hole. As the hole filled up I found using a crochet hook invaluable to guide the wool.
2. I decided to have multi-coloured pom-poms; to join the second colour just tuck the end under the wool as you continue to wind the wool through the hole. If it's longer than the rest it doesn't matter as you can trim it later.
This took me right back to making pom-poms as a child, although we stuck with circular pieces of card for the traditional round pom-poms.
3. When you've wound as much wool as you want around the card - remember the more wool you wind, the fuller your pom-pom will be - then it's time to cut the threads.
Tip: keep your thumb firmly on the centre of the bunny!
4. Then take another length of wool and tie it between the two pieces of card around the wool you've just cut. Tie it tightly, this is what will keep your pom-pom together.
5. Draw a face, and you're done!
To make them stand up unaided I've found folding the bottom edge out helps - you'll see what I mean with the chick.
To make a chick
Repeat the same process, this time with a chick-shaped template.
And there you go, a cute and easy way to make a pom-pom Easter bunny and an Easter chick. Winding the wool around the cardboard is quite soothing and easy to do, so it'd make a great craft to do with the kids.
What do you think of my pom-pom bunny and chick?
To see more of my Easter-inspired pins take a look at my Easter Pinterest board:
Some fantastic tableware choices from Nest.co.uk
I have visions of the table completely transforming our lives, which may be a tad on the unrealistic side if I'm honest. But even in our reality I'm hoping that we'll eat at the table more often than in front of the TV, I know the dream hey?
The meal that we most consistently eat at the table, is strangely enough breakfast. And clearly having this carafe for our fruit juice would make breakfast even better.
MUUTO CORKY CARAFE & GLASSES £64
Photo credit: Nest.co.uk
Once we've cleared the table from breakfast I think this plate would look great on the table. I'm intrigued to know just how jelly-like it is. The Nest website says the plate has been created by "experimenting with the texturisation of surface materials, resulting in the core material being enhanced to influence the jelly-like appearance."
It's a beautiful colour too isn't it? - and it'd pick up the blue in the wallpaper behind our table.
KARTELL JELLY TABLE CENTRE PLATE £72
Photo credit: Nest.co.uk
And for the times where we do eat dinner on the sofa in front of the TV - because in all reality we will sometimes - these trays will save MOH wearing his dinner, which happens all too often and should actually be the prompt we need to eat at the table more often.
NORMANN COPENHAGEN NABO TRAYS £59
Photo credit: Nest.co.uk
The final piece I want to share with you is this cleverly designed tableware set. It looks like a vase, but each of the tableware pieces stack together to form the vase - and while that's clever, look at how detailed and decorative the individual pieces are. I'm not sure I'd leave it stacked that often.
IBRIDE YUAN COLLECTION TABLEWARE £139
Photo credit: Nest.co.uk
The vase when stacked is 30cm high - the height of a ruler (what a go to visual measurement that is!) and comprises 4 or 8 plates, a salad bowl, another slightly smaller bowl and a dish and is topped with a small pot with a lid. It's so very clever, and beautiful too. And just goes to show not all tableware has to be stored in our cupboards.
Photo credit: Nest.co.uk
What's on your table?
This is a collaborative post but all opinions are my own.
An Easter tea party with home-made Hot Cross Buns
Chestnuts are a long time favourite, and especially my mum's Chestnut stuffing which is an absolute must at Christmas. I really must get her to write it down as even though I've tried to replicate it, I've not mastered it yet.
Dulce de Leche is a newer flavour to me - if you've not tried it, it's like a caramel sauce and delicious. I was first introduced to it at our local Argentinian restaurant who do a stunning dulce de leche bread pudding, and it's always worth trying to leave some room to end the meal on. But as they do delicious morcilla and huge steaks that's always tricky!
Making the Hot Cross Buns
Unusually there's dulce de leche mixed into the dough; to help ensure this was evenly mixed I stirred it through the warm milk and warm water mixture, and it gave the dough a warm, caramel colour which isn't surprising.
The upper arm work-out
With all the ingredients mixed, it was time for ten minutes of kneading. Its purpose is to stretch the gluten so the dough rises, but it's also good for an arm work-out! It's amazing that after ten minutes its appearance is so different.
Shaping the buns
The recipe suggests wrapping the dough around the chestnut and dulce de leche mixture but as I think the best way to have Hot Cross Buns is split and toasted I opted to use the mixture once they were toasted.
I had some challenges adding the crosses too, although they are my most successful attempt at crosses to date. I'd chosen a piping nozzle that was just too fine and the mixture struggled to flow out. I gave up at the right time and just before the piping bag burst - I wouldn't have been so happy about that. When I tried with a larger nozzle it was still hard to squeeze out, but much easier than my first go.
But when they came out of the oven, they looked great and I was impressed.
They smelt good too, and we did well to resist trying one straight from the oven!
The Easter tea party
Well it's (almost) Easter, so Easter bunnies, chicks and mini-Easter eggs were all included. And doesn't it look pretty?
And yes, that's a tea cup full of mini-Easter eggs, I didn't want my tea getting cold.
The Hot Cross Buns were tasty too, they kept their caramel flavour and MOH thought they were the healthy brown sort, but the colour has come from the dulce de leche. They tasted better than the shop bought ones do, they had more about them if you know what I mean.
How do you like your Hot Cross Buns?
This is a collaborative post but all opinions are my own.