With a few days left before Easter, there is still time to arrange a quick Friday or Saturday egg dyeing play date! We recently styled a popup play date with Becka at By The Robinsons and were so excited to have it featured on 100 Layer Cakelet! Our goal was to create a fun and simple play date where the children and parents would get some some fresh air, celebrate Easter, and learn something new along the way too. We started the morning at a local farmer’s market at petting farm, where the kids were able to see animals like goats, chicken, and donkeys and they even took a turn feeding 8 week old baby goats! At the farmer’s market they saw firsthand the vegetables we would later use to make natural egg dye — things like beets, spinach and carrots will all do the trick.

To dye our eggs, we prepared natural dyes with paprika to make orange, spinach to make a light yellow-green, beets made pink, and blueberries that made a pale lavender dye. Here’s a great resource on how to prepare your own natural dyes. All it takes is about 2 cups of boiling water poured into a bowl or mason jar over each ingredient, let sit until they reach room temperature, then add 2 tablespoons of white vinegar and you’re ready to dye some eggs! So simple!

Ashley Brooke Designs kindly provided a lovely free printable for your own egg dyeing party, shown below and available for download on 100 Layer Cakelet. Enjoy the photos and Hoppy Easter everyone!

Welcome, 2014! I hope each of you had a wonderful New Year’s Eve and is ready for all that the coming year has to offer. I saw in my various news feeds many people that were ready to say goodbye to 2013 and start anew. For me, 2013 was a great year… always busy with the hustle of wedding planning and raising two small children, but we experienced some really exciting things like trips to the Bahamas, Colorado, Washington DC, Mexico, London and Paris, our children turning 2 and 4 years old, some fun lakeside parties over the summer, and some really incredible weddings that I was so proud to be a part of. Going into 2013 I had a “bucket list” rather than any real “resolutions”, and I ended up crossing off many of those items that made for some memorable experiences. They weren’t incredibly hard to accomplish or serious goals, just things I wanted to do during the year. Things like take my kids to Disney World, go on a cruise (that’s how we got to Mexico), host a wine and cheese party (which we did in a hotel room one weekend with friends and we still laugh about some of the shenanigans), buy only clothes that I really love (going to continue working on this one into 2014)… you get the drift. I’m still working on my 2014 bucket list and may share as it comes together. One thing I’m determined to do is to find peace with the work/family balance. This one weighs on me a lot because while I love my job and the weddings I get to help create, what working mom doesn’t have some guilt? I get a lot of satisfaction though out of being creative, bringing a vision to life, adding value to a bride and groom’s overall experience, and hopefully being a blessing to their families as they navigate all things wedding. What’s on your 2014 bucket list? Anything you hope to accomplish or an adventure you want to take? Maybe finish certain books, or begin writing your own? I’d love to hear about it!