Use leftover gift tags to hang a sweet note on a homemade Mother’s Day bouquet.  Write a little note and tie it to one of the flowers in your arrangement for a pretty little detail that mom is sure to appreciate.  Happy Mother’s Day!

Enliven your table with an arrangement of mini bouquets set in juice glasses or small mugs.  These mini bouquets are adorable and economical: A few bunches of inexpensive spring flowers pepper your entire table.  Pick a few small-budded flowers in similar hues, such as tulips, daisies and daffodils.  Trim the stems short enough so the flowers will peek over the rims of the glasses or mugs.  If using mugs, place a small round metal floral frog in each mug to help shape and hold down the arrangements (the frog will show through clear juice glasses, so rather than using the frog, just fill them a bit tighter to keep the stems in place).

This is a great idea for a spring shower or brunch.  After your event is over, place one of the mini arrangements next to the sink in your bathroom and the rest on bedside or end tables around the house.

I totally forgot about this trick for making tulips bloom and stand upright until a facebook friend reminded me via her status.  Here’s the great tip: Place a shiny copper penny in the water with tulips to make the buds open and prevent the stems from flopping.  The copper in the penny acts as a natural antibacterial and will even extend the life of your fresh-cut flowers.  Using a shiny/ new penny will yield the best results.

This cake ideas is inspired by a Martha Stewart recipe I used the recipe for the cake decorating instructions and frosting.  The reviews for the cake on Martha’s site  said the cake wasn’t very tasty so I used the “best ever banana cake” recipe for the actual cake and adapted it by using whole wheat pastry flour and less sugar.

Monkey (Banana) Cake Recipe

For the banana cake:

1 ½ cups very ripe banana mashed

2 teaspoons lemon juice

3 cups whole wheat pastry flour

1 ½ teaspoons baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt

¾ cup unsalted butter, softened

1 ¼ cups sugar

3 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 ½ cups buttermilk

For the frosting:

3 ½ sticks butter, softened

¾ tsp. vanilla extract

3 ¾ cups confections’ sugar, sifted

yellow food coloring

¾ cup unsweetened cocoa

black shoestring licorice

chocolate covered espresso beans

1.  To make the banana cake: Preheat oven to 275°.  Grease and flour an oven-proof metal bowl.  Mix mashed banana with lemon juice and set aside.  Whisk together flour, baking soda and salt and set aside.  Cream ¾ cup butter and 1 ¼ cups sugar in mixer until light and fluffy.  Beat in eggs, one at a time; add 2 tsp. vanilla and beat until combined.  Mix in flour mixture, a cup at a time, alternating with buttermilk.  Stir in banana mixture.

Pour batter into prepared pan (metal bowl) and bake in preheated oven for 1 ½ – 2 hours, or until toothpick or cake tester inserted into center comes out clean (cooking time will vary depending on the size of your bowl).  Cool on wire rack.  When cool, invert onto a plate and trim flat side of cake to make it even (Note:  trim even if the cake looks even on top – this is important for frosting and piping around the bottom of the cake).

3.  To make the vanilla buttercream frosting:  Combine ½ stick butter, ¼ tsp. vanilla and ¾ cup confections’ sugar.  Mix with a paddle attachment on medium-high speed, until pale and fluffy (about 2 minutes).  Stir in 2 drops of food coloring to make pale yellow frosting.  Transfer to a pastry bag (or ziplock bag with small tip snipped from the bottom corner of the bag).

4.  To make the chocolate buttercream frosting:  Beat 3 sticks butter in mixing bowl on medium-high speed.  Add cocoa and beat on slow speed until fully combined.  Add remaining confections’ sugar, 1 cup at a time, to the cocoa mixture.  Add ½ tsp. vanilla and mix on high speed until fully incorporated (about 20 seconds).  Transfer ¼ of frosting to a pastry bag (or ziplock bag with small tip snipped from the bottom corner of the bag).

5.  To decorate the cake:  Place cake on cake stand with flat side down (dome facing up).  Place 3 strips of waxed or parchment paper on the cake stand under the cake, to keep the stand clean while frosting (remove strips when done frosting by pulling them out from the sides).  Slice cake horizontally in the middle and fill with chocolate frosting.  Place top back on cake and frost entire outside of cake with chocolate frosting, using an off set spatula.  Remove waxed paper strips and pipe small dots along the bottom edge of the cake.  To make the mouth, pipe an oval with the vanilla frosting, filling the center with additional vanilla frosting and spreading with an off set spatula.  Place two chocolate covered espresso beans above the vanilla oval; use two small pieces of black licorice to make the nose (placing them parallel) and one longer piece of licorice for the mouth.  Refrigerate and bring to room temperature before serving.

I made a mini smash cake (using a smaller metal bowl and mini muffin tin), but it was much harder to frost and came out looking a little angry.  

Here’s a super simple party favor idea for a monkey theme party.  Buy or make a great trail mix (mini peanut butter cups from Trader Joe’s make this mix special), fill glass jars with the mix, then add a label and some ribbon or yarn (or a combo like I did here).  A lovely party favor created in just minutes!

Sock Monkey wine sleeve used as a vase cover; singing green stripe sock monkey; cupcakes by the amazing Cowie’s Confections; cookie favors by the Hip Hostess; and Caspari alphabet napkins featuring “M” for sock monkey.

I was looking for a vessel for frog gummies for a Frogs, Snails & Puppy Dog Tails theme baby shower.  Cello bags are generally my standard and I always have them on hand, but I had a lot of empty condiment jars that I had just cleaned out so I decided to use those instead.  Here’s how I made the favors:

Throughly wash “upcycled” jars with vinegar, soap and hot water to eliminate any lingering flavors.  Fill with gummy frogs, placing several of the frogs with their backs against the glass so the fill looks neat.  Cut squares of scrapbook paper (the dot pattern shown is from Michael’s single sheet section) slightly larger than the lid.  Fold paper over the lid and tie with ribbon or yarn (I used brown yarn and doubled it to make the bow look more substantial).  Buy printable labels, such as those from Gartner (also sold at Michael’s), and print a quote or name on the tags, and add a frog sticker.  Center the tags on top of the jars and you’re done!

I used the rhyme as my inspiration for the invites, decore, favors and dessert (check out the amazing cupcakes below), and served a killer brunch menu.  Here are some of the details from the party.  I’ll write a follow-up post with a how-to for the favors.

Cupcakes by the amazing Cowie’s Confections; wooden frog pull-toy by Melissa & Doug; favors by the Hip Hostess (how-to post coming soon); flowers are mix of hydrangeas and hypernicum.

These adorable cotton favor bags are ideal for an eco-friendly theme baby shower.  They are sweet, simple and sturdy.  Choose a design that matches you theme (selection shown below), fill them with with an edible treat, cinch the sack and the favors are ready for giving.

Available at Beau-Coup, $1.30 each (min. order 25)