Honey Crackles Recipe

For Mathilde's recent bee themed birthday party I made honey crackles; a classic Australian treat found at kids' birthday parties all over the country. The honey crackles fit in perfectly with the bee theme and they reminded me of my own childhood. They're one of those party treats that I loved as a kid but had kind of forgotten about seeing as they're not common here in the US. 

I had actually never made honey crackles myself before, or at least not as an adult, but they're super easy to make and they're delicious so I thought I'd share the recipe with you today. 

So just what is a honey crackle, I hear you ask. Think of a rice krispies treat, but instead of rice krispies and marshmallow they're made with corn flakes and honey. Instead of being made in a flat shape they're baked in cupcake liners. Fun aside, cupcake liners are known pattypans in Australia and I actually didn't know that the word wasn't used here in the US until I looked it up to check for this post and found that a "pattypan" in the US is apparently a type of small squash. You learn something new every day!

Another thing that I learned, is that in some parts of Australia people call honey crackles "honey joys". I've never heard that name before, but apparently it's a thing. It's wrong, but it's a thing. Ha! 

Anyway... onto the recipe!

Mathilde's 7th Birthday

My baby is seven! 

This past Saturday was Mathilde's seventh birthday. We celebrated with a small party on Sunday with just our family and our neighbor. I had originally planned to hold the party on Mathilde's actual birthday but Ava came down with covid-like symptoms and we had to wait for her test results - which oddly came through at 11pm Friday. I guess those covid testers are working around the clock! Anyway, by then I had figured we wouldn't know Ava's test results until Saturday and pushed the party out to Sunday. It gave me an extra day to get everything ready, so that was a bonus.

Despite her party being small, Mathilde was still keen to pick a theme for her celebration. She went through quite a few (Minecraft, Slime Rancher, Among Us, bread (?)...) before she settled on bees as her theme. To go along with the theme I made a beehive piñata, honey crackles as treats, and decorated her cake (badly!) with a honeycomb pattern.  

Earth Illuminated

 Happy Earth Day!

Today I'm sharing a fun exhibition that merges three of my favorite things: Mother Nature, immersive art and photography! You know I love a good excuse for taking lots of pics!

Earth Illuminated is an immersive art exhibition in Denver that focuses on the beauty of nature and the impact that humans have on the environment. With oversized insect and plant sculptures, floral wall panels, thought provoking murals, neon lights, honeycomb walls, and projections, there's something fun to see and experience at every turn.

Lola, Mathilde and I visited Earth Illuminated last week and we had a blast checking out all of the installations, and as always, I took a gazillion photos to share with you! Let's take a look...

Superior Prairie Dogs

If you've been following along for a while you'll know that I'm a big fan of scavenger hunts, especially when it involves public art. So when I learned about the painted prairie dog sculptures dotted around nearby Superior last year, I knew it was definitely something I needed to check out with the kids.

Like the hearts in San Francisco, and the bears in Boulder's Chautauqua Park, these prairie dog sculptures feature colorful designs by local artists and add a touch of whimsy to the area. 

The prairie dogs are all located within the town of Superior and can easily be found in just a few hours, but we spread our search out over quite a few months, finding one or two prairie dogs here and there while out. We've finally found them all, so today I'm sharing them here with you. If you're following along on Instagram you're likely seen a few of them over there already. If you're not following along on Instagram, click here to follow. I'm a little better at staying up to date over there!

So, without further ado, here are all the Superior prairie dogs. I've listed them in the same order they appear on the map, which you can download here.

Shaving Cream Easter Eggs

One last Easter post before the season is over...

Did you dye Easter eggs this year? We usually go with the traditional dipping eggs into dye technique, but this year we decided to try something different that I had seen online. This year we colored our eggs with shaving cream!

Ok, so the shaving cream itself didn't color the eggs itself, but it did work as a handy carrier for the food coloring that we used. And it was fun to use! 

Now, I will be the first to admit that our eggs didn't come out quite as expected, but it was still such a fun activity that I wanted to share it here with you anyway. When it comes to art and creativity, sometimes the process is just as important as the outcome, and that's especially true when the process is fun! This sure was a fun, and rather messy, process! The messy processes are always the best ones, right? 

The girls had a blast decorating their eggs, and while I'm sure they would've loved to have seen the marbled patterns from the shaving cream appear exactly the same on their eggs, they were still perfectly happy with how they turned out. I've since learned a few tips and tricks that we'll try out next time, so expect to see us getting messy with shaving cream and food dye again next Easter!

Ok, let's take a look at how to make shaving cream eggs...

Easter 2021

Easter is done for another year. Did you celebrate over the weekend?

This year's Easter was quite different from last year's Easter in one major way. Nope - nothing covid related. This year we had a beautiful, warm and sunny Spring day. Last year we had a snowy Easter. While I was happy for the good weather, I've got to say that I actually really liked our white Easter last year. 

Anyway, the warm weather meant that we could do more of our regular Easter activities outside. We decorated eggs outside, had our egg hunt outside, and smashed cascarones (confetti eggs) on the trampoline. 

Let's take a look...

Easter Peeps Bunny Wreath DIY

It's almost Easter!

How did that sneak up so quickly? Are you ready for it?

If decorating is on your list of things to do I've got a quick and easy DIY for you today. It's an Easter wreath made out of Peeps bunnies. But you probably guessed that from the title of this post and the pics, right?

Now, I've got to say that I'm not much of a Peeps fan when it comes to eating them (they're far too sugary for even this sweet tooth) but I do think that the bunny shaped Peeps are super adorable. I mean, just look at them! Aren't they cute? So, because they're cute but I don't like eating them I like to get crafty with them! In the past I've made Peeps bunting for both Easter and Halloween (you can see them here and here) and I've made Peeps Pikachu pops for Pokemon themed birthday parties (which you can see here). Ok, that last one was for eating. 

Today I'm adding to my Peeps crafting repertoire with a wreath. It's super easy, uses only a few materials and it takes no time at all to make. I knocked mine up in maybe half an hour, and that was including taking photos for this post.