IT'S EASTER! Chocolate bunnies beware!!

The faint of heart, beware. It is mutilation time again. All over the country ears will be bitten of rabbits, chicks will have their heads chewed off, and millions will eat their younger siblings -- not even out of the shell yet! It sounds like something from a Stephen King thriller. But no, it's only Easter. And thankfully, the bunnies and chickies are made of chocolate.

So here for all you Easter monsters - and we can tell by that chocolate stain around our mouth - is some Easter trivia.

The original site of the White House Easter Egg Roll was the grounds of the United States Capitol. The traditional event began during the Presidency of James Madison (1809-17). His wife, Dolly, had heard that Egyptian children rolled coloured eggs on the site of the Pyramids. She thought that the children of the Washington area would enjoy the activity.

The activity became a tradition until 1877 when Capitol policemen, under orders from members of Congress, forced the children to leave. The Congressmen considered the activity "messy."

Some claim that an irritated nursemaid and her charges stormed down to the White House to complain. Others say that President Hayes was driving by in his carriage and saw the unhappy children. Anyway, in 1878 Hayes and his wife opened up the White House south lawn to the children on Easter Monday, and except for during WWI and II, when the roll was held elsewhere, the tradition had continued. Today many of the boiled, dyed Easter eggs are autographed by famous people including the President and the First Lady.

Boiled and dyed eggs are a tradition all over the world. In Bulgaria, bright red eggs are a symbol of Easter and are cracked after the midnight service. The first egg must always be cracked on the wall of the church and eaten to break the Great Fast. The ritual of cracking the eggs takes place before the Easter lunch. Each person selects an egg and each takes turns tapping the egg against the eggs of others. The person who ends up with the last unbroken egg is believed to have a year of good luck.

As the dying of eggs is such a tradition, Heinz Vinegar commissioned a survey to find out which colours are preferred. They found that blue was the favourite colour when dying eggs. Next in descending order were purple, pink, green, yellow and red. They also found that 64% of people eat the boiled eggs, 22% throw them away, 10% don't dye eggs, and 2% of the people surveyed said that they saved the eggs and they went rotten.

Besides eggs, we eat more than 13.5 billion jelly beans at Easter time in North America, and over 180 million Cadbury's Crème Eggs are sold between January and Easter each year. And now that we know the Easter Bunny actually lays those creamy confections, it would be good to know a little more about "him."

The Easter Bunny was originally the Easter Hare. Contrary to popular belief (something I admit to once believing myself) rabbits are NOT rodents. They are lagomorphs, and are more closely related to horses than they are to rats or mice.

Rabbits and eggs have one thing in common. They are symbols of fertility, for many of the roots of Easter are in the pagan religion. In fact, Easter is a convergence of three traditions: Pagan, Hebrew, and Christian.

So enjoy your Easter, enjoy your chocolate bunnies and your eggs, think of the religious significance of the holiday, and . . . oh, yes. Smile! Composer Irving Berlin took his tune "Smile and Show Your Dimples" changed the lyrics, and retitled it "Easter Parade."

You can find Easter & other Holiday and seasonal paper collectibles at Paper Lion. Just don't get any chocolate on them!

Charity Auction for Breast Cancer

eBay Charity Auction
100% of Proceeds Go To BREAST CANCER RESEARCH.


There is a very special Charity Auction up right now on eBay that I strongly encourage you to look at!

This fantastic auction is featuring donated items from approximately 25 eBay store owners from across the US, Canada and the United Kingdom.

We have carefully put this box together so there is a little something for everyone! It's a Mystery Box so I can't tell you what's all in it but I'll venture to say you will find many hand made, new and vintaged items. Need a gift for Easter? Mother's Day? Father's Day? I wonder if there's anything in the Mystery Box??? Ummm, let me see!!!

The auction item number is 170094237548. You may look it up by entering the number into any eBay search box. Or you may click on the link included in the title above.

If you can not bid at this time, please participate by CLICKING on WATCH THIS AUCTION, as it will help us get into EBAY PULSE LIST of the most watched auctions. By getting into the Ebay Pulse, it will drive more people to this auction.


Thank you for your participation!


Together we are making a difference.

Kathy of Kathy's Kupboard

Now Maggie's Handcraft Studio has Copper!

I just got in some fabulous copper wire! Wow, it is so fun to work with, I really love starting with just a big batch of wire and making every component that goes into a piece of jewelry!

Here are some pictures of my work in progress:


Here is how I coil wire to make rings. (SPecial thanks to the friend who lent me the knitting needles!)






Here are the rings after I cut them. Then I file the ends of each ring.












Each S-link is formed by hand with pliers. I get a little better at making them look the same with each bracelet I make.










The s-links are hammered both for hardening and because I prefer the flattened look. Plus it is a good way to get out some frustrations!









Here is an example of the link bracelet!






Here is a great bracelet I made with wonderful Czech glass buttons added to the links on a copper bracelet! This can be found in my Ebay store!