Inspiration Challenge {Down The Rabbit Hole}

It’s always a good idea to have friends whose minds work a little differently than yours. It helps you to stretch your imagination.

I came up with this month’s theme: down the rabbit hole. But it was Melissa’s (Simply Sweets by Honeybee) idea to do this one in April. I wasn’t entirely sure why, but I went with it. It was her idea to put “naughty and nice” in December (because silly me didn’t put “naughty and nice” and “Santa’s List” together) and that worked out well. It was probably also her idea to put “love” in February, since I would forget Valentines day if the kids didn’t make such a big deal over it!

Anyway, I was brainstorming Alice in Wonderland ideas (because what else could “down the rabbit hole” mean?) when Melissa sent me a picture that she thought she may use as her inspiration. I honestly had a “what does that have to do with Alice in Wonderland?” moment (you’ll have to see her creation to see what I’m talking about) and then a “face-palm” moment. Rabbit hole. Bunny. Easter Bunny. Easter is in April. Duh. BUT in that instant I knew exactly what I was going to do.

Alice in Wonderland Easter Eggs, anyone? So, now do you want to know my little secret? I get very lazy in the weeks following my kids’ birthday parties. I go all out for them, then I crash and burn. Oh, that wasn’t a secret? You’re well aware that you shouldn’t expect much from me the last two weeks of March and the first two weeks of August? Or anytime in September? (I need the whole month to recover from summer!)

Well, these are very lazy little cookies. Actually, they’re not that little, they’re a decent size. But I was all kinds of lazy when it came to decorating these. I even started to make a little tutorial but I realized that I can probably just tell you to bake an egg shaped cookie and base coat it in white without a step by step visual. Allow this to dry. Haul out your airbrush and stencil assortment.

1.   The Queen of Hearts:  Using red airbrush spray (in this case I used Wilton’s color mist in order to not have to rinse out my airbrush since I had already added the black by mistake.) Allow this to dry to the touch. Place a heart shaped stencil over the cookie and airbrush using black air brush coloring. (Stencil purchased at AC Moore- you can find it here)
2. All in a Golden Afternoon: Spray the entire white cookie with yellow airbrush color. Allow this to dry to the touch. Place a flowered stencil over the cookie and airbrush using orange air brush color. (Stencil purchased at AC Moore and can be found here)
3. The Mad Hatter: Spray the entire white cookie with a light layer or grass green airbrush color. Allow this to dry to the touch. Place a diamond pattern stencil over the cookie and airbrush with darker green- I used avocado. (Stencil purchased at Artfully Designed Creations on Etsy)
4. The White Rabbit: Spray the entire cookie with silver airbrush color (I used Wilton’s color mist because I didn’t want to deal with the frustration of unclogging my airbrush after using a metallic). Allow this to dry to the touch. Place a numbers stencil over the cookie and airbrush with black airbrush color. (Stencil purchased from AC Moore and can also be found here).
5. Alice: Place a rectangular shape cutout over the center of a white cookie. Spray above and below the stencil with sky blue air brush color. Allow the blue to dry to the touch, then add lace or a ruffle (if you look not even too closely, you’ll see that I originally had a ruffle and hated how it looked, so I scraped it, but the base coat wasn’t dry enough so it gouged the blue- anyway just don’t look closely, ok?) and Alice’s signature black bow.
6. The Cheshire Cat: Spray the entire white cookie with deep pink airbrush color. Allow this to dry and place a striped stencil over the cookie. Spray with violet airbrush color. (Stencil purchased at Artfully Designed Creations on Etsy)

And if you’re not having a Disney version of a trippy children’s book themed Easter this year, you can still easily use these tricks on some simple rounds to accent an Alice in Wonderland themed birthday or tea party!

Now go see what Melissa made and make sure you link up your own “Down The Rabbit Hole” creation, because, seriously between Easter and Alice in Wonderland, I know you’ve got something! And don’t forget to look at the other links and leave a friendly comment. Then start brain storming next month’s inspiration: Paris.

Here are a few airbrush tips you may be able to use:

• Using stencils to airbrush on cookies- The Cookie Countess via SugarBelle
• Many helpful tips to get you started without giving up before you even airbrush one cookie- from The Bearfoot Baker
• Using magnets to stabilize your stencil via SugarBelle

*This post is linked up at Tip Me Tuesdays at Tip Junkie  ,  The Lovely Ladies Linky Party at Just a Little Creativity , The Tuesday Talent Show at Chef in Training