Here We Go Again!

Even though Halloween and Christmas are my favorite "decorating" holidays, I have to admit that I do LOVE my St. Pat's decor. Well, not so much the decor but the colors of the day.

Having a bit of an Irish heritage, I do love all things Irish. I also love green. It is my favorite color for all things. I have come to realize that all colors go well with green since it comes from nature and all colors of flowers look good with green leaves and grass.

And so, I started my St. Pat's decorating the other day in much the same way I do all of my holiday and seasonal decorating-I first get out my containers full of holiday goodies and then I start grabbing everything else in the right color family. I knew I loved green but didn't know quite how much until I saw my "green pile" getting larger and larger. There was no way I was going to fit all of that green into this decorating session but the stuff that didn't make the cut will surely be back when I swing into "spring". That is another of those serendipitous things that happen when I can use a color for much more than one holiday or season. Much of the green that I just put out will now stay out through my spring and Easter decorating...and may even make the cut as we go into summer. I love it when that happens!

Lots of the things are pretty much as they were last year with an occasional new idea or purchase thrown in here and there. I have a particular affinity towards vintage postcards so when I saw this metal image on sale at JoAnns, I knew I just had to have it. It fits right in with the vintage postcard banner that I made a few years back.

I still love this arrangement the girls and I made so many years ago. Since I am "into" larger statement decor these days, I simply prop it on top of a candle holder and it can "hold its own" against the "big boys".

This vignette is a perfect example of holiday decorating without a lot of actual holiday stuff and more with just the colors of the day.

The only true St. Pat's decoration here is the vintage postcard I printed from one of many sites available these days placed in the simple shamrock frame. The rest of the decor is finished with just the colors of the day!

So that is the beginning of my St. Pat's decorating. We still have much more to see so stay tuned.

Be Prepared!

Once a G.S., always a G.S. I have used this mantra all of my life for everything I do. Sometimes it is easier than others. For example, I am not very good at following my own advice when it comes to prep work on home repairs. I am always too anxious to get started. But, when I am preparing anything to do with children whether it be when I was teaching, leading Sunday School, Bible School or scouts or simply doing something with my own kids or grand children...if kids are involved, I am prepared.

For many years, I led G.S. leadership seminars and the questions that always came up were how to handle "discipline". My answer was always the same...be prepared and always plan too much - a busy child doesn't have time to get into "trouble". And so, when I am getting ready for one of our holiday sleepover weekends, I take great pains to have everything ready to go. Right before this weekend, things looked like this:

Because we were not going to have as much time as we usually do, I pre-painted the canvases with chalkboard paint.

I also got the first row of sequins glued along the heart pattern. This way, the kids could just come to this whenever they didn't have anything to do and know where to glue the sequins.

Supplies...

supplies...

supplies!

I also pre-painted the wooden hearts and decoupaged on the paper. This is something I would normally let the kids do, but there was too much "drying and waiting" time involved and I knew they would have more fun doing the stamping and embellishing.

Patterns drawn on parchment and all supplies ready to go for the Whoopie pies.

These are some of the supplies for our Valentine "Minute-to-Win-It" games. We had so much fun playing these games that I forgot to take any pictures. I found these ideas on Pinterest and they can be adapted for any holiday so we will surely do this again!!
 

The little kids always love making these pink chocolate chip cookies, so they are ready and waiting as well.

Here are the kids piping the red velvet cookie cake mixture into the heart shaped patterns. They were so diligent as they did this. But, all the diligence in the world could not help these things. I'm thinking we may have over beaten the dough - and that is my fault as they each want an equal number of jobs so we do a LOT of beating as EACH individual ingredient gets dumped in by eager little hands! The cake cookie didn't rise as I think they were supposed to so they had more of a play dough texture. But, they were filled with yummy homemade cream cheese icing so how bad could they really be?

We are usually eating many more heart shaped food items, but again, time was running short and we wanted to play "Minute-to-Win-I"' and watch a movie before bed, so we "made do" with heart shaped garlic bread. The kids and Papa made this from scratch and it was delicious!

I found the game ideas on Pinterest and we all enjoyed the challenges so much. All I will need to do is swap out the candy and these games can be used for any holiday so we will definitely be doing this again!

The pancakes under the heart shaped one are round with a heart piped into it and really pretty-can't believe I didn't get a picture of them. I just used the little bit of red batter that was left to make each child a "topper" pancake.

Every year I try to come up with something that the kids can work on together to give to their parents. This year I decided on the chalkboard canvas sequined heart that I found on Pinterest. I thought it would be easy for the kids to just fill in the area with glue and then sequins but it really was more difficult than it looks and required some fine motor skills to make sure the sequins were close enough so as not to allow the black background to show through.

Harrison (the oldest) was the only one to persevere and he and I ended up finishing it just in time.

Every year we make pink chocolate chip cookies and this year was no exception!

And, every year we make a kid craft that they can use in their own room or wherever in the house they want.

I like to find something they can keep but also something that they can make "their own" with the way they choose to decorate it.

For some of us, more is less...

...and for others, more is just more!

Right after Jen picked up the kids, we were off to Gainesville to help daughter #2 celebrate her birthday one more time. We enjoyed a nice visit with all of her family and got home yesterday afternoon a bit tired but loaded with many new memories from a wonderful weekend. And to think, there is still a week until Valentine's Day is really here. How am I going to top this? Stay tuned.

Some Traditions Never Change...

...well, I guess that's why they are called traditions - haha.

In any case, the tradition of hand made Valentines goes back so many years for me that I can't even remember when it actually started. I can remember sitting with my mom and cutting Valentines when I was young. I remember the fun we have had doing the same thing when my girls were young, all through the years I led a G.S. troop, when my grand children came along, all the years I was a G.S. leader for them and now on to my making cards on my own. There has always been something so special to me about the ceremony of pulling out red, white and pink paper, doilies, ribbons and glitter and making something to tell someone you love how much they mean to you. I have always loved anything hand made. To me it says so much more than just a store bought anything. That doesn't mean that I don't love anything and everything that anyone gives me when they are showing that I mean something special to them and that they care about me. Nor does it mean that I can always find the time or the energy to make what I see in my mind. But, if there is a chance to do so, I will do it.

That being said, I have noticed how everything I am doing these days is a bit less complicated. I used to make cards that took hours on end and I just can't seem to push myself in that direction any more. But, I do still love to pull all of the seasonal supplies out and see what happens.

This year I will admit that my card is simple and something I knew I could fit into what has become a rather busy schedule. Not sure how this has happened now that hubby is retired, but time seems to be less and less as I get older.

So this is what the table looked like a bit ago - no doilies or glitter this year but fun none-the-less!

Not at all what I thought I was going to do but heartfelt...and done! Stay tuned.

P.S. I found this idea on Home Decorating's Pinterest board.

Feeling Guilty!

I truly am feeling a bit guilty posting about the beautiful weather we are having when so many friends in the north are experiencing such horrible conditions but, right now, this is definitely the place to be!

Last Friday, my grand children had no school so my daughter decided it would be the perfect time to head south and do some strawberry picking and she invited hubby and me to tag along. We headed off using her GPS and had quite an adventure along the way. Let's just say that that will be the last time I trust her GPS...but, that being said, we had many laughs along the way and the kids loved seeing all of the horses, cows, goats, sheep and BULLS we came face to face with along the way. As it turned out, if we had gotten there without a hitch, they would not yet have been open, so it was serendipitous!

The farm was beautiful and very kid friendly and the day was gorgeous.

After picking many berries - and eating almost as many - we left the farm and headed to nearby downtown Eustis for lunch. We went to a cute little Mexican restaurant nestled in a courtyard and found a seat outside right by the fountain - which, of course, necessitated many coins thrown to wish for good luck!

Gotta love technology when you want a few more minutes to finish sipping a glass of wine - haha.

After lunch, we headed down to the water and the kids found yet another park. It really was a picture perfect kind of day!

Sunday turned out to be another of those days. We usually head to lunch after church so on this day we headed downtown and scored our favorite table outdoors at one of our favorite restaurants. We had a lovely two and a half hour lunch sitting facing the downtown square and watching the world go by! Our weather has just been so perfect of late. I know it won't last forever, but for now, I am going to squeeze every minute of enjoyment I can out of it!

Still playing catch up this week but I will be back. Stay tuned.

Long Time Coming!

When last I posted, I told you I had one more Valentine gift that I wanted to get done this year! What I didn't tell you is that this has been on my "to-do" list for probably 5-6 years! The idea has been around so long that it was actually pulled from the pages of a Martha Stewart magazine and still nesting in one of my holiday "paper" files....so, that means definitely pre-Pinterest!!

I saw the idea for these potholders and immediately knew I wanted to make them. But, I think subconsciously I kept putting it off because of one factor-it involved bias tape!!

Bias tape and I are not friends. I can never seem to get good results on what I am sewing when this stuff is involved. I have sewn most of my life. I have made about every type of clothing known to man as well as costumes that I swear came right off the pattern mill at Bob Mackey or Dior-really tough things where tons of detail was required. And, most times, I pulled them off without a hitch. But, bias tape is my NEMESIS! I just don't like the stuff!

And so, every year, I pull this idea, put it on the top of my to-do list, DON'T do it and put it back in the file only to repeat the process again the next year! But, this year it would be different!!

And so I began and before I could say "seam ripper", I had a mess. I decided I would trim a bit and that should help but, alas, I forgot that that would leave me with a binding that would then be "empty"...and for you non-sewers, that is not a good thing.

I truly was about to trash the whole project yet again when I took a breather and came up with a few extra steps that even though meant more work, in the long run, a better product. So I plowed in once again and I am moderately pleased with the result. Hopefully no one on the receiving end will look too closely. Now that I have it down, I would like to make more but I am out of supplies and since this project takes many, I have decided to leave well enough alone. As Kenny Rodgers would say "know when to hold em', know when to fold em'. Know when to walk away, know when to run". I'm not exactly running but I am moving on without looking back!

Still want to make some cards and need to come up with some new ideas for our Valentine's overnight with the little kids next weekend but for the most part, I am ready. We have had the MOST fabulous long weekend. We spent Friday with daughter #3 and her kids out of town picking strawberries and enjoying picture perfect weather and then have had some "too good to be true" weather since as well. We had a beautiful lunch today after church downtown and enjoyed every minute of our outdoor dining experience. We are truly lucky to live where we do! More on this in my next post. Stay tuned.