So Many Holidays....

....so little time. The fact of the matter is that if I want to get my St. Pat's decor down next Monday and my Easter up the same day, I needed to begin to think ahead. That is not always easy for me as I enjoy living in the "holiday of the day" moment.

But, since we are doing the family Easter celebration at our house this year, I have been planning in the back of my mind. And I happened upon this recently in my Google Reader. It came from "Fox Hollow Cottage".

Sometimes things just "speak" to me and this was one of those. I knew I had to do it-and fast if I was going to spend my week  and weekend celebrating St. Patrick's Day and then plunging into Easter decorating next Monday morning. I love pallet decor. There is tons of it floating around blogland these days. But, currently I did not have privy to any old pallets. So I headed to Lowes and bought three 4" rough sawn fence boards, a 6' 1X2  and a can of spring green matte spray paint-that is all it took.

I cut, glued and nailed the pieces that I cut with my trusty chop saw together with two pieces of 1X2 on the back-sort of made my own palette.

Then, a couple of coats of light paint and I was on to the detail work. This site provided a tutorial along with the blog and that included the picture of the bunny and the wording. The author suggested blowing up the picture by 281% and since I didn't want to have to make a trip to Staples, I used my copy machine and blew it up in segments. Then, I used the old scribble on the back and then trace trick. The thing I love about this project-and a lot of the others I choose-is that it is NOT meant to be perfect. That SOOOO works for me!!!

I changed the size and color but pretty much kept the rest of it as it was. After all of the paint was dry-which didn't take long because this wood is so porous-I copied the included butterfly onto card stock, cut it out and glued it on the bunny's nose. It is just folded in half so it is 3 dimensional and provides the cutest touch of whimsy. I really love this guy! I think he is going up on the family room mantle but you never know around here.

This really was an easy project. Not only did I get this done in one day-start to finish-but I got it done even with a phone call from daughter #3 telling me she was on the way from school to the ER with Hudson. Seems his face had a confrontation with a metal step on the playground and the step won! I got dressed quickly and headed to the dance studio to be with Presley and then bring her home with me. Hudson was very lucky. No broken bones or teeth-just lots of bleeding and soft tissue damage. Jen brought him here while she then went and picked up Har and took him to swim team practice. Here is what Hud looked like when he first arrived. Not as bad as I expected. His eyes and bridge of his nose were just beginning to swell.By the time he left several hours later, he was beginning to show bruises. Guessing today he will have, at the very least, a big, old shiner to show off.

 And, even with all of that excitement, I managed to get this done. O.K. I will confess. Between a morning at school and an afternoon of either dance class or hospital visit, they both fell quickly sound asleep on the couch next to me in the sunroom after eating every snack they could find in the pantry. They know the shelf they can head to and also know that Nana always keeps it well stocked with seasonal goodies-yesterday it was bunny crackers, Easter marshmallows, Bunny Tail cheese puffs and always peanut butter, juice boxes and fresh fruit. I'm no dummy! I want them to want to come visit.

And so, while I am still in the throes of making plans and lists for this weekend's festivities, I will admit to thinking a bit ahead. One thing off the list. More to go if time permits. Stay tuned..