A St. Patrick's leprechuan, craft, recipe, book and all things green

My grown grand is going to visit Ireland this summer and in my excitement for her I asked my fellow bloggers for some St. Patrick's day stuff.  They delivered a wonderful variety of leprechuan crafts, recipes,and information to read that that I felt you could enjoy as much as I have.  St. Patrick day is a delightful holiday with Irish roots that even those of us with only a smidgen of Irish blood can embrace.  I'm making one of the Irish Soda Bread recipes this afternoon and the little grands are keen to make the Blushing Leprechaun Cookies. 

Spring Green decorations

Spring is a wonderful time of the year.  The mantel decorations are going green with pops of red, orange and blue for Spring.  I used bright wrapping tissue paper to make book jackets for a lively leprechaun to stand on next to a blarney heart shaped stone my daughter brought me.  An enlarged photo of big girl grand inspecting a spring wild flower in Central Texas and some candles adorned with pretty ribbon, a beaded bracelet and dragon fly charms were all easy, quick projects. 

If you’ve never

Pink and Green Party

       
 

My niece is having her first baby and it’s going to be a girl.  We rented a really cute cabin in a park to host her hot pink and apple green polka dot themed shower. The new mom to be and grandmothers to be wore silk and rhinestone Gerber daisy corsages.  You can see how to put them together here.  They have hair clips so she can wear them on one of those cute stretchy baby headbands purchased at Hobby Lobby Craft Store.  My sister in law put together the main center piece – a diaper cake.  The table is covered with hot pink table covers and apple green runners, pink Easter grass, sparkly flower beads and  monogram M for Masey.  Isn’t that a cute name? A cute little frog sat at a miniature table waiting his personal tea and cookies, which baby grand shared with him. 
   
Little flower appetizers on Ritz crackers not only looked good, but were tasty too.   I just love the small Cherry Limeade Cookies.  That recipe can be found here.  The White Chocolate Covered Cherry Cupcakes are adapted from a recipe I made at Christmas.  For the dark chocolate covered cherry cake recipe look here.  This recipe is worth printing, it’s delicious.  Bird on a Cake:  Chocolate covered Cherry Cake recipe link here. The Icing I used needed to be white so I substituted white chocolate and topped with a chocolate covered cherry.  Since it was a brunch, we also served a penne pasta salad, Sausage Balls, Greek Salad in tortilla Scoops that my sister made (she’s a terrific cook!),  Celery with Jalapeño or Strawberry Cream cheese appetizers, and Chicken Salad Wraps.  Here is the recipe for the wraps.

Chicken Salad Wrap

20 small tortillas (if spinach or tomato tortillas are not available, go with the flour or whole wheat)
1 Deli Roasted Chicken, remove bones & skin, dice fine
2 Stalks Celery, cleaned & finely diced
1 Red apple, cored and finely diced
8-10 Dried Plums, finely diced
1/4 cup pecans, finely chopped
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 Tablespoons powdered sugar (or warmed honey if you prefer)
Dice and chop all the ingredients and stir together.  Place a couple of Tablespoons of the salad on one side of the tortilla (leave an inch on each side).  Fold the sides up on the chicken.  Roll the tortilla tightly from the open side.  Place seam side down on platter.  Chill until serving time.  Cut the wrap in half at an angle. 

Pink & Green corsages turn hair accessories…

My niece is having a baby girl!  I'm hosting a Brunch for her in a couple of weeks, therefore am crafting and hording pink things for the party.  Her nursery is hot pink and apple green polka dots everywhere.  I found these wonderful pink and green dotted Gerber daisies at Michael's. I also located some sparkly rhinestones and fancy feathers that are making these into special corsages.  I’ve glued on felt backing that holds an alligator clip so the corsages can be turned into hair accessories after…or during the party.  I know my niece will love them.  Here is a picture tutorial on how they were made.


Remove the flower centers and back, discard.  Glue each set of petals together at the center and attach a felt circle to the back.  While the glue dries for an hour or more, cut another felt circle and a small slit large enough to slip the front side of a hair clip through. Glue it on the back to the first felt circle.  Allow it to dry completely.  A third felt circle can serve as a base for a rhinestone center.  Flip the flower to the front and glue the rhinestones in the center.  Use floral tape to attach some fancy feathers to wire.  Attach to the back using the hair clip.  A hat pin from the floral department was used to pin the corsage on the mom and grandmothers during the party.  After the party mom can use a corsage on a baby head band that can be purchased in most craft stores.
Check back later for more party details.





linking up here…

Green as seen by a 5 year old

Kids see things from a different perspective - literally!  I handed my old Sony Cybershot to my "almost" 5 year old grand daughter and told her to shoot her choice of "green" things on St. Patricks' Day.  We had a lot of fun, and here are some of my favorites from her view.

Green chalk drawing of a Great MeMaw's cat.

Bird house with green grass

Irish/Scottish dolls

John Deer green!

Green mail box

Green road sign

Green apples which she insisted we buy to feed the horses because they make funny faces when they eat them.

Bell peppers at the grocery store

Cute baby calf in green wheat field