March Mantel or Madness?

I am here to educate, enlighten and basically share facts about things that i previously had no clue about...

Did you know…

Every year on March 17, people celebrate a holiday of which the history has been lost. Many people throughout the world celebrate this holiday decked out in green, trying not to get pinched, and looking for a leprechaun hoarding a pot of gold. In all actuality, this holiday serves a greater purpose of recognizing a man who faced a lifetime of troubles, trying to help people for the greater good.

The original history of Saint Patrick’s Day goes back over a thousand years to Ireland. The holiday was originally celebrated as a religious feast to commemorate the death of Saint Patrick. Today, many don’t even know who Saint Patrick is. Patrick also was one of the first in the church to speak of women fondly as human beings,

and he thus became a saint of “the downtrodden and excluded.”

To me the real interesting part about St. Patrick is that he wasn't really from Ireland--nope--he was English. So I guess that's why it's OK for all of us non-Irish people to celebrate this day. Know what else? They didn't really eat corned beef--they were pork people. Only when the Americans got a hold of this holiday did we change things up...

I have never actually decorated for St. Patricks day,
I have always honored the food tradition though.
We always know what we are going to eat on March 17th,

but this year i was wanting a change.
Why not decorate a mantel for the occasion?
...only problem is

you have to have mantel,
and since we are a fireplace free house
i had to settle on a small shelf instead.

I could have gone small and simple,
starting with one or two things

but why?
WHY go small and simple?
It just isn't my nature.
My mantra is
"go big or go home"
or in other words
"if one is good, ten are better."

Hard to believe, but somewhere among this mess
I found my creative, crafting MOJO.

It would have been nice to have actually worked in my office instead of the kitchen table,
but that room is even worse off.
At least when i work at the kitchen table,
i know that at one point or another
it will get cleaned up and put away

Since i have no IRISH blood (that i know of)
i did not want my mantel to scream that--

instead i wanted to focus on the LUCK part of the holiday.
To start off my creative juices i was feeling "LUCKY".

I knew i wanted to start with that word,
and have that be the center piece of my shelf.

This is what I came up with.

I think it turned out pretty cute
They were some plain old letters that i bought from JoAnns...

(I sat on the floor trying out different combinations until I found the one i liked)
I painted them all black and then mod podged on the paper
and trimmed and sanded them.
I intended it to be a four leaf clover on the "L",
and i think it turned out more like a green flower...
Cest' la vie--
(can you use a french phrase when talking about an Irish holiday?)

Originally i had chosen another wooden "U" but i fell in love with this one.
I thought it had a horse shoe like shape--
only problem with leaving it black (as to mimic a horse shoe) was that it sort of got lost with everything else on the shelf until I put the frame behind it
(I had planned on printing something to put in the frame,
but we ran out of ink...turned out i liked it blank better)
The cardboard made it pop out--
I LOVED IT

My next creative genius
(honk, honk....yes that is me, tooting my own horn)
came when i saw these plain paper mache' hearts around Valentines Day.
For a buck each I knew i couldn't go wrong.
A little green paint and various buttons from my vast stash
and i came up with this cute (if i say so myself) topiary.
I finished it off by putting it in a pot of gold
And what is a pot of gold
if there is not a leprechaun to protect it?
I thought he was pretty cute,
and it is only appropriate
that he sat on a block that said blessed.
(the block is another addition to my shelf that i can change monthly
--flip to the word that fits best)
Simple candles needed to be jazzed up so i wrapped them in paper, tied them off with white burlap and made some shamrocks out of my heart punch and some more buttons out of my stash--WA--LAah

I then transformed a frame from a Thrift store in to this cute little sign.
Just some shamrock paper and cut letters from my Cricut
(thank goodness my daughter can work that since i still have never really played with it)


I finished off the shelf by hanging the
four leaf clover that i had made earlier

add a little shamrock tree to the side

and TA-DA

I love the way it all turned out.
Just like i had envisioned it.

more than anything else this shelf really reminds me that
i am LUCKY
more than a pot of gold
i have been blessed with these wonderful gems in my life

having them reminds me daily
that i am lucky
that i am blessed
and any gold that i might have....
will be spent by them

Shamrocks

Nothing screams St.Patricks Day more than the Shamrock.

(hello cute beaded shamrock in the $1 frame from Michaels)
this one was made from everything i had on hand--
i think it needs a stem though
gotta love leftovers for craft projects and a $1 frame from DI

I remember as a kid sitting in my yard and picking through a pile shamrocks looking for the elusive four leaf clover...and ya know what? I actually have not only found one, but two, four leaf clovers in my life time. Now does that mean I am twice as LUCKY? Probably not--I think it just means i am more persistent when i am on a quest to find something. If i can't find what i want, i find something else to make it work. That was what i had to do when making my wreath. I knew i wanted a four leaf clover--i thought it represented LUCK better--so off i went in search of some hearts that i could put together to make my wreath. Guess what? Styrofoam hearts were next to impossible to find before or after Valentines day, so i had to get creative.
I started out with a Styrofoam circle

and traced on some hearts till i got a shape that i liked.
I then took a handy dandy serrated knife to cut it out
(please don't tell the hubby that i used his Henkle to do this)
Then I used the part of the Styrofoam that i had cut off
to sand the edges and smooth them.
(It worked really well, but man did it make a mess)
Styrofoam dust is almost as bad as glitter--it sticks to everything and goes everywhere. If i ever do it again i think it will become an outside project. Then my OCD kicked in and i decided I needed to paint it (knowing that I probably wouldn't even see it when it was covered) but doesn't it look great?
Very Shamrock-ie I say...
Then much like i had done on my valentine wreath I cut out green felt to cover my Styrofoam with. I used a flower die that had a heart/shamrock like look when folded

(Originally i tri-folded the felt
but it made it too bulky so i went with a quarter fold instead)
I then started filling it in.
(This picture was when i was still tri-folding it--like i said it turned out too bulky this way)

not rocket science here. Just stick it with a pin and fill it in.

(notice the bus seat? yes, i was crafting on the job)

I actually ended up taking it apart and re-doing it because it too full the first time. That and the fact that it was sitting out and my husband was a bit aggressive with petting/fluffing my shamrock that he actually broke off one of the arms--thank goodness for glue.

I think it turned out pretty cute. I probably should have done a three leaf clover because aesthetically i think it would have looked better--but NOOOO--had to be a four leaf clover because it represented LUCK and i thought about how common a three leaf clovers are, almost weed like in some places, and then i read this little fact about good ol' St. Patty

Legend has it that the shamrock was used to represent the Holy Trinity by St. Patrick. By doing this he could show people how the church was connected. St. Patrick used this to symbolize how the
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
can be separate, but also part of the same entity.

Knowing this now,
I LOVE three leaf clovers.
It helps me stop and remember where my LUCK comes from
and to be thankful for my blessings

and of course the aesthetics and all....

Keeping my kids on their toes

Since today is February 14Th, Valentines Day, perhaps I should start out this blog entry by wishing you and those you love a happy day.
But i won't.
I am not a fan, big or otherwise of this Hallmark Holiday.
I am the bah humbug, scrooge of Valentines day.
It is not that I was ever spurned on the Holiday, or that those I love didn't show me proper appreciation on that particular day. It is actually the opposite. My attitude has always been that if you need a specific day/holiday to remind you to show your love, is it really real? I have seen husbands and wives upset over this day because they felt slighted by their love. I have single friends that feel this is a day to remind them that they are single. So I have boycotted this overpriced, over commercialized, heart and flower day for many years.

Early on in my relationship with the hubsters we agreed NOT to do anything on this particular date--instead opting for the random acts of love/thoughtfulness throughout the year. He was NOT to buy me overpriced flowers on Valentines--instead choosing to buy them randomly at various times during the year, "just because". This has worked for us. We save a ton of money and don't feel like we have been scalped by those taking financial advantage of this particular day. We also take each other out for a bite to eat "just because"--instead of fighting for reservations at a particular restaurant on a "holiday". We leave all that stuff up to the real romantics--which i am decidedly NOT one. I am just to pragmatic...too low maintenance to allow a holiday to get my knickers in a wad over how I am shown that I am loved on that one particular day. In my mind it is the 364 days prior that really count.

Now that i have told you how i really feel about this day, let me get to the real reason behind this blog post.

MY CHILDREN.

Yes, this is about my children and their knowledge of how I view this particular day. In some ways I fear have doomed them! What if they find and marry someone who has a different belief about the day? Someone who views this day as important? I can see some of them being in the proverbial doghouse for my belief...the belief they have been raised with. My children know about my feelings about this particular day. In their mind i have become
"PREDICTABLE".
Being their mom and having lived with me ALL their lives they think they know what makes me tick. You can imagine their surprise when i actually broke down and decorated for this loathed holiday.

It wasn't just one child that i had wondering what i was doing,
It was all of them.
Or at least the four that can actually verbalize their shock and awe.
As i was making this cute wreath on night my oldest son asked what I was making. (I had made the LOVE blocks earlier with my girlfriend and she had a cute wreath like this hanging up as well, and of course i needed one to complete my look)
I told him. He then asked if i felt OK. "Why yes" I responded. "Why do you ask?" "Well Mom. I know you HATE Valentines day and am wondering WHY you are making a wreath for it?" I just sort of laughed it off.

Then my oldest daughter made the comment to my husband that she thought i was having a mid life crisis? He asked her why? She responded "Because Mom is decorating for Valentines Day" We had a pretty good laugh about that. When i asked her about it she just shook her head. She just doesn't get it. Just when they thought they knew me and what made me tick.

I totally have thrown my children for a loop

--I have them off guard wondering?

What they don't get is that i needed a creative outlet
and despite my dislike for the holiday, i do love to decorate.

I don't dislike the idea of LOVE

--I love LOVE.
(especially when it turns out as cute as this covered in old buttons)

LOVE is what makes the world go round.
LOVE is important.

We all need to know we are loved.
--maybe that is why I DON'T NEED Valentines Day.
I know I am loved.
I am secure in that knowledge.With that being said, it doesn't hurt to be reminded to show your love. I guess maybe Valentines day is a good thing for some...those that need the reminder. For me I will be content to just put up the cute decorations and hope that it rubs off on those around me.

I do love them

and more than anything
i LOVE keeping them on their toes.
P.S. It was a good thing that i took pictures of my shelf when i did, because I woke up the next day to find it all over the couch--somehow one of my brackets on my shelf came loose--don't ya just LOVE when things break :)

other peoples creative-ness

Here it is Late on Sunday night.Unfortunately Monday morning at work is just looming around the corner. A good long nap rejuvenated me today. Can I just say I love early church so I can nap in the afternoon? I really should be in bed but instead i am up watching a marathon of Criminal Minds and checking out random blogs. Watching Criminal Minds alone, late at night really isn't the smartest thing but it just seemed to suck me in. Luckily the cute blogs i have been looking only has me half concentrating on Criminal Minds. I am in AWE at what people can accomplish--the creativity that is out there is

AH-MAZE-ING.

How about this lady who stenciled her ceiling???

I loved it. It sorta made me feel like an underachiever? Why hadn't i thought of that--The real sad part of finding this fantastic idea is that the majority of my ceilings have all been treated with embossed wall paper (now those were fun projects in which i am in debt ed to a number of friends for) It makes me want to get up off my butt and get creative- and then i get overwhelmed at what i NEED to accomplish so instead I remain sitting here instead. Can I just say I was so impressed with some of the Valentine decorations that i saw it almost made me want to decorate for Valentines Day--and i HATE Valentines Day.
Maybe the word HATE is a bit strong--
perhaps i should substitute LOATH or DETEST--
yes it is more along the line of that I DETEST Valentines Day. I love the idea of expressing LOVE to those you have in your life--I just resent the idea of Hallmark telling me when to do it. I despise the idea that restaurants, flower shops gouge you on that particular day. Maybe i shouldn't hold back and tell you how i really feel. LOL. Early in our marriage, actually i think when we were dating, dear hubby and i agreed that we would for all practical purposes BOYCOTT Valentines day. The agreement was that he would by me flowers through out the year--just because he saw them and thought of me. He is good like that--and usually it is far cheaper than the one bouquet on Valentines day.

I still think it would be fun to decorate for various holidays--maybe when i get my life in order i will do that...in the mean time here are some ideas i found that intrigued me for future use

i liked these rose balls--they were made out of crepe paper. Who doesn't have some leftover streamers floating around--scary part is that i know right where mine is? Why? Why do i know that and why do i have it is the real question?

I wasn't so crazy about how the heart was covered but i loved the open frame and the be mine.

i love the vintage look of these hearts
i think this paper flower topiary would add some nice height to a shelf
this is a frame that you can use for various holidays as the ornaments are interchangeable

i love the burlap look against the black rustic frame

and here i fell in love with the depth and layers on the mantel. It really spoke to me. The hanging heart in the middle was made with polka dot cupcake liners--so stinkin cute!

The problem i found in surfing blogs was that i failed to mark or keep pictures of ones i liked until i was into it for awhile so some of my favorite mantels are only pictured in my head--I couldn't find them again to post the pictures. Like much of my life I will just have to add these things to my list of things i want to do--

Guess i better quit dreaming about having time to do this stuff and really go to bed--night all