Happy St. Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day. I hope everyone is feeling as lucky as I feel today....three wonderful little boys, an amazing husband, health, happiness. I wish all of you the same.

Yesterday was the anniversary of my Mother-in-law's death 4 years ago. Although she is missed, we believe she is in a much better place. I wanted to share a quilt I inherited from her when she passed. Bonnie loved quilts, loved to collect antique quilts and was also a huge supporter of the quilts I made.

I call this her St. Patrick's Day quilt. The greens are beautiful in this quilt, and the hand stitching on the white blocks is very intricate. I don't know how old the quilt is, but it doesn't have any batting, so I guess it is called a "summer quilt". I am not sure if the stars are Bethlehem or Lonestar, any opinions?

Have a great St. Patrick's Day everyone, and no pinching!!

Pot O' Gold ~Mid Week Munchies

One of my goals for 2011 was learn how to make homemade Carmel. I have always been alittle intimidated by homemade carmel; my Grandma, Mom and Sisters are all excellent candy makers...carmel included. During the holidays I am was always the first to say "Lets make Carmel", but always defaulted to letting my Mom or Sisters, actually make it. But not this St. Patrick's Day!!!

This St. Patrick's Day I had a great idea for my very own Pot O' Gold. My Mother-in-law gave me a wonderful old rusty cooking pot, that I always use at Halloween....which got me thinking.... Perfect Leprechaun Pot. After I made my carmel I wrapped my carmel in little pieces of gold cellophane, added a pine cleaner rainbow and loaded my pot full of delicious carmel gold.

Carmel Recipe:

2 cups Sugar

1 1/2 cups Corn Syrup

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups heavy Cream

3/4 cup Evaporated Milk

2 teaspoons vanilla

In a large, heavy sauce pan (I use my Gaurdian Service cookware) I combine sugar, syrup, salt and 1 cup of cream. Allow ingredients to come to a soft rolling boil and let cook until a candy thermometer reads 235 degrees. Add the additional 1 cup of cream and milk. (I like to heat my cream and milk in the microwave {2-3 minutes}this helps cut down on cooking time) Allow carmel to continue to boil until temperature on thermometer reads 228 degrees. Take off heat and quickly pour into a butter cookie sheet.

Happy St. Patrick's Day and I hope you all find some gold at the end of the rainbow.

Lucky Golden Horseshoe Sign

With St. Patrick's Day one week away, I wanted to share a super easy, super fun lucky golden horseshoe sign. This honestly only took me an afternoon including running to my local IFA for a horseshoe! If you feel like spreading the luck around your neighborhood, this is the sign for you.

Here is what you need:

I always seem to have a stack of wood boards in all different sizes in my garage for fun projects like this. My piece of wood (particle board)  measured 12" by 18". With my sponge brush, I painted the top and sides with a mix of three green paints. I didn't go all Monet on it, I just blended the greens until I liked the results.

I also painted the horseshoe green, but then put a top coat of GOLD! I added little accents of gold on the board too.

My neighbor has a vinyl cutter and I asked her to cut this saying out in black. If you don't have access to vinyl, you could paint the words on yourself ~ free hand or stencil. You could also cut the letters of some cute cardstock and decoupage them on to the board. Stickers. Endless possibilities!!

"Everybody needs a little bit of Luck" Cute huh?!

After attaching the vinyl and placing everything proportionately, I nailed my horseshoe to the board.

For the bow, I had some really adorable shamrock fabric that I had been holding on to for umm.....8 years. I drilled two holes in the top of the board to attach my fabric. You can also use ribbon or anything else that tickles your fancy. I attached the sign to my door knocker with a pretty bow! Now every leprechaun who stops by for a visit gets a little extra lucky or maybe even a clue to a hidden stash of gold!!

Mint Chocolate Brownies ~ Mid Week Munchies

With St. Patrick's Day on my mind,  I had a delicious craving from the past: Mint Chocolate Brownies. As a married adult I have never made these brownies so I called my Mom for directions. Here is her mouthwatering recipe:

Start by using your favorite boxed brand of brownie mixes or your own homemade recipe. Cook brownies according to boxed instructions. Little tip: when greasing pan, I like to add a coating of sugar to the bottom. It make the brownies easy to remove from the pan and adds a little touch of sweetness.

Once brownies have cooled make your mint buttercream frosting. I like to have my mint frosting be about 1/4" thick. Mix:

4 cups of powdered sugar

1 teaspoon peppermint extract

4 tablespoons melted butter (or more, depends on what you like)

1/8 cup milk (more or less depending on thickness of frosting) 

Drop of green food coloring ~ channel your inner leprechaun for degree of green!

Allow frosting to set (harden) for an hour or so before adding chocolate.

Chocolate Top: In a sauce pan heat 5 tablespoons of butter on low until melted. Remove from heat and add 1 1/2 cups of semisweet chocolate and lightly stir til chocolate is melted and mixed. Chocolate will melt practically on its own, so not alot of stirring is required. Little tip: add about a tablespoon of Crisco to chocolate...this gives the chocolate a shiny texture which is really pretty. Once chocolate has cooled, (this may take up to a half an hour) but still warm enough to spread, spread over brownies. (Side note: I only added about 1 1/4 cups chocolate and felt like I didn't have quite enough that is why I upped the recipe a 1/4 cup, add even more chocolate and butter if you want a thick chocolate top!)

All three layers: brownie, mint frosting, chocolate. I love to put my brownies in the fridge and let them chill for a couple hours, makes them perfect with a cold glass of milk.

Perfect treat for any Leprechaun this St. Patty's Day!

St. Patty's Day Poems

Translation: Once upon a time there was a leprechaun. In the classroom. I'll use magic this is going to be fun. Where is he oh, he's on my paper.

Translation: I wish that I had diamonds. A Dinosaur (with) super powers, a pet tortoise, a mini tornado, Utah would win 100 times and a gold egg (and) and hold a jelly fish.

Little Leprechauns...Big Beards

Are your kids dying to take St. Patrick's Day to the Next Level? Are you kids tired of just wearing green? Is dress-up a sacred art form in your house? We'll my boys are guilty on all three counts! So, I came up with this fun Leprechaun Craft that we did this morning to get a little more "pat" in our St. Patty's Day.

All you need is orange string, green pipe cleaners, and a fun St. Patrick's Day Hat. I got all three at the Dollar Store.

To make the Beard Form: with your pipe cleaners measure your child's face. Take one end and loop it around your child's ear - follow around their chin - secure around the other ear. My seven year old needed two pipe cleaners. My three year old 1 1/2. Trim pipe cleaner to fit child's face.

To make the Beard Fringe: take your string and cut between 30 -40 pieces 10 inches long. You can do more or less depending on how full you want your beard. Take your piece of string and bring the ends together and place under your pipe cleaner.

The string ends must now go through the hole in the loop of your string.

After pulling your strings end through, pull tight to finish the knot.

I wish I knew the name of this knot, but it was easy enough for my boys to do with a little repetition and assistance. If you know the name of this knot please let me know.

Once your beard is complete add a hat and you'll have a Leprechaun ready to tell you where their pot of gold is!!

{Since I first posted the Leprechaun Beards, I have gotten so much amazing
feedback I am linking up all over the web!}