Gold

For St Patrick's Day we made gold for the leprechauns

And for us!

It is so easy to make. You only need Ritz bits, butterscotch chips, and waxed or parchment paper.

pour the butterscotch chips into a microwave safe bowl and melt them according to the directions on the bag. If you don't follow the directions the chips can overcook and then they are all clumpy and won't work. The chips will maintain their shape even if they are melted so you need to stir them.

Once it is stirred then you add your Ritz bits. We used the peanut butter ones because I like them better then the others. Stir the Ritz so that they are covered in the melted butterscotch then take them out of the bowl and set them on parchment paper or waxed paper so they can dry.

My girls loved helping with this. It was so much fun to get messy and make a treat at the same time.

And if some only make it to mouths, well that is what tends to happen around my house.

We made this the day before St Patrick's Day so that on the day the leprechauns could come and steal the gold. Then we had to follow the clues on a treasure hunt to find it

Duck Tape Flowers

These are pen toppers or as I made it to be a pencil topper and are actually kinda cool I think. My 4 year old loves them and a few 12 year old girls have told me everyone in their school loves these.

So my daughter decided this was for her. The first thing she did was smell it. She turns to me and said "Mom this flower doesn't smell like any other flower." I asked her if it was a good smell. She assured me it smelled wonderful because it is a flower. It smells like duck tape, not the best smell, but if you spray it was body spray then it smells better.

So if you want to make one you need a few things. Pencil, or pen, and colored duck tape. The tape I used was from Walmart and was under 4 dollars for a roll, and I could make many flowers from this, or make giant flowers.

You could make it all one color or use more, but I chose to use two. Pink and purple because those happen to be my girls favorite colors.

Tare or cut the duck tape so it is about 2-3 inches long. if it is shorter the flower will be more open, if it is longer the flower will be more like a budding flower and closed tighter.

Fold one corner (I folded the bottom right) over so that the tape sticks to its self. Leave a small edge not covered so it can still stick to the rest of the flower.

Then take the other corner (I took the bottom left) and folded it into a triangle on top of the one I had just made. When that is done you will have a triangle with a little of the sticky part sticking out. If you used a 3 inch piece of tape it will be more in the shape of a house, you will have a wider strip of the sticky stuff left.

Then wrap it around the pencil or pen so the point is up and sticky stuff sticks to the pencil.

Repeat this process until the flower is the size you want.
I did 1 pink for the middle, then I did 1 purple. The next layer I did 2 pinks. Then 3 purples. Then 4 pinks, and for the last layer 4 purples. You can always add more and make the flower bigger. It will get heavy if you add a lot. You can then leave it how it is, or you can use green and make a few of the triangles to be the bottom of the flower and then cover your pen or pencil with green tape to be the stem of the flower. If you are using a pen make sure to keep the air holes in the side or at the bottom of the pen open, or the ink will not work for very long.
Have fun making one!

Felt Flowers

So I think I have completed my St Patrick's Day decor. I don't do much, because I like things simple, So this is my felt flower balls with my subway art. I saw the idea for this here on craftily-ever-after. I loved how she made it look and decided to make my own for St Patrick's day.

I did what she did and cut circles out of felt. I folded the felt in half so I cut out two at a time. I cut a total of 64 circles. This was because I needed about 30 to cover a 2 inch styrofoam ball.The circles are about 3 inches across.

I wanted my flowers to look like the carnations that are white and green for St Patrick's day like this one here from google images.

So I used white felt and painted green acrylic paint on it with a sponge brush. I wanted it to be darker in some spots like the flower so I added more paint to some spots and less to others. I wish I used a different green, but I already had this one so I used it.

After you paint one side of the circle wait for it to dry and then paint the other side. This was the part that took the longest painting all 64 circles and letting them dry.

Then you fold a circle in half. Then in half again so it makes a little triangle. 

Then you stick a pin into the point and stab it into your ball. 

Keep doing this until the entire ball is filled.

See up close you can see my paint skills are lacking, or my lack of patience in taking the time to do a good job painting, but from not so close you can't tell.

St Patric's Day T-shirt

My girls love new clothes, anything I can make into something new is very exciting. So for St Patrick's day I decided to make them new shirts. Well the shirts are not new, but the shamrock is and that makes it new to them.

This was easy and quick to make. I took a T-shirt that my daughter almost never wore and used some scrap green fabric and wonder under to make this.

First trace the shape onto the fabric and cut it out.

Then use your cut out shape and trace it onto the paper side of the wonder under and cut it out.

Wonder under has two sides, one is paper and the other is stuff that melts onto your fabric. put the non paper side onto the fabric and iron on top of the paper so it sticks to the fabric. 

Take the paper off and you can see where the fabric is and how the wonder under gives it the shinny look.
Place the shinny side, the side with the glue, down onto the shirt and iron it in place. If you want you can then sew around the edges to help hold it in place, or just leave it ironed on.