Finding art in odd places

So recently I have had to close my Etsy shop, temporarily.  My mother was diagnosed with brain cancer and they had to remove the tumor.  I traveled to help her in So. CA for two weeks.  I sent her to a GREAT rehab facility at Loma Linda University.  When I walked in I found this AMAZING piece of art.  I have just studied gothic cathedrals in my art history class so this really caught my eye and I just had to share!  You will not believe what it is made out of!  I hope it gives you some inspiration with your own arts and or crafts or just exploring art with your kids.  It just goes to show, anything can be ART!!

Locked Up Leprechaun!

Thought of a cute, VERY EASY, craft to do as a center piece or decoration for St. Patty's Day.  In our house, we do several traditions for St. Patty's Day.  The Leprechaun builds his house in our yard one day.  The next day he leaves gold coins everywhere on the ground, but he tricks you with mischief and you find that the gold coins are really not gold, but chocolate coins!  He also does mischief all over the house all week.  Furniture is upside down, toys are in strange places, things are moved around.  We also have the green eggs and ham on that day...well veggie ham.  :)

So to go along with all the whimsy of St. Patty's Day...I thought what a perfect idea to "Catch the Leprechaun!"  We will lock him up!  Maybe he will disappear from his glass dungeon on St. Patty's day.  :)

Here is what you will need (I found everything at Michaels except the key):

Moss (I bought a bag with a variety of mosses, but you can do whatever.
Glass apocrathy jars or candy jar with a lid
Plastic gold coins
A little leprechaun figue
Shamrocks (I bought some already on metal sticks)
Ribbon of your choice
Vintage Key or skeleton key
Burlap ( I found a small green roll of Burlap).


1. Arrange the moss in the bottom of the jar.  I would not glue it down, in case you want to use the jar again for something else.

          2. Cut the wire sticked shamrocks to make them separate as they come in a bunch.  Or if you found shamrocks without sticks, you can add toothpicks to them or small dowels.  Stick them into the moss.  The moss is really spongey, so mine stood in the moss pretty well.

 3. Place your little leprechaun figurine wherever you see fit.  I put mine in the middle.  Once I put him in, I had to arrange the shamrocks around a bit.








4. Drop the gold coins around the leprechaun. I didn't use all the coins that came in the bag, but you can do what you want.

5. Now for the finishing touches.  Tie a ribbon around the top.   Cut out a shamrock out of the burlap and poke a hole through it to attach the key through the hole with a ribbon, or I used jute.  If you are not to good at drawing, you can go here: http://bestclipartblog.com/27-shamrock-clip-art.html/shamrock-clip-art-2 and print out the shamrock clipart and use it as a template. 

HAPPY ST. PATTY'S DAY!  

MAY DE LUCK OF DE IRISH BE WIT YA!!

It is Cold, but Spring is Coming! Spring Color Report.

It is hard to think of Spring when it is so cold here in the East, however it is coming and here are the colors for Spring. Hopefully this will bring some warmth to your heart, if not your body. :)

A Morning Mommy Coffee

Here's a great idea for a simple get together with fellow moms! It is much more intimate than meeting at Starbucks and better for moms with young ones to come and relax or feel comfortable to breast feed. Host a coffee party! Send the kids off to school and call up your friends. Offer food or don't, no pressure.

I found this great idea for a coffee party in I style magazine's February edition.  Plan to have different roasts or exotic roasts from around the world. Arrange samples of each of them in small glass bowls or glass mugs under glass cloches. Make flags out of paper, pen and a toothpick or jean material and a white paint marker.  Put the flags in each bowl or cup of beans with the name of where it is from ( ex: Indonesia, France, etc.).  Guests can lift each cloche to smell the beans and decide which roast they would like. Have various coffee presses with the individual coffees in it ready to add hot water. Make sure to have a pot of hot water on hand to refill the presses.
WARNING: Some of us are coffee snobs so probably you will need to have a grinder on hand, in the other room due to the noise for fresh ground brews. You can also always have everything pre ground. Decant the milk, cream, and sugar in pretty vessels. If you choose to have food,  make a quick frittata or a breakfast casserole in advance and serve with fruit.  Another easier option is to have some scones or muffins on hand from the local bakery. Keep it simple. Your friends will just love the thought. Make sure you invite some new moms in the neighborhood or area to come over too! We all know how isolated new moms can be. Another idea is to have new pretty mugs on hand, like those you can find at Anthropologie http://www.anthropologie.com/anthro/category/mugs+%26+glassware/home-glassware.jsp for your friends to use and then take home with them as a sweet party favor.  These are some of my favs!

Another idea is to offer a winter daytime cocktail like:

Poet's Song
1 1/2 oz spiced apple cider well chilled
1/4 oz Becherovka liqueur or a cheaper choice would be Hiram Walker cinnamon schnapps.
1/8 oz. maple syrup
Top with sparkling wine
OR offer Apple Cider Sangria

I plan to host one of these soon, so I will let you know how it goes and share pictures!

Here are some more ideas from some great other blogs as well:
Simple Savannah Events talks about a coffee party at a wedding or reception, but there are some great ideas here: http://simplysavannahevents.blogspot.com/2011/07/bright-idea-thursday-sunday-wedding.html
Divine Party Concepts has some great links for some great ideas
http://divinepartyconcepts.com/2009/09/18/coffee-coffee-and-more-coffee/
Flour On My Face talks about having an International Delight Coffee Party and she has lots of pictures http://www.flouronmyface.com/2012/10/happy-coffee-day-with-international-delight-iced-coffee-idcoffeeday.html
Betty Crocker has some great advice on hosting a coffee party http://www.bettycrocker.com/tips/tipslibrary/entertaining/hosting-a-coffee-tasting