Easter subway art

It’s starting to warm up around here! Finally!. And lest you be led astray into thinking it’s actually warm, warming up around here just means temps in the 40’s.

But still. The sun has been shining, the snow has been melting, and I have been spray painting! I don’t know what it is about spray painting that is so gratifying. Maybe it’s because I love a good before and after. Makeover shows, home improvement shows, love them all. I don’t think you truly understand the joy of spray painting unless you’ve done it yourself.

Anyway, I’ve had this frame floating around for awhile, waiting for a new life and purpose. Not that I didn’t love the whole Victorian tea party thing. (It always amazes me when I see prints like this at Goodwill. Someone, at sometime, thought that this was appealing enough to purchase and put on their wall. Crazy.)

Subway art is running rampant throughout blogland and of course I’m hopping on for the ride. (Remember my print from St. Patty's Day?) I’ve been looking for something to put on the wall in my entryway for awhile. Enter Eighteen 25. They have an adorable Easter print for free download (amongst many other adorable things!). It’s sized to print out as a 16X20, which is perfect for my frame! They have a birthday one and a St. Patty's one (which I actually like better than the one I printed out) and my plan is to just switch them out for all the holidays. I’ve seen Christmas and Halloween ones floating around, and I just need to find a cute Patriotic one for the summer. 

It was only $5 to print out at Sam’s, although I’m sure you could find it cheaper online somewhere. But I was too impatient. I thought it would be a little more pastel-y, but I still love it. Now to just see if it’s a little too in-your-face when you walk in my front door… 

I don’t pass on grass!

I love Easter! I love the colors, I love that it (usually) means warmer weather is on the way, I love the decorations, I love hard boiled eggs, and I love the meaning behind it. I love pretty much everything about Easter!

Last year I saw online how you can grow your own Easter grass and I was determined to do it this year. I was a little skeptical that it would grow since my dining room table (where I put the containers) don’t really get much sunlight. I needn’t have worried! It’s growing like….a weed? Soooo ridiculously easy! I love having a little greenery around, too! It’s getting so tall I think I might have to mow it soon! Oh, and I totally found that ceramic bunny at Goodwill for a couple bucks.

Here’s how to do it:

Soak some wheat berries in water overnight. (Finally! A use for all that food storage!!!) Fill a container (with no holes in the bottom) with potting soil and water it very well. It should almost be like mud. Then put a layer of wheat on the soil and cover with more soil and water again. Place in a sunny (or not so sunny) spot and watch it grow! It sprouted in a matter of days for me. It actually pushed up the top layer of soil and I had to brush it off the grass tips. So, you still have time to do this before Easter. I think I’ll put mini eggs in the grass. Cute, cute. Bonus: you can go all Jamba Juice style and juice it all up and have a wheat grass drink. Or not.

Moving on.

I found these woodland creatures, as I like to call them, at Goodwill awhile back. (Geez, guess I must go there a lot!) I thought they would be perfect for some springy decor. But as cute as they are, there were a little granny-ish to me. So what did I do? You guessed it! Spray paint!

Now that’s more my style. I debated forever on what color I wanted to do. And I’m still not sold on the white. I might paint over them in lime green. Who knows. And hopefully I didn’t ruin some priceless antiques.

Of course, I have an Easter wreath in the works. This one is from She's Kinda Crafty, as shown to me by my friend Nicki. Now I just have to find cute ribbon.

Any other hoppin’ Easter crafts I should know about out there??

Going green

Everyone’s a little bit Irish on March 17th, right? Not one to pass up an excuse to throw a party, we had ourselves a bit of a get together.

I’ve been dying for an occasion to make this rainbow cake and what better time than St. Patty’s? I love, love, love how it turned out, both visually and….tastibly? What is the word I’m looking for? I can’t think. But it tasted amazing too. I might be addicted to Swiss Meringue Buttercream frosting.

On the outside, just your normal, white-with-shamrock-sprinkles, unassuming layer cake.

But on the inside…..A PARTY FOR YOUR EYES!!! AND YOUR TASTEBUDS!!!

This was a really fun cake to make. A little labor intensive, but totally worth the reaction and results. Can’t wait to make it again. Just imagine all the color possibilities. And a side note….Ever since I was a little girl I have always loved rainbows. I was always drawing them, always arranging my crayons and markers in rainbow order. I loved Rainbow Brite and had sheets and pillows and dolls of her. Fast forward 15 or so years, and now my beloved color scheme has somehow been adopted by “alternative lifestyles”. Ugh. I hate that it’s been tainted, and honestly it’s the only reason I haven’t decorated my kids’ rooms in a totally rainbow theme. Coincidentally, my favorite color used to be purple. They stole that too! Sheesh!

Back to the party.

I got an idea for a rainbow fruit tray here and decided to make that, too. Love how it turned out. I made the classic cream cheese/marshmallow fluff fruit dip.

I made green glass block holiday jello from Our Best Bites. Summer loved this. I love the way it looked. Very festive.

I found a rainbow craft to do on this blog. My orange didn’t turn out as vibrant as I was hoping, but they still turned out cute, and I think the kids had fun making them. I’m already thinking of other uses for dyed pasta. (Very easy to do…soak pasta in rubbing alcohol and food coloring in plastic baggies for a couple hours, flip occasionally. Dry overnight. Mine were kind of splotchy…I think next time I won’t skimp on the alcohol and completely submerge the pasta in colored alcohol.) Once they dry, you hang them in your window…like little sun catchers! Cute, right?

Green utensils and plates, of course. And Brazilian lemonade in the pitcher off to the side. I tried to cheat and use Simply Limeade like a friend had done. Don’t do it. Not nearly as good. I also whipped up some Shamrock Shakes, a la McDonald’s.

My friend Brandy recently started a blog called Holiday Snobs and I saw a cute idea for little favors. Super cute, and under a buck (with a coupon!) All of the “Who’s your Paddy?” sanitizers were passed out, so I only have a shot of this generic green one. That subway art in the corner is from the same site, here. I just had it printed at Wal-Mart. It’s all sized and ready for an 8x10. It came out a little grainy, but from far away you can’t really tell.

And then just a shot of my mantle, which is always so festively decorated (I hope). I saw the idea for the garland on Etsy. Just felt circles sewn together. And yes, I know I need to buy 3 green candles. Just haven’t made it up to Hobby Lobby in awhile! Gasp! 

It really was such a fun little party. As you can see, I am a master copycat. I’m not the one to come up with cute original ideas, but I can copy the good ones with the best of ‘em. And I’m so lucky to have such great friends who not only put up with my crazy theme parties but always bring such delicious and theme-y treats! We were definitely treated to lots of good eats today!

I feel like I have been so cranky lately and today was just what I needed to pick me back up. Why have I been cranky? Honestly, I think it was because potty training was stressing me out so much. So thank you, ALL of you, for all of your comments and advice about what to do. As of Monday we quit potty training. I asked her if she wanted to wear diapers or panties and she said, “Diapers. No panties. Mommy change me.” That was all I needed to hear. We’ve both been much happier since then. But I do have to clarify that I started so early with her because she would tell me every time she peed or pooped, and asked to sit on the potty. So, what else what I supposed to do? At least I know she can do it for a few days, so hopefully next time we try it should go relatively smoothly.

And now it’s time for…..EASTER!!!

Oops, I did it again…

Addiction hath reared its ugly head again. This time in wreath form. I’m pretty confident that if it weren’t for my beliefs, I’d be an alcoholic stripping gambler.

My friend Lindsey tipped me off to a cute wreath on Etsy and when I found an argyle one in the same shop I knew I had to make it in green. I love all things argyle: socks, sweaters, blankets, etc. In fact, just the other day I came across a seemingly easy argyle baby quilt. Now that’s added to the endless list of things I want to make.

I love how it turned out. And now after making two wreaths out of felt, I’m sort of falling in love with it. It doesn’t fray, it’s soft, it’s versatile, it comes in lots of colors. What’s not to love? This, I can say, can be made in one evening. The longest part was wrapping the wreath form in yarn. You wouldn’t think it’s very tedious, but you have to take the whole skein and wind it in and out, in and out. I’m not ashamed to say (or maybe I am?) that my shoulders were totally hurting by the end from the repetitive movements. No wonder that chick sells them for $40!

I think this will wrap up my wreath fetish for awhile. At least until I find an Easter one I want to make….

Wreath Love

Apparently I’ve been on a wreath making kick lately. I like wreaths. We have a double front door so I feel like they need something all the time. The problem is that our screen is so close to the door that wreaths don’t usually fit without getting squished. So I put a wooden door hanger on it. Anyway.

I finally made the birthday wreath I blogged about a couple of weeks ago. I love how it turned out. Not sure if my wreath form is bigger than the tutorial’s, but I needed 3 bags of balloons. More like 2.75. Now we just have to wait until August for another birthday around this joint!

Then I made a felt rosette wreath that I saw on Our Best Bites. I wish I could tell you that you can whip one of these up in an afternoon. It took me a good 3 or 4 nights of cutting and rolling felt. And now I’m pretty sure I have carpal tunnel. BUT….love it. It probably took me about 7 sheets of each color, with 6 rosettes per sheet. Good thing felt is cheap. And I scored both of these wreath forms at Goodwill for a buck. I have another heart one too and was thinking I would make two. Um….no. I shall find another way to decorate it!! Now I just have to wait a mere 11 months before I can use this one!

One of my most favorite things to do is to go shopping for holiday decorations the day after the holiday. Usually it’s 50% off, but sometimes it drops right to 75%. But if you want to get the good stuff, you better be there early the next morning. (Which is why I HATE when holidays fall on Saturdays!! No shopping on Sunday!!) Anyway, I scored some awesome V-day stuff for next year. Bonus: I put it all away in the respective holiday bin and when I open it the next year, it’s like Christmas! I have totally forgotten what I bought the year before. Happiness in so many ways when shopping for clearance holiday decor!

I’ve been trying to find cute St. Patrick’s day decorations. That is practically impossible. I’m pretty good at copying what’s out there, but there’s not much. This holiday may make me stretch myself and come up with something original!!

And speaking of holiday decor, I can’t wait for Easter. I love my Easter decorations, and even more, I love what Hobby Lobby has right now for Easter!

Yay for decorating!