St. Patrick's day lunches

 It's March break here now!! Claire's so excited to have a whole week off of school. I made a few of these lunches the week before March break. I have a special one planned for St. Patrick's Day for Claire. All of these lunches are pretty straightforward. All of her sandwiches are made with WowButter (they're not allowed to take peanut products to school.)

I used some shamrock cookie cutters to make shamrock sandwiches. I added some green grapes and strawberries. As a treat I added in a few chocolates. I ordered a few things from All Things For Sale a little while ago. It was hard to contain myself on that site. There are so many fun things! I ordered some St. Patrick's Day picks, and added one into each of these lunches.

 Ha. Now this lunch didn't quite turn out as I had pictured it in my head. For some reason St. Patrick's Day stuff is so hard to find this year. I searched all over Halifax for a small shamrock cookie cutter and couldn't find one anywhere. The one that I used above is actually an apple that I used upside down (not that it looks much like an apple either!) I filled the cut out with some chocolate sprinkles. I added an applesauce, clementine and some more green grapes. And of course another one of my new picks.

 I used a medium sized cookie cutter and cut  three hearts out of 1 sandwich. There was a tiny bit leftover to make the stem of the shamrock. Blueberries and strawberries and a little shamrock ring finished off this lunch.

 I cut the sandwich into three slices (like the Irish flag), not that it was noticed by Claire! I skewered some grapes and added a clementine and blueberries. I used one of my new picks and a little leprechaun ring.

Love these lunch boxes? I sure do. You can check them out here: EasyLunch Boxes. They make packing lunches so easy!

St. Patrick's Day tea party

Happy St. Patrick's Day!! I know, I'm a day late, but that's because I was busy hosting a little tea party for my kids yesterday. I always try to make the holiday's  extra special for my kids, and so I thought that it would be nice to have a tea party to celebrate St. Patrick's Day.

I made a few different type of muffins for the kids to eat, in different shapes just because I thought the kids would enjoy that. I'll post some of the recipes shortly. The star muffins are apple carrot muffins. They're pictured next to the chocolate chip muffins. Underneath that are banana muffins that I made in my mini donut pan. I used my Best Banana Muffin ever recipe. Lastly I made a few cake pops. (I had a cake in the freezer that fell apart when it came out of the pan, so I popped it in the freezer so that I could make cake pops.)

I also had dishes of green grapes out, but the kids mostly just ate the muffins, and drank their tea (chocolate milk, served with white milk in the creamer pot.)

The kids had a great time, so I'm going to call this tea party a success! Hope that everyone had a wonderful St. Patrick's Day!

rainbow lunch

How about a rainbow of fruit for a St. Patrick's day lunch? I'm always looking for ways to make the holidays extra special for the kids, and making a few cute lunches is something that they really enjoy. They don't take that much extra time to prepare, and the kids usually sit down and eat the whole thing. This rainbow of fruit was so easy to make, and obviously you can use whatever fruits you have on hand.

I made a ham sandwich for Claire, and cut the two shamrocks out of the one sandwich.

After the kids were done eating their fruit, they got the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, which was a bowl of jello. They didn't waste any time eating the jello!

Linking up with: Six Sister's Stuff &  Skip to my Lou & Tip Junkie & Weekly Kids Co-op& Tatertots and Jello 

St. Patrick's Day thumbprint art

I am so excited to post this project. We actually did this project a little while ago, but because it was Claire's birthday last week, it took me a little while to get around to finishing it off! I have made similar thumbprint art in the past (Easter and Halloween), but this one was simplified big time!

Supplies needed:
template
cardstock to print the template on
light green cardstock to make the thumbprint art on
washi tape or patterned paper
paint (green, orange, cream, black, red, yellow, blue, purple)
picture frame
paper trimmer
black and green markers (or pens)
2 googly eyes
gold paper, hole punched (or sequins, or yellow paper)
glue

 Print out the template on a nice heavy weight cardstock.

Cut out the pieces of light green cardstock into 2x3 inch pieces.

Grab your paint and start making the thumbprints.

To make the leprechaun have your child stamp a green thumbprint, and and orange one right below the green one. Once the orange paint is dry, have the child stamp a cream fingerprint on top of the orange paint. Once that's dry, add the googly eyes, smile, black line on the hat, and small piece of gold paper, or sequin.

To make the pot of gold have your child stamp a black thumbprint. Once that's dry, you can add your gold. Use whatever you have on hand to make the gold. I had a piece of gold paper, so I used a hole puncher to punch out circles of paper for the gold. You could use yellow paper, sequins or tin foil.

To make the shamrock stamp three thumbprints in a shamrock shape. Draw on the stem when the paint is dry.

To make the rainbow very lightly draw a rainbow shape with a pencil. This will be very helpful if you have a child who already knows how to do the project, even before you explain it to them. (Guess which kind of child I have??) Make sure you draw it very lightly, because it will show through the paint if it's at all dark. Stamp one thumbprint of each color. 

To assemble the whole project: Cut the template to fit your picture frame, 8x10 inches. (My frame was from the dollar store.) Put a piece of washi tape just above the St. Patrick's Day lettering. Use a piece of green patterned paper if you don't have washi tape. Using double sided tape, stick on the leprechaun, gold, shamrock and rainbow. I used another piece of washi tape to tape the pieces on the template.

Click on the picture to download the template.

 

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Linking up with: Six Sister's Stuff &  Skip to my Lou & Tip Junkie & Weekly Kids Co-op & One Artsy Mama & Tatertots and Jello  - See more at: http://sweetandlovelycrafts.blogspot.ca/#sthash.xxMbVt4h.dpuf

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Linking up with: Six Sister's Stuff &  Skip to my Lou & Tip Junkie & Weekly Kids Co-op& One Artsy Mama  & Tatertots and Jello 

- See more at: http://sweetandlovelycrafts.blogspot.ca/#sthash.xxMbVt4h.dpuf

Linking up with: Six Sister's Stuff &  Skip to my Lou & Tip Junkie & Weekly Kids Co-op& One Artsy Mama  & Tatertots and Jello 

- See more at: http://sweetandlovelycrafts.blogspot.ca/#sthash.xxMbVt4h.dpuf

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Linking up with: Six Sister's Stuff &  Skip to my Lou & Tip Junkie & Weekly Kids Co-op& One Artsy Mama  & Tatertots and Jello  - See more at: http://sweetandlovelycrafts.blogspot.ca/#sthash.OlBr8ndi.dpuf

Linking up with: Six Sister's Stuff &  Skip to my Lou & Tip Junkie & Weekly Kids Co-op& One Artsy Mama  & Tatertots and Jello  - See more at: http://sweetandlovelycrafts.blogspot.ca/#sthash.OlBr8ndi.dpuf

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shamrock stamping

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When I saw this toilet paper roll stamping project on Michelle's blog for Valentines day I knew that I wanted to try it with my kids. So I did. Unfortunately for me, Simon was more interested in smearing paint everywhere, immediately followed by putting his hands in his mouth. I've been a little hesitant to break out the paints again, but I was hoping that this time would be different. Lucky for me (must be that Irish luck!) it was.

I rolled out a long piece of white paper, and taped it to the floor. I squirted some green paint on some container lids (one for each of the kids) and gave them each a shamrock cookie cutter. The both did a great job stamping their shapes. After Simon had his shapes stamped he decided that it would look nicer as one big smear instead of discernible shapes.

The kids loved doing this and spent at least half an hour stamping and smearing. When involving a 1 1/2 year old in a project that involves paint, 30 minutes before nap time,  please make sure to MOVE their favorite-won't-go-to-sleep-without stuffed toys far far far away from the painting project. Otherwise, you may, or may not, end up doing a panic load of laundry, and delaying nap time for 30 minutes (or until the dryer is done.) That's just a note of caution for you, not that I actually know this from personal experience or anything :)

Linking up with: Skip to my Lou & Tip Junkie & Tatertots and Jello

tissue paper shamrock art

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It is hard keeping up with Claire, every time that I put Simon to bed she asks if we can do another project. This one was nice because she was able to do parts of it on her own while I was busy in the kitchen. Two separate projects inspired this one. My blogging friend Jill, made this for Valentine's Day and then I saw this project on Southern Lovely blog and I thought that a similar project would be perfect or St. Patrick's Day.

To start this one I used regular old masking tape to tape off lines on the canvas. I used a piece of masking tape as a spacer. Then Claire painted the whole thing green. Two coats probably would have had better coverage, but I was so anxious to see if the paint bled that I couldn't wait.

Once the canvas was dry, I traced a shamrock using a pencil. I used this template. I cut light green tissue paper into small squares. Then Claire squirted some glue on the canvas, and used a paint brush to spread it all out. Then she balled up each piece of tissue paper and stuck them on the canvas. She did a great job doing this part by herself. 

Linking up with: Skip to my Lou & Tip Junkie & Molly Moo & Tatertots and Jello

printable scratch tickets

With Claire's party over and done with for another year, we've started working on a few St. Patrick's Day projects around here. As I mentioned last year, my Mom's from Ireland, so we make a point of celebrating March 17 here! I've seen these make your own scratch tickets on Pinterest, and I thought this would be a perfect time to try it out. I used this tutorial to make the tickets.

I used a piece of packaging tape to cover my scratch tickets. Then, mix 1 part Dawn dishwashing liquid, and 2 parts grey paint. I painted the part of the ticket that I wanted people to scratch off. I used a dark grey paint, so it only took one coat for me. Also, I used a foam brush, which gave a much nicer coverage than a regular paint brush (trust me, because I tried both brushes).

 

Want to download these and make your own St. Patrick's Day scratch tickets? Click here to download. I included a few blank scratch cards so that you can write your own messages on the tickets. If you make these let me know, I'd love to hear from you.

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& Molly Moo

St. Patrick's Day crafts

Who wants to start making some St. Patrick's Day now? While I put the finishing touches on some of my current projects, I thought that I'd dig into my archives (you know, all 1 year of them) and pull my projects from last year.

1. Why not start by making some thumbprint leprechaun bookmarks?
2. Followed by some wee little shamrock men.
3. Make a shamrock bouquet.
4. Top it all off with these amazingly delicious chocolate mint brownies. So good!

Linking up with: Skip to my Lou & Tip Junkie & Tatertots and Jello

shamrock bouquet

I saw this idea on Rebecca Cooper's blog for Valentine's Day and I thought that it would be perfect for St. Patrick's Day. I mean, even though we still celebrate St. Patrick's Day, I don't go all out decorating for it.

 This was such a simple project to make. I just cut out some shamrocks using this pattern, out of some green paper. I covered a mason jar with some green paper. Then I just taped the shamrocks onto some skewers and put them in the mason jar. Ta da! (Or Ta! as Claire says) You're done.

What sort of crafts or projects do you make for St. Patrick's Day? Do you go all out for it, or do you skip right over to Easter?

Linking up with:Somewhat Simple &  Today's Creative Blog & Molly Moo & Made by You Mondays @ Skip to my Lou

wee little leprechaun bookmarks

St. Patrick's Day might be a day that goes uncelebrated in some households- but not in mine. My Mom was born and raised in Ireland which means that you better break out the green on March 17! I decided that since I love making these thumb print crafts so much, we would make one just for St. Patrick's Day.

Look at this wee little leprechaun- isn't he cute? 

I love making these crafts on tags, like my snowmen ones here, or the little love bug ones here, but that doesn't really work so much for St. Patrick's Day. SO, we made these larger ones so that we could pass them out to family to use as bookmarks.

To make these you will need:

green, orange, and cream coloured paint
googly eyes
black sharpie
small piece of yellow cardstock
scissors or utility knife to cut the little yellow square
piece of cardstock for the bookmark (we used a very light green)
twine or ribbon for the top of the bookmark

1. using the orange paint stamp a thumprint on the bookmark
2. using the green paint stamp the green thumb print on top of the orange one, set aside to let dry
3. use the pinky to stamp on the face using the cream coloured paint
4. just add on all of the details, googly eyes, smile, and hat detail
5. add a piece of twine or ribbon to the top of the bookmark

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wee little shamrock men

 

 Claire and I had such fun making our Valentine's Day craft that I wanted to make one for St. Patrick's Day that used similar materials. We made a few different varieties this year- so you can make which ever one you have the materials for.

 What you need to make these: (this is a list for the supplies to make all of them)
toilet paper rolls
construction paper & foam (we used two different colours of green)
white computer paper

markers/crayons (not pictured)
googly eyes (older kids could draw on the eyes)
decorative tape or strips of coloured paper (could use leftover wrapping paper)
scissors
paint & paint brush
glue
paper trimmer
shamrock template (I used this one)

                          1                                                        2                                                       3

For shamrock #1
1. cover the toilet paper roll with white paper
2. decorate with green masking tape (you can buy green electrical tape at the dollar store)
3. using green foam (or construction paper) cut out a shamrock
4. glue eyes onto the shamrock
5. tape the shamrock onto the toilet paper roll
6. cut a strip on construction paper and fold it like an accordion, glue it to the side of the roll

For shamrock #2
1. have child paint a piece of white paper & let dry
2. cover the roll with piece of painted paper
3. using green foam (or construction paper) cut out a shamrock
4. glue eyes onto the shamrock
5. tape the shamrock onto the toilet paper roll
6. cut a strip on construction paper and fold it like an accordion, glue it to the side of the roll

For shamrock #3
1.have child draw & colour on green construction paper
2. using green foam (or construction paper) cut out a shamrock
3. glue eyes onto the shamrock
4. tape the shamrock onto the toilet paper roll
5. cut a strip on construction paper and fold it like an accordion, glue it to the side of the roll

If you're using construction paper to cut out the hearts, you will need a stick to help support the shamrock. The googly eyes will weigh it down.  No big deal, just tape a stick to the back of the shamrock, and add a piece of tape on the inside of the toilet paper roll too.

Have you made these with your kids to celebrate & decorate for St. Patrick's Day? Leave me a note in the comments, I'd love to see them.



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