Luck Letter Blocks

Seriously, this girl Tara at It's a Girl Thing does the cutest letter blocks. Here is her St. Patrick's day ones:

Shepherds Pie

My mother in law who lived the first 20+ years of her life in Ireland said she had never had Corned Beef and Cabbage. So in our family, we have Shepherds pie for St. Patrick's Day. I use my mother in laws recipe:
1 1/2 lbs ground beef browned
1/2 bag frozen peas
1/2 bag frozen corn (I used a can of corn)
1 pkg brown gravy mix
3-4 carrots peeled and chopped
1/2 onion chopped
1/4-1/2 cup Worcestershire sauce
Combine all of the above ingredients and spread in a 9X13 pan.

Cook and mash 7-8 small potatoes with salt, pepper, milk and butter. Spread this on top of the meat mixture. I used my cake decorating tips and piping bag to pipe potatoes around the edges. My husband says the Irish do NOT make it like that! Add Cheese to cover the top.Cook at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

My Pot of Gold

So I made the Pot of Gold from an earlier post. They were very easy. I had a tough time finding gold coins but I finally found them at CVS pharmacy. I attached a little note w/ gold ribbon that said either,
"Tis better far at the rainbows end, to find not gold, but the heart of a friend!"
or
"You're lucky, lucky, I've been told - you've just been hit with shamrocks and gold!"

Safety Plugs

This is a cute idea from Little Miss Crafty Pants:

Supplies:

Wood Cutout

Modge Podge

Scissors

Glue Gun

Safety plugs

Antiquing/Distressing Ink

Scrapbooking Paper

Paint & Sponge Brush

Sandpaper

You can buy pre-cut wood shapes or cut your own. Sand the wood until smooth. Paint the sides and the back of the wood (You may need a couple of layers of paint). In the meantime, trace the wood cutout onto scrapbooking paper. Cut out the shape on the scrapbooking paper. If your paint is completely dry, "paint" the modge podge on the front of the wood cut out. Quickly add the pre-cut scrapbooking paper. Once the modge podge is dry (make sure you smooth out any air bubbles). Add a few layers of modge podge on top of the scrapbooking paper. Let it dry completely. Sand any edges that you would like to give a distressed look to. Add the distressing ink around the edges of the sanded wood.

I found it easiest to plug the safety plug in first then add the wood because you can position the plug on the wood however you want. (you can decide if you want the safety plug up high, centered, or on the lower part of the wood.) Then with your hot glue gun, add the glue to the part of the safety plug that will be glued to the wood cutout. The add your wood cutout. Let it dry before removing from the outlet.

The Black Frame

I like this black frame from Make & Take. They make a different item to go inside each month.

Ok, the bunny is a bit scary looking!

Pot of Gold

Found this cute idea at Make and Takes:

As that lucky Pot of Gold at the end of the rainbow can be tricky to find, we decided to make our own. With just a few supplies, you’ll have a fun centerpiece filled with gold.

Supplies for Pot of Gold:

• pot - terracotta pot, or a black pot you may already have
• black paint and paint brush
• Easter grass
• yellow wrapped candies - these can be gold chocolate coins, yellow foil wrapped chocolates, Reese’s peanut butter cups (you can use any color of candy, but yellow keeps with the ‘gold’ theme.)
• pipe cleaner (aka chenille stems), all colors of the rainbow

Paint your terracotta pot with the black paint using your paint brush. I even went an inch down on the inside with paint. Then let it dry. Next, fill you bucket with Easter grass all the way to the top, as it gets pushed down with the candy. Then add in your ‘gold’, filling it to the top.

Line up your pipe cleaners into a rainbow. I stuck them all in the pot at one time, but you could put them in one at a time, starting with the bottom one first.

Now it’s ready for display. But have extra gold on hand, as it doesn’t last long in the pot! Little Leprechauns keep trying to sneak it!

Treat and Gift Ideas for St. Patrick's Day

From It's All in my head:

St. Patrick's Day treat ideas:
• "At the end of the rainbow, you are my pot of gold!" (tied to anything with gold in it!)
• "If I had a Pot of Gold, I'd want to share it with you. I couldn't find one anywhere, so I hope that this will do!" (tied to a Twix, Rolo, Caramello, or gold chocolate coins)
• "A Friend is like a 4 leaf clover, hard to find and lucky to have!"
• "Tis better far at the rainbows end, to find not gold, but the heart of a friend!" (tie to package of rainbow skittles, gold coins, a "friend" token)
• Leprechaun Droppings - (a bag full of chocolate gold coins or green Appleheads)
• Shamrock Attack Kit: "You're lucky, lucky, I've been told - you've just been hit with shamrocks and gold!"
• Lucky Leprechaun Lunch: a green gable box with a tag on the outside that says "Lucky Leprechaun Lunch". Perfect for sending a green lunch with the husband or kids on St. Patrick's Day.
• "Lucky Me" tags: "Lucky Me..." and end with something different. "Lucky Me... to have such a great friend!" or "Lucky Me... to have such a great hubby!"
• Money Tree: "Happy St. Patricks Day to a Million Dollar Guy/Gal/Kid!" or "Who says Money doesn't grow on trees...Have a Happy St. Patrick's Day!"

Get all of the wrappings and ideas for YOUR next party or celebration from Pioneer Party. They offer wrapping paper, gift baskets, theme gifts, favor bags, and all kinds of fun boutique gifts. www.pioneerpartyandgift.blogspot.com

Lucky Blocks

These are way cute from MaryLyn at Heartland Paper.