Green and white Patty's Day Parade

Challenge: Decorate for St. Patty's Day and spend NO money. Only use items you currently have around the home.

Best shot:

So, I kept the white decor balls from the red and white balls I bought for V-day decorations, pulled out some magnolia stems from the attic, left the "theme tree" (courtesy of darling cousin L), grabbed a potted fake plant from the bedroom and used old glass square ornaments to get my Patty Day Parade started. A glue gun, lace, moss and some green and white buttons sure can go a long way:

Shhhhh.....don't tell my husband, I cheated just a little here and bought the stamp.....all of $2 spent since Hobby Lobby's stamps were half off.

Now for the 'let's get really creative and see what happens' portion of the parade:

BANNER TIME! But the banner looked lonely, so we made some shamrocks:

The banner says "LUCK" and is attached via blinged out clothespins on white grosgrain ribbon:

Case in point: blinged out clothespins (a little glitter ribbon and more BUTTONS)

To make the shamrocks, cut strips of paper 1.25 inches wide. I didn't have enough of the same color or pattern of paper, so I mixed and matched papers on hand. Each strip is 12 inches long.

Double up each strip of paper if it's white on one side and green on the other or paper, instead of cardstock (for strength). Now, you'll put your long strips in the center and cut two long strips in half for the smaller heart inside each leaf of the shamrock. Layer like so (splayed out to show layering, but want them all in a straight line):

Now, fold over each strip, layering each on top of the previous strip. Pinch at the end, then staple all layers together:

For each shamrock, I made 3 hearts, then glued all 3 together. I added a little stem to each shamrock by folding a strip in half and gluing it to itself, folding in half again and gluing it once more to itself, then placing it between two of my hearts with more glue. Since I used old-school Elmer's glue, I used a clothespin to keep it together until the glue was dry.



Happy shamrock, happy crafting, happy Patty's Day Parade!


I'm linking up to Finding Fabulous' Frugalicious Friday!!

Don't forget to check out the "Party Central" tab to see what parties we love linking up to every week!

Cream Puffs for Dummies

Yesterday I plunged into the world of French pastries with this surprisingly easy cream puff recipe.

Ingredients:
1 cup water
1 stick butter
1 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
4 eggs

Filling Ideas:
Instant pudding
Whipped Topping
Yogurt
Anything creamy, sweet, and delicious

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
• In  a medium sauce pan heat water and butter until butter is melted. 
• Mix flour, salt and sugar into water/butter mixture. Should form a doughy ball.
• Let cool (it shouldn't be steaming at this point) and mix in eggs.
• Mixture should form a sticky, paste-like consistency. 
• If you have parchment paper, line your cookie sheet with it. If not, leave the cookie sheet ungreased.
• Drop spoonfuls onto sheet, bake for 20-25 minutes. 

After baking, your dollops should be cute little puffs. Do NOT, under any circumstances, poke warm puffs with a toothpick. If you see someone suggest this on a web forum for cream puff making, do not heed their counsel. I can only assume they want your puffs to deflate and be ruined, so they can keep the title "Best Cream Puff Maker" to themselves. They are NOT your friend.

The puffs should look like this out of the oven:

To fill, you can cut a small slice in one side, and squeeze in your chosen filling. I put vanilla pudding in a gallon sized bag, cut of a corner, and squeezed a little bit of love into each and every one of them. Piping bags filled with pudding, or canned cool whip would also work.

This recipe yields about 24 yummy little puffs.

Good luck, and let us know if you try it!