Hello. I hope you are ready for Saturday's Pinching Party. Or at least that is what I grew up with. I would be sure to wear a nightgown that had green on it, cause my younger brother would try to sneak into my bedroom and pinch me first thing, if I didn't. Mom was usually good at catching him at it, but there were a couple of times, he got past her.

I have many memories of being pinched over the years on St. Patrick;s day. My Dogs are finally learning that they are not to bark when I talk to someone. I still can't get close enough for a conversation, but I can say "Hi" without them trying to mug who ever it is I just said Hi to. They are always pushing each other around trying to get all the loving they can from strangers. The cats love to sit in the door, looking out. I'm not sure if it's the birds they are looking for, or Smokey.

Rocky and Smokey (the last picture we took of Smokey)

http://familyfun.go.com/st-patricks-day/st-patricks-day-printables/

St. Patrick's Day printables include lucky leprechaun coloring pages and printable activity sheets for kids. Then, follow the rainbow over to our dinner recipes and our dessert recipes.

http://mytwobutterflies.blogspot.com/2012/02/circular-knitting-needle-labels-diy.html

Circular Knitting Needle Labels - DIY

Since I've been trying to improve my knitting skills, I picked up a stack of circular needles from the thrift store.

They're in great shape - except none of them had any sort of size markings on them. Are all circular needles like this? The previous owner had attached stickies to a couple of them marking the size but the rest were a mystery.

First I had to figure out what size the needles were. I did it by comparing them with my marked straight needles, although they do make a needle gauge for this. Then I wanted to mark them so I would easily know what size each needle was. Here's what I came up with:

Number beads, attached to a safety pin, then clipped to the circular part of the needle.

To Make:

Place the appropriate numbered bead onto the head pin, clip to size, loop, and attach to the circular opening at the bottom of the safety pin.
Here's a good picture tutorial on how to use a head pin.

That's really all there is to it. And now my needles are nice and labeled

http://mytwobutterflies.blogspot.com/2012/03/spring-wreath-round-up.html

Spring Wreath Round-up

This is the wreath that's on my door for spring right now (although, technically, it's probably not yet spring here in Colorado). It's a wreath I made several years ago - strips of felted wool wrapped around a wreath form and hot glued in place, then I added a few crocheted flowers.

And this was my spring wreath from last year. I may trade out for this one later in the spring. You can see more info on how I made this one here.

And here are a few beautiful spring wreaths that I've seen, mostly via pinterest:

cute and simple, via

Spring Grass Wreath, tutorial

a non-wreath wreath, via

via

coffee filter wreath, tutorial

http://mytwobutterflies.blogspot.com/2012/02/nailpolish-jewelry-make-over.html

Nailpolish Jewelry Make-Over

Nail polish can be a great tool for making-over, updating, or re-vamping jewelry. I used it for this bracelet . . .

. . . back for 30 Days for 30 Dollars, tutorial here.

Yesterday, I found this little necklace at the thrift store for $1 -

Cute image, but I thought it would be better with a little color. Nail polish to the rescue!

My new and improved necklace -

I just painted it with nail polish. Then dabbed on some antiquing glaze - the same stuff I used for this project - to take some of the shine off.

Here's a hint - nail art polish works well for very small bits of color because it comes with these very thin brushes (sorry, not the best photo). I got mine at the dollar store.

Here's another necklace that I made a long time ago, back before I started this blog:

gold brooches, painted with nail polish, then attached together with jump rings

http://adventuresofadiymom.blogspot.com/2012/03/quick-quiet-flip-books.html

Quick Quiet Flip Books

Here's something quick and easy to add to your quiet bags.

This first one is from the Friend Magazine. You can click here to print your own out. There are nine pictures showing the life of Jesus. I glued them to card stock, laminated them, punched holes in them and put them on rings.

The next one comes from the Ensign Magazine. Click here to print your own. It is the story of the Book of Mormon. It has short summaries of the major stories in the Book of Mormon. I printed it out on cardstock, lamintated, punched them.

The kids loved to look through them last Sunday during church

http://adventuresofadiymom.blogspot.com/2012/03/st-patricks-day-pins.html

St. Patrick's Day Pins

I decided to make St. Patrick's Day pins for my kids to wear. My sister made some for her kids a few years ago and I thought it was a great idea. Unlike a t-shirt, they will be able to wear them year after year. Here's how mine turned out.

Here's the supplies I started with:

Felt

Beads

Needle and Thread

Pins

Shamrock Pattern

I started by cutting out some Shamrocks on my Silhouette.

Then I traced them onto the felt and cut them out.

Then I sewed them together using a back-stitch and adding beads for embellishment.

Then I added the pin to the back.

I decided that my son probably wouldn't want beads on his so I just stitched it. I almost like it better.

What do you do for St. Patrick's Day? Do you make your kids a special something to wear?

http://adventuresofadiymom.blogspot.com/2012/03/bead-board-st-patricks-day-decor.html

Bead Board St. Patricks Day Decor

Are you getting sick of my bead board projects yet? I hope not because I'll probably keep making them until I have something for each holiday.

Here's my St. Patrick's Day Bead board Decoration.

For the shamrock I used my silhouette. I just searched the online store and found a set of 3 shamrocks I liked. I cut it out on paper and then traced it to the bead board. Then I used a jig saw to cut them out. For the letters I used the font Elephants in Cherry Trees. I don't really recommend cutting such small letters with bead board.

Check out my K - the top painted coating came off while cutting it out. Also my C doesn't like to stay up. I sanded it down to be a little flatter, but it still sometimes falls.

For the colors I used Folk Art Wicker White for the letters, and Folk Art Thicket, mixed with a little white to lighten it, for the shamrock.

I used Americana Staining Antiquing Medium and Thicket green for the glazing. For more tips on glazing and how to make my little stand see my Bead Board Pumpkins post.

I originally wanted to do two shades of green - but since I didn't want to go to the store with 4 kids in tow, I used what I had. I think I like the white and green.

What do you think? Do you like it?

PAPER EASTER BUNNY CARD

Designer : Nicole™ Crafts Team!

YOU KNOW SOME BUNNY LOVES YOU WHEN YOU RECEIVE THIS CARD!

TEAR OUT SOME PAPER TO MAKE SOME FUN EASTER CARD CREATIONS!

Level - Intermediate

Step by Step

CUT PATTERNS FROM WHITE CARDSTOCK. USE STYLUS TO TRACE PATTERNS ONTO CARDSTOCK, LEAVING FAINT LINE ON CARDSTOCK. FOR EACH TRACED PIECE, HOLD TRACED AREA OF CARDSTOCK IN ONE HAND AND SLOWLY TEAR PAPER WITH OTHER TOWARDS YOUR BODY. REPEAT PROCESS FOR ALL.

REFER TO PHOTO TO ASSEMBLE AND GLUE THE BUNNY. ONCE ASSEMBLED, USE POUNCER TO BRUSH THE TORN EDGES OF THE BUNNY WITH PINK CHALK. GLUE EYES AND POMPOM TO BUNNY.

BRUSH THE TORN EDGES OF EACH FLOWER PETAL WITH ACRYLIC PAINT. SEE PHOTO. GLUE PETALS TOGETHER TO MAKE THE THREE INDIVIDUAL FLOWERS. PAINT THREE MINI CRAFT STICKS GREEN. ONCE DRY, GLUE ONE MINI CRAFTSTICK ONTO EACH FLOWER.

EMBELLISH FLOWERS WITH RHINESTONES AND RIBBONS.

GLUE THE RABBIT TO THE CARD AND GLUE THE FLOWERS INTO THE RABBIT'S HAND.

CUT A 6 7/8" X 2" STRIP OF PURPLE PAPER AND GLUE TO THE BACK, OPEN EDGE OF THE CARD. SEE PHOTO FOR DETAILS.

PAPER EASTER BUNNY CARD
	Supplies

		1	MEM 1802	PASTEL BLENDING CHALKS
		1	PPR 3003	8 1/2 X 11 PASTEL CARDSTOCK 50CT
		1	STR 105-16	FLOURESCENT GREETING CARDS
		1	WOD 3232	2 5/8" NATURAL CRAFT MINI STICK
				Additional Items Nicole™ tacky glue #10 flat brush white cardstock 7mm pastel rhinestones 1/2" lavender ribbon 6mm wiggle eyes 1/4" pink pom pom acrylic apint (lavender, yellow, olive green & fuchsia) pouncer stylus