HAPPY SAINT PATRICK'S DAY!!! with some Irish quotes and notes

Erin go braugh!
(That means "Ireland Forever" according to wikipedia.)

Indiana Museums of Music, see side bar for website

"There are only two kinds of people in the world -

The Irish and those who wish they were!"

- Irish saying

Don't forget to wear a bit 'o green today!

vintage crate label, Dover Publications



Here are some fun activity sheets for the kids. These are perfect for when they have to wait in line or rides in the car.

TURN OFF THAT TV/MOVIE/GAME!!

fun (cautionary) fact: The brain's activity level is the same

when watching tv or sleeping.

.

Hmmmm....I don't recall ever learning something new or communicating better with others or using any brain cells when I am sleeping....

Remember, click on the picture and it should come up

with a larger version that you can easily print.

Courtesy of Dover publications. See side bar for website.

Here is a fun web site that has international children paper dolls that you can color, cut out, mount on cardstock (yeah cereal boxes again) and play with or display. There is a nice Irish/Scottish boy included.

http://www.teachervision.fen.com/tv/printables/TCR/0615_57-59.pdf

Here is a cute little paper doll girl and an Irish costume:

These are from a booklet of paper dolls "Friends Around the World" by Current, 1985. I will be adding some more of the international costumes in future blogs.

If you haven't tried the joys of glossy paper, do it! I like to print my base paper doll on cardstock, and then print the costumes on glossy paper. Just let the ink dry thoroughly and it works great!

Saint Patrick's Cathedral, New York, New York, USA

Budget craft:

Free magnets -

Gather together all those business cards and ads on magnet sheets that you aren't going to display.

Gather some images to print out, or rubber stamped images.

  * Don't forget all the wonderful photos, vintage clip and other art that I provide every day!

Tip: Recycled calendars are excellent places to find glossy images. And don't forget pictures of family and friends! (or Pierce Brosnan....)

Trace around the magnet onto printed images/stamped image; cut out.

Attach paper image to magnet front with double stick tape. Trim any edge overhang.

You now have beautiful magnets to include in a card or gift basket, or to display on your metal surface choice of the moment.

"There is no strength without unity."

- Irish proverb

Johnstown Castle, Ireland

Here is a simple bead pattern for an amulet bag done in peyote.

I'm sorry, but I don't know who to credit with this design.

One of my absolute favorite places for free beading patterns is:

http://www.bead-patterns.com/

Well, I still have tons of Irish history fun facts, Irish vintage clip art and images and photos, Vintage Irish Song Sheet graphics, Irish craft ideas.....

But they will have to wait for another day!

I have so enjoyed spreading a bit of Irish the past several days.

What shall we do tomorrow?

inkspired

http://www.inkspired.etsy.com/

dominoes@myinkspired.com



Tomie dePaola, St. Patrick's Day countdown and a little Irish cheer

Good morning! Welcome to my Saint Patrick's Day Countdown, Day 2!



vintage clip

"Saint Patrick's Day is an enchanted time -

a day to begin transforming winter's dreams

into summer's magic!"

 - Adrenne Cook

I love the art that Tomie dePaola does. His  children's books are numerous and all just wonderful. He has earned awards many times. This book is just perfect for our Irish Theme:

Go to http://www.amazon.com/ and put into the search box at the top: Tomie dePaola

You will see many of the books he has published available.

Here are a few more titles of his with Irish Themes:

Here is another Irish Story, illustrated by a different artist:

http://www.amazon.com/Brigids-Cloak-Bryce-Milligan/dp/0802852971/ref=pd_sim_b_13 

Today the sun is struggling to shine through a sky of high white cloud cover. A bit of blue is playing hide and seek here and there, trying to find cracks to shine through.  The wind is blowing, making things a tad colder....

Time for some Irish Cheer!!!!

Grasshopper Coffee

6 ounces coffee

1 ounce creme de menthe

1 ounce white creme de cacao

1 tsp. brown sugar

1 scoop chocolate ice cream or whipping cream

> Add liqueurs and sugar to coffee. Top with a dollop of whipped cream or ice cream.  Sip and enjoy!

recipe from Colorado Cache Cookbook, 10th Anniversary Edition

My favorite however, is probably this:

  * 1 mug coffee, 10 - 12 oz.

- I enjoy using the coffee singles from Maxwell House or Folgers that make just one cup.

  * A blurb of Baileys Irish Cream.

> Taste, and add another blurb of Baileys if needed!

Cathair Dhuin Iascaigh Fortress of the Dun Abounding in Fish, Ireland

"If one could only teach the English how to talk,

and the Irish how to listen,

society here would be quite civilized."

- Oscar Wilde

 I forgot to mention that the Corned Beef and Cabbage recipe I gave you previously is from Better Homes & Gardens recipes. They have tons of recipes available online:

 http://www.bhg.com/recipes

"The mills of God grind slowly but they grind finely."

- Irish Proverb

inkspired

http://www.inkspired.etsy.com/

dominoes@myinkspired.com

Day 3 Irish countdown, Barbies, Decoupage and Vintage song sheet graphics

Welcome!

Today I would like to share with you one of my passions -

Barbie, Barbie, Barbie!
Yes, it's true. I am an adult (so my age says) and I collect Barbies! I love the fancy dresses and costumes. The outrageous hair.  All the glitter and glam.
The fantasy of it all.
Here are a few examples of Irish Barbies that Mattel has produced:

"It's just a Barbie kind of world...."

Here are some great vintage song sheets, from Indiana's Music Libraries. See side bar for the link.

So, what can you do with these great images except just admire them?

DECOUPAGE!!

Decoupage is such an easy project to do, and the results can look so professional.

My favorite decoupage medium? The standard Mod Podge is still one of the best. I have tried several others, which all seem to work fine. I do really like Aleene's products. She has a reverse decoupage glue and a napkin decoupage glue among many others.

Simple decoupage project:

Pick out an item. Some ideas:

   a frame with glass (use Aleene's reverse decoupage glue)

   a side table

   a frame with a large border

   a mirror with a large border

   a trinket box

   a wood stool

   a plaque

really, just about anything you want.

Now, just follow the directions on the bottle! I'm not going to repeat them here, they are so simple.

Hint: before you start, remove all surface dirt with a good scrubbing if needed, or remove wood dust with a tack sheet.

To use the Irish song sheets, click on the image. Copy and manipulate to the size desired. Watch for the pixels. That means if you blow it up too much it will be very grainy, or 'pixeled'.  Print. Wrinkling the printed paper can help some to disguise the larger 'pixels'. Lightly swipe a dark brown ink pad over the wrinkles to age it even further.

For a very distressed aged look, tear the edges. Practice! Then sponge on some of that great dark brown ink you have.

Apply decoupage glue as directed on the jar/bottle.

Fun hint: At this "wet" stage you can sprinkle on glitter! Try a little green sparkle, or some irridescent glitter!

While these examples are not done using song sheets, it will give you some ideas on how a copied picture can look:

Garden Shrine by inkspired

Here is an example of how decoupage glue can be used to glue

recycled paper scrap - in this case catalog pictures of book covers and then heavily sprinkled with glitter:

Fairy Book Box with closeup of inside by inkspired

Share your completed projects!

Found any tips that will help the rest of us?

Write and let me know!

dominoes@myinkspired.com

Here is a great little paper doll book by Tom Tierney:

http://www.amazon.com/Irish-Dancer-Paper-Doll-Tierney/dp/048640370X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1300209876&sr=8-1

"May the good Lord take a liking to you...

but not too soon!"

- Irish proverb

inkspired

http://www.inkspired.etsy.com/

dominoes@myinkspired.com

Day 4 countdown St. Patrick's Day +

Good morning!

An Irish Friendship Wish

"May there always be work

For your hands to do;

May your purse always hold

A coin or two;

May the sun always shine

On your window pane;

May a rainbow be certain

To follow each rain;

May the hand of a friend

Always be near you;

May God fill your heart

With gladness to cheer you."

RUBBER STAMPING

Today I thought we could explore the wonderful world of rubber stamping together. I am still amazed when someone says to me "Rubber stamping? What is that?". I have been rubber stamping since 1983 or so, starting out self-taught as there really wasn't that much information out there about it. I have been teaching rubber stamping classes for a couple of decades! Wow.

In the back of a craft magazine I found an ad for a company named "Bizarro", that had rubber stamps. I saved up my money and sent off for the catalog. I think I may even still have it! The pages became very dog-eared and worn what with me reading and re-reading every page of quirky images.

To illustrate how much rubber stamping can be economical, I still have that original bottle of copper embossing powder I purchased for my first batch of home-made-rubber-stamped Christmas cards. I also still have the stamp I used. Both are still quite usable!

To illustrate how much rubber stamping can be outrageously expensive, I now have an entire room dedicated to my hundreds of stamps, thousands of sheets of paper and cardstock, and dozens of bottles of embossing powders, fun flocking, pearl ex, embellishments....well, the list could go on for quite a while!

How sweet it is!

hand stamped and colored domino magnet by inkspired

"The person born with a talent they are meant to use

will find the greatest happiness in using it."

- Goethe

Let's start with a fun rubber stamping project for any level stamper!

St. Patrick's Day Party Cupcakes

The fun baking part-

To do ahead:

Make a batch of cupcakes, let cool.

Frost with green frosting. If you can't find any pre-made, simply use a can of prepared white frosting, and drop in JUST A COUPLE OF DROPS of green food coloring. Really, just a couple. Mix well. You can always add more food coloring a drop at a time.

Sprinkle frosting with green tinted coconut to simulate grass.

How to tint coconut:

Add a few drops of food color to coconut in a jar; shake until evenly tinted.

The fun rubber stamping part-

Find a simple rubber stamp with an Irish theme - shamrocks are great. The image should be no larger than 1 1/2".

Purchase a good ink pad. Go ahead and invest $7 and get a green one. I like Stayz-on, Brilliance or Marvy Matchables.

You will need a pack or so of lollipop sticks. You can find these anywhere they sell Wilton cake decorating supplies (I get mine at JoAnn's Fabrics).

Now you want circles or squares or ovals of plain cardstock.

You will also need the same amount of green cardstock cut into shapes. 

There are many hand held punches in these shapes.

For more addicted stampers, there are the cuttlebug or cricut machines, etc.

Or you could do the old fashioned but really cheap way, and trace around a bottle or jar for a round circle, and cut out.

Ink your stamp lightly. No grinding, pounding or smacking.

Stamp your simple image onto scratch paper first to practice, then stamp onto the shaped plain cardstock.

Pretty!

Let dry or help it along with an embossing gun to set ink.

No, a hair dryer won't work.

Now make a sandwich:

Shaped and stamped plain cardstock circle face down +

    blob o' glue, with lollipop stick in the center +

        shaped green cardstock.

Press to secure lollipop stick. Let dry.

alternate - you can tape the lollipop stick in place and then glue the green card onto the back.

Or, you can put a dab of frosting on back side of stamped circle, and push lollipop stick into that, then a dab more frosting and squish the green cardstock in place on top.

Go clean your stamp. Using an old washcloth or tube sock, dampen the cloth. Dab your stamp repeatedly onto it and slightly scrub until no more green comes off. Then stamp several times onto scratch paper to make sure there is no more ink leftover. Your stamp should not be wet.



For extra pretty, tie a thin ribbon bow at the base of each stamped circle, around the lollipop stick.

Push one decorated lollipop stick into each cupcake.

Ready to go!



Fun extra - if this is for a school party, you can write the name of each student on the back, plain green cardstock side to personalize!

"If you're lucky enough to be Irish,

then you're lucky enough."

inkspired

http://www.inkspired.etsy.com/

dominoes@myinkspired.com



Day 6 St. Pat's Day countdown, paperdolls, mazes and vintage clip

Good day!

"A world of wishes at your command,

God and His angels close at hand,

Friends and family, their love impart,

And Irish blessings in your heart!"

Today is a beautiful day outside. The wind is still, the sun is shining and there are some blue skies peeking out between clouds. My Great Dane Tanner just wants to sit outside in the sun - sniffing the breeze and soaking up the sun, and, well, what ALL Great Danes do - napping!

and one of my favorites - remember, he is napping -

"Until one has loved an animal, a part of one's spirit remains unawakened."

- Antole France

Here is a wonderful celtic knot maze from Dover:

You can click on any of my pictures and they open in their own little window. You can then copy and paste, or just print.

Please be courteous about copyright laws.

If you didn't come up with the idea, don't say you did.

Try to always give credit where credit is due.

Here is another interesting maze based on Ireland:

courtesy of Dover

For future Crafts:

Time to save an egg carton or two. These need to be made out of the paperboard/cardboard kind, not the styrofoam white ones. Any color will due, as long as it is bio-degradable cardboard type material.

For a SUPER Egg project coming up, please start saving those twistie ties that come on bread or bags of things. You will also need a variety of silk ties to cut up. Not any other kind, just silk ones. I finally broke down and purchased a handful from my local ARC thrift store. My husband had this strange objection to my cutting up some of his ties....go figure.

A silk scarf might work, I'm going try that this year also. I don't know if it will work yet, so don't depend on just silk scarves. Get those ties!!!

For our CD project you will need a hundred or so CDs. That means a pile of them! It does not matter what is printed on the CD at all.

We will be making a purse with all the gum wrappers you are saving. You might want to hook in with a youth group or something to get a good supply of them. Perhaps a junior league baseball team? I kinda' shudder to think one person would chew that much gum themselves!

Here is another paper doll set with an Irish theme:

Liana's Paperdoll Blog is a website with all original (and copyrighted) paperdolls and their fantastic wardrobes. Well worth a check.

joechip.net/liana

Well, I think that's enough for today! I'm looking forward to a recipe for traditional Corned Beef and Cabbage cooked in a crockpot for tomorrow.

"Irish Alzheimer's:

You forget everything except the grudges."

 - Judy Collins



inkspired

http://www.inkspired.etsy.com/

dominoes@myinkspired.com



Butterflies, Fairies and Shamrocks

Hello!

"May the roof above us never fall in.

And may the friends gathered below it never fall out."

- Irish Blessing

I am starting a 10-day countdown to Saint Patrick's Day, March 17.

We'll be doing a bit o' green each day!

This front cover of sheet music is from one of my favorite web sites:

http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/inharmony/welcome.do

Bit of Irish History

Paragon Publishing Book, ISBN0-75256-139-1

Around AD600 the Irish imported books and copied them in their monastaries. They also took these books with them wherever they went.

An important library was established at Bobbio AD613.

If you are still working on your fairy wing mobile from March 6th blog, here is a web site that has MANY full color butterflies to be inspired by and to gaze upon:

http://www.insectframes.com/ButterfliesThumbnails.htm

Here is a vintage Irish fairy for you:

If you would like to give a live shamrock plant for the holiday, here is a site I found on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Green-Shamrock-PlantFlowersOxalis/dp/B000NUB2HM/ref=pd_bxgy_ol_text_b

I have always loved the delicate shamrock plant with white flowers. Browsing around, I have found there are several different types of shamrock plants. So, do some shopping and pick which one you like best!

image from:

27249-irish-womans-hand-holding-a-green-shamrock-clover-by-the-stem-over-a-white-background-stock-photo-image-by-anastasiya-maksymenko[1]

Altered Paper Doll Wing Project:

Let's make an Irish Fairy Altered Paper Doll!

Take a look at the butterflies on the web site mentioned above.

Put  your Green Oz Glasses on, and envision them in green!

Here is a base doll to get you started:

This is one of Tom Tierney's paperdolls from Dover Publications.

http://store.doverpublications.com/index.html

Here is a dress to go with her:

BUT....I want you to turn her into an Irish Fairy!  So, get out those pictures of wings, and play. What style looks best on her? How about detachable wings so she can have new wings for every day of the week?
I bet velcro would work? A sewing hook and eye?

Do I want to make the wings glittery? Refer to the tutorial on Fairy Wing Mobile and apply the glitter/paint suggestions.  Ranger's Stickles would also work great!

Have fun with your Irish fairy altered paper doll. Add some green crepe paper. Add a bit of green lace, or an interesting button. Cover her in shamrock stickers!

You can print out the base, and glue it onto a sturdy piece of cardboard (yeah - cereal boxes!).
What about gluing the base doll to a thin piece of balsa wood? You can cut this with your x-acto knife fairly easily. Balsa wood can be found in Hobby Lobby, or other craft stores.
OR -
Use just the outline of the doll to get you started. Now you can make the face or clothing style any way you want. Give her wild red wire hair!!! Give her dried moss for hair, and twigs for her arms and legs!  Add tiny white silk flowers at her wrists and ankles.  Does she need a proper white lace shawl around her shoulders? Use a bit of an old handkerchief with lace border.

I would love to see your Irish Fairy Altered Paper Dolls. Send me a picture!

Stamped  with Peddler's Pack rubber stamp.

I am so looking forward to getting a new printer/scanner soon. Right now I can't scan any of my projects to show you; I am relying on "old" pictures and clips.  Ah, such a reliance on the electronic age. Once you have it, you think you can't live without it. And perhaps we can't...

"There are only two kinds of people in the world -

the Irish, and those who wish they were!"

- Irish saying

inkspired

http://www.inkspired.etsy.com/

dominoes@myinkspired.com