St. Patrick's Day party

Friday, getting prepared for the party


Rosie puts on her leprechaun hat and models. She's a big fan of ANTM, she really likes practicing her poses and looking fierce.


This is her mysterious pose.


This is her "gimme a frickin cookie already" pose.


Meanwhile, I gather all our party suppies and decorations and pile them in the living room.


And work on preparing the food and jello shots. These are the caramel apple shots.
(Important tip: Don't try making your own flavor of jello shots using unflavored gelatin. Just buy the Jell-O brand. Your guests will thank you for it)


Pies are always a safe bet though.

Saturday, the day of the party


Pack up all the party supplies and head to clubhouse. Decorate!


Put sassy wall words up.


The guys play poker- for hours.




But that gives me time to hang out up in the loft with my girlfriends.




And take pictures with my other girlfriends.


After poker, it's time for dinner.


And CAKE. This was one of the best parts of the night. This cake was made by my friend Suzie B. She MADE it, including every single chocolate coin. She started 5 days before the party. And it was AMAZING. The pot o' gold was a chocolate double layer cake with cream filling, and the grassy field was white sheet cake. So. Good. And this great photo of it was taken by Erin J.




More shots of the Pot of Gold cake.


Then I played a few rounds of Jenga. Drinking Jenga, of course. It is my favorite game.


Our guests broke up into teams and we played Beerlympics. There were 4 different games in the first round. Some of the rules my husband came up with were confusing.


But everyone had fun with it anyway.


I played too. This is me losing at Jello Shot Bingo. But really that's not a bad thing (remember my tip about not trying to make your own flavor of gelatin?)


Even though I lost at bingo, my team ended up winning, thanks to these two champs who carried the team.


These were the prizes.


Then we just spent the rest of the night chatting, taking pictures, and generally being silly!!


I really have no idea why I'm smiling like that!


Our engagement photo. I was practicing Rose's fierce look.


Silliness.



I hope you all have a great St. Patrick's Day as well!!

Four St. Patrick's DIY Projects

Lucky Readers!!

Today I'm giving you a four-leaf-clover of DIY projects!!



St. Patrick's Day is next Tuesday, and our annual party is on Saturday. We're almost ready! Here are some projects I've done for the party that you could use for your next bash!

Lady Luck T-shirt

My shirt for the day.
Tshirt from Target
Iron-on letters - Generation T brand at Michaels
Felt cutout from Etsy seller kutz, who has fabulously quick shipping!
shamrock embellishment

An easy project- just iron everything on! Think of a sassy saying for your shirt. Use a two-sided interfacing for the shamrock and felt cutout. Follow the directions for each iron-on product. Wear and look fabulous!


Food Picks

A great way to let your guests know what they are looking at- and potentially warn of food allergies.
To get these long picks, I use bamboo skewers from the kitchen utensils section in the department store! They are cheap and come with several in a package. The skewered end is perfect for sticking right into each dish. I attached punched out tag on the other end and wrote each food name.
Tips: Make some extra blank ones, for dishes that guests bring. Great way to give credit for the yummy offerings, as well! One of mine already says "Cake by Susie"

Add a colored dot, sticker, sketch or some other way of identifying which foods may contain nuts.

These are great as drink swizzle sticks too! Notice them from the baby girl shower I threw last year?



Water Bottle Wraps

An oldie but a goodie, we do have many guests who don't drink and would prefer to just have water while visiting.
These are so easy and quick to make- I cut cardstock in 1.5" strips and wrap around bottle, securing end with double sided tape. On the front, I use another strip of tape to stick on the scallop and then the punched shamrock. Details like this will stand out to your guests, who may end up holding this bottle for a while, and they'll remember it later!


DIY Yard Signs

This is an easy and VERY inexpensive way to let your guests know where the party is! This only took a piece of foam board ($1 at the Dollar Tree!), some cut-out letters and glue. For stakes to support it, use wire coat hangers straightened out. The foam board is the perfect thickness and strength to poke the wires in and have it stand up. Just put one coat-hanger stake on each side of the bottom of the sign, and the other into the ground!


This sign is even double-sided, and will go along the road by our house, so that guests coming from both directions will know just where to turn. (An issue, as there is no road sign, and we've had a few lost souls in the past!)

For lettering, I cut out cardstock on the Cricut. Those without a Cricut could cut their own, or find pre-cut letters in the paper section of any craft store and many department stores.

I think this would be a CUTE idea for a child's birthday party- how much would a little one love seeing a big sign with their name out in front of their house?! I am also thinking about edging the sides of the sign with sparkly shamrock garland- think of the possibilities!


I hope you like these party ideas!

Bingo cards

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St. Patrick's Day: Crafts

chip bowls





hand lettered signs from 07








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The day we're all Irish

Many of you may know already, but every year my husband and I host a large, loud, green... PARTY! We throw an annual St. Patrick's Day party for all our friends. We started in 2005, so this March will be our 5th Annual event (barring last year, when nature had other ideas and snowed us out).


Here's the joke: We're not Irish. Not even a little bit. Like, we don't even pretend to have a distant relative who married someone Irish. But we do like beer. And parties. And we have some Irish friends. And the one party of the year devoted entirely to drinking, is St. Patrick's day. (shut up, Mardi Gras).


So, we throw a huge party, and have even taken to making up an Irish last name for the day, the O'Dennisons. We are expecting over 40, maybe 50 people, half of whom plan on sleeping on our floor... or wherever they land. We'll have per usual a poker tournament, a large buffet dinner, and the 2009 Beerlympics Championship, with games of skill and chance, and prizes for the winning team.


And here are our 2009 St. Patrick's Day invitations


Handmade paper invitations with a "Bingo card" feel. Jello-shots-bingo will be one of the games we have!
These were sent to our closest friends. (They're in the mail, I swear)



A simple 8.5x11" page with the info, which we handed out to coworkers and others close by.
(forgive me blacking out the addy and website, for privacy)

I also created a simple web page with an RSVP form, party details, and directions and pictures to help people find the place. Gotta make use of all forms of communication in this age! (Do I make a Facebook event? Too much? Heh)



So, please wish us "luck" in the weather, so we can have a fun time this year! I'll post other party details as I plan them. Well, okay so I've already planned them all, and I'm just restraining myself from posting, but you'll get to see them. Sooner.

Oh lawd, it's my Bloggiversary

One full year of blogging--- I should get gifts!

Instead I'll do a recap of my first year of blogging, that's almost like a gift!

I started out by opening my first Etsy store, NestingDesigns. Thanks to the support of "Nesties" from both local and national forums, it turned out to be fairly successful! my most popular item was the wooden "Nest" sign


Not long after, I got my first taste of Digital Scrapbooking

And I was hooked!

I digital scrapbooked all during the fall, mixing in some decorating, punkin picking with friends, and "trashing" my wedding dress.

Then came Christmas, and I joined the craft fair at my work for my very first fair!

Where I sold about enough birdhouses to cover my investment, which to me is a SUCCESS!

And following my new hobby, I digital scrapbooked our Christmas card as well


The new year brought a fun new craft, felt iPod cozies



And a personal challenge of mine: To build myself a craft desk that was large, usable, sturdy and attractive

You can see the entire process here
http://www.jannypie.com/2008/02/craft-desk-from-before-to-after.html


The spring brought a change in my hobbies, as I had to put away the crafting and etsy store in order to focus on renovating our home for sale, and planning and participating in a run of baby showers, bridal showers, bachelorette parties, weddings and birthdays.







And the house took a LOT of work, much longer than we had ever planned. Although we are hoping to put the condo on the market NEXT WEEK!

And now that the year has come round full circle, I have a new etsy store


A new blog name and image


And a new direction for my artistic creations- no longer birdhouses, but rather graphic design.


So, in summary

to EVERY PERSON who reads this blog, leaves me comments, encourages me to believe in myself, and supports me every step of the way.

This would not have been possible without each and every one of you, and I am sincerely grateful.

Here's to another year of crafting success!!