Irish Daydreaming

I love St. Patrick's Day~ I like making Irish Soda Bread, drinking Irish tea, wearing my claddaghs and Aran sweater, and crafting green goodies for friends and family. I was inspired to make the ornament above when I saw one like it in a gift shop recently. The one in the shop was made of sturdy lightweight wood, and had an image, glitter and ribbon, although no eyelets. I went to a hobby store and found the perfect wood for this project. It is wood used by model airplane builders.

 Directions~

• print image you want to use (try Gecko Galz, Graphics Fairy or Sweetly Scrapped for freebies)
• use an Exacto knife or box cutter and straight edge to score/cut a square or rectangle to fit under the image. A trick I learned was to use a strip of blue painters tape on the wood, draw the cutting line on the tape, then cut through the tape and into the wood. Using the blue tape helps prevent "break-outs"
• craft wood is 1/8 inch Micro-lite by MIDWEST. I bought a piece that was 6"x12" for $2.99. Rigid cardboard can also be used, but it won't be quite as durable.
• glue image to wood piece
• punch holes, install eyelets if desired to hang
• lightly sand edges. I also distressed/sanded the edge of the image

 Embellish ~

 Use Stickles, Liquid Pearls or whatever you have on hand.

 As I let the ornament dry, I decided to have a cup of Barrys Tea. Barry's selects tea from Kenya and the Assam Valley of India for their Gold label, which is a favorite of mine. The tea is blended in Ireland. 

I set the tea table with our shamrock tablecloth and got out the claddagh napkin rings! I love me a theme!

Love, loyalty and friendship...what a nice sentiment~
I also had a moist shamrock cookie iced with Anise glaze that College Girl made.

I spent some time looking through one of my Irish cook books called The Irish Country Kitchen by Mary Kinsella. The book has recipes for everything from breakfast to dinner, with lovely photos of Ireland.

My favorites are included: scones, oat cakes and barm brack. A little fella joined me for tea...he is not a leprechaun, but close enough! He is actually a Madame Alexander Peter Pan doll. I bought him years ago when McDonalds, of all places, was giving out a special Madame Alexander collection with meals. I do not eat at McDonalds but I spent weeks visiting different locations collecting these adorable dolls. (I will share more of them later!)

                  
                   Isn't he cute? See his freckles?

The cup I used today was a gift from my sister-in-law. It has a quote on one side, a shamrock on the other and a Celtic knot design along the bottom.

   
 There is no mark or brand on the bottom~

    
Doesn't the handle look like a leprechaun ear?

I enjoy reading cookbooks, don't you? Even if I don't plan to make every recipe, it is fun to read the ingredients, learn the techniques and methods, and gaze at the delightful photos~

The author, Mary Kinsella, grew up on a farm in Ireland. She writes, "Eighteen pints of milk are needed to make one pound of butter. The dairy at home was a little building attached to the main house. It had it's own entrance. Not only butter but milk, skim milk, cream and eggs were stored there." I loved reading about her childhood days eating sausages and soda bread slathered with fresh churned butter, washed down with big cups of hearty tea. Yum!


sharing this post with~
 Artful Affirmations
Martha's Favorites
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Bernideen's Teatime 
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Brambleberry Cottage