Monthly Archives: March 2017

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!!!

Here’s our first St. Patrick’s Day blog!

Funclesarts

We love St. Patrick’s Day! (See the subtle picture above.) For this post, we share a variety of things to help you celebrate this fun holiday.

BANNER:                                                                                                                                                      We make banners for everything! We took these St. Patrick’s Day wall decorations found at a dollar store, hole-punched the sides and strung them together with green and gold ribbon to make this banner. The hats are cardboard and the shamrocks are made of foam.      …

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St. Patrick’s Day 2016

Here’s last year’s St. Patrick’s Day blog post!

Funclesarts

We love St. Patrick’s Day, and this year we came up with some fun things suitable for the whole family. Find out about our easy shamrock cake, a traditional potato recipe, a simple holiday drawing tip, some gifts for the wee ones, a garden update and, of course, the bears!

EASY SHAMROCK CAKE

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This no-bake cake was easy to create. We were going to stencil the shamrocks onto the cake with green decorating sugar, but early attempts didn’t go well. After looking around the candy aisle for an alternative, we thought that mint dark chocolate M&M’s would make perfect shamrocks. They did!

For the shamrock cake we used:

  • store-bought angel food loaf cake
  • 1 can white frosting, dyed with 2 drops green gel food coloring
  • green, dark chocolate mint M&M’s
  • 1 tube green cake decorating gel
  • green decorating sugar

How to prepare:

  • Place cake on plate lined with pieces of…

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Happy St. Patrick’s Day 2017 (now that we are both Irish)!

“If you’re lucky enough to be Irish, you’re lucky enough.”

Our mantra has always been that everyone is Irish on St. Patrick’s Day. This year, we have found out that it is actually true for us. Kevin is Irish and is named for his Irish roots. Recent new family DNA testing reveals that Roy is 13 percent Irish! Erin go Bragh!

TASTY GREEN ICE CREAM

We love our new ice cream maker and have been experimenting with different flavors. In honor of St. Patrick’s Day, it’s Andes Candies Green! We made a standard vanilla ice cream, added some drops of green food coloring and 1/2 teaspoon of mint extract. Five minutes before the ice cream was done, some chopped Andes Candies were added to the mix. Fittingly green, minty, and festive!

If you have an ice cream maker, follow your directions for vanilla ice cream and add the last three ingredients listed below.

  • 1 cup whole milk
  • 3/4 cup granulated sugar
  • pinch salt
  • 2 cups heavy cream
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 6 drops green food coloring*
  • 1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract*
  • 1/2 cup chopped Andes candies*

Source: Cuisinart ice cream maker recipe booklet

*These are ingredients we added to the recipe.

SHAMROCK DECORATION

Place a small pot of shamrocks (ours were bought at Stop and Shop for $2.99) in a holiday pot picked up at a party store. Attach chocolate gold coins around the edge using double stick tape. A rainbow wall decoration adds the perfect background for our “pot at the end of the rainbow”. This works well for a party, but for a more permanent decoration, use plastic gold coins and attach them with craft glue.

Work in Progress

We have been learning to create signs with stencils and stamps. Here is a work in progress for St. Patrick’s Day:

Some of the materials used: acrylic paints, stencils, stamps, old boards.

Here is a sign we created for St. Valentine’s Day based on a quote by Broadway’s “Hamilton” creator Lin-Manuel Miranda in response to the Pulse nightclub shooting.

“Love is love is love is love is love…”

A TRIO OF IRISH JOKES

What’s Irish and stays out all night? Paddy O’furniture!

How is a best friend like a 4-leaf clover? Because they are hard to find and lucky to have.

Never iron a 4-leaf clover because you don’t want to press your luck!

Source for all jokes : Jokes4us.com

THE BEARS

The bears followed the rainbow to the Pot o’ Shamrocks!

Slainte!!!

Roy and Kevin