Yo' momma raps

The kids garnered loads Mardi Gras beads (as well as candy) at the St. Patrick's parade on Sunday. Add a baseball cap and they became rapper-wannabes.

Will play for Guinness

It's March.
Time for shamrocks, leprechauns and St. Patrick's Day events.
If you are involved with a bagpipe band,
it is also the start to parade and performance season.

If I don't keep posting photos, I won't ever get caught up.
Here are a few from dh's and ds's band's performance at an Irish pub on Saturday night.

See many more on Flickr.

Tag, I'm it

I "met" blueprairie at Little Grey Bungalow when she joined my sewing notions swap back in October. It turns out I was the first person to leave a comment on her blog and now she is the first person to ever tag me. I feel special!!!

The rules for this are easy:
1. Link to the person that tagged you. (done above)
2. Post the rules on your blog. (done here)
3. Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself. (will do below)
4. Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs. (ditto)
5. Let each random person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website. (will do when I'm done posting this)

Here are the 6 things about me:
1. Unless I'm really exhausted, I have to fall asleep with the tv on. My dh hates it because he likes complete silence and darkness at bedtime.
2. My identical twin sister and I had a chance to swap classes one April Fool's Day but we were too shy to do it.
3. I've never seen any of the Star Wars or Harry Potter movies nor read any of the books. Hard to believe with 4 sons.
4. I've spent nearly 10 out of the last 14-1/2 years either pregnant or nursing.
5. I am one of 6 kids and dh is one of 9. As of the last count, we have 28 nieces and nephews.
6. You can't walk through my dining room studio without worrying something will fall on you. Sad thing is our front door opens into that room.

Now for my 6 taggees:
• Lisa at Colors Outside the Lines
• Becky at City Pretties
• Sarah at experiment land
• Kathy at My Lucky Chicken (Go congratulate her on her 100th post!!!!)
• Anna at forty-two roads
• Kathy at froogal

And because I multi-task so well, everyone is joining my blogroll on the right. Woohoo!!

The Pipes (and Drums) are Calling

Here are more photos from Friday night's Scotia-Glenville concert "The Pipes (and Drums) are Calling."

I really need to get a better camera. I spent more time Photoshopping these than I spent at the concert.

Highland dancers

Bagpipe season is officially upon us. The kids' band concert last night and the other band is performing in an Irish pub tonight followed by a parade tomorrow.

I'll post pictures of the band's performance last night at another time, but I must say it was nice to shoot the guest Highland dancers. Swirly skirts make for much better action shots.

101 photos from the concert are here.

Getting ready for Easter

I can't believe it is coming up so quick. Guess that's what happens when Mardi Gras and Lent are early. I just wish spring weather would come early too.

Some little friends came out to greet their new neighbor yesterday. The little bunnies are from the Boyd Family. I've collected them (as well as small Boyd's bears) over the years.

The big guy is a new-to-me jointed Vermont Teddy Bear. I rescued found him at the Salvation Army thrift store yesterday for 33¢. He was shoved in with the riff-raff 3/$1 stuffed animals. I just had to bring him home with me.


The bunnies are settled into the best fringe benefit of our new paper shredder -- free packing materials or Easter grass if you use all green paper. They and the paper are inside my latest project -- a vintage-inspired Easter basket.

I have 5 of these black pails, from the Christmas Tree Shoppes but bought at a garage sale last summer. They've sat here in my office, mainly getting in the way ever since. I decided to try my hand at decoupaging them with Easter scenes I cut out of old children's books.

I really like how it all kind of came together. The ric-rac and lace trims remind me of those big sugar candy eggs with scenes inside of them. The ripped paper is reminiscent of dyed and cracked egg shells. And the images remind me of my friend's daughter, with the page-boy haircut and bunny rabbits.

I glued all of the paper pieces down and using what I had, covered them in layers upon layers of gloss Mod Podge. Once that was dry, I aged them with watered-down acrylic paint. Oh, I also coffee-dyed the trims as they were too bright a white for my taste.

I'm not sure I am done but I'm not sure about what to add. Iridescent buttons? Seed beads? Any suggestions?

Real flowers today