Lucky Pots

I love Saint Patrick's Day. Growing up with an Irish background, both on my Mom and Dad's side of the family, meant that on March 17th there would always be homemade Irish Soda bread, corn beef and cabbage for dinner, Irish potatoes to bring into school for my classmates, and plenty of cute green socks, bows, and clothes to wear for the day. I have even been known to make diorama style homes for the Leprechauns - in hopes I would catch one.

Now that I have an apartment of my own, I have grown up and no longer try to catch Leprechauns, but I still like a little festive atmosphere for the month of March. I decided to head over to a local plant nursery, Midtown Garden Center, and pick up some Baby Tears aka Irish Moss. I painted a few pots of different sizes in Green and partnering hues, potted the greens and added the final touch. I hand painted words, "Lucky", "Irish", and "Lady". Hopefully, my pots will bring me the luck I want. We all have a reason for wanting to get lucky. So, these pots would bode well for anyone, even if you don't have a drop of Irish in your blood. Lucky pots are great as gifts for a friend, teacher, or a fun project to do at home with the kids. All you need is acrylic paint (I used outdoor patio paint from Michael's), pots, pencils, and a plant. Happy Saint Patty's Day!! Luck O' the Irish to ya'! xo RCN

Nutty Christmas Wreath

I remember when I was younger, my Mom always had shelled nuts in the house around Christmas time. Though, I didn't really eat many of them, I still to this day love the idea of them. Nuts bring back memories linked to Christmas and the classic ballet, The Nutcracker, which I love.

I am using fresh greens for a large garland in the house, this Christmas, so I decided to go a different route for some hand made wreaths. I am using shelled nuts! To create a wreath made of nuts, you only need a few things. The main ingredient is nuts and hot glue. Deck the halls, Y'all!   xo RCN

If your local grocery store does not carry mixed shelled nuts, you can order from nuts.com. How cute is the nuts.com packaging!? I used a 14" round floral craft wreath from Michael's. For one 14 inch wreath, you will use about 2 1/2 pounds of shelled nuts. The bag pictured here is a five pound bag.

In order to make the wreath have a good background color to match the nuts I used a spool of about 5-6" burlap and wrapped the burlap around the foam wreath to cover all green areas. It is easiest to cut three or four strips and glue and overlap them around the foam. See below for reference. The strips will be easier to manipulate and smooth close to the round edges of the wreath.

Once the wreath is covered in burlap, start hot gluing the nuts. Glue larger nuts first and then go back in and add smaller nuts. I covered the front and interior/exterior curves of the wreath. The back I left without nuts so that it is easiest to hang on a flat surface.

A bow and some fresh greens add a little Christmas attitude to the wreath and give a pop of color against the neutral shells. I cut about a foot and a half of cotton striped ribbon and tied a freehand bow, just like a shoelace. Wired ribbon is best, in order to manipulate and adjust as you need.

I pulled some greens straight off the back of our Christmas Tree and made two small groupings. I wired each of the groupings individually at the bottoms with floral wire before wiring them both together with more wire.

Then I slipped the laurel of greens through the back loop of my bow. I also cut a few inches of floral wire and lopped that through the back of bow. This small piece of wire will allow me to attach the bow and greens onto the wreath. I didn't want to glue the bow or greens, as I will want to change the bow for other occasions. The nut wreath would look great for Thanksgiving or other occasions with different trimmings. By using the wire, the bow will easily be removed and replaced for future uses.

You will need to cut ribbon or wire to attach to the top of the wreath for hanging purposes. I cut a little over 2 feet or floral wire. First, I looped the wire around the wreath and twisted it a couple times to secure it, then I took the other ends of the wire and looped it from a frame on the wall I was hanging it from. I continued to twist the wire at the end near the frame to double secure it.

I added the bow with wire. Lastly, I took some additional greens and threaded them through the wire hanging on the wall, in order to hide the wire. That't it!