Ah it’s March. Spring will be here soon, and warm weather I hope! St. Patrick’s Day is also around the corner. I love decorating the mantle in my family room for the season/holiday. This year, I added to my mantle a couple of homemade projects. You may remember my Irish Blessing sign, created using a Citrasolv transfer technique. Recently, I created my first paper quilt, in a green “Irish” theme, which was a fun and easy project. I’m looking forward to creating a “beachy” themed one soon.

I also hung a couple of our family crests. I was inspired by “Game of Thrones.” In the books, each family has a banner representing their “house.” Symbols on the banners include a lion, wolf, fiery heart and even an onion. I found our crests online and wrote the family names on the back. I thought it would be fun for the kids to flip them over, to find out the names. Surprisingly the kids have never heard of the family names a few generations back.

In addition to these homemade elements, I grabbed every green candle I had! I also hung two leprechauns that I had with my Christmas ornaments. I hung a string of shamrocks with the family crests. I added my son’s school project – a rainbow over a pot of gold. I love including the kid’s projects with my decorations. I thought the Celtic cross and the Belleek vase were nice “authentic” additions. I used fake greenery, since I wasn’t able to find any shamrocks!

Cead míle fáilte!
(hundred thousand welcomes)
link to Irish phrases