Thanksgiving post number one! The holiday blogfest continues!

Here is a blog from a couple of years ago!

Funclesarts

Thanks for looking at this blog and at the previous Halloween blog entries. If you haven’t seen the others, please check them out. The fun part for us is creating new things and coming up with fresh ideas every week. This week we show how you can switch things up and make the transition from Halloween to Thanksgiving decorating simple. The Pumpkin About-face Switcharoo takes seconds, and is great for a quick start of your holiday redecorating, and the Happy Thanksgiving banner uses elements of the Halloween banner, for an easy transition.  And it looks great!

PUMPKIN ABOUT-FACE SWITCHEROO! This is a simple trick to switch over from Halloween decorations to Thanksgiving. Simply turn the Jack-O-Lanterns around so the face is toward the wall and the plain pumpkin side faces front. Some of the pumpkins shown above were featured in the 2nd Halloween blog with their smiling Jack-O-Lantern faces…

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New Holiday Blog Project!

Here is our very first blog post from 3 years ago. We posted quite a few for 2 years but we are taking a break from it for now. There are some fun and easy Halloween tips here. Take apeek and look at other posts as well!

Funclesarts

IMG_2640 (2)What’s it all about

We have been thinking about blogging for years. I figured that the holidays would be a good time to start, as we always have lots of creative holiday ideas and there is a lot to write about. With that said, we are launching our HOLIDAY BLOGFEST!! Every week between now and January 1st we will post a blog about the holidays with ideas and other (hopefully) interesting content. Our focus is that   creativity can be simple and affordable and it can make life more fun!

Today we’ll start simply with just a few items:

FIRST HOLIDAY: HALLOWEEN!

Craft tip: The little ghosts shown in the photo above are an easy party favor you can make. Wrap a lollipop with a white napkin. Tie with a ribbon or rubber band, use a marker for eyes, and you have cute ghosts. BOO!

Decorating tip: Tie string to…

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Happy, Bunny-Filled, Colorful Easter and Spring!!!

Here is last year’s blog post Happy Easter!

Funclesarts

This week, we share some colorful Easter and Spring ideas. Check out our Easy Easter Cupcakes, quick holiday decorating tips, a plant update, our healthy Bunny Dip Crudite Platter, one of our special Easter traditions, and of course, the bears!

EASY EASTER CUPCAKES

Get the kids involved in this easy holiday dessert. The Peep Bunnies seem intrigued!

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Prepare your favorite flavor of cake mix according to package directions for cupcakes. For Easter, we use carrot cake. Frost them with canned white frosting. Of course, you can make your cupcakes and frosting from scratch, but the cake mixes and canned frosting are quite tasty and save time. Save even more time – decorate store-bought frosted cupcakes!

To make the “grass”: mix 2 or 3 drops of green food coloring into one cup of shredded coconut.

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Sprinkle the frosted cupcakes with the dyed coconut and top with jelly beans, malted milk eggs or the…

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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

 

Academy Awards 2016!!!

Here’s our Oscar blog from last year!

Funclesarts

We love the Academy Awards and like to have a nice meal and dessert while watching the show. For this year’s awards celebration, we chose to highlight walnuts and strawberries throughout our meal. Hope you enjoy this unique brie cheese appetizer, our salad entrée, and strawberry shortcake ice cream cake. Also offered are an easy Academy Award banner idea, a plant update and, of course, the bears!

HONEY AND WALNUT BAKED BRIE

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We found this great recipe for brie in puff pastry on-line. It’s unique because the brie is sliced sandwich-style and the walnut/honey mixture fills what becomes the ultimate cheese sandwich. Hmm . . . we hear Brie is a favorite for this year’s Academy Awards. Oh wait! That’s Brie Larson, favored to win Best Actress for her performance in “The Room”. Good luck to all of this year’s nominees.

http://www.puffpastry.com/recipe/50003/honey-and-walnut-baked-brie

WINNING SALAD

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Champagne vinaigrette coats this delicious salad…

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Oscar!!! Oscar!!! Oscar!!!

Heres an Oscar blog fron 2 yrs ago!

Funclesarts

We love the Academy Awards! Here are a few things we’ve done this year to make Oscar night even more festive!!!

HOLLYWOOD BANNER 

We created the banner shown above using cardboard stars, ribbons and stickers. We embellished them with cutouts from a plastic Hollywood themed tablecloth.

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BOW TIE PASTA SALAD (for the well-dressed gathering)

Ingredients: 1 pkg. bow tie farfalle pasta (we chose a vegetable variety for extra color), the juice of 1 lemon, 1 teaspoon lemon zest, 1/2 cup olive oil, 3 tablespoons Italian salad dressing,         1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese, 3 chopped plum tomatoes, 1/2 cup corn, 2 tablespoons chopped chives. Prepare the bow tie pasta according to package directions. Rinse with cold water and refrigerate until cool. Combine lemon juice and zest with oil and salad dressing.     Mix chopped tomato with corn, toss pasta with dressing combo and parm. Salt and pepper to taste…

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Warming Up for St. Valentine’s Day

Last Year’s blog!

Funclesarts

The northeast is bracing for bitter cold weather. Our hope is that you all find warmth with family and friends this St. Valentine’s Day weekend. Plus, it’s a great excuse to eat some chocolate! This week, we share our take on some delicious chocolate truffles, some ideas for using last week’s woven heart baskets, a plant update, and of course, the bears!

EASY TRUFFLES

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Ingredients:

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  • one 8 oz. package light cream cheese, softened
  • three cups confectioners sugar, sifted
  • three cups semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
  • cocoa powder, chopped walnuts, coconut, dried fruit sprinkles

How to make:

  • Beat the cream cheese until smooth.
  • Gradually beat in confectioners sugar.
  • Stir in melted chocolate and vanilla.
  • Refrigerate 1 hour.
  • Form into one inch balls.
  • Roll in toppings of your choice.

Varieties for truffles are almost endless. Chocolate and orange go great together, so replace the vanilla with same amount of orange…

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Happy St. Valentine’s Day!!!

Our first St. Valentines Day post!

Funclesarts

We know not everyone celebrates St. Valentines Day, but we find it a great time to express our feelings to each other, our families and friends. Plus, there’s nothing wrong with a holiday that highlights eating chocolate in the middle of a long, cold winter!

kissing I & W

The treasured photograph above is of Kevin’s parents, Warren and Irene Wollschlager, taken in 1946. The red-lettered caption, photoshopped in by Kevin’s niece, Rachel, reads, “Have you ever wondered what true love looks like?”

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HEART-SHAPED TURKEY MEATLOAFS                                                                                                       We took our favorite turkey meatloaf recipe and shaped it into 2 hearts (shown above), perfect for St…

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