St. Patrick's Day & Easter Decorator Projects 2024

This year March brings us two holidays, St. Patrick's Day and Easter. So I thought I would combine them both. I love decorating for holidays. Usually on the first day of the month that a holiday is in I change up a few things in the house to make it a little more festive. Our winters are long up here, so it's nice to add a few smiles around the house.

This year I made pillow covers. These covers are really easy to make. I don't know about you, but I have so many pillows in my home, I didn't want to go out and purchase more. So that's why I decided pillow covers would be a great idea. You just slip them over your existing pillows and when the holiday is over, you just remove them and your home goes back to normal. It's practical and fun to make.

A few years ago I was at Hobby Lobby and all their Easter decorations were like 90% off.  picked up a really cute pastel table runner for like $1. I didn't know what I was going to do with it, but at that price I had to buy it.  When I decided to make these pillow covers, that pastel runner came in handy. It was the right width of my pillows. So I decided that the $1 runner would be part of my pillow covers design. 

Dollar Tree always has really cute towels for most holidays. So I purchased a few of their St. Patrick's Day towels and their Easter towels. You can't beat the price. So for about $5 I was able to cover 7 pillows. I love the way they turned out. 

I wanted to have a few pillows with a picture sewn on the pillow cover. 

These are very easy to make. I found some cute clipart on the internet. Then downloaded it and used my Print Shop program to put the designs on inkjet fabric sheets. You can purchase inkject fabric sheets at any craft store or on the internet.

Once the designs were printed, I pressed them with an iron to set the ink and then hand stitched them on to the front of the pillow cover.

I really think they turned out cute. I'm always looking for ideas to make things. Pinterest always has great ideas for holiday crafts and holiday recipes. Now that I'm retired I have lots of time to make things. I'm one of those people that have to keep their fingers working. Sometimes  think I go to extremes...LOL! But I love having the time to do all the things I love to do.

I especially love this design. The bunny is so cute!

Let's Make Some Holiday Pillow Covers...

First off you need to measure your existing pillow (length and width). Below is a chart that shows the size of fabric you need to cut. Most pillow covers will wrap around the pillow. So there will only be one seam. You can also make them with different backs, like I did for the one below. Just remember to add about a 1/2" on both side for the seams.

Once you have cut them out, you will first stitch them together on the top. Then you need to finish off the side seams. I just ironed a 1/4" fold on either side and then folded them over again and stitched them. Once the sides are done, you can finish the seams at the bottom and top. Or if using only one piece of fabric for both sides you will only stitch one seam at the bottom.

After the pillow cover is stitched together and the side seams are complete, you need to add either some ribbons on each side or a piece of the fabric that you are using for the pillow to make ties. 

At first I added thin colorful ribbons, but I didn't like the way it looked, so I made ties out of the fabric for some and used wider ribbon for the rest. I thought they looked much better with the wider ties.

I think the thicker ties made a big difference. Make sure you cut the ties long enough to make a bow.

I love they way they turned out. Plus no more buying extra pillows! Just slip them off and you have your original pillows.

So that's it. A simple project for the holidays. 

The pillows add a little spring to a long winter! 

Below are projects from last year. You can view the directions on how to make the candle holders in my post called "Cute & Easy Easter Crafts"

One Final Thought...

Well, that's it for today. I love to create and make items that are simple and cute, especially for holidays. If you are interested in making the items above, don't for get to check my post from last year called "Cute & Easy Easter Crafts". Also, I have a couple of posts on making Hershey Nugget Candy Wrappers for St. Patrick's Day and Easter. It's a free download.

Corned Beef and Cabbage

St. Patrick's Day Cupcakes

Always remember..."Life's short...eat dessert first!"...words to live by! 

Valentine's Day "Free" Printable Candy Wrappers - A fun project for kids and adults alike

This is such a fun project. The kids would love to do them too. Cut the wrappers out and wrap the Hershey Nuggets...it couldn't be easier. You can pack them in groups of four, six, with a maximum of eight in a pretzel bag which can be purchased at Walmart, or any craft store that carries cake decorating supplies or online. The cost is minimal.

Valentine Wrappers 

A Great Project for Kids and Adults Alike

This post is the third of three for Valentine's Day. If you missed the first two, you can find the previous two at "Dark Chocolate Raspberry Tart" and/or "Valentine Cake Pops".   

Hershey Nugget Wrappers

Nugget Wrappers...are so fun to make. An easy little project for the special people in your life. The "printable" comes with instructions on making the nugget wrappers, the tray for the nugget wrappers and a topper for each. These can be printed on regular copy paper.

If you want, you can just fill a candy dish with them. I purchased this dish at the Dollar Tree and filled it with a lot of the nuggets. Wrap it in cellophane and give the candy dish with the nuggets in it as a special Valentine's Day gift. It takes just a little time, but makes holidays just a little bit special.

You will need the following for this project

• Hershey Nuggets (your choice of flavor)

      

• Pretzel Bags (can be purchased at Walmart, any craft store with cake decorating items, or online
• Printables from Handmade by Hoffy on this post
• scissors, 
• glue or double faced tape
• ribbon, jute, wire ties, ribbon or anything you want to tie the bag closed with
• copy paper for printables
• construction paper for trays
• cardstock for label (opt.)

Instructions for Making Nugget Wrappers and Tray

• Although I have included the instructions for the nugget wrappers in the printable, I thought I would also include the instructions on this post. The wrappers are pretty easy. Just print the ones you want and cut them out.
• The tray is very easy. If you don't have a Scor pal, you can easily use a ruler. Cut the size that you are interested in...1 7/8"X 4 1/4" for a four pack of nuggets, 1 7/8"X 6 1/4" for a six pack, and 1 7/8"X 8 1/2" for an eight pack.

• Score the construction paper or cardstock 1/4" on both long sides. You can use the rounded end of a paper clip to score the paper if you don't have a Scor pal. Once scored, fold on score line to give each side an edge where the nuggets will be held in place.
• Place a piece of double faced tape down the center of the tray or a dot of glue....whatever you have available. Then place nuggets in the tray. The tape or glue holds them in place so they don't move around. If using glue, wait until the glue is dry before you put in to the pretzel bag.
• Insert your tray of nuggets into the pretzel bag. (These can be purchased at Walmart, craft stores that have cake decorating items or online. They are very reasonable.
• Cut out the topper and make a hole at the top of the topper. You can use yarn, ribbon, jute, or whatever you have on hand to seal the bag. The pretzel bags do come with silver ties also.
• And that's it...pretty easy and very creative!

   Printable Valentine's Day Nugget Wrappers

Add cake pops or bonbons or a chocolate raspberry tart to your Valentine wrapped nuggets for a very special Valentine's Day

Last week my post was on how to make great cake pops. Add a few cake pops to your wrapped candy nuggets and you have a special gift for your Valentine. My post on cake pops explains all the issues I had when I first started making them. Now that I have it down pat, I wanted to share how easy it really is. I made all the mistakes so you don't have to. If you haven't seen it, just click (here) or on the picture above and you will be redirected to that post.

Earlier this month I made a Dark Chocolate Raspberry Tart that could be used for Valentine's Day. It is a delicious dessert. Add the wine of your choice and you will definitely have a great Valentine's Day. If you are interested in the Dark Chocolate Raspberry Tart, click here and you will be redirected to that post.

If you would rather make bonbons, they are just as easy. This recipe is also a part of my Cake Pops post. Just click here and you will be redirected to that post.

One Final Thought

Well, that's a whole lot of chocolate...LOL! I think everyone likes to get a little chocolate love on Valentine's Day. Actually, I think we like chocolate any time of the year. The wrapped Hershey nuggets are just the right amount of chocolate. The cake pops will thrill your kids along with the bonbons. Leave the Chocolate Raspberry Tart for the adults. It's quite an indulgence...so very good. 

Valentine Wreath

Valentine Candy Gumball Machine

Always remember..."Life's short, eat dessert first!"...words to live by!