Make A Simple and Rustic Snowflake Garland

It was a tough day today.  A day of profound mourning for the 26 people killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut on Friday.  Twenty of them 6 and 7 year old little angels.  I was born and raised in Shelton only about twenty minutes from the sight of this horrific event.  With a lump in my throat today I made this simple winter garland for my stairway banister.

I started the process by hanging the holographic snowflakes I purchased at Michael's Craft Store on my clothes line.  They came in a package of 4 for a $1.00.  I then spray painted them with diamond dust Krylon Glitter Blast glitter spray to give them more of a snowy texture.

I tied one end of the burlap garland I purchased in a 10 yd. roll at Michael's to the top post.

I weaved the burlap in and out of each rail.

I then cut the burlap to the length needed and tied the second end to the bottom post.

I first began gluing the snowflakes to the burlap using my glue gun, but I found that they weren't sticking as well as I would have liked.  To insure that the  snowflakes stayed put, I chose instead to tie them to the burlap using white garbage bag ties.  With the small holes in the burlap material, it was easy to thread the ties in and then through the small hole in the top of each snowflake to secure them.

I think the final product in its simplicity and sparkle is fitting.  It will always bring to mind for me those little angels and their teachers who left this world far too soon. 

Make A Simple But Elegant Brunch

Easter morning and I had all kinds of ideas for a fancy Easter Brunch.  One big problem though is I am not much of a morning person.   That being the case breakfast items don't usually come out as planned.

I decided maybe I could prepare something not from scratch but serve it up elegantly to make up for my lack of skill.

I pulled a box of mini pancakes from the freezer, a carton of Cool Whip from the refrigerator, a jug of maple syrup from the cabinet and a banana from my banana rack.
   

 
 I put the pancakes on a paper plate and microwaved them for 30 seconds.

Then I put the pancakes in a fancy dessert dish and sliced up a banana on top.

I poured on some maple syrup.

I plopped on some whip cream.

Finally, I served it up in the middle of a fancy table setting with a cup of coffee and some hard boiled eggs sitting in bird nests.   Take if from me your guests will think you slaved to make them this beautiful and yummy breakfast.  What would have made the dish even more tasty would have been some crumbled bacon on top.  Maybe next time.

To convert this dish into a scrumptious and different dessert throw in some vanilla ice cream before you plop on the whip cream.  For breakfast or dessert you could also experiment with fruit flavored syrups.   Everything store bought and ready made and your guests will never know the difference.