Ok, I must confess, this is one holiday that I fully ignore every year. I don’t wear green underwear and I don’t buy gold chocolate coins. But it’s 2013, the era of the elevated craft, so of course St. Patty’s Day has taken on a whole new modern, elegant aesthetic. Oleander & Palm has shown me the path of the sophisticated St. Patrick’s Day. I didn’t think it could be done, but she did it. Bravo!

Not just green and gold silhouettes, but green and gold silhouettes of kids holding 4-leaf clovers. So sweet.

Seriously, I could live with this shamrock wall decal on my wall all year round.

Everyone should enjoy a green beverage on St. Patty’s Day. And it doesn’t have to be held with a coozie or make you belch. A lime shebert fizzy drink? I’d drink you even without the cute gold-heart shamrock.

I never had an egg cup growing up (I think that constitutes neglect), and now as an adult, I’m a little unnaturally obsessed with them. From vintage to the handmade to the hipster (yes, there are hipster egg cups), I want all 11 of these egg cups!

1. My Egg and Soldiers by Takae Mizutani, pictured above, found via Dot Coms for Moms.

2. Oak Bunny Ears Egg Cup, for sale on Hop & Peck.

3. Egg Nests, found via HGTV’s Design Happens.

4. Vintage egg cups from Three Potato Four.

5. These are made with cups cut from an egg carton. By Zakka Life.

6. Bad boy egg cups, via Fitzsu. Beyond.

7. Perfectly Scandinavian egg cups, via Finnish Design Shop.

8. Do you have a habit of serving under-cooked eggs? Never again. Via Trend Hunter.

9. Rocket egg cup, found via Fab.

10. Origami egg cup. Via Breakfast Lover.

11. (I couldn’t resist adding this one!) Hold On Egg Cup (it’s magnetic and will hold a spoon!). Via Moco Loco.

When I see buckets of perler beads at Michaels, I move past with no hesitation. I’m not totally against plastic, but I just don’t have a mind for what to do with them. I think my opinion changed after seeing these delicate pastel, perler-bead bangles from Maker Mama. Look at these other amazing crafts made with perler beads! They are not just for alligator keychains anymore!

I’m so in love with these perler bead people, I don’t know what to do with myself. I don’t speak German so I have no idea what/where they are, but I heart them! Via Skidt & Kanel.

Now this is true perler bead genius—3-dimensional perler bead food. I don’t even know where to begin to understand how they did this! From the top, the picnic food is from Fave Crafts, the sushi is from this Japanese site, and the cakes are from here.

More of the traditional perler-bead world, but I still love these heart valentines from Camille Styles.

My daughter Sommer’s birthday falls in early April, and here in New York, there is no guarantee of gorgeous, spring weather. So for her first birthday, I’m just going to do it up at home. We have a pretty big living/dining/kitchen “open-concept” room and I’ve been trying to figure out what broad-stroke decorations I can create to really give the room a transformation. I took this photo last weekend at Erica Tanov (best store!) and decided on pink and yellow, with a splash of navy, for the color world. The store has a Parcel pop-up shop in the back which is where these sweet garlands came from. Depending on how you make and then use garlands, they can do the trick to really take over a room.

My criteria for this project are… (1) Bold & Impactful (2) Quick & Easy (3) Inexpensive & Accessible.

Oh crepe paper, how I love you so! These big fringe garlands are so easy to make and can seriously take over the most blah of spaces. By Oh Happy Day.

I’m a little tired of the circle garland, but the half circle? I’m okay with it. But really, it’s how they used this garland that really works. You can use it to take up a whole wall with this elegant swag. Via Pinterest, by Fellow Fellow on Etsy.

I love the watery, washy quality of these painted book pages from Lilla A. What if they are strung up around a room, sort of like the traditional Tibetan prayer flags? Hmmm….

Don’t rule out paper chains as a totally viable throw-back DIY garland. They are super simple to make and you can craft a lot of them to really fill a space. Via Pinterest, via Parcel Post.

I think adding a little glitter twinkle into the mix is a good idea. I love how these strips of fabric looked dipped in glitter. And the idea of my guests leaving with a little glitter in their hair is just plain nice. Via Pinterest, by Michelle Edgemont.

If you tried to register for Alt Summit NYC, then you know the agony that I went through on Friday at 12pm EST. Servers crashing…error messages…it was nasty. And sadly, I didn’t get a spot.

But, by the grace of the design-blogger gods, I got an email yesterday that, in fact, I’m in! I just had to finish my registration and click submit. Best submit button ever.

This photo illustrates my extreme elation that I get to rub elbows with the craftiest ladies of the interweb!