Wearing of the Green

Aurora and I had breakfast in Verona, NJ this morning and in just a two-block span the spirit of St. Patrick's Day was ON!

 We ate at the Verona Diner. Every table had  a freshly cut green carnation.

This lucky leprechaun gets to pose with Aurora who, in turn, gets to pose with her leftover omelette.

Wherever you go and

Whatever you do

May the luck of the 

Irish be with you

Many of the shops put out their greenery

And others just tried to weave in their specialties to the traditions of the day

photos ©thesloppypsewer

and nature is really putting on the very best display

Metal stamping

i love the look of stamped metal and about a month ago i bought two stamping sets at harbor freight. 

 at under $10 each, these are really industrial sets. 

i bought a 3 X 3 bench block from beadalon (via amazon) and i was able to get by using the house hammer. one great tip that i found online was to fill in the stamped letters with black sharpie (then wipe off any that ends up on the surface).  it's a fast way to get a great look. 

since my stamping set is really one used by, like, electricians to mark their parts, they don't even have a notch to tell you how to hold them  the correct way.  i got another tip online: use nail polish to mark the correct orientation of the letters. i took it one step farther and then marked what the letters are.
this should make things easier next time around.