Hello!
Card by inkspired, with hand inked ‘Polished Stone’ backgroundLet’s have some Saint Patrick’s Day Shamrock fun!
Did you know a shamrock always and only has 3 heart shaped ‘leaflets’?
I didn’t!
A clover can have 3 or 4 ‘leaflets’, but they’re not always green!
Clover comes in white and purple too.
I didn’t know that either!
Here’s a fun Shamrock maze:
Here’s a fun 4-leaf clover puzzle!
4 leaf clovers are found 1 in 10,000 give or take a few dozen.
So if you find one, you are considered lucky!
Here’s a fun way to add some ‘luck to your room -
Spiral Shamrock spinners
Cut a 4-6” circle. Starting at one edge, cut in a spiral design to the middle. Cut out a 4 - 6” shamrock or 4 leaf clover from green cardstock. Write message in white or gold pen. Attach Shamrock to one end of spiral card. (Glue, staple or tape). Attach other end to the ceiling.
Here’s another Spinner idea:
Use the same basic directions, only use a much larger piece of cardstock for your base circle. Attach several shamrocks to each spinner from top to bottom.
Here are a couple leprechaun puppets you can string together either with string, brads or eyelets.
Leprechaun Puppets
Artwithcrystal.com
Next I have for you some
Recycled Postage Stamp Wall Art.
On a blank piece of paper, cardstock or poster board draw a shamrock lightly in pencil. Make it as large as you want. 8” can be a good size to start with, and easily framed.
Sort through a bag of used postage stamps. Pick out all the ones that are primarily green. Arrange on your shamrock shape. Set aside. Brush on about 3” x 3” square inside the shamrock shape with glue or Mod Podge. Press stamps into glue. Continue with small sections until the entire design is covered. You can finish coat it with a layer of Mod Podge or clear acrylic spray.
You can do this with any shape, any holiday pretty much!
Here are a few shapes to help you -
Winterandsparrow.com
You can use these basic shapes for lots of different crafts.
Fabric Sachets & Pillows
Cut 2 from fabric and 1 from batting. Sew together, insides out, with a 3/4” seam allowance, leaving a 1 - 2” opening. Turn right side out. Stuff with batting and hand sew closed.
Depending on the size you now have a decorative pillow, or a scented sachet for your drawers (add a few cotton balls soaked in fragrance oil inside of batting, or use fresh herbs in a net pouch, inside of batting.
Betty Home Decor, Etsy
Shamrock Pins
Make them smaller, sew on a pin to the back and you have cute pins to give all your friends.
Cut them a tad larger and catch a piece of braiding or ribbon in the seam, to form a loop. Attach a clip and you have a cute accessory for your backpack or purse.
Card by inkspired
Fun Fact:
McDonald’s Shamrock Shake
is 55 years old!
Bead earrings and bracelet
I believe this is from PandaHall.
Kandi Patterns
Fun Fact:
The 1st USA St. Patrick’s Day parade was held in Boston in the 1760’s!
I found 2 similar versions of tissue paper suncatchers, so I’m posting them both.
Tissue Paper Suncatchers
CraftCornerDIY
munchkinsandmilitary.com
Cut out 2 shamrock shapes. If you have a Cricut it works great for this project.
Lay 1 shape on top of sticky side up sheet of clear contact paper. Next is the fun part. Start placing tissue paper shapes on top of the sticky contact paper. Shades of green and yellow are perfect. When your shamrock is full place 2nd shamrock outline on top, and finish with a second sheet of contact paper. Trim edges. Hang where the sun can shine through it.
Here are a couple more games:
HOMEMADEHEATHER.COM
CuteColoringPagesForKids.com
These pipe cleaner shamrocks are fun to make, and you can tuck them all over the house for a touch of whimsy:
Beaded pipe cleaner shamrocks
Onelittleproject.com
Cards with Polished Stone hand-inked backgrounds by inkspired
Fun Fact:
9% of Ireland’s population are redheads.
Here is a clever use of paper mache’ letters and pennies:
Lucky Penny Letters
Marzipan.comSpray or brush copper paint onto paper mache’ letters. Doing a small section at a time, spread glue or Mod Podge generously on dried surface. Place pennies in rows. Alternate ‘heads’ or ‘tails’ as desired. Let dry. Finish with a couple coats of Mod Podge to seal.
So why Ireland and shamrocks and Saint Patrick?
Saint Patrick was a captured slave at age 16, in the 4th century. After 6 years he escaped and returned to Great Britain. He then went back to Ireland as a Roman Catholic missionary.
It is said he used the common shamrock to illustrate the Holy Trinity of The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit.
Digital art by inkspired
Let’s make some garlands to decorate the house and classroom.
Shamrock Garlands
Irish flag colors garland
This simple garland is cut in the colors of the Irish flag.
Cut shamrock shapes from white, orange and green paper. String with baker’s twine or heavy thread or string. You can glue the shamrocks on, or punch holes and thread them onto the string. You could even tape them in place.
Book Page Banner
Use pages from a damaged book. You can run these through a color copier and print a shamrock on each page. You can also use a Cricut machine to cut out shapes from either paper or fabric. Glue these shapes onto the book pages. Finally, you could also use a stencil and acrylic paint to paint a shamrock on each page.
Fold the top of page over 1 inch. Sandwich a string in between folds and glue in place.
Fun Fact:
Ireland has no snakes, moles or weasels!
Next I have an inexpensive door wreath:
Puzzle Piece Wreath
You will need a jigsaw puzzle, acrylic paints, a paint stir stick, cardboard, scissors and glue. Optional ribbon for bow and hanging.
Cut cardboard in shape of shamrock. Paint puzzle pieces a variety of shades of green. Snip end off paint stick, and paint in rainbow colors. Layer puzzle pieces on top of cardboard cutout shape. Glue in place. Continue layering and gluing until you have several layers deep. Glue paint stick rainbow in place. Seal with acrylic spray sealer or Mod Podge. Add ribbon bow if desired. Attach ribbon on back for hanger.
Here is another great 4 leaf clover bead pattern:
Fun Fact:
Hallmark printed the first St. Patrick’s Day postcards of shamrocks 1910-1915.
Clothespin Leprechauns
You will need wood clothespins; a couple colors of green acrylic paint; felt scraps in green, yellow and black; a scrap of reddish brown yarn and glue.
(I like Aleene’s Tacky Glue).
Follow the photo for ideas of colors and felt placement.
A tiny silk shamrock tucked into the hat band would look super!
This next wreath works up quickly and is super easy. You can add more decorations to it as you want. Sometimes plain and simple are the best, though.
Ribbon wrapped Wreath
You will need a styrofoam wreath and 2 kinds of ribbon; glue and straight pins.
You could also use crepe paper to cover the wreath base.
Using a straight pin, pin beginning of base ribbon (or crepe paper). Start to wrap around wreath form, being careful no styrofoam shows through. End by pinning tail in place. Now go back and carefully lift ribbon at beginning and glue in place. If it looks like it doesn’t want to stay, use a pin to temporarily hold until glue is bonded. Repeat at end.
Start thinner, decorative ribbon in same way, wrapping more loosely. Glue both ends, tucking under ribbon so end cuts do not show.
Attach decorations with glue, holding in place with straight pins until glue is bonded. Add a ribbon loop to the back, gluing and tucking ends under.
(A heavier glue like Aleene’s Tacky Glue is essential for this project.)
Fun Fact:
The Chicago River has been dyed green every St. Patrick’s Day since 1962.
Here is a nice pattern to make a felt 4 leaf clover. Add these to a hat band, a lapel or decorate the above wreath with a cluster of them.
Felt 4 leaf clover
Did you know you can use your Cricut machine to cut felt?
Zentangle art
Use a simple outline of a shamrock or 4 leaf clover. (See above). Fill in with Zentangle doodles. Color with colored pencils if desired. Here are some samples of what I did:
Here is a cute leprechaun to color:
Fun Fact:
Several of the original Apollo astronauts carried clovers with them for good luck.
I hope you are inspired to try a few of these projects. Crafting is a great way to lower blood pressure, exercise a different part of your brain (which helps prevent dementia) and make a ho-hum place fun to be around. It is also a perfect opportunity for multiple generations to interact positively.
inkspired
