Crafts of Green

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Before the Month of Love had even ended, I was cooking up ideas for St. Patty's Day decor! I just love decorating with green, and since living with the grand-master-lover-of-all-things-March 17th,  Rach, in college, I have a new found appreciation for luck, leprechauns, and pots o' gold!

I also live in a small apartment, with limited decorating space, and an even smaller decorating budget, so I came up with some easy, DIY decorations to spread a little luck this March!

#1 - DIY Subway Art

There are so many cute subway art printables out there for every holiday imaginable, but after being inspired by a fellow-blogger I decided to make my own, frame-less sub-way art. I love the homemade and 3D look of the board, and  I've made a few of these but this is the first with an entire quote.

Materials:

17 x 11 inch board (use whatever size you want)
Green Paint
White Paint
Crackle
Lettering cut from assorted Card Stock
Glue Stick
Modge Podge (Matte Finish)

The process is pretty simple. I wanted a worn look for this sign so I decided to crackle the board. I started with a light coat of bright green paint; let that dry and then coated with the Crackle medium. After that was completely dry (usually 1-2 hours) I covered with a coat of white and sanded the edges.

Then I cut my lettering using my Silhouette. You could do your letters a multitude of ways (i.e. cut from stencil, die cut machine, buy a letter pack or stencil the lettering on with paint), and with any saying or collection of words! You could also use one of our free St. Patty's Day printables, print it to fit your board and modge podge it on!

After your letters are cut, simply arrange them as you want and start Modge Podging.
Modge Podge and I have a love-hate relationships. Every time I try to use the medium to stick my letters to the board I get bubbles, so I use a glue stick to actually stick my letters on, then I Modge Podge over the entire board to get a clean finish.

Ta-Da! One down, three to go!


#2 - LUCKY FRAMES

I was gifted a set of super cute frames that usually display our family name, but decided to give them a little holiday spirit.

Materials:

5 Picture Frames
White Card Stock
Several sheet for festive paper
Glue Stick

I simply used some white Card Stock to cut out the 'LUCKY' and then pasted them to 5x7 pieces of festive holiday paper. Slipped the letters into a frame and Wa-La - instant Luck!

# 3 -Green Greetings

A few weeks ago I had a nervous crafting breakdown and bought a bunch of cute 8x10 dollar store frames with lots of good intentions. Well, I forgot those intentions but now have lots of frames to use for holiday decorating. For St. Patty's day, I wanted something that actually said, St. Patty's Day so I pulled out one of my frames a came up with this.

Materials:

8x10 frame
Your favorite green paint
Card Stock in white and green

First, I painted the frame with my favorite shade of green. I only gave it one coat because I wanted to wood to show through. (Which you can't see well in the picture, sorry)

Using my Sillouette, I cut out the message on white Card Stock, popped the letter out and glued the "template" onto a green sheet of paper. You could do it the other way around as well and glue green letters onto white paper.

Stick the paper in the frame and you're done!

#4 - Clover Cubes

These are by FAR my favorite St. Patty's craft of the year!

Materials:

3 - 4x4 wood blocks
(At Home Depot you can ask for a 4 in. cut from a 4x4 and they should be able to help. Make sure the check their scrap pile before buying the entire board)
3 colors of paint
3 pages from a small book or a few pieces of newspaper
Glue stick
Modge Podge
Glue Gun
Fun embellishments

First, sand and paint your wooden blocks. If you're going for a more worn look, I would suggest only one coat so that the grain of the wood peeks through. Then sand the edges up real nice! I also took the sand paper to each face of my block for a little distressing.

While your blocks are drying, trace three clovers onto a book page or newspaper and cut then out. Warning: If you have OCD friends (like me) they will read the words on your block so make sure there isn't anything too outlandish.

After your blocks are dry, use a glue stick to adhere one clover onto each block, then cover with a thin layer of Modge Podge. If your clovers are cut from very thin paper you'll want to make sure you don't use too much Modge Podge or it might soak through the paper causing a hole.

Once the Modge Podge is dry, break out the hot glue gun or craft glue and start embellishing. I used some bright green cord ($1 bin at JoAnns), white embroidery floss, and a spiral of floral wire to jazz my blocks up a bit.

Blocks are super fun to make and can be customized for any holiday! My mother-in-law, sister, and I have already made three sets. Believe me, you can get a lot done during a basketball game!

Happy Crafting!

      Erin

P.S. You can make a few fun St. Patty's accents by filling a glass vase with dried peas and topping with a tissue paper ball, or wrapping decorative or Styrofoam balls with green yarn to cluster on shelves.