Monday, March 10, 2014

Wreath Week: Lucky Shamrock


           It’s wreath week! Over the weekend I made four, very different, and super simple wreaths. First up… St. Patrick’s Day! It’s coming up, exactly one week from today. I usually like to put a few decorations out for fun occasions, but I honestly didn't have anything for St. Patrick’s Day, so I decided to try and make a little décor piece for our front door. A shamrock is what I came up with, it doesn’t hurt to have a little luck, right!?
          My goal was not to spend any money, $0 on all four wreaths, so I had to use supplies and materials I already had in the house and in my crafting scrap box. I had to get creative, but it worked out! To make the shamrock wreath you’ll need:

         - Cardstock (or construction- but I like that cardstock is sturdier)
                   - Scissors
                   - Glue (I always use hot glue guns)
                   - Something to hang the wreath with

          First I took a few pieces of cardstock paper and cut them into strips- 18 strips that were 2 ½ inches wide. Next you’ll need to divide the paper strips into 3 stacks of 6. Leave one stack of strips alone (it should be 11 inches long). Cut the length of one stack to 9 inches, and the last stack to 7 inches. You’ll have 3 stacks like the picture below shows.
 
          Start making the shamrock leaves by folding the shortest strips of paper over into a tear drop shape, joining ends and gluing them together.
          Continue by gluing the medium strips on, folding them over and gluing the ends together into a larger tear drop.
          Finish with gluing the longest strip onto the existing two “tear drops”.
 
          Now that you have 6 individual “petals” you’ll glue two together to form a heart. You have 3 large sections of your shamrock done! Join them together by connecting the ends and gluing them into place.
          Don’t forget the stem! You will cut 3 more strips of paper and adjust the lengths so you have a short, medium and long. Fold them, but this time you’ll fold them into triangle pieces, one over the other and glue. Attach the triangle stem to your shamrock leaves.
          I also took my handy heart punch and cut a few hearts out to put together a mini shamrock for the center. If you don’t have a punch you can use scissors. You don’t have to do this, but I wanted something in the center to cover the area where I connected the leaves and stem.
 
          Once you have everything glued together you can add your ribbon and hang that baby up! It seems like a lot of steps but it will only take a few minutes to cut, glue and assemble. Best of all its free, I love an easy and inexpensive project, plus I think it would be perfect to make with kids!
          Wreath week continues tomorrow, and I really really love tomorrow’s earthy spring wreath!

          xoxo,
                   Rachele



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