Tag: St. Patrick’s Day

Free St. Patrick Digital Stamps

Free St. Patrick Digital Stamps

St. Patrick

St. Patrick’s Day is only a few days away and I have been crafting some cute Irish inspired cards for just the occasion. Unfortunately as I started creating with greens and gold, I quickly discovered that I didn’t have a single St. Patty appropriate stamp or sticker to my name. So with necessity being the mother of invention and all that, I decided to create my own set of digital circle stamps. . . and “lucky” for you (yes, that’s a St. Patty’s pun), I’m sharing my whole sheet of digis with my readers. The pdf file includes eight sayings that should fit in a 1.75 or 2 inch circle punch. You can also get creative with them in other ways, so feel free to download and craft away your day. Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Download the free St. Patrick Digital Stamps (pdf)

St. Patrick Digital Stamps

I Take My Coffee With a Sharpie Shamrock Mug

I Take My Coffee With a Sharpie Shamrock Mug

shamrock mug

Okay, I’ve wanted to try this Sharpie technique for quite some time now, so with a Michael’s coupon burning a hole in my pocket I picked up a Sharpie oil paint marker in the perfect St. Patrick’s Day shade of green and went to work on one of our white coffee mugs (we have an ample supply, which drives my husband crazy. . . but that’s another story).

I was so excited that this Sharpie shamrock mug project turned out like the picture in my head, and it even made it through the dishwasher cycle as I held my proverbial breath. When my husband walked in and called it “cool;” well that just settled it, I had to share. So here’s how this cute little project goes..

shamrock mug

Materials:

  • Coffee Mug
  • Sharpie Oil Paint pen
  • Contact paper
  • Rubbing alcohol
  • Scissors or Die-Cutting Machine with shamrock cartridge
  • Pen and shamrock shape, if you don’t have a machine that will do this for you.
  • cookie sheet
  • aluminum foil

Instructions:

  1. Wipe down a clean coffee mug with rubbing alcohol to take off any soap residue or finger oils. Let dry.
  2. Trace and cut out your shamrock shape on the contact paper, or if you happen to own a die-cutting machine and appropriate cartridge you should definitely go with that. I used my Cricut machine and Small Talk Frames & Tags cartridge (ha, just like it was made for me) set at 3 inches to cut out a contact paper shamrock.
  3. Stick the shamrock shape on the mug in your desired location, burnish the edges with your finger to make sure all the edges adhere to the mug.
  4. Prime your paint pen per manufacturer’s directions and practice making dots before you start on your mug. The pressure you use will determine the size of your dots.
  5. When you’re ready to start painting your mug, start making dots with the paint pen all the way around the edge of the contact paper first. You will want a solid line of dots around the entire edge so that when you remove the sticker you will see a perfect outline.
  6. Continue making dots to fill in gaps and work your way outward. This is where you get to use your creative license, because you can make your dots as far apart and away as you want. Just keep going with the dotting until it looks right to you.
  7. When you are finished painting, remove the contact paper and allow your mug to dry for 24 hours.
  8. Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil and place your mug upside down on the foil.
  9. Place the cookie sheet and mug in the oven, set it to 425 degrees and start baking. It’s important to put your mug in the over before it starts heating; otherwise, your project might crack.
  10. After the temperature reaches 425 degrees, bake for 30 minutes. Remove the VERY HOT mug using a pot holder and set it on the stove top to cool or just let it cool in the oven if you’re not making dinner anytime soon. Let it cure for 24 hours, and it should be ready to go.

I decided to test the durability of my shamrock mug by washing it in the dishwasher after a couple of days, and it actually held up pretty well. I think a few dots washed off (probably because there were so many layers), but it held up pretty well. I since have hand washed it in warm soapy water and it seems to be holding up well. The back of the mug just has a hand-written saying that held up really well in the dishwasher, but I’m just saying automatic wash at your own risk. Overall, I’m pretty pleased with the outcome and durability of this fun little project. This is one you might want to give a try.

sharpie shamrock mug

Just in Time for St. Patty’s Day Wreath

Just in Time for St. Patty’s Day Wreath

Spring Break is winding down here at the Quarter-Acre Wood and this week has been filled with lots of goings-on that I can’t wait to share with all of you. I’m way behind on my latest events and accomplishments, because my sister, great niece and one of my niece’s friends arrived Sunday to do Spring Break Kansas City style and we have been going ever since.

So first, let me back up to St. Patrick’s Day, yes I know it came and went. . . three days ago, but I so want to show you my new little craft project perfect for the greenest of days. Okay, so I bought the supplies a month ago but I only put it all together the morning of the seventeenth (I told you I was a procrastinator). I was completely determined to make that wreath by St. Patty’s Day, even if it took me until midnight. I’m happy to say it went together quite quickly and we got to enjoy it for several hours. Oh, who am I kidding, it’s still hanging on my door. . . but it’s just so cute. 

St. Patty's Day wreath

Here’s what you’ll need to make your own St. Patty’s Day wreath :

  • 1/4 yard of 5 different green fabrics
  • heavy-gauge wire or coat hanger
  • rotary cutter and cutting mat or scissors (a rotary cutter will make this project a snap)
  • ribbon

This is how you put it all together:

  1. To create the round shape, I used wire that was less stiff than a coat hanger, but still had enough strength to hold it’s shape. I would love to tell you what gauge it happened to be, but that label has long since gone away. Just shape the wire and bend the ends together or, if you’re using a coat hanger, snip off the hanger part and then shape into a circle. I ended up with a circle diameter of 15″, but you can make it a bit larger or smaller as needed.
  2. Using my rotary cutter, I cut 1″ x 6″ strips from each of the five fabrics. You can use scissors or the snip and rip method to cut your strips, but a rotary cutter makes this task so much faster, especially if you fold your fabric a couple of times.
  3. I cut 32 strips from each of the fabrics and used just about everyone one of them on my 15″ diameter wreath. So that was approximately 160 small little pieces of fabric.
  4. To adhere the fabric, simply tie them in a knot all the way around the wreath. I chose a pattern in which to tie them and stuck to it all the way around. Tie a few pieces and then push them together tightly around the wire, then repeat. By continually pushing the tied pieces together, you will get a fuller, fluffier finished product.
  5. After all the fabric strips are tied to your wreath. Cut and tie a long piece of ribbon for the bow.
  6. Lastly pull all the fabric strips ends toward the front of the wreath and fluff them for a finished look.

My sister, the one in town, thought this was a really cute project and made plans to create an Easter or Spring wreath of her own. You really could do one for any holiday just by changing the fabric you choose.

Page 1 of 2
1 2