Handmade By Kristen: St. Patrick's Day Decorations

As St. Patrick’s Day is upon us once again, I decided to decorate but did not want to buy anything. So after brain storming a bit with my husband we came up with a few decoration ideas. After gathering up supplies we came to the conclusion that we just needed to make this a party. We are always looking for reasons to have friends over and this was perfect. It was not during the busy “holiday” season where most people already had plans and the theme was simple. I have a smidgen of Irish in my blood line but not enough to really claim that I was Irish. So for me this was more of just a fun day to get together.

Here are the decoration ideas we came up with.

Turn and vase into a decorative centerpiece with a nice big bow.

Rainbow Paper Chains

Cut paper of choosing intp 12" X 1 1/2" strips.

Glue/tape/staple links together

Felt Wall Hanging

- 5+ pieces of felt

- Embroidery floss

- Thick needle (embroidery or needlepoint)

- Wooden dowel (optional)

- Ribbon

- Hot glue gun and glue sticks

- Buttons or other decorative embellishments

Pick a two piece of felt for the front and back. Cut out any shapes you want to stitch onto the backing felt. Stitch around each appliqué to the piece behind it. Then stitch entire appliqué to backing felt. Once all have been attached hot glue or stitch front and back pieces together to hide all of your stitch lines. If you are using a dowel hot glue top of main felt piece to dowel and then tie your ribbon to the dowel. You may want to tack it to the dowel with a little glue. If you choose to not use the dowel you can stitch or glue your ribbon in between the front and back piece.

Ribbon Topiary

-Cut ribbon 3” in length, any color or texture.

-Hot glue gun and glue or straight pins

-Styrofoam ball

-Wooden dowel

-Terra cotta pot or any type of base you would like to use

-Rice or Styrofoam for base

-Decorative paper for base

I only had a white Styrofoam ball so I painted it green so if you were to see any of it would not be bright white. I later found out this was kind of unnecessary since the ribbons covered the entire ball. I recommend starting at the bottom of the ball where your stick meets the ball then work your way to the top. I also found when gluing it is best to glue into a loop first then glue to ball. Work your way around the ball by making a crisscross pattern where the side of one ribbon is slightly inside the one next to it. This will insure there are no gaps. Looking back I should have paid more attention to this as I was gluing. I would not have had to go back and add in filler ribbons. But if you do need to do that the skinny ribbons work well for that. For the base I painted the pot black then filled with rice to anchor the dowel. I wraped the dowel with gold and cut a circle with the decorative paper to hide the rice. It makes a cute little Pot Of Gold.

I had planned to make more decorations but was running out of time. I will post final pictures after the party to see all the food and the rest of the decorations!

From my family to yours...

May your pockets be heavy and your heart be light,

may good luck pursue you each morning and night.

Here are some more pictures from the day of fun...