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St. Patrick's Day

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    Paper shamrock decoration

    Brittany
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    Paper shamrock decoration

    Paper shamrock decoration

    I have a tendency to go hard on making a tree for every occasion and I thought these paper shamrock decorations are perfect for branches. That said, I think they’d also be lovely strung together on a garland or, like mistletoe, hung up as a single. You can decide!

    Here’s how to make a paper shamrock decoration

    What you’ll need:

    Instructions

    1. Start with your template and cut out 6 of the clover shape, you can either do this with scissors or a craft cutting machine! 
    2. Starting with one of your shapes, fold right in half. You’ll want to fold so that the rounded edges are not interrupted if that makes sense, fold where the divots go the deepest. 
    3. Unfold, turn, and fold in half again so you have perpendicular folds through the center! 
    4. Now, make another fold in the middle but this time diagonally so that it intersects the middle of the folds you already made. Unfold!
    5. Now you can place your fingers on the diagonal fold you just made and pinch in a little bit so they collapse into each other and hide behind a heart shape! They should look like little baskets or cups. 
    6. Repeat on each of the 6 pieces you have!
    7. Now you can glue each of the sections to each other! 
    8. Apply glue on the face of a section and put another one on top, repeat till you have a stack of all your glued pieces! 
    9. Now you can open it up and make it into a circular shamrock shape! 
    10. Cut a few inches of ribbon and glue each of the edges together making a loop.
    11. Insert this loop in between the two ends of the clover and glue together to secure!

    You can make as many as you like, whatever size, color, or pattern you want. They’re so customizable which I love, and all together you can make a beautiful St. Patricks day scene. Tag us with #LuckyLars so we can see your projects! 

    5 Ways to Wear Green

    Brittany
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    5 Ways to Wear Green

    5 Ways to Wear Green

    We made a list of five ways to wear green on St. Patrick’s Day years ago (2014, can you believe it?!), which you can find here. Well, we wanted to add to it, because it turns out we’ve had some bright ideas since then!

    St. Patrick’s Day Beaded Bracelets

    Just a few weeks ago, we came out with these St. Patrick’s Day Beaded Bracelets! It’s the perfect solution if you don’t want to overwhelm the world with green or don’t have any green in your closet already. These sweet little bracelets are delicate and refined, and give you that splash of green you need. You might even find yourself wearing them on other days besides St. Patrick’s Day!

    St. Patrick’s Day Buttons

    These St. Patrick’s Day Assorted Buttons from our shop are another great way to add just a touch of green to your outfit. Bonus: you don’t even have to make them! Just order and you’re all set. And come on, these little beauties are adorable. You’ll be looking forward to St. Patrick’s Day just so you have a reason to wear them.

    Rainbow Collar Pin

    Another great accessory, our DIY Rainbow Collar Pin has been around for a while now and it’s a beloved classic! Rainbows are a classic St. Patrick’s Day icon, and the great thing is that (if you hadn’t noticed already) the color green is always present in a rainbow. Plus, I love me a good little collar pin accessory and this one fits the bill perfectly. It’s cute, functional, and protects you from the pinches.

    St. Patrick’s Day Crowns

    Did someone say St. Patrick’s Day party? These two St. Patrick’s Day crowns are the perfect party accessory for your guests! We have two versions, a printable and DIY version, so pick whatever suits your fancy. Not interested in having a party? Then just have fun and wear a crown for the day! Its delicate and playful and you can relax, because no one will miss that pop of green.

    Painted Shoes

    If you’re into the subtle details, these Painted Shoes are for you. Paint a rainbow or some green on the soles of your shoes and flash those colors when someone tries to give you a pinch!

    Other Options

    Here are some other ideas for how to incorporate green into your St. Patrick’s Day this year:

    More Inspiration

    Loved this post on ways to wear green and want more St. Patrick’s Day inspiration? Try this lovely St. Patrick’s Day Wreath. Also try this St. Patrick’s Day crown, or these kid-friendly coloring pages! And if you’re in need of a new spring craft, try our DIY Paper Orchids! Not interested in making anything? Check out our shop for some seasonal favorites you’re sure to love.

    St. Patrick’s Day Wreath

    Brittany
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    1
    St. Patrick’s Day Wreath

    St. Patrick's Day wreath

    St. Patrick’s Day Wreath

    Remember our accordion Valentine’s Day wreath? You loved it so much we decided to make a St. Patrick’s Day wreath based on it! This little beauty features the same delicate gradients, this time in hues of green. Of course, hearts scream Valentine’s Day, so we opted for four leaf clovers instead. Gotta give you some luck, right?

    Shamrocks vs. Four Leaf Clovers

    Speaking of four leaf clovers, we want to make sure we addressed some of the comments we received in response to our St. Patrick’s Day bracelets last week. In a few past posts, we have mistakenly called four leaf clovers shamrocks. Here’s a little clarification: Shamrocks have three leaves. This has religious roots–each leaf represents a member of the holy trinity. On the other hand, a four leaf clover has four leaves and is not considered a shamrock. They are considered lucky, though! That’s because four leaf clovers are more rarely found in nature. Shamrocks, with three leaves, are the more common default. Here’s an article that talks about the difference if you’re interested.

    Our apologies for mixing up the two!

    St. Patrick's Day wreath

    How to Make a St. Patrick’s Day Wreath

    All formalities aside, here’s how to make this beautiful St. Patrick’s wreath!

    Prepping the Paper

    1. First, download the wreath template found here.
    2. Print and cut out the templates. We printed ten of each page of the pdf, but you can print as many as desired.

    Making the Four Leaf Clovers

    1. To make the accordion four leaf clovers, fold each gradient into small accordion folds, roughly 1/4-1/2 inch. Do the same for the stems.
    2. Once that’s done, fold each gradient in half and glue where they meet. They should now look like hearts.
    3. To assemble the leaves, glue four of the gradient hearts together. If you want to make shamrocks instead, you can use three instead of four.
    4. Last, add the stem to the center of the bottom and secure with a dab of hot glue.

    Assembling your St. Patrick’s Day Wreath

    1. To assemble your St. Patrick’s Day wreath, make a wreath form out of the thick gauge wire, taping it to secure. Make it however large or small you’d like.
    2. To attach the four leaf clovers, simply hot glue them onto the wire wreath form.
    3. Keep going until the wreath is as full as you’d like.
    4. Add a pretty ribbon of your choosing to the wreath and voilá! You’re done!

    St. Patrick's Day wreath with ribbon

    St. Patrick's Day wreath top view

    St. Patrick's Day wreath on door

    More Inspiration

    Did you love this tutorial on how to make a St. Patrick’s Day wreath? You might also be interested in our Valentine’s Day variation, found here. If you’re looking for other St. Patrick’s Day ideas, check out these sweet St. Patrick’s Day beaded bracelets and avoid being pinched. Also try this St. Patrick’s Day crown, or these kid-friendly coloring pages! And if you’re in need of a new spring craft, try our DIY Paper Orchids!

     

    St. Patrick’s Day Beaded Bracelets

    Brittany
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    2
    St. Patrick’s Day Beaded Bracelets

    St. Patrick’s Day Beaded Bracelets

    I’m guessing I’m not alone when I say there have been more than a few St. Patrick’s Days where I’ve been subjected to a fair amount of pinching. I’m not sure why, but I guess I just don’t buy much green. Well if you’re in the same boat, this St. Patrick’s Day beaded bracelet is the perfect solution! It’s a quick and easy option that gives you a fun pop of green without having to go out and buy something on the spot. Plus it’s lovely and delicate. It’s pretty enough that you don’t have to wear it just one day a year, either! Save it for a spring tea party or other special occasion–it’s a subtle little touch of feminine class.

    How to make a St. Patrick’s Day Beaded Bracelet

    One of the best things about these sweet little St. Patrick’s Day Beaded Bracelets, aside from being lovely, is how easy they are to make! Here’s how to do it:

    1. First, take a piece of string and measure your wrist. Now double the thread and leave a little ease on each end.
    2. Next, thread the needle and pull the thread through so it’s even with the other end of the thread.
    3. If you’re using jewelry clasps, tie one onto the very end of the string and make sure it’s securely knotted.
    4. Now you’re ready to begin threading the beads! To do this, simply choose a pattern of beads you like and slip them onto the strand of string with the needle. See our step photos for help making the beaded four leaf clovers.
    5. When you have a length you’re happy with, tie the end with the corresponding jewelry clasp. If you opted to do the bracelet without clasps, simply tie off the bracelet at each end with multiple, secure knots. Leave enough ease so you can tie the bracelet.
    6. Done! You’ve made your own St. Patrick’s Day beaded bracelet!

    More Inspiration

    Loved this simple tutorial for a St. Patrick’s Day beaded bracelet? Here and here are some other options of bracelets if you’re interested! All you need to do to make it appropriate for St. Patty’s Day is add a little green. Need more fun St. Patrick’s Day crafts to try this year? Here’s a fun little crown to give you a pop of green to wear. Looking for an activity for your kids? Try these St. Patrick’s Day themed coloring pages! Or do you or someone your know have a March birthday? Have a St. Patrick’s Day party with these fun, marbled shamrock party hats.

    A St Patrick’s Day Craft: Paper Shamrock Crown

    Brittany
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    A St Patrick’s Day Craft: Paper Shamrock Crown

    St. Patrick's Day craft from The House That Lars Built

    Here’s a fun fact about shamrocks: There are approximately 10,000 three-leaf clovers for every four-leaf clover, and shamrocks and four-leaf clovers are not the same thing. The word ‘shamrock’ refers only to a clover with three leaves. Our St. Patrick’s Day craft includes both shamrocks and four-leaf clovers so that your crown can display the lushness of the shamrocks mixed in with some luck from the four-leaf clovers.

    How to Make Your Own Paper Shamrock Crown

    St. Patrick's Day craft from The House That Lars Built

    Supplies:

    18 gauge wire: 2 14″ pieces

    Green paper (3 shades, we used half of 3 12×12 sheets for ours)

    Small hole punch

    Pink crepe paper: 3 inches x 20 inches

    Green-yellow crepe paper: 3 x 7 inches

    Scissors

    Cricut Machine

    Shamrock template

    White acrylic paint and paintbrush (optional)

    Pink acrylic paint (optional)

    Floral tape (6 feet is plenty)

    Hot glue gun/glue sticks

    11 feet of Floral wire

    Wire cutters

    St. Patrick's Day craft from The House That Lars Built

    Instructions:

    1. Download the svg files for the three-leafed and four-leaved clovers.
    2. With your cricut machine, cut out about 30 clovers. Because we used three kinds of paper, we did 8 three-leafed and 2 four-leafed clovers of each color. (You can also cut your shamrocks out by hand using the same template if needed.)
    3. With a small hole punch, put a little hole in the middle of each clover.
    4. Dilute your white paint with water and use a small paintbrush to add a few little lines to your shamrocks for texture.
    5. Bend your 18-gauge wire into a circle and attach them together with floral tape. We had 14-inch lengths of wire and it took two pieces to make an 8” diameter crown
    6. Assemble your shamrocks by following steps 7-9.
    7.  Cut floral wire into pieces from 2.5-3.5” long. These will be your shamrock stems, and it looks nice for them to be varied in length. Bend the tip of each length of wire down about a third of an inch.
    8. Thread the wire through the hole you punched in your shamrock and gently bend it to secure the leaf top in place. Be careful! It’s pretty easy to tear the leaves in this stage.
    9. Put a dot of hot glue on the bottom of the leaf top to secure it in place
    10. After you assemble all your shamrocks, it’s time to make your blossoms by following steps 11-17. We made 7 blossoms, but repeat these steps until you have your desired number of flowers.
    11. Cut a rectangle about an inch and a half tall and about 2 inches wide from the light yellow crepe paper. Stretch the top so that it flutes and roll it into a tube. Secure with a dot of hot glue. This is your flower center. 
    12. Cut small oval petals (about an inch tall and tapered more at one end) from your pink crepe paper. Each flower has five petals. Glue the extra tapered end to the rolled flower center just below the fluted tip. There should be extra paper at the bottom of the flower center. 
    13. Glue the remaining petals to the attached petal so that they overlap. Put a line of glue along the bottom of the petals and wrap them around the flower center so that they meet up at the first petal. 
    14. Gently stretch the petals so that they curve up a bit. 
    15. Use your pink paint to put thin  lines on the petals leading to the flower center.
    16. Cut a piece of floral wire about 3 inches and poke it through the center of the flower, down the middle of the rolled crepe paper. Put a bit of hot glue on the top of the wire before you finish pulling it into the flower to secure it inside.
    17. With floral tape, wrap the bottom of the flower and down the wire. Flowers are done!
    18. It’s time to attach the shamrocks and flowers to your wire crown form. Wind the bottom of the wire stems around the crown to attach them. At this point, some of the stems might be wobbling loosely and not all staying on one side of the crown. Don’t worry! We’ll address this in a few steps.
    19. Repeat for all your shamrocks and flowers, and distribute the colors, shapes, and stem lengths so that it’s nicely varied.
    20. With your wire cutters, trim any wires that are poking out. Don’t skip this step, or your crown will be painful to wear!
    21. Wrap floral tape around the crown to cover all the coiled wire and pokey bits. It is easiest to do this part with sections of tape about a foot long each rather than juggling all of the tape. 
    22. After that, adjust and arrange the stems of all your shamrocks. Voila! You’re done!

    These shamrock crowns are a fun St. Patrick’s Day craft and can be saved and used for years on end. Be sure to be on the lookout for anyone not wearing green. Instead of a pinch, if you feel so kind, you can crown them with some luck to save for next year.

    Other St. Patrick’s Day Craft Tutorials

    St. Patrick's Day craft from The House That Lars Built

    In addition to our most popular St. Patrick’s Day craft tutorials above, you can also check out our Pinterest here for even more ideas!

    DIY Rainbow Lucky Charms Balloon Arch

    Brittany
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    1
    DIY Rainbow Lucky Charms Balloon Arch

    In true Lars fashion, our balloon arch is BIG and COLORFUL, and made up of Anagram’s wonderful foil balloons. We said this before and we will say it again, we love these balloons because they are deflatable, and therefore reusable which we love, helps the environment and cuts cost since you can use them again!

    How to make the balloon arch frame for under $10

    We knew we wanted an arch that was much larger than anything we’ve ever done so we had to think BIG! For our pumpkin arch we made one small enough for our walkway and it worked so well. And this time we went double the size!

    Here’s what we did to make the balloon arch frame:

    • We used three 10′ PVC pipes connected with their little connectors (all under $10!).
    • We pounded a piece of rebar on either side of the pole into the ground with a hammer and the pipe slid on nicely over the rebar.

    Blowing up the Balloons for an arch

    This is one of the questions we get over and over again “How far in advance can you blow up the balloons?” Well, it depends on the type of balloon and the weather and if it will be indoors or outdoors. To ensure freshness, I’d recommend 1-2 days. Anything over that is probably fine but you just never know. Some of the balloons even have tiny holes in them and you don’t know that until a few hours when it’s in the arch and starts to shrivel up.

    It took us 5 people in one morning to blow up all the balloons for this arch. Mind you, we blew up waaaaay too many because we didn’t know exactly what shape we were going to build yet and we wanted to be sure. We used about 48 balloons here for this 30′ pole.

    How to add on balloons to the pole

    We know and love using balloon tape, but for something like this, we prefer to attach it to the pole directly with clear shipping tape. We take an 8″ piece and tie it around the end of the foil balloon and around the pole.

    We added on more balloons to the base so that they acted more like clouds.

    All the colors!

    We must have a soft spot for holiday-themed balloons (You may remember seeing them from our favorite Jingle Bell Balloon post?) since we undertook creating this huge Rainbow Balloon Arch! Despite the helium shortage, we were able to use these reusable balloons to make our BIGGEST balloon arch yet, a full 30 feet because they are all air-filled! Perhaps the real treasure at the end of our rainbow was the rainbow itself! We couldn’t believe how great it turned out, with all our favorite colors. We used a mix of pastels and bright, saturated colors because we love the mix together! 

    The Lucky Charms!

    We added a few smaller rainbow balloons in to make our arch extra charmed with flour-leaf clovers, an X to mark the spot, hearts, and rainbows! Because can you even have enough rainbows?! This arch is even luckier, since these balloons are made of foil we can make this arch again and again for holidays to come.

    Like I said, we sure feel lucky to be able to share this Rainbow Balloon Arch with you and even luckier to work with wonderful sponsors like Anagram who made this arch possible! 

    DIY Embroidered Shamrock Handkercheif

    Brittany
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    1
    DIY Embroidered Shamrock Handkercheif

    DIY Embroidered Shamrock

    If you’re a beginner to embroidery, check out the Lars embroidery guide for help. We’ll coach you through a handful of simple stitches that will elevate your embroidery into beautiful designs.

    Materials: 

    see above

    Directions:

    1. Separate out embroidery floss strands so you only have two stands. Keep the remaining strands.
    2. Thread your needle and then tie off the ends so that the thread is 4 thick.
    3. Use a simple backstitch to outline the leaves of the shamrock.
    4. Once outlined, use a satin stitch to fill in the leaves starting from middle of the leave and working outward. Once you have filled one half, return to the middle and fill the remaining half.
    5. Once your shamrock is embroidered, use a backstitch to embroider the stem.
    6. Tie off.

    After you master the shamrock handkerchief, consider some other fun elements to add to your St. Patrick’s outfit, like our Rainbow Stripe Bangles or our favorite DIY Painted Shoes!

    We can’t wait to see the way you are wearing green this coming St. Patricks day! Be sure to tag us with #luckylars!

    DIY Celtic Knot Pillow

    Brittany
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    DIY Celtic Knot Pillow

    DIY Celtic Knot Pillow Tutorial

    You can find the Celtic Pillow instructions in our e-book here.

    If you don’t feel up to sewing, though, you’ll want to check out a few of our favorite pillow picks from our roundup! There, we’ll walk you through selecting the perfect pillow accent for any room design. We are ALL about keeping as many cozy, pretty pillows on hand as we can!

    Shop the look:

    Mustard futon  |  Blue and green artwork by Abby Clawson Low  |  Teal Tea set 

    Be sure to tag us with #Luckylars so we can see your celtic pillows!

    St. Patrick’s Day coloring pages

    Brittany
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    St. Patrick’s Day coloring pages

    St. Patrick’s Day coloring pages

    You are definitely going to be ready for St. Patricks day with these coloring pages on your tables! For the young and young at heart everyone is going to love this activity!

    You can find the coloring pages here.

    Be sure to tag us with #luckylars so we can see all of the luck and charm you are creating for this St. Patricks day!!

    DIY Shamrock Pom-Pom hack!

    Brittany
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    1
    DIY Shamrock Pom-Pom hack!

    DIY Three leaf and four leaf pom hack

    We have both a three leaf and a four leaf version, depending on how lucky you aim to be. You can find the directions and supplies in our Shamrock e-book.

    Plus! Look at all these amazing green colors!

     

    You can find the Shamrock Pom Pom hack in our e-book here.

    Green yarn we love!

    We want wait to see how your Shamrock Pom-Poms turn out! Make sure to tag us with #Luckylars!

    DIY Paper Shamrock Plant

    Brittany
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    2
    DIY Paper Shamrock Plant

    DIY Paper Shamrock plant

    You can find the materials above
    Find the shamrock template here

    Directions: 

    1. Download the Shamrock Leaf PDF or SVG
    2. Prep your paper by following the white washing instructions (steps 2-5).
    3. Cut out the shamrock leaf file with craft cutting machine. This step can be done by hand with a pair of scissors if you don’t have a machine!
    4. Cut out enough pieces to create your shamrocks. We cut out somewhere around 120 pieces to create 30-40 three-leaf clovers and a few four-leaf clovers for luck!
    5. Once your pieces are cut out fold them in half to create a crease between the two arches.
    6. Mix acrylic paint with a few drops of water to create a thinner paint.
    7. Once thinned, gently paint the leaf from the stem up and out to thin points at the middle of the leaf. Repeat this action several times until you are pleased with the appearance of the leaves.
    8. Once all leaves are painted you will begin assembling them as clovers.
    9. Cut pieces of wire 3-5 inches long, we cut ours long and cut them to adjust height when we placed them into the plant.
    10. Once your wires are cut you will take a leaf and place it at the top of the wire, while holding the leaf in place you will take the floral tape and wrap down just far enough to secure that leaf.
    11. Cut the floral tape.
    12. Repeat step 10 two more times until you have three of the leaves attached.
    13. If you would like to make a four-leaf clover just add in an addition leaf and repeat step 10 again!
    14. Once you have your clovers made you can begin to place the clovers into floral foam until its full!

    Thank you to Terrain for providing us the most magical scalloped pot, we can feel our luck increasing just being around it! Be sure to tag us with #Larsmakes so we can see how you’re catching luck this month! Stay tuned for even more ways to make this St. Patty’s Day the biggest hit yet!

    Here are some more pots we love for this project!

     

    DIY rainbow earrings

    Brittany
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    1
    DIY rainbow earrings

    Happy St. Patrick’s Day! How are you celebrating? We consider this time of year Rainbow season (well, all year, but particularly now) so it’s the perfect time to share some of our favorite rainbow projects. These DIY Rainbow Earrings crafted from paper are perfect for just that! It’s when you need a quick solution without spending too much.

    You might remember one of our previous This Girl posts where we showed you how to make your own paper earrings. If you made those, then you know how absolutely easy they are to make! All you need is cardstock, string, and jewelry hardware. We’ve provided the Cricut files too so you can easily cut out the few shapes that you will need. With these earrings, you can be sure to make a statement while keeping yourself from getting pinched!

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