Layered Paper Shamrock

It's the week before St. Patrick's Day and I just decided to have friends over for corn beef and cabbage to celebrate - so of course I need to make a few decorations (I call making decorations "another reason to have a party" - along with hanging with my friends I also love to have a party just so I can make stuff!). I googled for some ideas and was inspired by this project - as usual I ended up changing a few things and I love how it turned out. I took tons of pictures which might make it seem harder than it is - this isn't hard and didn't take very long.

You'll need:

-strips of paper in 3 different colors/patterns

• 7 strips cut to 2" x 8" (mine are white)
• 7 strips cut to 2" x 10" (note I used 7 different patterns)
• 7 strips cut to 2" x 12" (mine are green)

-glue stick or other adhesive

-hot glue

-paper circle for support, mine is 2 1/4" diameter

-stapler (unless you have more patience that I do waiting for the glue to dry!)

-length of ribbon to hang it

-optional: letter beads, gold washi tape

Directions:

Stack one long strip, one medium strip, and one short strip of paper - glue the bottom ends together (about 1/2"). Fold the short one back on itself (you can glue it to keep in place or just hold it), then the medium one, then the long one. I stapled the bottom of the loops together instead of waiting for the glue to hold (you won't see the staples). Make a total of 6 loop bundles.

Glue 2 loop bundles together to create a heart shape. Repeat for a total of 3 hearts.

For the stem: fold the remaining long strip at 5" from the left and 5" from the right, so there is a 2" space in the middle. Fold the remaining medium strip at 4.25" from the left and 4.25" from the right so there is a 1.5" space in the center. Fold the remaining short strip at 3.5" from the left and 3.5" from the right so there is a 1" space in the center. Layer them and glue (or staple) the ends together. (See the picture). Oh, and I put the middle piece of paper in upside down! You can't see the pattern so it looks like there are 2 whites and a green in the stem...oh well.

Glue the 3 looped bundles/hearts and the stem together using the paper circle in the center to give the edges something to stick to. I ended up using hot glue to get them to all attach, regular glue didn't cut it.

To finish, I cut another paper circle, stuck a piece of glittery gold washi tape in the center and hot glued the letter beads on top. Then glued the whole thing over the circle that's anchoring the shamrock (you could also glue on the backside, which would then make it the front side).

I didn't think of it at the time and followed the inspiration project directions to attach a ribbon to the back for hanging - but the paper shamrock is too heavy and hung forward awkwardly! So I removed the ribbon and stuck the ribbon ends down into the center of the top and hot glued in place. Now it hangs correctly. If I make this again I'll glue the ribbon in between the top two loops before gluing them together!


one year ago: blueberry chutney
two years ago: shamrock shake recipe