Sunday, March 15, 2009

Tutorial: Shamrock pins for St. Pattie's Day

Liv and I made these fun shamrock pins other day in honor of St. Patties day. It's really a simple idea, and it can be adapted for just about any holiday. They look like they've been coated with UTEE (Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel) but really it's just a thick spray glaze.

What you need:
--chipboard (I pulled a cream puff box out of the recycling bin. Yummm....)
--newspaper scraps
--die cut machine that can cut chipboard. I used a Sizzix with a retired shamrock die. Really, I don't suppose you *need* a die cut machine, but it does make it super easy to cut shapes from chipboard.
--Decoupage medium. (I used Aleene's, but that's just because my Mod Podge wasn't handy at the moment.)
--acrylic craft paint
--Deco Art Triple Thick Brilliant Gloss Spray (I love this stuff!!!!)
--pin backs
--strong adhesive for gluing pin backs. I used E6000


So here's how you do it:

1. Cut the newspaper into thin strips. You don't need very many, just enough to cover the piece of chipboard.


2. Coat the chipboard with the decoupage medium and lay the strips down, covering with a second coat.

3. After you've covered the whole piece of chipboard with newspaper, paint the newspaper with a thin coat of acrylic craft paint. I used several different colors of green and mixed them together here and there. You should be able to see the newsprint faintly through the paint.

4. Wait for the paint to dry. This could take a while so go do something fun while it's drying.

4. Now here's the fun part. Use your die-cutter to cut out a bunch of shamrocks from the painted chipboard. Then, spray the shapes with the Triple Thick glaze. You'll end up with some very shiny shamrock shapes.



5. Now, just glue a pin back on to the back of each shape.

Voila! Shiny pretty shamrock pins.



7 comments:

Denise Felton said...

Brilliant! I HAVE one of them. (Everyone wishes they were me.) And I can't wait to wear it tomorrow. Y'all rock!

Katie said...

Wow, what fun and I happen to have that retired die too. What section of the craft store did you find that shiny spray stuff?

Anne said...

I got the Triple Thick Glaze at Michael's, on the aisle with the mod podge and paints. It was in a locked cage with all the spray paints. It was hidden way down at the bottom so I had to look for it. You gotta get some - it's like UTEE without the hassle!!!

Katie said...

Great I will try and go tomorrow to get some! I am so glad you shared where it is because shopping with a toddler and trying to find something is such a hassle. I'd probably have given up!

Also wanted to tell you I really appreciate how you left me a comment that my felt board was up on Craft Gossip, because I have another activity posted on one of the blogs there and if I hadn't happened to look at sitemeter I'd never have known. I have a thing up too, not to take and use my pictures without my permission so I was slightly annoyed. I'm happy to share, but tell me! So like I said I really appreciate it!

Unknown said...

Aw, how cute! My poor kids... I always forget to do holiday crafty stuff until after the holiday. Maybe we'll make some shamrock pins next month... and dye our eggs for Easter sometime in June :)

Ginger said...

Loved this tutorial awesome,fun clever! Thank you so much for sharing it with us.Will send others to you by relinking.
xx

Evie said...

very cute! this looks like lots of fun : )