10 St. Patrick's Day Garland

I love Crocheting Garlands. For St. Patrick's Day, I crocheted my Garland from a pattern I found on Crochet-Mania and modified it by Crocheting two Medium Shamrocks using two stands of yarn held together and crocheting the stems right on the Shamrock.

Materials:

• Size H Crochet Hook
• Size J Crochet Hook
• Worsted Weight Yarn in two Shades of Green

Instructions:

Small Shamrock:

1. Start with the small Crochet Hook and a Magic Ring or Chain 4 and join with a slip stitch to 1st chain to form a loop.
2. * Chain 3. Make 3 Triple Crochet, Chain 3, slip stitch into Loop **.
3. Repeat from * to ** 2 more times to make 3 leaves.
4. For Stem; Chain 5, slip stitch in 2nd chain from hook and into next 3 chains. Slip stitch into center of ring. Fasten off. Weave in ends.

Medium Shamrock:

1. With Larger Hook, Crochet Medium Shamrock using two strands of yarn (one of each color) held together.

Garland:

1. With large crochet hook and 2 strands of yarns held together, Chain 8. Slip stitch in first chain to make first hanging loop.
2. * Chain 12. Make a single crochet on top of the Middle Leaf of the Shamrock. Continue from * across to attach all the Shamrocks. For my Garland, I alternated between light and dark green with the two-tone Shamrocks in between.
3. For the second hanging loop; Chain 20. Slip stitch into the 8th chain.
4. Fasten Off. Weave in ends.

Happy St. Patrick's Day...

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7 St. Patrick's DAY Subway Art

Start celebrating St. Patrick's Day early by adding a Framed Subway Art to your home decor to show your LOVE for the Emerald Isle.

I created a 5 x 7 St. Patrick's Day Subway Art and thought I'd share the free download. My design was created using the awesome Photo Editor, PicMonkey; using a variety of fonts, phrases, graphics and colors.

If you use PicMonkey; you will need to create and upload a blank 5 x 7 white JPG. I created mine using PaintNet, a Free Software for Digital Photo Editing; or your could create it using Microsoft Paint.

Materials:

• Gold 5 x 7 picture frame, purchased at Dollar Tree
• Subway Art

Directions:
Create your 5 x 7 Subway Art. Once your design is completed, print it out and trim it to fit your frame. Instead of using plain copy paper; I printed my design on Ivory Stationary Paper. The design colors look much better against the Ivory paper.

If you wish to use my design to make your very own Subway Art Frame, scroll down to download and print the file.



PLEASE NOTE: this file is for Personal use only. Please do not claim or sell it as your own!!!


Your St. Patrick's Day Themed frame is ready for display.

Love the Vintage clip art of a cute Irish Boy holding the flag.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!

Linking to:
Today's Creative Blog
debbie-debbiedoos
Coastal Charm

3 Love Story Canvas

Happy Valentine's Day!!! I wanted to create something fun for Valentine's Day. I found an opened 12" x 12" canvas at my local Thrift shop for $1.99. What a deal!!!
I thought I create a Mixed Media Collage using Paper Doilies and various types of Embellishments.

Let's begin by gathering the following materials.

Materials:

• 12" x 12" Stretched Canvas
• 1 - 10" White Paper Doily
• 1 - 6" Pink Paper Doily
• Pink and White Adhesive Glitter Shape Hearts
• Recollections Floral Embellishments, purchased at Michael's
• Craft Essentials 3-D Embellishments - Love Story, purchased at Jo-Ann's Fabrics
• 5/8" Pink Buttons
• Hot Glue Gun

• Gesso Canvas Primer
• Folk Extreme Glitter Acrylic Paint - Red
• Mod Podge - Gloss Finish
• Foam Brush
• 2 3" x 3" canvas - optional

Directions:
Apply one coat of Gesso Canvas Primer all over the canvas, let dry completely. Apply two coats of the Extreme Glitter paint. Let dry between coats.

Apply a light coat of Mod Podge to the canvas center, where the large doily will be placed. Add your 10" white doily, smoothing wrinkles with your fingers. Let it dry for 15-20 minutes. Apply a second coat of Mod Podge all over the doily. Let it dry for about 1/2 hour.

Add another light coat to the center of your 10" white doily Apply your 6" pink doily; again smoothing wrinkles as before. Let it dry for 15-20 minutes. Apply another coat of Mod Podge; let it dry for about 1/2 hour.

Apply 1-2 final coats of Mod Podge all over the entire canvas. Let dry between coats.

Note: Any wrinkles will eventually disappear as more coats of Mod Podge are applied.

Begin adding your embellishments. Most of the embellishments I choose came with an adhesive backing. However, I added a bit of hot glue the back to obtain a permanent bond. I started by adding the pink buttons to the white doily.

I applied one of the 3-D Love Story embellishments and a pink heart to the canvas right lower corner.

I then added 4 hearts; 2 of each color to the canvas left and right top corners.

I attached 2 flower embellishments, overlapping each other to the canvas left lower corner; placing a white heart in the middle and two more hearts on the left and right sides of the flower.

Lastly, I applied one more 3-D Love Story embellishment to the center of the pink doily.

Here is the canvas after all the embellishments were added.

I stumbled upon these cute small canvases while shopping at ACMoore and decided they would complement the large one. I applied two coats of the Extreme Glitter paint and added 3-D and Hearts embellishments.

I enjoyed creating this project as it allowed me to choose and add different components to a plain canvas; resulting in a fun Collage.

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Linking to: Today's Creative Blog

debbie-debbiedoos

9 Puffy LOVE Vases

Valentine's day decor will not be complete without one or more vases you can fill with fresh, faux flowers or any other fillers. My Love vases are a low-cost project, created simply from four different glass vases from Dollar Tree and paints I had in my craft stash.

Lets begin by gathering the following materials.

Materials:

• 4 glass vases. I choose four different shapes.
• Clear Contact Paper
• Tracing Paper
• Krylon Spray Paint - Cherry Red
• Scribbles Dimensional Fabric Paint - Sparkle

• Letters - I created mine in Word using Font Name: RAVIE, Font Size: 175, printed on reverse order.

• Scissors
• Newspapers
• Rubbing Alcohol
• Paper towels
• X-Acto Knife

Directions:
Using the tracing paper, begin tracing your letters onto the contact paper. Make sure your letters are placed in Reversed Order, prior to tracing.

Wash and dry your vases. Wipe them using rubbing alcohol and paper towels. Let them dry completely.

Cut your letters following the tracing lines. Remove the backing paper and firmly apply letters to each vase.

Using your fingers, rub each letter to make sure the edges are affix to the vase's surface.

Cover your working area with plenty of newspapers or drop cloth. In a well ventilated area; paint your vases using the Krylon Spray paint. I gave my vases two coats. Let each coat dry for at least one hour. Let vases dry overnight before adding your Fabric Paint.

Remove the letters from all the vases. If any spray paint bled under your letters, carefully remove it with a X-Acto knife.

Begin decorating your vases using the Scribbles Fabric Paint. Outline and fill each letter. Make sure the exposed glass area is covered with paint. Let dry at least 4 hours. I gave my letters to coats of fabric paint to double up the Puffiness.

I just love how this fabric Paint dries, giving my project that awesome Puffiness effect. The plain glass vases I started with now have a super dimensional finish.

I hope you enjoy this tutorial and add a few bottles of Fabric Paint to your craft stash; you will not regret it....

Linking to: Today's Creative Blog
debbie-debbiedoos