DIY Paper Shamrock Corsage for St. Patrick's Day
Here is a shamrock pin for St. Patrick's Day that's so pretty, you'll wear it every year. It's simple to make with just paper and pipe cleaners, but the result is very elegant. You can use any green paper you have on hand. For the stems, I am using these old fashioned pipe cleaners that I've dyed green (the tutorial for dyeing pipe cleaners is here.) You can also use store bought green pipe cleaners in a 3mm thickness, which is skinnier than your standard pipe cleaner. If you have a small heart punch, that would make quick work of cutting out the leaves. I don't have one, so I'm doing it the old way - folding paper in half, and cutting out the half-heart shape.
Supplies:
- Green Paper of your choice
- 11 old fashioned pipe cleaners dyed green (or store bought 3mm green pipe cleaners.)
- Scissors
- Hot glue gun, glue sticks
- Safety pin, or flat back pin
Step 1:
If you have a heart punch, you can go to town cutting out hearts the easy way. Otherwise, create a small heart template by folding a piece of paper in half, cutting out a half of a heart shape so that it unfolds to make a simple full heart, then snip off half the heart. Stack a few sheets of your green paper, fold in half, place your template on the paper with the straight side along the fold, and cut out the heart shapes. You'll need 3 hearts per shamrock, so 30 hearts total.
Step 2:
Arrange the hearts with the points together, and overlap the edges just slightly. Bend the end of a pipe cleaner into a small, round loop. Apply a bead of hot glue along the loop, and press it down onto the arrangement of hearts so that the glue is contacting each heart. Let set, then repeat to make 10 shamrocks.
Step 3:
Arrange the shamrocks into a bouquet, fanning out the leaves, and bending the stems as needed. Once they are arranged, wrap a pipe cleaner 2 or 3 times tightly around the bunch to secure them.
Step 4:
Open the safety pin or flatback pin, and begin wrapping the pipe cleaner around it to secure it to the back of the bouquet.
Product featured in this tutorial:
