Luck O' the Irish

I love St. Patrick's Day. I'm part Irish and I really do like to observe the holiday. Usually I accomplish this by wearing green and cooking corned beef and cabbage (yum!) but this year I decided to keep on with the decorating for holidays theme and do at least a little something. After all, green is my favorite color :)

I started by printing my phrase in a couple different fonts and sizes.

I laid out a piece of freezer paper over my phrase...

...and traced it out on the paper side.

I ironed it to my fabric with the plastic side down. ( I used an old pillowcase. It looks like iron burned the fabric but it really didn't. I don't know why it left the imprint.)

Cutting out the letters was the toughest part of this project. I didn't think of using a sort of curly font and how annoying it would be when it was time to cut it out. See, if I had my Cricut hooked up right now I would have just used that but the office is still kind of in shambles.

Using a foam brush I spread some paint out over the letters.

When it was dried  I used a sharp blade to pull up the letters.

I did have to clean up a couple small areas but all in all I'm happy with how it turned out!

I hot glued it to a piece of cardboard cut to the right size.

And embellished it a little bit. I had my heart set on a rainbow where this little guy is but my daughter, Laura, insisted on the leprechaun.

I got these little foam stickers an the dollar section at Joann.

I set it up on my display/buffet in my dining room and added a few green touches...

Some gold coins in a pretty green pedestal bowl.

A big green vase and dollar store hurricanes with some dollar store green glass pebbles...

And I've got a nice little St. Patty's Day vignette!

I'm still working on a St. Patrick's Day wreath. I've got some supplies but I just haven't figured out yet what incarnation I want it to take on.  I also considered doing a garland but I'm kind of tired of garlands for now. I'm sure I'll end up doing one for Easter anyway :)

Do you observe St. Patty's Day? Do you decorate for it?  I would love to hear some traditions other than my own.

I've got another bedroom project I've been working on that I'll be posting within the next couple days. I'm really excited about this one and can't wait to show you!