Pin on a St Patricks Brooch
and Dress Up the Holiday

(click here for a larger St Patricks Brooch image)

Our friend Lisa Pace wrote a wonderful book
titled Delight in the Details (2010), in which she demonstrates more than 40 vintage-inspired embellishment techniques. Her "Painted Ribbon Bloom" (page 104) was so lovely and simple, we decided to adapt it as a wearable embellishment. Let this be a lesson: If you can make it green, you can probably make it for St. Patrick's Day.

The technique we added to Lisa's craft involved the miracle of double-sided adhesive paper. It has become our preferred "glue" for glitter projects. In this case, the shamrock medallion is made by applying the adhesive paper to cardboard, cutting a circle, sticking on the shamrock image, and sprinkling it with glitter. You couldn't achieve this kind of result with glue!

This simple St. Patrick's Brooch is elegant and versatile. Like Lisa, you may choose to use it as an embellishment for a card (see Tips) or scrapbook page. Or just pin it on your jacket, scarf or hat, and proudly proclaim being pseudo-Irish!

Materials for our St Patricks Brooch

• Vintage images and templates (FREE PDF download), printed on glossy photo paper.
  
• Lightweight cardboard, like cereal boxes.
  
• Ribbon, 5/8" wide, 20" of green grosgrain and 20" of metallic gold.
• Ultra fine glitter, gold.
• Double-sided adhesive paper (we used Grafix® Double Tack).
• Foam mounting squares.
• Decorative-edge scissors.
• Detail or manicure scissors.
• Pin back, self-stick.
• Hole punch, 1/8", or awl for poking a hole in the ribbon and cardboard.

Instructions

1. Cut three 6" lengths of green ribbon and three 6" lengths of gold ribbon. Mark the center of each length at 3" with a pen dot.
   
2. Fold both ends of one green ribbon in to the marked dot, overlapping the ends by 1/2". With a 1/8" hole punch or an awl, punch a hole through the three layers of ribbon at the marked dot. Insert a brad through the hole. Repeat with the remaining green ribbons, and again with the gold ribbons. You should have a stack of six ribbon loops, green then gold, skewered on a single brad.
   
3. Arrange the ribbon loops to radiate evenly, showing alternating colors from the front, green on top and gold on the bottom (see template on download sheet).
4. Cut a 1 1/2" diameter circle from the cardboard (a template is provided), and punch a hole in the center. Insert the brad and bend the points to attach it tightly to the ribbon rosette. This is the back of your St. Patricks Brooch.
   
5. Peel the paper film off of one side of a 3" x 3" piece of double-sided adhesive paper and adhere it to a piece of cardboard. Trace a 2" circle in the middle and cut it out with decorative-edged scissors.
   
6. Cut out the shamrock vintage image with fine detail scissors. Peel off the remaining protective paper from the circle and place the shamrock image in the center, pressing down firmly. Over some scrap paper, sprinkle ultra fine gold glitter on the exposed adhesive paper around the shamrock image, and shake of the excess.
7. Affix a double-sided adhesive foam mounting square to the center of your ribbon rosette, over the head of the brad. Remove the protective paper from the foam mounting square, and adhere the glittered circle with the shamrock image to the center of the ribbon rosette.
8. Stick a self-adhesive pin back to the back of your brooch.
9. Pin your St. Patrick's Brooch to your jacket, and prepare to be kissed.

Tips

• Let's face it - guys can't often wear a glittered brooch in mixed company. However, guys can send a St Patrick's Day card and never raise an eyebrow. We folded a bunch of 5" x 7" cards from pewter card stock. With some double-sided adhesive paper, we created a narrow glitter-lace strip down the center of each card. We attached a St Patricks Brooch to the front. This is a "lucky charm" of a card!