St. Patrick's Day Decor

A few weeks ago, I mentioned in a post that the selection of St. Patrick's Day decor in the local area is abysmal. For several weeks in a row, my boyfriend and I searched high and low for something -- anything! -- that wasn't a gaudy plastic dollar store wonder. We found nothing. Despite the fact that this type of seasonal decor does exist at major chains across the United States, it can't be found here for reasons known only to marketing gurus. 

And so we were left to our own devices.

I purchased a 15" wooden round from Michaels. It took a few days to decide on how to finish it. Paint? Stain? White? Orange? Eventually I decided on a watered-down acrylic paint in "happy green" (or as I like to call it, "Janice Lime"). I brushed it on with a foam applicator and wiped it back off with a paper towel.

Now, originally I wanted to make a sign that would hang near my coffee station, so I was hoping to find a cutting design for a St. Patrick's coffee shop. I did, but I didn't like the fonts that were used or the overall look of the design and I just didn't have the energy to create my own. Instead, I grabbed the one for St. Patrick's Brewing Company (available in Megan Hardy Designs here). I pulled a piece of green permanent vinyl from my stash and cut the sign as large as my 12" piece would allow. Mercifully, it was easy to weed away the excess vinyl, revealing the design. 

Strangely, there was nothing in the centre of the beer bottle. My eye kept returning to it, feeling it looked odd. So back to the computer I went. I pulled one of the shamrocks from the original design, resized it, and cut it on a corner scrap of vinyl. I added it to the larger design and decided it was a definite improvement. A piece of transfer tape and about a dozen attempts at positioning it on the circle, using a ruler to try to centre it, and I was done!

Ta-da! 

Now, I still look at this and think it needs a little something more. Maybe a rope border around the edge, for example, to set it off. Though I've strolled the craft supply sections of multiple stores, nothing has spoken to me yet. But until then, this is my St. Patrick's Day door hanger. 

I also purchased a few items to spruce up my space from Temu, including a green shamrock table runner, a fabric table runner with a leprechaun on a truck, and a set of shamrock mini lights. And, of course, our St. Patrick's Day gnome that we made a few years ago is out. This year, instead of hanging on the door, he's sitting on my china cabinet. Finally, there's the little chocolate leprechaun house that I made last week. 

It's feeling festive here. And that's just what we need at this time of the year -- as Fool's Spring fades once more to Winter's last hurrah.

See you next week for this year's Easter eggs!