Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Ribbon Shamrock

So, if you follow my blog, you know that just before Valentine's Day I found a really ugly shelf that had hearts on it and took the hearts off to use for 3 different projects.  Well.....when I was in Arizona, my friend Judy and I went to a Salvation Army Store looking for a few upcycle projects and guess what I found?  Yep, more hearts.
Actually, there were 5 of them and they were all linked together by little eye hooks.  They were pink and had flowers and words painted on them.  So not my style.  I bought them anyway thinking, "Well, this will be an upcycle for next year."  Then suddenly it was time to make St. Patrick's Day projects and these little babies came to mind.  My friend Judy painted them for me at about 6 o'clock one morning.

Isn't she a good friend???!!!
Well, we had other fun projects to work on but I brought these hearts home and finished them up.  Here's what I made:

Much better right?  I'll tell you what I did.  I gathered some supplies like my E-6000 adhesive, some ribbons, some buttons and a few other things:

I wanted to connect the hearts in an easy way, so I thought I'd use the E-6000.  I laid them out and quickly realized that just a slight change in the way I connected them altered the look of the shamrock shape.  I wanted it to be just right, so I used a little trick I learned a long time ago.  The original trick was done with lipstick, but I'm going to use nail polish.  What you do, is put a dot of nail polish on your first piece and while it's still wet, match your second piece to it so that the polish from the first piece touches the second piece and leaves a "polish dot" on it.  Then you can do the same thing with the next one and everything lines up the way you want.  Then just put your glue where the nail polish dots are and fasten them together.  Did that make sense?  Here's a picture to help:

After I glued the hearts together, I got a little nervous about the integrity of the E-6000 because there was such little contact on the curved pieces.  They probably would have been fine, but I decided to reinforce them from the back with a couple of mini Popsicle sticks and some Tacky Glue:

Then I added a brass button to the front to hide where they all connected in the middle. I also added a little piece of gold cording through the top eye hook to hang it from.
Next, I turned it over and added some ribbons using Tacky Glue once again:
My Salvation Army Store heart project is finished and other than the hearts, I had everything I needed to make this project.  It was kind of fun to make and will be easy to store after St. Patrick's Day is over.
Special thanks to my good friend Judy and her metallic green peridot paint! 
(Not to mention her willingness to take me to the Salvation Army while on vacation!!)

Linking Up:

13 comments:

  1. Lovely shamrock - so ingenuous! The minty color also is a darling. Thank you for visiting my spring vignette tutorial :)

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  2. This is such a cute idea!! Thanks again for stopping by my blog! :)

    -Bonnie @ Revolutionaries
    www.revolutionariesblog.com

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  3. How very smart of you! Turned out great. I hope you'll link up to my St. Patty's Day Project Parade.

    http://www.itsybitsypaperblog.com/2012/03/st-pattys-day-project-parade-linky.html

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  4. So cute! I love that you used something over not once but twice. So smart. Thank you for sharing at Whimsy Wednesday over at The NY Melrose Family.

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  5. totally adorable Danni! thanks for the fun idea!
    Enjoy your day!

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  6. Aren't you so clever?? :) I love this! I need to get started on some St. Patty's day projects. I'm so behind!!

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  7. The hearts make such a cute shamrock. <3 Thanks SO much for linking up!
    igottacreate.blogspot.com
    "Kiss Me I'm Irish" linky party now open!

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  8. What a great idea. I found you on Twigg Studios and I am a new follower. I need to find me some hearts.

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  9. Love it! So smart! I love reusing things!

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  10. How smart! I really like how you turned the hearts into a shamrock so fun! Thanks for sharing with us at Link It Up Thursday.

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  11. This is such a great idea! And yay for friends like Judy, I couldn't do anything at 6 o'clock in the morning. And thank lipstick/nail polish tip is such a great one, I'm definitely going to remember that!

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  12. Fantastic as always! Great way to upcycle those hearts. Thanks for sharing at Manic Monday!
    -Melissa

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  13. Thank you for linking up! Just wanted to let you know that you were featured on my blog this week! Stop on by and pick up a "You've Been Featured" button! :D
    http://livingthecreativelife.blogspot.com/2012/03/meet-someone-new-monday-week-3.html

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