I WAS GIVEN A ST. PATRICK'S DAY CHALLENGE!

So just as I was about to be finished with all of my St. Patrick's Day projects and do a little post on some small projects I've done, my package arrived in the mail from Donna at Distressed Donna Down Home.  

 Remember last week when she sent me a beautiful handmade post card warning me that the St. Pat's were coming and I didn't really know what that meant?  Normally a package from Donna is a sheer delight!  But, they are not usually preceded by a warning!  Now I know why!  It all looked innocent enough.... tied up in a pretty little bundle, wrapped in tissue paper with a hand stamped tag on the front.....

 Here's what that tag says......

  Hmmmmm....a craft challenge.  That was new to me and I am not a girl to back down from a challenge.  Let's take a look at the materials inside.....

 5 cute St. Patrick's post cards, 3 Shamrock tags and 1 piece of blue-green ribbon, plus a lot of green tissue paper.  I decided right from the start to make one project using all of it. Probably in hindsight, I would do it differently now, but, I had a couple of hours to spare and thought I would just get after it.
I decided on a vertical banner. .

Now I don't mind telling you that two things in this package drove me crazy....
This post card....

(Really...what is that girl doing with a giant shamrock and a pig??!!)  She was off center and the colors didn't match anything else in the package, and neither did that funky bluegreen ribbon.  It was maddening for me.  I'm a girl who likes things to match and balance.  But...the challenge was to use it all and so I did....I made this little Irish Banner....

Here's a quick run down, just incase you think I didn't use it all, Donna!  

• I trimmed the images out of the post cards. 
• Punched some gold circles out of the tags.
• Folded the tissue to use as a background.
• Fastened it all to the folded tissue using glue dots.
• Adhered the rest of the tags to the back side for support.
• Used one of the eyelets from a tag as a hanger for the top.
• Used the tag strings as a bottom piece and added some beads.
• Hung it up using that funky green ribbon at the top.         

It might not be my favorite  St. Patrick's decoration, but it was by far, the most fun!!  Thank you Donna, for a fun challenge! (And just so you know....I'll be using that funky blue-green ribbon for another project!)
Now, if anyone else wants to send me a package of fun stuff for a craft challenge, please do because I enjoyed doing this and it certainly made me think outside of the box!