St. Patrick’s Day Garland

Once upon a time, foil paper doilies like these were all the rage when it came to seasonal decorating. I can distinctly remember red foil hearts for Valentine’s Day, gold foil bells for Christmas, and yes- green foil shamrocks for St. Patrick’s Day. So, when I stumbled upon this vintage pack of shamrock doilies, I decided to turn a few of them into a St. Patrick’s Day garland for our mantel.

I don’t know why I loved these so much when I was a little girl. But I truly thought they were BEAUTIFUL, especially the red and pink heart versions. And peeling them apart was weirdly satisfying, as well. But, anyway…back to the task at hand.

My garland idea was pretty simplistic- I’d string some of the shamrock doilies across the mantel, interspersed with a rainbow of yarn balls. And I’d source the yarn from Creative Reuse Centers to help keep this project extra thrifty and sustainable.

With a little help from Pixie, as you can see. She can’t help herself when she sees me gathering balls of yarn!

So, let me show you what I created. Especially since it’s super simple, comes together in no time, and cost only a few dollars to make.

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Crafting a St. Patrick’s Day Garland

My theme for this garland was all things rainbow and St. Patrick’s Day. That meant I’d focus on gold and green, with pops of all the other rainbow colors. First, I needed a base for the garland- something everything else would be attached to. So, I went into my stash and used some metallic gold cord that I had leftover from this milk glass vase project. Thankfully, I had some pale masking tape that I used to hold it in place.

Next, I needed to attach the shamrock paper doilies. But they were a little thin and potentially floppy just by themselves. So, I cut out circles of thin cardboard (from a box of LaCroix waters) and glued them to the back of the doilies. Then, I simply taped the shamrocks to the cord with the same roll of masking tape.

I started with the center shamrock, taping him to the lowest point in the draped cord. From there, I spaced them out as evenly as I could without measuring.

And yes, I could have squeezed more doilies into this St. Patrick’s Day garland. But I planned on adding rainbow pompoms in between each one, so I decided to leave plenty of space between them.

Next, I turned to my stash of leftover yarn from my local Creative Reuse Center (Upcycle Arts). Ultimately, I needed six pompoms for the garland, so I started with the red yarn. I also gathered a piece of scrap cardboard and my scissors, too.

Since I wanted pompoms that were approximately 1.5″ in diameter, I cut out a piece of cardboard that was 2″ wide. Next, I wrapped the yarn around and around the cardboard template.

These always take more yarn than I expect. So I wrapped and wrapped until I had a healthy mound of yarn. Then, I carefully slipped it off the cardboard and tied a knot around the center, forming two half moons of loops.

After that, I cut through each set of loops and proceeded to trim the pom pom all around to make it as even and full as possible.

Finally, when I was completely satisfied, the first of my St. Patrick’s Day garland pompoms was done. Note that I very purposefully left two long tails, which is important.

Now I just needed to do the same with five additional colors!

St. Patrick’s Day Garland with Shamrock Doilies

Here’s why those two long tails are important. I used them to tie each pompom onto the garland cord, and then trimmed the tails to blend into the rest of the pom.

But that was all there was to my DIY St. Patrick’s Day garland! I’d also found some rainbow ribbon the craft thrift store and added colorful bows to each end. And I further decorated our mantel with a collection of thrifted vases and some Springtime florals- mostly daffodils and forsythia. I also incorporated a couple of pieces of my mom’s vintage Belleek china that I’d inherited. She always used it in the weeks leading up to St. Patrick’s Day, so I’m doing the same thing.

Can you believe I even found that orange glass vase? I feel like I need to figure out a way to use it during the Fall, too. But anyway, that’s all there was to it- yes, it’s simple. But our mantel definitely feels bright, cheerful, and very Spring-like after such a cold and snowy winter. Besides, this gave me an excuse to (1) thrift for green glass (and orange!) vases, and (2) find another way to repurpose leftover yarn. No need to twist my arm…I’m happy to do both!

And if you’re interested in a few more upcycling ideas for DIY St. Patrick’s Day decorations, then definitely check out this collection of projects. Maybe you’ll “luck” out and get showered with Celtic inspiration…

May the (upcycling) luck of the Irish be with you- and Craft On!

S

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