While trying to think of a different, but still simple and quick, St. Patrick’s Day project, I remembered this post from How About Orange. That sparked the idea for today’s project: a big, funky shamrock pendant made from simple scraps of paper and glue.

The pendant is very simple to construct and only took about 45 minutes to make, start to finish. Not bad for a project that is unique, fun, and festive!

I love the designs featured on How About Orange, but I don’t own a Silhouette (or any other fancy cutter) and the paper pieces for these pendants need to be exactly the same for the pendant to look good. My scissor cutting skills are pretty great, but not good enough to cut exact shapes, even when using a template.

The common paper punch was my solution. They are inexpensive and give you an exact shape each time you punch. For the shamrock, I used a heart-shaped punch to create the leaves. I suggest a ¾” to 1” wide punch—this is a funky pendant; it needs to be bold.

You will need:

• green cardstock scraps in one or two shades
• a heart-shaped paper punch
• a small length of wire (about 1”)
• glue that dries clear

I used twelve layers of cardstock to make my pendant, based on the original pattern. For each leaf, I used two shades of green cardstock: 8 light green hearts and 4 dark green hearts for each. Punch 48 heart pieces total in your green(s) of choice.

Glue the layers of paper together with strong, clear-drying glue. I recommend Tombo Mono Aqua glue or Elmer’s CraftBond—both dry clear and hard, which is what you want for this project. Use a light hand while gluing, you want to glue to get all the way to the edges of your paper, but not beyond, otherwise you’ll have a mess to deal with.

Glue three of your leaf stacks and put them under a phone book or cans of soup to press them as they dry. I put the dark cardstock between the lighter, making each leaf a bit of a sandwich, if you will—I like the tone change, it adds interest to the pendant. See photo above.

For your fourth leaf, place the ends of a small length of wire between the middle layers of paper before pressing the leaf.

When your stacks are dry, glue the heart shapes together to make the shamrock, using glue at the points were the hearts touch.

Place your pendant on a chain or length of cord and wear it Saturday to avoid pinches!
 

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