Bling Bling Shamrock Pin!

Ok, so since it's a few minutes after midnight, technically it's St. Patrick's Day! wooohoo!!

Honestly, I have no clue how the holiday started, or why we actually celebrate... but it's a GREAT holiday!!

I get to wear green! I don't look good in green... but i love wearing it! I don't get to wear it often, so when St. Patty's Day comes along... i milk it... big time...

like sparkly green bowler hat with a green Christmas bow attached...

like green ribbons in my hair...

like green Mardi Gras beads around my neck...

I know... I'm awesome... LOL!!

Anyway, so I found a few places online were people were making Shamrock Pins, or buttons... and they looked SUPER cute, so I said to myself "Self... we're going to make some of these..." and so we did... I mean... I did...

whatever.

All I needed was:
1 Green Pipe Cleaner
1 Pin Back (or whatever those things are called)
1 Rhinestone (you can barely see it on my crimper)
a Jewelry Crimper
a Glue Gun

First, you are going to play with your pipe cleaner:

Bend it, shape it, twist it against itself. whatever you gotta do to get a leaf shape, DO IT! (this is where all the websites lost me... I know there is some magical, graceful way of making leaves... I just couldn't grasp it, I guess...)

When you have one leaf, do a second, then a third - and if you must, a fourth if you are doing the elusive 4-leaf clover!



After you have your leaves "built," shape them.


After I shaped my leaves, I used my crimper to crimp the wire inside the pipe cleaner against itself. I normally crimp one direction, then flip over my piece, and crimp again - making my "crimping" an X.


After I crimp, I shape my stem, and depending on the length you want, cut the stem.


Then, I grab my pin back. These that I bought had a foam sticker on it, so i peeled that off, then hot glued it to the shamrock, trying to be careful to make sure the pin back didn't peek through where my leaves were.


Then, I flipped it back over, and hot glued a rhinestone in the center! Viola! Isn't she purty?? I made one for Hubby, minus the rhinestone. lol! He doesn't want to get pinched tomorrow!

Anyway, If you guys get a chance to throw one of these together for tomorrow... err... today... i mean, after i fall asleep... err... never mind! Go make one!!