DIY Ombre Shamrock

I find it very hard to find St. Patrick’s Day decorations that I like. They are all plastic, or paper and do NOT last. Over the years I have set out to make some for myself! This is my most recent and it is probably my most favorite at the moment. Follow along to see how I finished it.

Supplies:

• Wood shims shamrock
• Various shades of green, yellow green, and yellow paint.
• Black paint (optional)
• +/- 10 sponge brushes
• Mod Podge
• Various scrapbook papers to match your paint colors
• Small paint brushes
• Green glitter
• Gold glitter

Step 1: Select your Ombre color scheme.

When I began this project, I knew I wanted the darker to be at the bottom while the top was the lighter. I wanted gold at the top, kind of like a pot of gold. And of course it wouldn’t be something I made if it didn’t have glitter.

Count the amount of strips of wood you have. Now you know how many colors of paint you are going to need. Begin laying out your paint colors in order of darkest to lightest. I used black as my darkest color. You can even add black or white to darken or lighten a color if you don’t have enough.

Once you know the order of your paint colors you are going to paint it.

Step 2: Painting your Ombre Shamrock

I started with the darkest color and painted my way up. Using a sponge brush and the darkest color you have chosen, paint the first strip of wood on your shamrock. Paint 1 thin coat and set your brush aside, you will paint a second coat later.

Next, choose the next darkest color and paint the strip above the one you just painted. Continue painting the strips until you use the lightest color on the top of your shamrock.

Now you are going to go back through and paint a second coat on all the strips of wood.

After you have painted all the strips of wood with 2-3 thin coats, rinse your brushes and let the shamrock dry.

Step 3: Antiquing your Ombre Shamrock

When the paint on your shamrock has completely dried, you are going to antique it by sanding it. Sand down the edges of the shamrock as well as the edges of the strips of wood. The more you sand, the more paint you remove and then more antiqued it will look.

Brush off the sawdust from sanding. Now you are going to stain the entire shamrock, using the Provincial wood stain. Here is a technique I use to stain all my projects. After staining, let your shamrock dry completely before moving to the next step.

Step 4: Applying coordinating paper to your Ombre Shamrock

Cut the coordinating scrapbook paper into strips that are as wide as the shims you used for your project. Mine were about 1.25″ wide.

Decide the placement of the different pieces of paper and cut the paper lengths down to size.

Using a sponge brush and a little bit of Mod Podge, brush a thin layer of Mod Podge on the strip of wood you want to cover. Just use a thin amount of Mod Podge because if you use too much, it will spill out the edges and could cause the paper to ripple.

You DO NOT want to put Mod Podge on top of the paper. This will cause the paper to be darker than it actually is and it will also cause the paper to ripple.

Set aside to dry.

Step 5: Glitterizing your Ombre Shamrock

Make sure your Mod Podge is COMPLETELY dry before you glitterize your shamrock otherwise it will make your paper ripple.

Using Mod Podge and glitter, begin painting the glitter medium onto your shamrock in the designated places. I used green on one of the lower strips of paper and I also used gold at the top of my shamrock.

Let your glitter medium dry before standing your ombre shamrock up for display.

 You have now finished making your own St. Patrick’s Day Ombre Shamrock. Lucky you! Display it in a place where others will see it and ask where you got it, then you can proudly say, I MADE IT!

…and that’s how you Brand it!