By Candie Cooper - See more crafts by Candie on her blog, Candie Cooper's Journal

Avoid being pinched this St. Patty's day with these lucky pins. The shamrocks are made with fingerprints!

Paint a wood disc green and leave to dry. Follow up with a cluster of fingerprints in metallic Folk Art paint.

Outline the fingerprints in gold permanent marker to give it a clover shape. More doodles can be added to the surface as well with markers.

Adhere a gem to the center of the clover with Mod Podge. Apply a coat of Dimensional Magic. Laying the piece on a bed of rice keeps it level while it dries.

Once dry, the Dimensional Magic leaves a shiny seal over the marker and paint.

Glue a pin back onto the wood piece. To make it really jazzy add ribbons and trim!  

Congrats you have made it to the half way mark of your work/school week. We hope you have been able to spend sometime crafting this week, but if not no worries we have just the project guaranteed to inspire you. Feast your eyes on these DIY vintage photo stacking blocks. How awesome are they? Mackenzie from Cheerios and Lattes created this for her two little boys. To make this fun project Mackenzie used a few supplies including our new Mod Podge Photo transfer medium. This product is a hot craft item right now, and all over Pinterest you can see many people photo transferring on crafty projects. If you are in love with these blocks as much as we are, then head on over to her blog to see step by step how she created them. Enjoy!

Materials Needed

Mod Podge Photo Transferring Medium

Mod Podge Gloss

3 (2 inch) wooden blocks from your local craft store

Camera

Computer

Printer

Paintbrush

Small Sponge

Can you believe the month of February is almost over? The first two months of the year are nearly done. With winter coming to a close, that means spring is upon us. Get a jump start on some cute spring projects, like these Styrofoam flowers and butterfly. Kindra Boroff designed this project. It is a pretty and easy to make bouquet of flowers and spring critters. This spring craft is a great one for kids to help create. Apple Barrel paint and Styrofoam go together like peanut butter and jelly. All the supplies you'll need, are below along with their instructions. Enjoy!

PLAID Supplies

·       Apple Barrel ® Colors - Hot Pink, 2 oz.

·       Apple Barrel ® Colors - Turquoise, 2 oz.

·       Apple Barrel ® Colors - White, 2 oz.

·       Apple Barrel ® Colors - Black, 2 oz.

·       Apple Barrel ® Colors - Leaf Green, 2 oz.

·       Apple Barrel ® Colors - Canary Yellow, 2 oz.

·       Plaid ® Brush Sets - Learn-to-Paint - Brush Set with DVD

Other Supplies

Styrofoam –variety egg shape pack
Wood hearts
24 gauge wire
Black seed beads
1” half wood ball
2- 2” teardrop wood shapes
2- 1 ½” teardrops wood shapes
4-1” oval wood shapes
Green & white gingham fabric
2 ½” terra cotta pot
Dowel rod
Spanish moss
Hot glue
Knife
Toothpicks
Satin sealer.

Instructions

1. Cut three small foam eggs in half and basecoat with Turquoise.

2. Using the end of a brush handle and White, add polka dots to the foam as shown. Paint the half wood ball with Canary Yellow. When dry hot glue the Turquoise petals to the ball as shown. 

3. Mix Turquoise and White together to create a light blue and basecoat the terra cotta pot. Allow to dry and seal with the satin sealer.

4. Shape one large egg to make the butterfly body and paint with the light blue mixture.

5. Cut the fabric to cover the outside edge, hot glue around the pot and fold the rest inside the pot. Push foam into the pot leaving a ½” for the Spanish moss. Hot glue moss to the top of the foam as shown.

6. Cut the dowel rod to 8”for the butterfly and 6” for the small flower. Basecoat with Leaf Green.

7. Mix Hot Pink and White to create a light pink and paint the wood hearts. Paint the 2” teardrops with Hot Pink; Paint the 1 ½” teardrops with Canary Yellow; Paint the 1” ovals with Turquoise.

8. Insert the hearts into the sides of the butterfly body to create wings, hot glue if needed. Hot glue the painted shapes to the wings as shown.

9. Using the end of a brush handle and White, paint polka dots to the wings.

10. Paint Turquoise stripes to the body of the butterfly. Using Black and a liner brush paint the eyes and mouth.

11. Bead the seed beads onto the wire to create 3” antennas and stick into the foam.

12. Hot glue the flower to the 6” dowel rod and the butterfly to the 8” dowel rod. Insert into the flower pot.