St. Patrick's Day Decor

I know.  I know.  I'm really late, like 2 weeks late, in posting this.  I'm really sorry.  I had my cute items finished, but Spring Break got the better of me and I haven't posted in weeks.  So, while this is late, you get some ideas for next year.  I already posted my rag wreath, but I also made a plaque and some cute frames.  Here they are with their tutorials:

I have the lucky frames on my mantle and the plaque and subway art on my hearth.

First, I didn't make the subway art.  I found it through pinterest (I have a whole board dedicated to printables, many of which are free subway art).  I bought an 11x14* in frame from Walmart and I just change the subway art in it to suit the holiday or season.  I use Walmart's photo shop to print off my different subway arts and pick them up in store.  It is a cute easy way to decorate.  Here is a link to my pinboard containing printables and a link to eighteen25's blog which has a lot of cute free subway art, including the St. Patrick's day one I used.

Next, let's make a plaque.  It is based on the WWII poster of Keep Calm and Carry On.  You can find the story behind the poster here and the inspiration for my plaque here.  My inspiration is actually a printable, but I didn't like the color of green that was used, so I decided that I'd make one with my cameo and a piece of 12x12 mdf that I had lying around.  The one thing that I would change if I made it again would be to not make a square plaque but rather a rectangular one (I think it would look better and less crowded).

I got my board and placed it in a box atop newspaper.  I gathered my primer and the green paint that I wanted to use.

I primed it first and let it dry.

Then I started on my coats of green, waiting ten minutes between each one (I think I used 3 coats, maybe 4).

Here is the fully coated, dried plaque.

Next I cut my words and shamrock out of white vinyl using my cameo.

I applied the vinyl to the plaque and covered it with a coat of glossy modge podge and voila! a finished product.

The final project is the lucky frames.  I bought 5 unfinished frames at Michael's as well as the letters "L," "U," "C," "K," and "Y."  I painted each of the frames as described above, but with a darker shade of green.  While they were drying I traced each letter on a different piece of green or St. Patrick's Day scrapbook paper (I traced it flipped on the backside).  Next, I mod podged the paper onto the letters and let them dry.

Mod Podged Letters

The next part proved a little tricky for me.  I wanted to attach the letters to the frame, but the were two small to fit atop the frame and too big to fit inside the frame.  I wasn't sure what to do.  I left them sitting on my kitchen counter overnight so I could finish them the next morning.  Well, when I awoke the next morning, lo and behold the craft fairy (aka the hubby) had visited during the night and solved my dilemna by flipping the frames from vertical to horizontal.  Such an easy fix, which I hadn't even contemplated.  So, I pulled out my woodglue and afixed the letters to the frames.

Huh?  Who knew you could flip the direction of a frame?  Thanks Craft Fairy.

Finally, I put the letters atop my mantle in the correct order and they turned out super cute.

Completed frames.

*Edit: I originally posted that I bought an 8x17 in frame for my Subway art.  Well, that just doesn't make sense.  I fixed it to read: 11x14.  Oops!