I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I’m a sucker for any sort of themed day or holiday. With Valentine’s Day (literally) right around the corner, I’m already starting to think about what’s next… St Patrick’s Day!
One downside to all these holidays is that sometimes the decorations can get pretty expensive, especially if you’re the one hosting the party. Today’s post brings you 4 different and affordable DIYs to take your St Patty’s bar cart from ordinary to extraordinary! (Too cheesy?)
Note: since there are 4 DIYs in this post, it is an image-heavy post.
The great thing about these DIYs is that if you’re an avid Cricut crafter like I am, you probably already have a lot of these supplies laying around from other projects – cardstock and adhesive foil or vinyl!
The 4 DIYs we’ll cover in this post are:
- Paper shamrock background/banners
- Paper shamrock ‘fascinators’ or charms for your straws
- Shamrock coasters made from chipboard
- Gold shamrock drink-ware (in this case I made highball glasses, but you could do this one on beer glasses, wine glasses, etc.)
Here’s what you’ll need:
- Cricut Maker (Cricut.com / Amazon.ca)
- Cricut essential tools
- Cutting mat
- Adhesive foil or vinyl, in the colour of your choice (I used matte gold adhesive foil)
- Cardstock, in assorted greens
- Chipboard
- Knife blade and regular blade
- 4 Highball glasses (I got mine from the dollar store, but Amazon has some as well.)
- Paper straws
- Glue or rubber cement
- Masking tape
Paper shamrock banner:
Step 1: Use a light-grip cutting mat and place your cardstock onto the mat. Cricut Design space, start a new project and search for a shamrock image. Resize shamrock and so that it is 2″ inches. Duplicate the shamrock design 24 times (or more if necessary).
Step 2: Because we are going to be doing multiple cuts on different shades of green and white, so set your “project copies” to the number of colours you have. E.g. if I have 3 greens and 1 white, I would set it to 4.
Step 3: Get your mats ready and start cutting! Once the cuts are done, remove the excess material from the mat and then the shamrocks.
Step 4: Cut some string and tape them to it. Be sure to set some aside for the straws!
Shamrock straw paper ‘charms’:
Step 1: Using the leftover paper shamrocks from the banners, sandwich the paper straw between two shamrocks and glue the edges together, this way you can slip them right off if you’re using re-usable straws. If you’re using paper straws, you can recycle the entire straw.
Shamrock coasters:
I was really excited to make these because it was my first time experimenting with chipboard! I ended up watching a couple different videos on using chipboard with your Cricut, and I found this one from their official YouTube channel and this one from another craft blogger to be super helpful.
Step 1: Place the chipboard on a strong-grip cutting mat and secure the edges with masking tape. Switch out the regular cutting blade for the knife blade. Slide all of the white rings all the way over to the right side of the bar (as seen in the first photo).
Step 2: Calibrate your knife blade following the prompts on your screen before you begin cutting so that you have the most accurate cut possible. Make sure you do this every time you start a new cut as well – I learned this one the hard way when I didn’t make the coasters large enough the first round.
Step 3: Using the same shamrock design from the first project, resize the shamrock so it is around 5″. Click on “make it” and load the mat into your Cricut.
Step 4: Select chipboard as your material and start cutting! Once the cut is done, you can either leave them as is for a more natural look like I did, or you can paint them or use a sealant for a longer-wear.
Because chipboard is a thick material, it will take several passes before the cut is complete. Cutting 4 coasters took me roughly 25-30 minutes.
The nice thing about this is that if you’re making some of the other DIYs in this post, now is a great time to assemble the backdrop, glue the shamrock pieces, or to complete the final touches to your shamrock glasses (instructions are below).
Be sure to keep an eye on your cut though – if you notice any of the more detailed areas (like the sharp edges where the stem connects to the clover leaves) starting to pop up you carefully place a strip of masking tape overtop to keep it secure so that your cut remains accurate and that a lose piece doesn’t accidentally get sliced in half. If you’re not entirely sure what I mean by this, the second video I shared above covers this.
Shamrock glasses:
How cute are these? The great thing about these glasses is that if you use temporary vinyl or adhesive foil, you can just peal the designs right off and re-use the glasses for another DIY or holiday! (Maybe hearts for Valentine’s Day?)
Step 1: Using the same shamrock design, we’re going to resize it so that it’s around 1 to 1.5 cm. Duplicate the design several times since we are going to be using around 10 shamrocks per glass.
Step 2: Using a standard-grip cutting mat, place your adhesive foil or vinyl down and smooth out any air bubbles. Load the mat, select your material and follow the prompts on in Design Space to start cutting.
Step 3: Once your cut is done, remove the excess material from the sheet of vinyl/adhesive foil. Wash your glasses and make sure they are completely dry before you stick the shamrocks on them. Because they are so small and simple, you don’t need transfer paper for this one.
Next, it’s time to assemble your drink station, invite your friends over and enjoy!
I chose to make multiple string banners and decided to hang them vertically to make a really cool backdrop for my photos. You could do this, or tie the ends of the string banners together to create one large, layered banner that you could hang horizontally or attach to a bar cart if you have one.
Happy crafting! You can check out my other Cricut DIYs here.
This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Cricut. While I may have received compensation and/or product mentioned in this post, the opinions and text are all mine. This post also contains affiliate links.
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