Duct Tape Shamrock Craft For St. Patrick’s Day

As the kids have gotten older, the kinds of crafts that we do have needed to shift. For instance, the pipe cleaner rosary has long since past lost its enchantment… 😉 So, I would like to introduce you to (drum roll please…) the DUCT TAPE SHAMROCK! 😀 

Supplies Needed:

• Duct Tape
• Scissors
• Ruler (optional)
• Toothpicks (optional)

I’m going to recommend this craft for ages 10 and up. 9 and under can make the pipe cleaner shamrocks.

Why duct tape is an excellent crafting medium…

Lydia has been recently obsessed with making duct tape roses. I have never used duct tape as a crafting medium before… it honestly seemed silly to me. And expensive. But it’s actually pretty awesome! It’s very durable, and available in every bright color, and it has a very modern, plasticy look that is appealing to kids and teens. It’s also flexible and versatile and self sticking. So… I’m kinda loving the duct tape thing now! Plus, bonus points for being “cool”. And… I totally found colorful duct tape at the DOLLAR TREE! So yep, this is also a cheap craft. 🙂

At the Dollar Tree, I found the colorful duct tape in the tool section, not the craft section. Happy hunting! You can also get it at Wal-Mart in a variety of colors, and there is a lot more on the roll, so even though it’s more expensive, you’re getting more. I like the cheap stuff though because I can load up on more colors for the same money. And it honestly worked almost as well for crafting, and while I preferred the on-brand, Lydia preferred how the cheap stuff worked. It’s a little more stiff.

Ok, ok. Let’s get started. First, cut a piece of duct tape about 3 inches long.

Fold the bottom over just a little bit..

Then roll it into a tube. This makes your stem for the shamrock.

Set your stem to the side. For the leaves… petals…??? whatever the 3 shamrock thingies are… we started with pieces about 4 1/2 inches long. Turns out 4 inches is just fine.

Next, you’re going to fold the top down on itself, but leaving some sticky part hanging out at the bottom. Try to line up the edges and fold it without puckers. Don’t worry- this is actually the most difficult step. For reals.

Now, fold your piece of duct tape in half length wise with the sticky part facing OUT.

And then round the top 2 corners with your scissors. 

Now you have this! And you need to make 2 more…

So now you have 3! 🙂

So now you have all your pieces! Time to assemble your shamrock. This is the really fun part!

Fold your petal in half again with the sticky part out.

Then fold both of the sides up in half, and stick the sticky parts together. It’s kind of like a “W” fold if you can picture that. 

This is what gives the shamrock petals their nice 3 dimensional feel. Slick the duct tape down to stick it together. You should end up with a nice 3D heart shape.

Do this exact same thing to 1 MORE PETAL… but your middle petal needs the stem in it. So fold the 3rd petal around your stem.

Now you’re ready to stick it all together! Cut a thin strip of duct tape to attach the petals to the stem.

Hold the petals in place and wrap the duct tape around and around. If the bottom part of your petals is too long, you can trim them first.

That’s it! Here it is from the back.

These are so fun to make, it’s kind of addictive. Ours kept multiplying… lol

And of course… Lydia made a duct tape rose… lol

This holographic green tape came from the Dollar Tree…

If you want them to be able to poke into foam, you can shove toothpicks up the stem… or you could simply roll the duct tape around toothpicks to begin with. 😉

Then I took a little plastic pot from the Dollar Tree, and hot glued a styrofoam ball into it so I could stick the shamrocks in. And I painted the ball green on top.

And I made a St. Patrick’s day flower by hot gluing 5 of the shamrock “petals” around in a circle.

I also printed an adorable St. Patrick from Shining Light Dolls and stuck him on a skewer for the arrangement. Have ya’ll seen these dolls?! They’re so cute! Check out St. Patrick here.

I LOVE this little arrangement!!! Right now it’s in the middle of our living room. It’s so fun and colorful!

And we hot glued some on headbands from the Dollar Tree. The girls love them!

This craft would be a great pairing with my new Trinity Book for Catholic Kids! It’s not too late to download it for St. Patrick’s Day. 😉

*Note to Self* paint your fingernails before photographing your crafts…