St Patrick's Day Shamrock Doll -Home Decor

Happy St Patrick's Day!

I'll start my post with an Irish Blessing:  

May the road rise to meet you, 
may the wind be ever at your back. 
May the sun shine warm upon your face, 
and the rains fall soft upon your fields. 
And until we meet again, 
may God hold you in the palm of his hand.

I'm celebrating St Patrick's Day with home decor and sweet dolls from Julie Nutting.  This darling wood shamrock is gussied up with some of my papercrafting favorites; Prima's world famous Julie Nutting Dolls Stamps, Maja Design paper from Sweden, shamrock shape from JoAnn's Fabric FabLab,  and gorgeous blooms from Petaloo.  (You can this piece in my ETSY shop find it right here. )

I added the Irish blessing from this post to the back of my decor piece.  I thought it would be a nice subtle place to add it.  I didn't want to totally clutter the front.  

Truth time confession....what goes on behind the scenes at my house.....

OK- actually when I added it to the front, my husband looked at the piece and said my shamrock shape now looked like a green tooth because I was hiding too much of the shamrock shape.  A giant green molar! That's what my "artistic" husband said. 

 I walked away muttering things like, "he has absolutely no sense of creativity", "what does he know", and simply "ugh blah grrrrrrr".  

Warning...never ask for advice and opinions unless you are prepared to accept what you hear.  It can be harsh. 

Soooooo I went back to my craft table and immediately moved the Irish Blessing to the back because he was sort of right.  

I'm only gonna admit to him being "sort of" right - because it didn't look like a molar for heaven's sake.   

Moving on.

It's fabulous to celebrate using favorites.  In fact, the paper I chose from Maja Design is also my favorite collection, FIKA.  I am  drawn to the purple and green combination.  

Here are some close ups of the Petaloo flowers I chose to adorn my creation:

Petaloo - Darjeeling collection - Garden Rosettes in Green 

Petaloo -Chantilly Collection -Velvet Hydrangeas in Maroon  

In this photo, my darling is holding the floral berries from

Petaloo - Burlap and Canvas Collection - Burlap Picks - Teal .  I didn't use the leaves from the floral pick, but I stole to berries from the pick to use as embellishments.   I'll save the teal leaves for a different project.  

Here are some additional close ups of my festive home decor piece. with the banner I made also using Maja Design papers. 

The wood shamrock shape is from JoAnn Fabrics's FabLab collection for St Pat's Craft.  It comes in natural wood and I painted it with Prima Marketing - Chalkboard Paint-Golden Olive.  After it dried, I gave it a simple quick sanding.  

My doll Julie Nutting doll is Candie.  I selected Candie because in my mind, she resembles an Irish dancer.  

I stamped her dress several times and layered it for a full ruffled effect.  

When I use dolls for home decor projects, I like to make them so they have some durability.  

The actual doll form ( without clothing) is 3 layers thick - 2 layers of watercolor paper so I could use watercolors for her hair and shoes...plus an inside layer of thin cardboard or chipboard for support. 

I also sandwich something very durable for extra support in the vulnerable areas of the doll such as the neck and the legs.  I don't want them to eventually bend and crease.  I tend to use a small piece of wood skewer for this, but a piece of wire or toothpick will also work (and again with the tooth theme...ugh).

Here is another image of the Irish Blessing found ON THE BACK of the shamrock.  

and a much better image: 

A final last view of the completed piece with the Irish Blessing located in it's final resting place.  Haaaaaa.  

Find this in my ETSY shop

This piece is available in my ETSY shop while it lasts.  

You can find it right here.  Some details - the finished piece with doll is 7"x7"x2.5" with the decor added.   The actual shamrock shape is 5"x5"x1.5"

This is a home decor piece that stands securely on it's own.  You can place it on a shelf, on a dresser or use as a tabletop centerpiece.  It does not say St Patrick's Day on it, so you can leave up all year round.  

You can follow Petaloo on their blog right here.  You can also follow them on Facebook right here and never miss a thing.  

Products: 
Petaloo - Darjeeling collection - Garden Rosettes in Green 1491-107
Petaloo -Chantilly Collection -Velvet Hydrangeas in Maroon  1272-182
Petaloo - Burlap and Canvas Collection - Burlap Picks - Teal 1204-205
Prima Julie Nutting Doll Stamp - Candie doll 910792
Maja Design paper - FIKA collection 
Prima Marketing - Chalkboard Paint-Golden Olive
JoAnn's Fab Lab Wooden Shamrock 1529-3343