st. patrick's day and hanging shamrocks

We were originally suppose to travel to Savannah for St. Patrick's Day (which was this past Monday as you likely know), but for various reasons, we decided to stay home.

Of course I dressed the kids in green for school. Yes, some people actually have to go to school on St. Patrick's Day! {In Savannah it is a huge holiday…and the population of the city usually doubles.}

Joseph wasn't happy about Hannah having his sunglasses. I posted the picture below on Instagram, and I'm still laughing about that face.

Hannah was upset she would miss the celebration, but I hooked up the laptop to the TV so we could stream the parade. She decided to change outfits. It was all good...

It was a cold and rainy day in Savannah, so it wasn't a bad year to miss. It was also a cold and rainy day in Sandersville...

I know St. Patrick's Day was Monday, but since it's still the same week, I won't consider this late…

I have, very randomly, been saving toilet paper tubes for a few weeks, thinking maybe there was something crafty I could do with them. Well, imagine my surprise when I receive a weekly Parents daily newsletter in my inbox with a shamrock craft, made from, yep, you guessed it - toilet paper tubes. I usually don't even read (or open) those newsletters, but the craft was the main photo and thus got my attention.

Here's what you need:

cardboard tubes
scissors
glue (I used Tacky glue)
green paint
paintbrush
fishing line

 1. Flatten the tubes and cut 1/2" rings. {For each shamrock, you will use 4 1/2" rings.}

2.  Cut through the rings and then bend and glue three to form hearts. These are your leaves. Fold the fourth to make a triangular shape. This is your stem. You may want to secure with a paper clip, as I did, to hold it together while it dries.

3. Glue a leaf on either side of the stem and then the third leaf to one of the other leaves.

4. Your shamrocks will look somewhat like this:

{No two things look exactly alike in nature, so don't worry about perfection.}

5. Paint them green! You can do all one color, as on the website, or you can mix it up. I did an ombre effect.

6. Tie them with fishing line and hang!

I linked mine together but you can hang them individually from the ceiling or a doorway or do however you want. Since I started this craft on Tuesday (after St. Patrick's Day), and finished it yesterday, I just strung mine up as a garland in the playroom. Next year, I might be more creative. For now, I'm calling it crafty garland: Irish edition.

{You can see the video tutorial here.}