Victorian Chenille Leprechaun St. Patrick's Day Pin

Whew, things here have been busy!

The sewing end of our business has really picked up here the last few months so I've been away from home quite a bit more than I had been in the past.  I'm very happy to have the business but man it really cuts into crafty time.

Anyway, I had planned on sharing this crafty idea with you last week so if you were so inclined you could purchase the supplies to make one or two in time for St. Patrick's Day.  I hope you'll either have what you need or still have time to find what you need.

I don't know if you've ever seen them or not but there is an old crafty technique for making ornaments from "Bumpy" Chenille that I decided I'd turn into a lapel pin for St. Patty's Day!  I have both new stems and some older white/glittery rolled chenille that I'll be using.

You'll need the following....

Computer Generated or Victorian (German) Scrap Heads (as seen below)
Chenille "Bump" Stems (the wavy kind)
Glue Dots
Shamrock or "Gold" Coin

Instructions:

1. Print out or gather desired face images you want to add to your pins.  I found this Leprechaun face on line that I ended up using.  I had a really neat vintage looking Leprechaun face picked out but of course now that I wanted to use it I can't remember where I found it.

2. From a desired color of chenille stem, cut one single bump section and cut one double bump section as shown.

3. Bend the double bump section in half.

4. Tuck the single bump piece in the bend of the double bump.

5. Now give the double bump stem a couple twists to secure the single and double together.  Give the "feet" a little bend and you've now got your Leprechaun body!

6. Trim the head plus a tab at the bottom from the cardstock.

7. Ink up the tab at the bottom so if any of it does happen to peek through it will blend with the rest of the pin.

8. Now use glue dots to secure it to your coin/shamrock as shown.

9. And use a couple more glue dots to secure the head/coin to the prepared chenille body.

10.  Glue on a pin back finding or use a straight pin to affix it to your lapel!

Now you're all set for the big GREEN day!!

These little gems take a fraction of time to make but are oh so very cute....

and

by making them yourself you'll save a lot of $'s!!

I've seen these little buggers sell for

$3.00 - $7.50 a piece on line!