Shamrock Hair Clips — 3 Ways

St. Patrick’s Day always sneaks up on me. We do a few fun things around here (corned beef and cabbage! Weird leprechaun pranks!), but it’s a pretty laid back holiday and not one we spend days preparing for or anything. So there have been times when, at 8pm March 16, I’ve realized that one of my poor kids had nothing green for the next morning and was doomed to a day of gleeful pinching and years of therapy.

Never again! I made these shamrock hair clips from stuff I mostly had already in my craft stash (along with a few simple supplies from I Love to Create). It took me less than an hour to make all three, and most took less than 10 minutes. Also — you can switch the hair clips out for pins if you’re making them for boys instead.

1.) Felt Heart Hair Clip

This was the easiest. I took a piece of green felt and cut it in the shape of a shamrock. Now. Here’s the thing. I’m a terrible drawer. I can’t even draw a shamrock. I know you just draw a few hearts next to each other and it makes a great shamrock. Except I can’t. Mine look like this:

Wha?? So I googled shamrock templates and just picked one I liked (this one).

I could have stopped with the felt cutout and had a lovely accessory, but I decided we needed a little bling and added some gold Tulip glitter paint (‘cuz of the leprechauns, see?) to our shamrock.

It looked white when I started but it dries all gold and sparkly.

I used metal alligator clips, because those seem to stay in my girls’ hair the best. I lined them with ribbon — it looks a little more finished and it makes the clips more comfy to wear. I ran the ribbon ends super-quickly through a candle flame:

which seals them up so they won’t fray. And then I just glued the ribbon around the alligator clip.

One word about glue — a glue gun will work in a pinch, but glue-gunned hair accessories tend to pop off pretty easily. If you’re going to make a lot, and want them to last, I’d use an all-purpose permanent adhesive — usually it says on the packaging if it’s good for metal and plastic and the like.

However. I was, in fact, in a pinch, and as you can see my Quick Grip was all squeezed out and so I used a glue gun.

Once the gold glitter paint was dry, I just glued my shamrock to the front of my clip. Done!

2.) Fabric Hair Clip

I love this fabric. I bought it to make a quilt but realized that meant I had to sew so I gave up and it’s just been sitting around, waiting to be loved. It’s got a little green in it, and it’s shamrock-shaped, but it’s not in-your-face. I think it could be worn year round. For this one, I took two pieces of the same fabric and laid them with the pattern facing out on both sides. In between, I put a piece of fusible webbing (you can find it at craft stores).

When it was all ironed together, I cut my shamrock out. I added some dots around the edges to give it more definition, and glued it to another lined hair clip.

(You can find the fabric markers here).

3.) Knit Hair Clip

OK, so I can’t draw…and I can’t sew…but I dearly love to knit. I made this shamrock using this heart pattern. I knit three hearts, sewed them together, and added a short I-cord to the back. Then I glued the whole thing on another hair clip — this time a rather larger one, since my shamrock was bigger.

So. As I mentioned, I do a lot of knitting. And gardening (mostly this kind now that it’s winter). And gluing and painting and other manicure-ruining pursuits. And this stuff has been saving my life this winter:

It’s that lovely, thick sort of hand cream, so you only need a little each time. But I can tell you that every winter I completely wreck my fingers from knitting and this year, they’ve been so much better. I love it. You can order it here or find it tons of places, including Amazon.

And hey — you can enter a giveaway here, too! A craft and cream stash, plus a $50 gift card to JoAnn’s. Good luck!
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