DIY: Melted Bead St. Patty's Day Shamrock Brooch

I found out how to melt beads via THIS PIN. The 36th Avenue blog shows how to make the most adorable flower accessories. I immediately fired up the oven & made several. I turned one flower into a necklace, & the girls snatched up the others. 

And then I went nuts & decided a giant mustache should be made. Makes total sense, right?

So, ANYWAY...

Yesterday, I had to come up with a craft for my weekly 4th grade STAR Club crew. Something St. Patty's Day themed seemed appropriate. So I used my melty bead skillz & made these shamrocks.

To melt the beads (which are Pony Beads, by the way), follow the instructions on The 36th Avenue blog. You basically shape your beads onto parchment paper, on a cookie sheet, & melt them in an oven set at 350°F. Open some windows too, because it gets stinky!

For the shamrocks, line your beads as I have done in the picture. I used regular sized beads for the leaves & mini pony beads for the stems. Some of the shamrocks turned out lumpy & weird, but I found out that the process is pretty forgiving. You can put the beads back in the oven to melt them a bit more. OR, if the shamrock melts together too much, pull the cookie sheet out of the oven & use the back of a knife to slide through the leaves & create definition. (See the arrow in the picture.) That was the last shamrock I made & it was the best one. (Isn't that how it always goes?) You'll either get a shamrock or a broccoli shape. Broccoli is cool too though.

It took about 5 minutes to melt these shamrocks---give or take, depending on your oven, of course.

So, with that done, here is the tutorial on how to make the brooch...

(Click each picture for a larger view.)

Supplies:

Green glitter glue

Clear tacky glue

Green crepe paper

2" circle punch

Gold glitter

Scissors

Green puffy paint

Hot glue gun

Green cardstock

Crafty foam (this will not show, so the color doesn't matter)

One brooch back bar pin

Melted bead shamrock

When I crafted these brooches with my 4th graders I gathered a bunch of different green supplies & let them go crazy: buttons, glitter, puffy paint, yarn, felt, etc. You can make these more sturdy by replacing the crepe paper with fabric, & the paper with felt. You get the idea.

Have fun! 

♥