St. Patty's Day Shamrocks

I would have posted this sooner but caught the creeping crude that goes around this time of year. This is a very easy project to do with almost any age.

Items needed:
pen
white construction paper
BLEEDING tissue paper in green cut into small squares
MAKE SURE IT IS BLEEDING TISSUE OR IT WON'T WORK!
squirt bottle filled with water
scissors

To begin:

Using a pen, trace the shape of a shamrock onto the white paper using a pen. I didn't have a shamrock shape, so I created my own using a glass. It took several tries to get it almost proportionate but this will work. If working with a group of kids, write their names in pen on the backside. The ink won't bleed. Using a marker will cause the name to bleed and make it hard to read as well as bleed to the front of the design.

Bleeding tissue paper is found at most art supply stores. Michaels carries it-usually near the scrapbooking section. Have the kids add a layer of the tissue paper onto the shamrock. With smaller kids, they have a tendency to dump handfuls on. Not much is needed to create the look. You can also use some yellow and that will give you several different shades of green!

Now the fun part! I found a bottle at the hardware store. They are usually in the gardening section. But an old hairspray bottle, cleaned out can also work. Spray water over the entire piece. Kids love to spray water! This starts the bleeding process immediately!

This shows the paper completely covered in water.

After spraying, set your picture off to the side to dry completely. Depending on how much water the kids added, the drying times will differ. They can rip if too wet.

Once they are dry, the tissue paper comes right off with a brush of the hand. (Mine was still wet when I did this) You can see the beautiful coloring left behind! The kids can then cut out the shape and they are ready for hanging up!

We will be doing this project and creating a patch of clovers on the wall. I will make a four leafed one to hide in the grouping. Shh. . .