How to Make the Perfect St. Patrick’s Day Wall Plaque Using Popsicle Sticks

Show your Irish pride with these St. Patrick’s Day wall plaques. With a few common craft supplies you can create the perfect home decoration to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day.

Gather these supplies:

• 15 craft sticks for each plaque
• Liquid glue
• Clover Template
• Pencil with eraser
• Skewer or Q-tip
• Stylus
• White and green acrylic paint
• Masking or painter’s tape
• Ruler

Here’s how to make a St. Patrick’s wall plaque:

1. Tape a ruler to your work surface, and align 13 craft sticks against the edge of the ruler.
2. Glue the two support sticks in place. Let the glue dry thoroughly.
3. Paint the front of the plaque with a coat of white acrylic paint. Let dry.
4. Print and cut out the shamrock shape and the shamrock stencil from the Clover Template.
5. Form a small roll of masking tape and attach it to the back of the template mask. Make sure that the tape does not extend beyond the edges of the mask.
6. Attach the mask to the front of the painted plaque.
   

   Stamping the plaque

7. Place a small dollop of green paint on your paint palette. Paper plates, waxed paper, or parchment paper make ideal temporary palettes. Drip a pencil eraser into a puddle of paint. The eraser will be your “stamp.” If necessary, daub off excess paint by stamping the eraser on your paint palette. Practice on a scrap of paper so you get a feel for how much paint you need on the eraser for an effective stamp.
8. Cover the plaque with eraser stamps. Some of the stamps will extend into the edges of the mask.
9. Now, fill in blank areas with smaller round stamps. You could use the flat end of a skewer, a stylus with a fat ball end, the handle of an artist’s paintbrush, or the plunger of a ballpoint pen. Look around. See what you have on hand. The goal is to have two or three different size stamped dots. The pencil eraser is the largest, so you just need something smaller for the others.
10. Even though the temptation is great, wait until the paint is dry before removing the mask to reveal your completed wall plaque.
11. Glue hanging hardware to the back of the plaque. Hint: Pop tabs from soda cans work great for this project.
12. Follow the same process to make the coordinating shamrock stencil.