DIY_Leprechaun_Candy_HuggerTuesday March 17th is Saint Patrick’s Day. Traditional celebrations commemorate the patron Saint of Ireland, a 5th Century Bishop from the Emerald Isle. In recent history, celebrations have tended towards the country’s rich heritage and culture and with over 30 million Americans having Irish ancestry (like me) it seems only right that we share a couple of fun St Patrick’s Day crafts with you this week! The Leprechaun is a wonderful mythical character from Irish folklore. Legend has it that the Leprechaun spends his time making shoes and then stores all of his money, usually depicted as golden coins, in a pot at the end of a rainbow – I love it! If the Leprechaun is ever captured by a human, he has the power to grant three wishes in return for his release – look out for our fun Leprechaun trap tutorial at the end of this week and your little ones can let their imaginations run wild this Saint Patrick’s Day! For today we have adapted our ever so popular Valentine candy huggers to bring you these little Leprechaun huggers – perfect for the kiddos to hand out at school. We used a textured polka dot card stock for the hat, a vibrant orange for his beard and kraft card stock for the main body. We cut out our pieced with our Cricut Explore, but if you don’t have a personal cutting machine, you can also print the template onto white card stock and trim by hand.

Tools

Materials

Have your kiddos glue the pieces on top of the main figure then pop a chocolate coin on his tummy for him to hug tightly. There is so much character in this simple design, you just can’t help but smile at him and his cheeky little face! Check back here tomorrow for more fun St Patrick’s Day crafts to make at home. Enjoy! ~ Lia

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