Week 11 {tiny paintings project}

This week: LUCKY COINS

When designing your pot of gold coins, think like a leprachaun and get a little silly. What to do with them? Hand them out for good luck, wear them as a brooch, play some poker, hang them from strings like an ornament, act like a stylist and make a nice arrangement with them, or just give them to some kids and they'll show you what to do.

Get the artwork in the "artwork downloads" column to the right. Print it out on 4" x 6" photo paper and make sure the print size is 100%. You might need to save the file and print using a photo application.

And please, if you use my artwork, send me a picture of what you made, so I can pin it to my pinterest board.

FIG. 1 Supplies: 3 poker chips for each coin. I've used the cheap ones here, but the pro. grade ones give a nice heavy weight to the coins. Two printouts if you want the same charm on the heads and tails of the coin. Tacky glue, scissors, and ruler. Continuing my obsession with crepe paper from Castle In The Air, I used gold, and light and dark green.

FIG. 2 Cut crepe paper into 1" x 4" strips with the grain running across the 1" side. Glue three poker chips in a stack. Then run a bead of glue around the edge and attach the crepe paper. Trim, allowing for a tiny overlap at the end.

FIG. 3 Glue and fold down the edges.

FIG. 4 Cut a 1/2" x 3" strip of a contrasting color crepe paper . Glue a ring on the face of the chip and stretch the outside edge of the paper as you press it down. If you get any glue on your fingers clean it off right away. It's not worth trying to do this with sticky fingers.

FIG. 4 Trim the overlap at the end and flatten it down.

FIG. 5 Cut out the charm and glue it in the middle.

Get fancy with combinations and try different color edges,or green grass trim. I suppose you could decorate some chocolate coins this way too. What else would a leprachaun want?