Have any old horseshoes laying around? Give them a fresh, glittery sparkle with this pretty DIY! Our St. Patrick’s Day horseshoe craft will make a beautiful decoration in your house or barn. Follow our tutorial below to make your own!
Horseshoe Crafts
Of our 4 horses and ponies, only one of them wears shoes. She only wears shoes on her front two feet. Needless to say, we don’t go through a whole lot of horseshoes around here. So whenever the farrier decides to swap her shoes for a new pair, I ask him to leave the old ones. I never know when an old shoe might come in handy for a cool craft!
Today I was swapping out Valentine decor around the house and realized that I don’t have much in the way of St. Patrick’s Day decorations. My eyes caught sight of the latest pair of discarded pony shoes in the mudroom and I decided to have a go at a little DIY.
I have to say, I really love how it turned out!
It’s sparkly, colorful and Iove that it features an upcycled horseshoe from our pony.
DIY Shamrock Horseshoe Craft Supplies
Round up the following supplies to make these decorations:
- Horseshoe (use an old one or buy one if you don’t have any!)
- Gold metallic spray paint
- Foam shamrock
- Plastic gold coins
- Ribbon
- Hot glue gun
- Glitter
- Spray glue
How to Make St. Patrick’s Day Horseshoe Craft
Here’s your step-by-step tutorial. Follow these directions and make your own horseshoe decoration!
1. First, take your horseshoe and, unless it’s new, give it a good wipe down. You won’t want any dirt or mud (or horse poop!) caked on the shoe.
2. Set up your workspace for spray painting the horseshoe. I recommend painting outside and using a large piece of cardboard underneath the painting area.
Spray paint the horseshoe with gold metallic spray paint. I painted my shoes with 3 coats of paint, giving the paint time to dry in between each coat.
3. After the paint has dried, give the horseshoe a thin coating of your spray adhesive. Sprinkle the sticky shoe with some gold glitter. Dump off the excess glitter. This will give the horseshoe an extra bit of sparkle!
Set the horseshoe where it won’t be disturbed and let it dry completely before moving on to the next step.
4. Use the hot glue gun to attach the foam shamrock to the horseshoe. Next, glue the 2 gold coins to the shamrock. (Just a quick note – I did try a couple other adhesives before settling on the hot glue gun. I tried double sided tape which failed miserably as it would not stick to the glitter. I also tried liquid craft glue but had trouble getting the coins to stay put where I wanted them.)
All of that to say, if you have access to a hot glue gun, I highly recommend using that above other options.
5. After the glue has dried and hardened, you can attach ribbon to the back of the horseshoe for hanging. Turn the horseshoe over and hot glue a piece of ribbon to the end of each side of the shoe. (My ribbon pieces were each approximately 12 inches long.)
6. Tie the two loose ends of the ribbon together. Knot them first, then tie them in a bow. Trim off the excess, if there is any.
That’s it!
After you’re sure that the glue holding the ribbon has set completely, you can hang up your pretty decoration in the spot of your choosing! Ours ended up in the kitchen on the wall.
That’s it!
I just love how this craft turned out (and how easy it was to make)!
If you decide to give this horseshoe craft a try, let us know how it turned out for you! If you post a picture of the craft on social media, feel free to tag us. We would love to see your version!
Our collection of DIY ideas is really starting to grow! Browse through it while you’re here!
