“LUCK” Penny and Horseshoe Canvas

As a proud part Irish girl, St. Patrick’s Day has always been one of my favorite holidays. It is funny because I don’t drink and I am not a super fan of corned beef (though I eat it every year), but there is something about this holiday that makes me feel connected to my ancestors. As I was scanning Pinterest for ideas for my March mantel, I came across three signs and I couldn’t decide which one I liked more…

… so I decided to make mine incorporating all three:

Materials:

Canvas (mine is 16X20in)
Pennies (each letter used roughly 100 pennies)
Horseshoe
Hot glue gun with hot glue sticks

Directions:

Gather your materials. This project can be done for very cheap or even “free!” I got my canvas at Michael’s, but you can get a cheap canvas at any craft store. I went to my bank and got 2 dollars worth of pennies, thinking that would be more than enough. It turned out it wasn’t, but I was able to find the rest by robbing our various change stashes, including my daughter’s piggy bank (don’t tell her grandma!). You can find old horseshoes by asking around local horse stables, but I was lazy and ordered mine off of Etsy for just a few dollars.
Figure out how big you want your letters to be. My letters are each 10 pennies vertical and 8 pennies horizontal which left about an inch and a half on the edges and between the letters. If your canvas is bigger or smaller you will have to adjust the sizing of your letters.
Hot glue your pennies down. I found it most successful to put a dollop of hot glue on the canvas, rather than on the penny. I did one layer of pennies, and then overlapped a second layer to cover the holes. I am sorry I didn’t get a picture of this, but hopefully what I did is obvious in the picture. I had a lot of fun looking at all the pennies to find really old ones or ones with interesting colors or back sides. The ones that were my favorite I set aside to make sure they ended up on the top layer.
Hot glue the horseshoe down. This was a bit challenging since the horseshoe is so heavy. There may have been better glues to use, but I think the hot glue was successful, or at least it has been for the 24 hours it has been sitting on my mantel still intact. I just put a TON of hot glue on the back quickly before it dried and then slapped it down onto the canvas.
Show off your new pretty canvas!!