How to Draw a Fleur de Lis

Mardi Gras (literally "Fat Tuesday") was first celebrated in the US in 1703, brought to Louisiana by French colonists. Once a holiday for Catholics to indulge before the penitential season of Lent, Mardi Gras is now beloved by many who have no connections to the religious aspect of the celebration. One of the main symbols of Mardi Gras is the fleur de lis. It only takes a few simple steps to draw a colorful fleur de lis that looks like it's popping up off the page. Affiliate links below. 

Draw a Fleur de Lis

Materials:

• paper
• markers (green, yellow, purple)
• colored pencils (white, medium grey)
• colorless blender

Steps: 

Lightly sketch the basic shape of a fleur de lis on paper, using a regular pencil or the grey colored pencil. There is one center portion, shaped like a pointed spoon, bent spoons on either side of the first spoon pointing left and right, and a oval band connecting them. You can make your spoons more or less pointy or bendy than I did. Use the markers to color the center spoon and the connecting band yellow. The left and right spoons are purple and green. 

With the white color pencil, draw guidelines along each element. You're basically splitting each part in half, plus adding a chicken foot at the bottom of the yellow spoon. Draw your lines lighter than I did; I made my lines dark so you could see them in the photo. 

The next step is to lightly color certain sections of the spoons and oval white: the left of the yellow spoon, the top and left of the purple spoon, the top and right of the green spoon, and the top of the  oval.  

Use a medium grey pencil to shade the remaining sections: the right side of the yellow spoon, between the chicken toes on the yellow spoon, the bottom and right of the purple spoon, the bottom and left of the green spoon, and the bottom of the oval. The pencil in the photo below is too light. I switched to a medium grey and recolored the sections, but forgot to take a photo. 

Use a colorless blender to even out the color. 

Finally, add white highlights as shown. 

After drawing your own fleur de lis, you might enjoy this article about the connection between the fleur de lis and Scouting America. There's some interesting information in the comments as well. 

Dimensional Mardi Gras Fleur de Lis

Mardi Gras is in less than two weeks, so it's a great time to make a fun decoration! This project features the fleur de lis, a symbol that is deeply connected to Mardi Gras and reflects the French roots of New Orleans. It's painted in the traditional colors of purple (justice), gold (power), and green (faith). Affiliate links below. 

Dimensional Mardi Gras Fleur de Lis

Materials: 

• fleur de lis pattern (below)
• Bristol Vellum
• Folk Art paint (green, purple)
• Treasure Gold
• Extreme Glitter (green, purple, gold)
• microtip cissors
• paper trimmer with scoring blade or scoring surface
• craft glue
• fishing line for hanging (optional)

Steps: 

Print three identical fleur de lis patterns. I put four of them on one page and used three (yep - I have a plan for the fourth!). 

Give each a base coat of purple, gold, and green paint. When that is dry, add a layer (or two!) of Extreme Glitter to make it sparkle. 

Carefully cut out each fleur de lis, following the lines as best you can. Then score each piece down the middle. I was concerned that the scoring blade might scratch the paint, but it didn't. 

Bend each piece along the scored line. Glue the right half of Piece 1 to the left half of Piece 2. Glue the left half of Piece 1 to the right half of Piece 3. If desired, add a piece of fishing line in the center between the unglued part, then glue it in place. You'll end up with a three-sided fleur de lis. Unless you cut it perfectly, you may need to trim up the shapes a bit.

Hang your fleur de lis. Because it's three-sided, it looks good from every direction. 

You can find the rest of the Mardi Gras crafts I've made over the years by going to my Winter Crafts page and scrolling down to the bottom. Laissez les bons temps rouler!

Mardi Gras Name Art

Next Tuesday is Mardi Gras, so I whipped up some quick Mardi Gras Name Art to celebrate. Any guesses how many name art projects this makes for me? (Hint: Enough that name art has its own page on my website.)

Mardi Gras Name Art

Materials:

• Neenah Bristol Vellum
• Ohuhu Kaala markers

Steps: 

Use a pencil to very lightly sketch your name in block letters. Add a jester's hat perched on the first letter and add a mask somewhere else. Mark where you want strings of beads to be. 

Begin coloring your design with green, gold, and purple. In retrospect, I wish I'd outlined my name in black instead of how I did, but you can do whatever you want. Obviously. Your art is yours. 

Fill in each letter with a different pattern or color arrangement. Try horizontal stripes, vertical stripes, diagonal stripes, dots, plaids, and/or a harlequin pattern. Color the hat, mask, and beads. 

You can stop here. I decided I wanted a black background (hence wishing I'd outlined in black). 

It was a nuisance coloring around all the individual beads, but I like the outcome. 

Happy Mardi Gras to all who celebrate!

Mardi Gras Cereal Treat, Inspired by King Cake

Ready for another Mardi Gras craft? This edible craft, which is about the size of a donut, looks like a mini king cake and features some of the same flavors. Cereal is the main ingredient in this treat... but it's not Rice Krispies! Try making your own for Mardi Gras. Affiliate links below. 

Individual Mardi Gras Cereal Treat

Materials:

• parchment paper
• Golden Grahams
• white Wilton Candy Melts
• LorAnn cinnamon oil
• sanding sugar (yellow, green, purple)

Steps:

Melt approximately 4 oz. Candy Melts, following the package instructions. Pour 1.5 cups Golden Grahams into the melted candy, stirring until it is mostly coated.

Spoon the candy-coated cereal onto a piece of parchment paper, making a donut shape. 

While the candy is still melted, sprinkle green, yellow, and purple sanding sugar on top, alternating sections. Don't cover it entirely; you want some of the white 'frosting' to show through. 

 

Let the candy harden completely, then transfer the treat to a separate plate. 

To serve, cut straight down with a sharp knife to break it into pieces. This sweet donut-sized cinnamon treat will satisfy 2-4 people. 

Paper Plate King Cake

I've never celebrated Mardi Gras. Growing up Lutheran, I knew that Lent followed the time after Epiphany and preceded Holy Week on the liturgical calendar, but Lent was just a season for us. My family didn't not abstain from sugar or soda or meat or TV or whatever like my Catholic friends did. Because we didn't abstain from anything, there wasn't a reason to have a big party and feast before the depravation began. Hence, I always thought of Mardi Gras as a Catholic party, one to which I might have been welcome but wasn't really invited. 

We spent Christmas 2019 in New Orleans and my perspective on Mardi Gras completely changed. Visiting Mardi Gras World in particular opened my eyes to the joy and spectacle of the holiday. We tried king cake for the first time and watched the massive floats being built and I began to understand Mardi Gras as a cultural celebration rather than (or in addition to) a religious one. I made a king cake necklace soon after we got home and I look forward to February 16 when I'll wear it again. At home, of course. 

Wisely, New Orleans will not be celebrating Mardi Gras 2021 with parades or gatherings, to avoid the spread of COVID-19. Instead, people are encouraged to celebrate at home. I'm going to be sharing a few ideas for a family-friendly Mardi Gras celebration at home. First, a paper plate king cake craft. Affiliate links below. 

Paper Plate King Cake

Materials:

• uncoated paper plate
• Folk Art paint - Camel and Titanium White
• flour
• plastic knife
• glitter - gold/yellow, green, and purple

Steps:

Paint the outside edge of the paper plate Camel. The paint should extend about an inch from the edge. 

Mix equal parts Titanium White, water, and flour in a small container. Stir until completely mixed and is the consistency of frosting. If it is too thick to spread, add a few drops of water at a time until it is spreadable. If it is too thin, add a spoon of flour at a time until it resembles frosting. Use the plastic knife to spread the mixture onto the plate, leaving the painted edge exposed.   

Sprinkle glitter onto the wet flour mixture, alternating between gold/yellow, green, and purple. Aim for nine sections (three of each color). 

Let the paint dry completely (overnight is best) then shake off an excess glitter. For extra fun, tape a plastic baby to the underside of your paper plate king cake. (If you find it later, you get to do an extra craft!)

Festive Holiday Sweater Cookies

My grocery store has a small alcove where they put clearance items. Most people walk right by it, as it looks like an employee-only area. It's the best place to find all sorts of amazing bargains, particularly after holidays. My latest find? This!

The Best Before date was still four months away. The kit wasn't damaged. There was literally nothing wrong with it except for that people don't decorate cookies to look like sweaters after December. But why not? It's still sweater weather, there are holidays coming up, and decorating cookies is always fun! Besides, it cost something like $2, which would be worth it even if I threw everything else out and kept the sprinkles for next Christmas. Of course I bought it!

The kit had six large cookies (3 bags of 2 cookies each, about the size of my hand), three tubes of fine-tip icing (red, white, and green), a package of white icing, and two bags of Christmas sprinkles. Definitely worth $2!

I put away the Christmas sprinkles and got out the giant collection of sprinkles I keep on hand. (You never know when a sprinkle emergency will arise. Plus, I get a lot of sprinkle samples as a blogger.) I tested the various icings on the first two cookies and discovered that the bag of frosting was a bit too thick for much other than eating, but that the fine-tipped icings were awesome. Once I got the hang of them, I decorated the remaining cookies with four upcoming (potentially) sweater-weather holidays: Valentine's Day, Mardi Gras, Pi Day, and St. Patrick's Day. I thought it would be really limiting only having green, red, and white icing with a very fine tip, but that just forced me to be creative. Check out my festive sweater cookies!

Happily, the cookies are delicious and surprisingly fresh-tasting. The icing is yummy, too. And I had a lot of fun decorating them.

I've linked some of my favorite cookie decorating supplies below, along with the exact same Ugly Sweater Cookie Kit as mine, but branded differently. I hope I've inspired you to extend your cookie decorating beyond Christmas and throughout the year!

King Cake Mardi Gras Necklace

The inspiration for today's craft is no mystery! I loved our time in New Orleans and couldn't wait to design something inspired by the colors and glitz of Mardi Gras. I'm really happy with my new necklace. It's super lightweight and comfy to wear. Can you tell what I used to make it? Affiliate links below. 

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King Cake Mardi Gras Necklace

Materials:

• Model Magic
• Folk Art Camel and Harvest Gold acrylic paint
• white gesso
• Stickles - yellow, green, and purple
• jewelry bail
• Ninja Supergrip glue

Steps:

Create three ropes of white Model Magic and place them side by side. 

Twist the bundle of ropes several times, then join the ends together to form a rough circle. If you're not happy with it, try again! Don't aim for perfection though - the irregularities make it look more authentic. 

Set your King Cake aside and let it dry for at least 24 hours. Flip it upside down and let it dry another 24 hours. 

Paint the King Cake with the Camel paint, then add highlights of Harvest Gold in the twists and on top to mimic the look of baked goods. When the paint is dry, use a Q-tip to glob white gesso on the top. Be sure to leave plenty of the 'cake' exposed beneath the 'frosting.'

When the gesso is dry, add Stickles. Alternate between green, yellow, and purple. Make the sections  different sizes like they’d be if you were dropping colored sugar on a real King Cake. 

Let the Stickles dry overnight. Glue the bail onto the back of the King Cake. When it is dry, add a chain and your King Cake is ready to wear!

If you want the real thing, you can make it yourself from scratch. Or, use a handy box mix that comes with everything you need, including the filling, frosting, and baby. This year, Mardi Gras falls on February 25, so you have plenty of time to prepare!