Craftzine.com blog: Holiday projects Archives

Archive: Holiday projects

February 9, 2010

How-To: Be My Valentine Boomarks

Regina of Creative Kismet shares a tutorial for making these Be My Valentine bookmarks.

A few people are doing Valentine exchanges and I wanted do the same. I thought it would be fun to make something that you can use all year long, maybe as a marker for a project in your favorite sewing, art or craft book.

Such a great idea! I especially love the free form stitching.

February 8, 2010

Quilling 101

My Paper Heart

By Ann Martin

Quilling, the coiling and shaping of narrow paper strips to create a design, has been around for years... hundreds, in fact. During the Renaissance, nuns and monks would roll gold-gilded paper remnants trimmed during the bookmaking process, and use them to decorate religious objects as an alternative to costly gold filigree. Quilling later became a pastime of 18th and 19th century young ladies in England, who would decorate tea caddies and pieces of furniture with paper filigree. The practice crossed the Atlantic with colonists, who added quilling to candle sconces and trays as home decorations.

In all of that time the process has remained very much the same, but quilling designs and specialty supplies have definitely caught up to the 21st century. Today some aficionados focus on making incredibly detailed 3-D figures, while others favor wall-size museum installations. Perhaps quilling is best known though, as a way of bringing personality to handmade cards.

The short list of necessities includes strips of lightweight paper, glue, and a tool with which to roll the paper - that's it! Even better, there's probably no need to shop for supplies before you try quilling, as a bamboo skewer, round toothpick, or even a cake tester from your kitchen drawer can serve as a substitute tool. Cut your own practice strips from a sheet of ordinary computer paper, using a paper cutter.

Many arts and crafts stores sell basic tools and packages of multi-color paper strips. Beautiful papers and other quilling supplies are available from online suppliers. Oh and lastly, one requirement that's not available for purchase, but will also be needed, is a fair amount of patience. With a little practice however, I can almost predict you'll find quilling to be creatively satisfying and fun.

Quilling101 Sampleshapes
The projects in this article feature the teardrop coil, but there are many other intriguing shapes to try... marquises, arrowheads, holly leaves, and all sorts of beautiful scrolls, just to name a few.

Read on for the full Quilling 101 and featured Valentine's Day project tutorials.

About the Author:
Author Annmartin
Ann Martin of all things paper is a quilling enthusiast who loves introducing the craft to others. She teaches, designs projects for books and magazines, and is especially hooked on making paper filigree jewelry.

How-To: Valentine Card Garland

I love this sweet and simple way to reuse old Valentine cards. Janna of Mustard Seeds shows how to sew them up in to a cute garland. [via Whip-Up]

How-To: Tiger Hand Puppet

The Chinese New Year is almost upon us, and you can celebrate the Year of the Tiger by whipping up some of these cool hand puppets made from cereal boxes. Tali of Growing Up Creative shows you how!

How-To: Valentine Fabric Book

Chasity of Belle and Burger shares how to make these fabric Valentine books. She shares several great ideas for personalizing them and adding great embellishments.

February 7, 2010

Heart Craft Projects

Lee Meredith on Threadbanger rounds up heart craft projects for Valentine's Day in her weekly roundup. I love this DIY Valentine Robot tutorial by Sew Green.

February 6, 2010

How-To: Blow A Kiss Flipbook

Katie Sokoler of Color Me Katie is a constant source of fun and inspiration and colorful projects. Her latest DIY tutorial is for making a cute little blow-a-kiss flipbook so you can give your loved one a kiss to keep in his or her pocket at all times. Adorable!

February 5, 2010

How-To: Make Sweet Paul's Twig Heart

I'm really into crafts that use natural materials. This twig heart project from Sweet Paul is simple, natural, and romantic. If you visit his site, be sure to click around. His projects are to die for, and he has many new developments.

Nerdy geeky love

It doesn't surprise me at all that these computer jargon, super geeky Valentines are sold out, but it does make me happy that there should be a new batch ready by Monday, just in time for you to get one to give to your nerd sweetie pie.

Here at CRAFT we were all trying to come up with some other, equally nerdy versions, mostly involving references to Star Wars, binary code, and HTML 5. What l33t <3 note can you come up with? [via BadderHomesandGardens]

Scientist Valentine's Day Cards

We posted these two years ago on Make: Online, but I just can't get over these great scientist valentines from Ironic Sans. I really am "Sagan all my love" for them!

How-To: Felt Blue Bird Applique Valentine

I've admired the felt applique work of Melissa from Checkout Girl for a while. Her portraits and artistic series are simply charming. She's just posted a tutorial on Sew, Mama, Sew for making this beautiful "Be My Bluebird" felt Valentine. I love the doily effect she created using a screw punch on the felt.

How-To: Pillowcase Nightie

Here's a viewer-submitted project from Threadbanger, in which Anne shows us how to make a Valentine's Day nightie out of a pillowcase. Nice!

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