flynn062

Navratris are over but the festivities are still on. We have lived in Gujarat for many years and the atmosphere during Navratris is simply amazing. People of all ages get dressed in traditional attire and dance to the tunes of Garba (Dandiya) during these nine days and enjoy to their fullest. Luckily here in US we get to watch or do Garba also, though its generally only on weekends. This year I did not get a chance and felt something was missing.Then I decided to make these male and female Garba dancers in traditional attire with paper quilling. Supplies I used for this project : 1) Paper quilling strips 2) Quilling tool (slotted) 3) Glue and scissors 4) Card Stock for the base 5) Shadow box (if you want to frame it) The basic outline is a common embroidery pattern. You can refer my earlier posts on quilling to get an idea of how to get the basic shapes with quilling. It took a while to figure out how to make it using quilling but I love the final result. It definitely made up for my...

We have recently moved and it has been really difficult to find time for my craft projects. But it was my friend's birthday this weekend and I wanted to gift her something handmade. Its beautiful here these days with leaves changing colors and I got inspired to make something that brings these beautiful fall colors outdoors inside the home. Following are the supplies you need for the project : - Double crepe paper (Orange) - Pollens ( Black) - Floral Wire - Floral tape (green) - Wire Cutter - Fall Bush ( I used purple. you can use any contrasting color) - Leaves and other fillers - Glue and Scissors - Ribbon to finish the bouquet - Cellophane paper or any transparent gift wrapping paper Refer the picture above for step by step instructions. ( Click on the pic to get a better view) Take a bunch of pollens and attach them to the wire (stem) using floral tape. Cover the wire with floral tape too. Now cut 8 petals out of the orange double crepe paper (duple paper) for each flower. Ref...

I made these roses for a friend who had invited me for a ladies only tea party. Daddies took care of the kids while the ladies enjoyed a sunny afternoon and lots of gossip over tea and snacks.It was a lot of fun. My original plan was to make the arrangement in a pretty tea cup ( to go with the theme of the party) but I couldn't manage to get one in time. So it ended up in a glass vase. Supplies used to make the arrangement : - Delight air dry clay - Floral wire - Floral tape - Glass vase - Green marbles - Fillers ( fall bush) To make the rose : Make seven 1/2 inch dia. clay balls. Use your thumb to press them into the shape of the petal.You can refer the template in this post for the petal shape. Take another clay ball and shape it like a tear drop. Keeping the pointed side up, completely wrap one petal around the teardrop so that you can not see the teardrop. Take the second petal and start wrapping it overlapping the first petal half way through. Add the remaining petals in a ...

Halloween is coming and kids love to scare their friends with spooky stuff during Halloween. Here is a quick and fun craft idea for kids to make during Halloween. To make this spooky spider you need following supplies : - Black yarn - Black chenille stems or pipe cleaners - Wiggle eyes - Glue and Scissors - A piece of cardboard - Clear plastic string ( If you want to suspend the spider) Keep aside a 6-7 inch yarn piece. Wrap rest of the yarn around the cardboard piece. Remove the wrapped yarn and using the yarn piece you kept aside, tie a know at center of the spool. Place the chenille stems across the spool as shown in the picture and tie more knots to secure the chenille sticks. Click on the image to view a larger picture. Using scissors slit the opposite ends of the spool to get a pom pom. Kids may need help in this step. You may leave the pom pom as is or even out the look using scissors. Bend the chenille stems to make the legs of the spider. Glue on the wiggle eyes. The spooky...

I have always wanted to try paper quilling and this is my first attempt at it. Paper quilling, also called paper filigree is the art of rolling paper strips and pinching/bending them at different places to create various shapes and use them to build patterns. There are tools available for quilling but you can try the basic art without them too. I did not have the tools and wanted to try it before buying tools. I used the following supplies to make the quilled butterfly : 1. Paper Strips of different colors ( I cut them myself using paper cutter, you can buy pre-cut quilling strips available in craft stores 2. Bamboo skewer to roll the paper strips 3. Glue I cut thin paper strips and rolled them using the bamboo skewer.Once you roll the strip , take it off the skewer and leave it to open on its own. The basic shapes that I have used are tear drop ( by pinching the rolled paper at one end) and petal (by pinching the rolled paper at both ends simultaneously). You can refer this link for...