OT: Holiday Craft Project Update (Crocheted Very Hungry Caterpillar Hat & Quilled Children's Flower Card)

Holidays are a perfect time for small craft projects to get your creative juices flowing. And really, if you are caught at home with chilling cold and short daylight outside, these craft projects are a really good way to keep everyone occupied in a productive way without bringing the house down!

This holiday we made two small projects. First, a crocheted very hungry caterpillar hat for my daughter. She loves the book and was super excited about this hat, so much so that she made two trips to Michael's with me and stood patiently while I selected the yarn and the needle and even made some useful color suggestions :)

It has been years since I last crocheted. I enjoy knitting and crochet but my day job takes over most of the time I have (though no complaints there, it's a rarity to be able to earn your bread doing something you love and I don't take that for granted!).

But after years of yarn hiatus I was starting to worry if I forgot the yarn crafts and that would be too bad (you see, I still have hopes for some miraculous time in future with lots of time to decide what projects to fill it with, though not for next 14 years I assure you ;) )

So I was delighted when I came across this simple pattern from Crochet d lane while browsing flipboard craft section. A 2 day project is exactly what I needed to get back into game and not to mention finishing a project gives a sense of accomplishment so crucial to keep the craft spark alive. 
I had to make modifications to the pattern to adjust to her size (it may be my gauge is too tight causing the original pattern to be too small for her, I don't know) but overall it was a great fun and definitely a success as the customer is super happy ;)

Our second holiday craft project was a quilled greeting card my daughter and I made together for her grandparents. If you are new to quilling, it's a paper craft with minimal tools and lots of fun. You can read more about it here . Due to it's simple nature it's an ideal craft to do with kids. My daughter was not old enough to be able to make intricate shapes on her own yet, but she helped with rolling paper, was in charge of glue and did the final arrangement. 

If you are new to quilling and want to be introduced to it, I recommend investing in a beginner's kit such as this one. I bought this kit many years ago and have made many projects with it so far. The kit has enough paper stripes to last multiple projects.

This bunch of flowers was a lot of fun for us to make and a great way to spend our day after Christmas morning, lots of fun discussing what to make and then making it! Afterall, such precious family time is what holidays are all about, isn't it?!

Comments

Nupur said…
You did a beautiful job with both projects!!
PJ said…
thanks so much Nupur! your craft posts are a definite inspiration - keep them coming :)