All snowflakes may look similar, but no two are exactlyalike. Here are two distinct designs for curling paper strips into fanciful snowflakes to hang in front of a window, turn into a pendant, or glue onto the cover of a child's journal or sketchbook. You'll need: - Quilling paper strips (sold at large craft stores and online) or craft paper cut into 1/8- by 12-inch strips
- Slotted quilling tool (sold at large craft stores and online) or wooden kitchen skewer
- Tacky glue
- Toothpick for applying glue
- Glitter glue and small paintbrush
- Clear beading elastic or monofilament for hanging the finished snowflakes
- Small pony beads (optional)
Instructions for the smaller snowflake style: 1. Fold one of the quilling strips four inches from one end. Coil the 4-inch section around the quilling tool or kitchen skewer all the way to the fold, as shown. Let the coil loosen a bit so that it's about 3/8-inch in diameter, and use a spot of glue (applied with a toothpick) to hold it in place. |  |
2. Coil the remaining eight inches of the strip in the opposite direction and then allow it to loosen to about 1/2-inch in diameter. Glue it in place as you did the smaller coil. |  |
3. Pinch the opposite ends of the attached circles to transform them into teardrop shapes, as shown. This piece will serve as one of the snowflake's six sides. |  |
4. Make five more snowflake sides just like the first one. 5. Glue the larger teardrop ends of the snowflake sides together, arranging them in a circle. Then add some sparkle to the completed snowflake by brushing on a little glitter glue. |  |
6. Once the glue is dry, create a hanger for the snowflake, if you like, by simply looping a piece of beading elastic through one of the tips. For an added touch of color, thread the top of the elastic loop through a pony bead before hanging the snowflake. Instructions for the larger snowflake style: 1. For this snowflake, you'll first need to create twelve coiled heart shapes. For each, start by folding a quilling strip in half. Then use the quilling tool or kitchen skewer to coil both ends toward the center, stopping about 1/2-inch above the fold. |  |
2. Glue the two coils together in the center to form a heart shape. |  |
3. Once you've got twelve hearts, glue two of them together top-to-top, as shown. Pair up and glue the remaining ten hearts in the same manner. These pairs will serve as the six snowflake sides. |  |
4. Tear three more quilling strips into halves. Use the half-strips to shape six small hearts in the same manner that you created the larger ones. |  |
5. Glue a small heart inside the upper tip of each of the large snowflake pairs, as shown. |  |  |
6. Glue the upper snowflake sides together, arranging them in a circle. Then add some sparkle to the completed snowflake by brushing on a little glitter glue. 7. Once the glue is dry, create a hanger for the snowflake, if you like, as described in step 6 for the smaller snowflake style.
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