Quilled Insects and Other Creepy Things

What elementary school student wouldn't love to use one of these pencils to complete their school work?  Boys and girls alike would find their work a little more fun when sporting one of these insects on their writing tool.  For that matter, adults might too!

Quilling thin strips of paper into circles of different sizes is an easy, repetitive task.  Squeezing those circles into other shapes that are glued together, produces designs of nearly anything imaginable.  Wrap some thin strips around pins set in a cork board for a longer quilled shape.

It seems that this time of year, warm weather brings many annoying and creepy insects to the flower bed.  I quilled some more tolerable bugs and critters to keep indoors.  I adhered them to pencil tops for a useful and fun decoration.  I added some tiny google eyes and these little creepy crawlers came to life.  I also used my fingertip to spread some stickles all over the sides of these quilled bugs for some special shimmer.  (As always just click on a picture to enlarge it for a closer view.)

For the little guys, here's a creepy spider. . .

and praying mantis. . .

The gals might prefer this ladybug. . .

or this dragonfly. . .

How about reaching for a pencil with this little mouse running to the end?

This fuzzy caterpillar took a little longer to make and it was definitely worth the time and trouble.  A fringing tool cuts the edge of very thin paper strips.  When those cut strips are layered and fluffed, the most awesome caterpillar appears. . .

A basic quilling kit consists of a small slotted tool, thin paper strips, and a small bottle of all purpose glue.  It's very helpful to have a quilling board for sizing small circles.  There are other helpful tools like a cork board and pins, a fringer, a husker, etc., and if you find that you like quilling, then they're worth the investment.  All of those items will fit into a container smaller than a shoe box so it makes a great traveling companion for us papercrafters who like to keep our hands busy.

There are several great quilling artists who have authored picture books to inspire your quilling creations.  Quilling projects look fabulous on cards, scrapbook pages and other papercrafting projects.  These special handmade pieces add pizazz to projects that always seem to get a great big "Wow!" reaction. That's always a good thing "in my book."