Make quilled bird card clips
Create decorative curled paper birds to make pretty card clips
Pick out your favourite Christmas cards and make a feature of them with a row of little bird-card clips and string. Strung along a mantelshelf, they make a charming arrangement. Produce a few extra to attach to gifts or clip them among the branches of the Christmas tree.
1 Using tracing paper, copy the template (click the 'print' button at the top of the page, or click here to see the template, on page 2) onto a sheet of white card and cut out the required number of bird shapes using a scalpel.
2 Cut a length of a 3mm-wide white quilling strip in half. Place the end in the split at the top of a quilling tool, then begin winding the strip around the tip.
3 When you have finished winding, release the strip of paper, so that it springs loose, and remove it gently from the tool. Apply PVA glue to one end of the quilling paper and stick it down to make a closed circle of spiralled paper 1.5cm in diameter. This does not need to be exact, as it looks good with slightly different-sized pieces.
4 Gently squeeze one side of the circle spiral together to form a teardrop shape. Then repeat steps 2-4 so that you have a total of three teardrop shapes. Arrange and glue as shown.
5 Make an eye in the bird shape with a hole punch. Glue the finished bird shape onto a wooden clothes peg. Clip onto a length of string and attach your cards to complete the display.
This project is taken from 'Christmas Crafting in No Time', by Clare Youngs (Cico Books, £14.99). Buy it for £11.99, inc P&P, from our online bookshop.
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make a paper Christmas angel
make a felt snowflake garland
