Weddings are a joyous occasion but can get expensive in a hurry. With wedding crafts you can insert a personal touch and hold the price down as well. Here are a few ideas for wedding crafts to add sparkle and creativity to your big day.

It is not that hard to create your own wedding veil. To make this wedding craft, you will need a length of bridal illusion in the desired length. You will also need a comb to attach it to your hair and a hat or headpiece to cover the comb. Sew large running stitches about an inch from the end of the illusion and gather it tightly. Now sew the veil to the comb. Top with hat or headpiece. As an alternative, you can decorate a wide-brimmed straw hat with silk flowers, ribbon, and pearls.

The bouquets and floral arrangements can also be personally crafted. For a simple outdoor wedding, consider wild flowers. They are free and have a charm all their own. Bouquets can be arranged in large clear vases, with a bow tied elegantly around.

Favours for the guests are particularly appropriate wedding crafts. Refrigerator magnets are a simple and well-received favour. A really nice idea is to make a magnetic picture frame and include a picture of the couple. You could cut a frame out of craft foam in one of the wedding colours, arrange over the photo, and glue all onto a cardboard backing. Place self-adhesive magnet tape on the back of the cardboard. Decorate the front of the frame with foil heart stickers and a monogram of the couple’s last name.

Bows for the ends of the pews or rows make simple wedding crafts. Wide velvet ribbons are nice for fall and winter weddings, while satin is more appropriate for spring and summer weddings. Loop some flat lace in with the ribbons. In the centre of the completed bow, attach some silk flowers and pearl sprays with a hot glue gun.

Perhaps you’d like to try your hand at decorating your own cake. Check the craft section of the department store for pans and gadgets of all types to help you create a cake to remember. Do remember, though, that it takes a steady hand. Be sure to practice before starting on the real cake.

Preparing for a wedding can be expensive, but with wedding crafts, you can take some of the sting out. Plan early, however, because it will take a little while to make favours for everyone and all the other little details you will want to take care of. Maybe creating wedding crafts will even relieve some of those wedding jitters. In any event, crafting your own wedding items is a way to have a personal, beautiful, and less expensive wedding.

?Sitting down to write this page, my mind is racing with paper quilling ideas.

# What is paper quilling?

Well it could be described as the art of rolling, folding, twisting or otherwise shaping narrow strips of paper and arranging them to create beautiful designs.

It isn’t a new craft, in fact it has been around for hundreds of years. Back in the 13th century nuns quilled paper strips cut from the gold edged pages in their bibles and created decorations for religious artifacts. Quilling gets its name from these past times when a quill feather was used to roll the paper around.

Today paper quilling ideas include decorating cards, scrapbooks, invitations, gift tags and frame mounts. Some people even make 3D models with the same quilling techniques.

# What do you need?

Quilling is an affordable craft needing little in the way of equipment, although like many other hobbies it is easy to get carried away! To start with, all you need is a tool for rolling the paper, strips of paper in various widths, and glue.

Some toothpicks for applying the tiny amounts of glue needed would also be helpful, as would tweezers and a quilling board. The board, normally made of cork has a plastic template on the top in which you can place your paper coils before you glue them, helping to create shapes of similar sizes.

As you progress through learning the craft, a paper fringer or even an onion holder (we’ll come back to that one later!) are useful tools.

#Quilling tools

Quilling tools come in all shapes and sizes. It is important that the head of the tool is long enough for the paper you wish to use. If it is too short, the paper will keep falling off, which can be frustrating when you are trying to learn a new craft.

As a beginner you may find a slotted tool easier to use. Many of these have a “collar” or section that the paper can rest on making it easier to roll it evenly. The end of the paper is threaded through the slot which helps to keep it in place. Find out how to use a slotted quilling tool in our basic paper quilling instructions.

However this simple to use tool does have a slight drawback. The hole in the centre of your shape tends to be bigger and the paper has a kink or fold in it. This is shown in the first of our free quilling patterns where two shapes worked with different tools are compared.

As you get more experienced you may move on to the needle tool or even to rolling with your fingers only. It is possible to achieve a smaller central hole this way. The needle tool can also be used to make spirals. A needle tool is basically a long needle with its eye end set into a wooden or metal handle. The best trick I picked up when learning to use a needle tool was to moisten the end of the paper first! It makes starting off your rolling much easier.

Expert quillers often find that they don’t need a tool at all! They can roll the paper strips using just their fingers and thumbs. And they can get a tiny hole in the centre of their rolls too. But this does take practice, it is fine to start with the slotted tool.

# Paper quilling ideas for you

Paper quilling ideas include balloons, birds, hearts, bows, animals, toys, people, common household objects, butterflies even jewelery, they can all be made from quilled shapes. Decorations for Easter, Christmas, weddings, new babies or Thanksgiving are all possible. Borders, boxes or fans add to the range of possibilities.