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While looking around the web for St. Patrick’s Day craft inspiration I ran across Pumpkin Petunia’s free lucky penny template.  Jo-Ann, a very crafty mom, created the template for her kids to use as a classroom handout for St. Patrick’s Day.   Of course, after seeing the template, I knew that it was the perfect background for a little bit of quilling, so I added the quilled shamrocks.  This time I made them with 4″ teardrop coils (using 1/8″ wide paper) that I paired into hearts, just like the ones used for the Upcycled Valentine’s Day Quilling project.  When you glue three hearts together, you have a shamrock.  I added a small flat-back gold crystal for a little extra bling.

 

I must have had the lucky penny handouts still on my mind when I went to bed because I woke up thinking how fun it might be if the children could pretend that they were the king or queen of the leprechauns handing out the pennies.  That, of course, meant that they would need a crown — a crown decorated with quilled shamrocks and precious jewels!  The one I made, using 3/8″ wide quilling paper with a gold edge,  is for your inspiration only.  A child would do a much more creative version.   Throw in some crayons, markers, and glitter and this crown would truly be fit for royalty.

 

 

Quilling Tip:  I found references on the web to a National Lucky Penny Day celebrated on May 23rd in Canada and Great Britain.  My international readers might like to make a batch of lucky penny cards to give to friends and family at that time.  The crown (minus the shamrocks) would be a fun children’s project for anytime of the year. 

 

I used a tiny gourd-type pumpkin found at the grocery store.  There is no pattern since you would have to adjust the quilling shapes to fit whatever size pumpkin you had, but here is a list of the coils I used:

 

 

I accessorized this stylish Miss with jump rings for earrings and a blue bow tied to her stem to match her eyes.  I glued the features directly to the pumpkin using Aleene’s Fast Grab Tacky Glue, but any strong, thick glue should do fine.

 

This would be a great project to do with children.  If you need further inspiration, simply surf the Internet for additional photos of decorated pumpkins.  Turn your pumpkin into a scary monster with jagged teeth or a beautiful princess with a crown.  You could color your pumpkin first with markers before gluing on the features if you’d like.  The possibilities are endless.  Just pull out your quilling papers and let your imagination go wild!

 

Quilling Tip:  The idea isn’t just for pumpkins.  You can quill faces for all sorts of fruits and vegetables.  How about a yellow squash bird or an eggplant clown with a big red nose?  This is one time when it is fine if children play with their food.