Craft Project Week 11: Poppy Card

In August, we launched a new Craft Project with Diana Ching who will set a series of creative projects every Thursday on our website and social media to give you ideas of things you can work on at home to build your own piece of art over a period of weeks.

This week’s project is called: Poppy Card

This week we’re still in poppy mode, before we start on a few weeks of Christmas projects. Some fabulous poppy wreaths were made last week (and are maybe still being made!) but if you want something a bit simpler, try this – a single poppy that you could make into a card.

We’ve done lots of collage over the weeks of this Craft Project, mainly because we’ve been keen to make the ideas accessible to as many people as possible; most of us have various papers and glue at home. There hasn’t been a specific project for painting, knitting or crochet – these are more specialised and if you don’t have the necessary equipment it’s hard to improvise. But, as with last week’s poppy project, you can use all sorts of materials for this one – paper, paint, fabric – the choice is yours.

You’ll find plenty of reference pictures of poppies on the internet, some very simple, some trickier, so I think the best thing is for you to have a look and choose one to copy. If your painting techniques are a bit rusty, look for video tutorials online to remind you of the basics; visual demonstrations are easier to follow than written explanations here would be. No paints? – no problem, use whatever colouring materials you have. Or, make use of tiny scraps of paper again (see below), or knit or crochet a poppy (see last week’s blog for links to patterns).

See what you can do to create a small picture of a poppy in your method of choice that can be used as the focal point of a greetings card. When you have a finished painting or collage, trim the paper quite close to the image and stick it onto a larger piece of coloured card or paper – green is nice, to pick up the colour of the stem, and a subtle pattern is effective – and then onto a slightly larger white blank card. If your creation uses wool you’ll need strong glue to attach it to paper, or a few stitches.

Time hasn’t been on my side this week so instead of getting my watercolours out to paint an example, I’ve used some cut-out paper poppies left over from last week’s wreath project. Layering three different red poppy shapes, with black felt-tip at the centre, gives interesting texture and dimension to a finished card (as would a knitted or crocheted poppy). Just glue the bottom layer down firmly so the other layers stand up and give a realistic look. A short handwritten message of your choice would be the finishing touch.

If you know anyone who has lost loved ones to war, they would surely appreciate this card. Or put it up in your own home to remember the brave souls to whom we owe so much…

Don’t forget to share pictures of your creations with us so we can admire them! If you’re happy for MFT to share them on social media too to inspire others to take part, email them to Connie Ridout, Communications Lead at MFT, at connie@maryfrancestrust.org.uk

Thank you!

Diana

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