This is a great Christian craft for all ages that can easily be customized to match any décor or season. You can adapt this project for a variety of groups and skill sets or even make it solo project for a cozy night at home! Paper quilling is very popular these days and there are a ton of fancy tools available to help master this technique, but I wanted to show a no-tool version that you can do on a budget.

Download a printable version of this activity here so you can easily follow the steps and the design!

Materials:

• Unfinished Wood Cross Trivets
• Crayola Washable Watercolors
• Elmer’s® Washable School Glue
• Sulphite Construction Paper

Step 1: Cut your construction paper into thin strips,. They should be ½” x 9”. You will need about 70-80 strips of paper. I used an X-Acto knife and a ruler for this. You could also use a paper cutter. Be sure to use caution.

Step 2: Paint your cross trivet with a wash of watercolor. You will need a brush and a cup of water. You can also use Acrylic paint or wood stain. Allow a few minutes to dry.

Step 3: Now let’s get things rolling! First curl the strip using your thumb nail as you hold the paper between your thumb and index finger as if you were curling ribbon. You can also use scissors to curl the paper. This makes the paper rolling much easier. Start at one end, and hold the strip between your thumb and pointer finger. Then use the other hand to roll the strip forward into a tight coil.

Step 4: Starting at the top of the cross, squeeze some glue into the desired area and put the paper coil into place. Be sure to press and hold the paper for about 30-60 seconds to be sure it stays secure.

Alternate colors as you roll and glue the paper into place and fill the base of the cross. And if you say a prayer as you roll each strip…well that’s a whole lot of Jesus love!

Here I have the whole top finished. It’s starting to look very beautiful!

And this is the finished cross craft! This was one of my favorite Christian craft activities. You can admire your finished product and use it as a decoration for your home. Enjoy!

Here is the fall themed christian cross craft I created.

You can also alter this activity for younger age groups if the paper rolling is too difficult or tedius for kids. Instead of paper, use colorful beads to fill the cross trivets. Aleene’s tacky glue does a great job of holding the beads in place and it dries clear. Special thanks to Diane and her Summer Bible Camp for this idea! They used it as one of 5 crafts for their “Journey with Jesus” week. Here are some photos of the kids doing the activity. The kids enjoyed making them and had a nice product to take home!

For more Christian crafts, visit our site at christian.ssww.com

Check out our other Christian Craft Tutorials below: