Sometimes I look back at crafts that I’ve started and really am at a loss for how i got started working on that and what lead me to give that a try. That’s what punch needling was like for me…. the only thing I can think of is that when I was working on my first project I was watching Ratched on Netflix (is this a Netflix series blog now? maybe, but also a great show). But back to the topic.
I’m sure my obsession with punch needling started with Tik Tok or Pinterest. Or both. I had recently moved in with husband while we were engaged and I wanted to try to make a rug for one of our bathrooms. We got some super cute artwork that had hues of blue in them and got started looking for yarn. I bought monk cloth on Amazon, a punch needle from Hobby Lobby, along with a hoop and got to work. Well, it didn’t work out well for me. At all. In fact, I recently just threw it away after (literal) years of thinking I would finish it and love it.
I didn’t give up, thankfully! But I found a creator on Tik Tok that made fun wall hangings with her punch needle creations. I decided to slow down and start on a smaller scale. I learned the basics of punch needling and made some coasters! Those also were admittedly.. not great.
I kept trying and eventually worked on some lettering with punch needle art. That was IT. That was what really stuck.
One of my really good friends had a birthday coming up, and like the iconic queen she is, loves Harry Styles. My vision was COLOR and SHAPE and all around fun for her gift. I took a frame I thrifted and painted the glass a very pale pink color. I made a sort of template for the letters I would be making so all of the elements of the letters would have the same width. I used this template square shape to stencil out letters to get started with needle punching! Of course I went with “Treat People With Kindness”. Slowly I made each letter one by one, collecting them along the way. I FINALLY finished up the letters and got to the fun part of trimming each letter to get rid of the loops and make the letters look nice and fluffy!
Once that was finished, I was finally able to place the letters on the painted frame.
This was seemingly such a simple project, but was absolutely a labor of love. It was truly worth every second of work I put into it, and in fact, I’ve made similar projects a few more times since. 🙂
After making this piece for my friend, I loved it and decided I needed to make something similar for myself. I loved the soft pastels and the bright cheery energy that it brought.
For this project, I didn’t have a beautiful thrifted frame that i loved. Instead, i found frames in the clearance aisle at Hobby Lobby. These were PERFECT. For these, I decided to use a piece of foam board that I painted white and hot glued to the back of the frame.
I also decided to give my love of lettering go a little wild with this one and do a fun font for this project as well. The end result was a very fun sign that is hanging in my plant room at the moment. I love the colors and the simplicity. To this day, it is still one of my favorite projects I’ve finished!
After this project and the gift for my friend, she reached out to me to help her make a gift for one of her friends. For this one, we went with the name of her friend’s cat, Reba. This was going to hang on the wall by her cat’s food dish. I thought this one was just precious.
From here, one of my dear friends from elementary school had a baby, and of course I decided I needed to make him something for his nursery! My friend showed me a puzzle that she bought for him and i was able to use that as a reference for colors for the project I made for them. This one was quite similar to the “Reba” project, but I decided to try for a horizontal design.
Safe to say my friend and her son, Benson, both love it. He even visits his sign after his naps <3.
I promise, just one more to look at, lol. My husband and I got married in the summer of 2022. We went a very non-traditional route and met a judge at a park at 8 AM on a Friday morning and she married us with three of our friends there as witnesses. It was PERFECT.
Because we didn’t have a wedding, we didn’t have a first dance, but I did always think of the song “Your Song” by Elton John as “our song”. We both have always loved that song, and when we saw Rocketman, we used to sing along to the soundtrack all the time, so it all seemed fitting. I decided the next project to make would be for Ben and I for us to hang in our bedroom.
I wanted a funky color for the background with super simple letters, but also experimenting again with the lettering itself.
I of course love this piece and what it symbolizes. Our kittens also seem to love it and while sitting on the top of our bed frame try to use it as a scratch post… so accepting any tips on that one. Either way, I still love it and the character it brings.
I guess the moral of the story is that it doesn’t really matter how it started, but where you have gotten that is important to the story. I don’t really remember how I got into the craft, and while I do sort of wish I could forget the frustrations of my first few attempts, I’m so happy I stuck with it and experimented more.
Happy crafting! <3
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