Quilling Board 101

I thought I'd take it a few steps back and go over the basics of using the quilling board since I have never done so before. You can find quilling boards in such places as crafting stores or eBay. This one from Amazon is the exact one shown in the picture above.

You'll need a pair of scissors, crafting glue (I simply use Elmer's School Glue and a toothpick to apply it), straight pins (I bought mine from Walmart), slotted quilling tool or needle tool, and quilling paper.

Roll up a strip of quilling paper according to the sizes that you want with the slotted or needle tool. These are the lengths of quilling paper you should be using for each circle:

-smallest circle mold = 3" length of quilling paper
-2nd smallest circle = 6" length of quilling paper
-3rd smallest circle = 9" length of quilling paper
-3rd largest circle = 12" length of quilling paper
-2nd largest circle = 15" length of quilling paper
-largest circle = 18" length of quilling paper

After you have set the rolled paper into the appropriate circle mold, let it loosen. Then apply glue to the end tip of the relaxed paper and adhere. From there, guide the middle of the roll to the area that you want the center to be located within the circle using a straight pin (I have chosen the top of the circles in the pictures).

The triangle on the left of the board can be used to hold your pins although I use that area (as well as the underside of the quilling board) to do husking.

I hope this helps!

My First Full-Sized Quilling Project

Drawing inspiration from Yulia Brodskaya, I wanted to create my own framed piece of quilling to give as a gift. I would've loved to have the eye and talent that she has to be able to imitate her work, but I can only do so much. The only hope that I have is that the pieces improve in quality over time. But for now...

She (Colleen) hasn't gotten it yet because I only finished it last night and so I haven't met up with her. I hope she doesn't stumble across my blog randomly. If you do, act surprised when I give it to you anyway! lol

The above is my version of a gerbera. She told me that it was one of her favorite flowers and I created this on my 2nd attempt. I have to admit that creating it was very time consuming and it was probably the most difficult part of the entire process. I would have loved to make it more realistic, but I am a little embarrassed to say that I did get a bit bored of trying and gave up.

This is a bluebell piece that I made over a year ago and finally found a nice home for. :)

It took me about 2 weeks here and there to complete. Some days I worked on it for hours and other days I didn't touch it at all. I think the hardest part was sketching it out to look the way I wanted it to, but what was most surprising was that it didn't come out to look the way I had sketched it out to look at all!--well I can't say everything...only the heart shape and the name stuck around. The lesson that I learned was to have a vague idea of what you're doing and just let it flow through you when the time comes to actually get your hands dirty.

The 8"x8" shadow box frame was purchased for $8 from Walmart and the background paper comes from DCWV Luxury Paper Stack--a really gorgeous set of papers (you might see the glimmering from the paper that the flash helps to bring out in the picture).

Pink, Pink, PINK!!!...and a Little White

From 2009...the only thing you can tell about this card is that it's designed for a girl. Let it be used for any occasion! This card was for yet another birthday, but still...go crazy with what you use it for.

Patterned paper gets a slight makeover with white rub on flourishes and rhinestones. The part which looks like the binding (preceding the pink ribbon) is also decorated with white rub on flowers.

The Best

My boyfriend is THE BEST! He surprised me with potted azaleas last night. :) I am being very honest when I say surprised because I truly wasn't expecting anything. Normally, we aren't very big on celebrating in any fashion. I told him one time that I wasn't too into fresh cut flowers because they're only pretty for a little while, so why kill them for such a small return on pleasure and he's been getting me planted flowers ever since! I can't wait until they bloom!

Continuing with the "The Best" theme...this upbeat card can work for a few occasions. I can think of it being used as a "Thank you" or a "Happy Birthday" card. This particular card was given to one of my best friends for her birthday. You can continue the saying on the inside of the card, "...friend," "...birthday," etc.--whatever you like!

This card isn't very heavy on technique, but is very heavy on layering patterned paper. The little bear resting on the circle was first stamped, then colored in with colored pencils, and then wet embossed over the entire image with clear embossing powder to give it a glossy look. Two small prima flowers embellish the bottom right of the circle and glitter glue was applied to small areas on the flourish and the bear/bouquet.

Valentine's Day Card '09

Still rummaging through old files. Here's one from back in the day that's actually relevant to V-day!

The bottom was snipped off to show the wet embossed underlay, "Happy Valentine's Day," while the top portion of the card was sent through the Cuttlebug for a dry embossing run. The four corners of the top of the card were set with heart eyelets. Trim a small triangle for the flower wrapping paper and fill the empty space on top with prima flowers. Apply a drop of glitter glue to the center of the flowers, add bow and an extra tiny prima flower to the triangle to complete the flower bouquet.

Handmade Blue Birthday Card

This is a card that I found in my files from 2009. I can't even remember what I used to make this anymore! The saying and the white flowers in the middle are rub-ons though.

X-mas Tree '10 Card

Today seems like a good day to catch up on the blog for a bit.

This is a card that I designed myself on Illustrator. It isn't the prettiest card, but I tried...lol Also, the size wasn't ideal. As you can see in the picture, the envelope had to be custom-made to be humongous! I believe it is the largest card that I've made so far!

An eyelet is what keeps the top piece held together underneath the star. The card was printed on white cardstock before getting made up. Each metallic cardstock layer is propped up by foam pop-up adhesive. Again, this isn't the prettiest card, but I was sure proud of the sketching and planning that went into it after. You can post below if you'd like me to send you the template for it through e-mail.

Quilled Flower Birthday Card

This is a birthday card made with a quilled flower, with an embossed sheet of vellum on top of pink cardstock. A strip of sticky patterned paper and rub-on sticker are also seen.

The sheet of vellum has actually been embossed twiced, though you may not be able to see it. On the front, a clear embossed pattern is used to give it a hint of gloss here and there and what shows through is a white embossed pattern done on the underside. Therefore, the two patterns of white and clear overlap through the vellum. You may be able to see it if you zoom in. The downside to this effect is the curling of the paper from the fragile paper and it's inability to withstand all of the heat application during the double embossing process.

Another feature of this card that is also hard to see is the shimmer from the petals of the quilled flower. If you find, like myself, that you have trouble finding interesting strips of paper to quill with, you can quill with standard paper and apply your choice of nail polish on the finished project. I chose a clear colored polish with a pearlescent tone which especially shows when hit with light at the right angle.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Hope your day is filled with love!

While everyone is thinking in red and hearts, I'm still stuck in snow mode. We've had an especially surprising winter, full of ice and 9 foot snow mountains. I found this picture of a snowflake that I randomly made a while ago. It is currently somewhere in my boyfriend's cubicle at work.

 

After a Chinese New Year banquet yesterday and a good two weeks of no traveling, we are once again Binghamton bound this weekend. 

Sending you love from wherever I am to wherever you are...