Quilled White/Peach Flowers Scrolls for Jenny (Welcome Baby Card)

My long time friend that I've known since 6th grade, Jenny, is expecting her 2nd child and is due just a week before me! She kept it low key throughout, so she didn't have a baby sprinkle or anything. I still wanted to give her something, so I got her a gift card and made her a card. We live so far away now, that I'm a bit sad that I can't visit her in the hospital afterwards. I'm wishing her a smooth delivery and recovery from afar! ;)

The pictures aren't so great because we lost our flash equipment during the baby shower. I apologize for the grainy images. 

Happy Thursday!

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Quilled Baby Shower Wooden Magnet Favors Baby Girl Feet and Blue Flower

I have more baby shower magnet favors to show you today. They've all been given out, but I'm trying to catch up with posting as always. :X










This one is of a baby foot and a simple heart.

This magnet has a lot of blue tones. I don't really think I had intentions of doing that, but it turned out to be okay. The wood is stained with different acrylic paints: baby blue, yellow, and white.

The side view of this magnet shows how I outlined each petal with white quilling strips.

So...this is week 33 of my pregnancy. I can't believe I'm almost there! I feel miserable and mostly have bad days now unfortunately. Both my energy and time are precious at this point. We are so far behind in getting prepared to welcome the baby, but with all of my illnesses there was no way I could put up a good fight and multitask. All I've been focusing on is trying to heal if possible. My goal is to deliver unmedicated. The US really likes to insert medical intervention and my body is one that usually suffers from this sort of input. The only problem is that lately I've been in so much pain that at times I can't imagine myself going through with my original birth plan. It's a possibility that I am somewhat saddened by. I hope to be able to cast aside all of the doubts in my head by the time she's ready to come out. 

I'm trying to find time to learn hypnobirthing. It's a bit late, but my thought is that even if I can't use it for birthing then I may be able to use it's application in other areas of life; breathing techniques are skills we can always use to help us calm down and relax. 

Here's to wishing for a smooth ride ahead. ;)

Quilled Purple Orchids Unique Stringed Mom Card

Well summer is in full swing and of course I caught one of those horrid summer colds...yay! Thank you mom! :D Yes, she passed it onto me when she was visiting from Maine a few WEEKS ago. I still can't shake this cough!

How has your summer been so far? It's hot, humid, and extremely wet over here. In fact, we have thunderstorms more often than not lately. It's really not so great for those of us who just want to get outside and enjoy the day!

In honor of an awesome mother who has left me this great gift of sickness before she left, I present to you this card:

:P It's a card that took a lot of time making, not only because of all of the quilled pieces but also because of what it took to spell the word "mom." I took a thicker thread and free handed the letters, so essentially, they are "stringed." Each piece had to be carefully glued down...then you wait for it to dry...glue some more...wait some more, etc., etc... Needless to say, a lot of love went into it.

As for the quilling part, I made orchids and a bunch of smaller leaves glued together to make larger leaves. All of the quilling together did not come close to equaling the time it took to glue down the string! My head was really spinning after all of the concentration it took to complete this card. I'll probably be needing a long, long break before tackling anything like this again when I have time.

All the best to you lovely readers this week!

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Quilled White Heart & Flowers Initial K Bridal Shower Card

I'm finding it easier to sit in front of the computer today with the severe thunderstorms outside, so here I am writing another post. It's so rare for me to get into a back to back blogging groove nowadays. We're trying desperately to settle in as much as we can since we're receiving a lot interest from family and friends about visits next month. I don't know what's so special about June, but apparently it's a good time to travel? I could use the company, so I'm not complaining!

This summer will be really different for me in that it's the first summer I am not spending in NYC with my friends and family. Yes, I've been away in college and yes, I've been gone for extended periods of time to other places, but never have I not been able to check in with people physically at some point during the summer months. I think I'll feel it a lot more than usual because summers in NYC are unlike any other. Whether you spend time alone or with others, it's always an exciting time with a lot of action. I am struggling to understand what there is to do in this area while my Facebook feeds have been buzzing with activity from all of my connections in my hometown. I'm not one to truly take advantage of and embrace city life, but I do enjoy little doses of it sparingly. I'm curious as to how I will sum up this period of time when September rolls around.

On to the card:

This is a card that I made for soon-to-be bride, Karen, for her bridal shower earlier this month. I've known her since late HS/college days and I can't believe she's finally marrying her fiance after so many years (est. 2005). It's a rare thing for people of our generation to push through all of the changes and pressures of life to make it so many years later. They've had to endure many periods of long distance dating when her fiance was in dental school. Well folks, he's finally starting his residency in the city, so they can finally reunite and have the happily ever after they always dreamed about. I wish them all the best! 

The card consists of a quilled white heart and flowers. Flowers have chalked centers. I distressed the background sheet a little bit with purple ink. Flourishes were wet embossed with clear glitter embossing powder and tips are decorated with purple rhinestones. The heart, "K," and leaves are die cuts. 

That's all for today; have a wonderful weekend! 

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Congrats Wedding Card with Quilled White Flowers

All the wedding festivities have come and gone...a month has passed by, yesterday! Time really doesn't wait for you to catch your breath!

I'll have to put up some wedding pictures in another post because I haven't gotten them myself from the photographer!

Many more weddings are coming up next month! It's a busy year for those who are my age. Here's a card that I made with simple quilled white blooms:

The cut out of the couple is actually the portion that I didn't use for the luminary table numbers I had made for my wedding. I will be sure to put pictures up when I get my hands on them!

Have a sweet day!

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28th Birthday Quilled Pink & Yellow Flowers Card

It's my birthday month and I am actually going to be celebrating my 28th birthday! I'm not big on doing anything, but we do have a lot to be happy for this year so I'd like to think of it as a nice time for reflection. Hopefully it'll be warmer and I can get in a nice stroll. I'm scheduled for the dentist to get in a permanent crown on that day, so it'll make for a memorable birthday for that reason if nothing else. 

This is a card with a chalked background and 3 quilled flowers. I don't know why, but I really wanted to scatter the leaves a little bit to use up some of the white space. 

Enjoy this Wednesday afternoon!

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Quilling Pink Roses in Vase Birthday Card

Good afternoon! I have some news! Dimma and I are moving to Albany soon! It's about a 3 hr drive north of here. It's no NYC, but we visited on Sunday and felt that it is good enough for our lifestyle. It's a major change, but it isn't as if we take advantage of all that NYC has to offer most of the time anyway. We find that we're more frustrated living here than anything. Don't get me wrong, I still love a lot of things that remain here--family and friends I can never replace for one thing! I will miss them a lot, but my wedding is still taking place in Queens so we will visit enough! Dimma starts his job Oct 24th, so we really need to scramble to find a place NOW! I think the physical part of moving will be the most traumatic, but once we've figured all of things out it should be much more calm. With that said, I probably won't be able to post often on my blog...not that I've been doing a good job this summer anyway (sorry)! Either way, thank you blog friends for stopping by once in a while to say hi!

Today I have a quilled roses card. I added some glitter, so it sparkles! The vase shape is hand cut and embossed. The sentiment was printed using my photo printer. It has an elegance that I can only strive for in my life. :D

Enjoy your day!

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Quilling Purple Flowers Farewell Card for Raena

Who's playing Powerball this weekend? $600 mil?! We can dream, right? :D

Today another work study has left us. We're always sad to see each and every one of them go, but let's face it...this was only the beginning and there are a lot of places for career growth elsewhere.

I made her a farewell card. It's one of the more delicate looking cards that I've made recently. I don't know why I feel that way. It may be the lace fabric ribbon! It's on a pretty shimmery pinkish-colored cardstock base by Bazzill. There's a lot of chalking for the background, but the 2D flowers and pot were stamped. Flower centers were dotted with liquid pearls. It may be a bit hard to see, but the rim of the pot is made from 2 cut strips of paper using edger scissors. The petals of the quilled flowers were shaped into an arrow-like shape. Then finished off with rhinestones.

I really like this one. I hope you do too!

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Quilling Purple and White Flowers Circle Window Card

Sometimes it's so hard to capture a handmade greeting--this card was one of them!

 I had to hold it closed for the picture, so that a deep shadow isn't cast on the center.

This window card was made for my brother's friend. I've known him for many years now, but one thing I didn't know until now was how much of a romantic he is! Hopefully this will mark a great start to a new relationship! Best of luck to them!

I printed the wording on vellum and attached it to the inside of the card, so that it'll peer through the hole.

Have a great weekend craft people!

Quilled Yellow Orange Sunflower

Hello! Thanks for stopping in today! I have the good fortune of being selected as the guest designer at the sweetest thing this week! This card was made following the Sweet Sunday Sketch 182:

I had a lot of fun making this card. There's a lot going on, but I do like trying to put the quilling as the center focus. I just bought some sunflower seeds to grow, so I made sunflowers amid my excitement!

They are chalked which is where you see the fading effects.

Big thanks to Karen for giving me the opportunity to join in the fun this week! Do head over to play or just say hello to her!

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Star of David Shaped Bat Mitzvah Card

April is here! Hope you had a few good laughs from April Fools Day. :)

I was playing around with this online software for digi stamps and it turns out they have some free ones to let you play around with and print out...so I did--it works! If any of you are interested, you can find it at Cuddly Buddly ARPY. The free ones are on the right bar and you can drag them onto the white space for editing. There's a printer button on the top bar for whenever you're ready to get working on them! Very simple to do. There's also an option to import from your computer or purchase them directly from the site. This process bypasses having to load it into an image editing software on your computer.

Last week, I made some egg tarts for work and they came out pretty well! There are different types, but I just went with the original Cantonese "don tot."

I made a simple shaped card for a friend to give to a girl who was having a bat mitzvah:

The paper used for the overlay of the star actually shimmers pearlescent in the right light.

Happy day to you all!

Welcome 2013--Happy New Year! Handmade Season's Greetings Kraft Card

It is a new year on the east coast of the US in approximately a minute! Within this time, I would like to thank you all for sharing this past year and, now, ringing in the new year with me! I am overjoyed to have been able to reciprocate ideas, encouraging words, and share this craft with all of you! It has been a delight to grow together, as a person and as a papercrafter.

This is a card that's based off of the tags I made in September 2012 and inspired by LoveofCreating's card. Snowflakes were wet embossed in white on a super thick kraft mat and rhinestones adorn a few of their centers.

Thanks for stopping in today! Without further ado...

Happy 2013!!!

Quilled Mr & Mrs Wedding Shaped Card, Butterfly Flourishes

It has come to my attention that I am only 3 posts away from 100 for the year while typing this entry! Therefore, I will strive to make it to the 100 mark by 2013. Though crafting is rewarding in and of itself, it is also a good feeling to see documentation of the progress. For those of us who blog regularly, it may seem so routine at this point. I was thinking about how initially foreign the idea was to write posts about what I make. Familiarizing myself with Blogspot and blogging communities, in general, was sometimes intimidating. Please give yourself a pat on the back for me for coming this far in your own craft journeys and especially to those of you who journal about your crafts--I am so proud of us all! :)

A few months ago, I made this card for another crafty friend's wedding. We met in our teens during one of my first jobs at a tutoring center in Brooklyn. For a while, we lost contact due to our 2 year age difference and attending different schools and colleges altogether. Facebook. Ah, what my generation would do without...I can't even imagine. Anyway, we reconnected through there as many others did during our freshmen year in college when it was first introduced to the college world. Who would've thought that we would find this unlikely connection through crafting so many years later? You see, it is very uncommon for those growing up in a place like NYC to be taking on any hobbies. Unless you're born to a hippie or into a privileged family, it is more likely that we would have a part-time job in school than pursue our interests. It wasn't until college that I was able to pursue papercrafting.

I notice that I put in a bit more effort into designing things when I know I am gifting a handmade item to another artsy person. Why is this? Well, this person will be better able to appreciate and connect with what is presented to them, for one. Another thing that may or may not be true is my impression that I am suppose to WOW this person because they have been exposed to so many more amazing works by the array of talent out there. I cannot accurately make this comparison, but it is still an illogical reasoning I have. Do any of you ever find that you are in this situation as well?








Lastly, I should comment about the actual card. :D "Mr & Mrs" are paper pierced and then the paper I used to fill in the letters was taken from gift wrapping scraps. It actually shimmers through and does not take away from the overall look, in my opinion. Silhouette butterfly is embellished with tiny rhinestones. Flourishes are quilled.

Here is a shot of the interior. It's also lined with the same gift wrap as the lettering that peeks through the front of the card. I am still holding onto the cut-outs from "Mr & Mrs"...perhaps for another wedding project I will integrate them.

We are expecting a snowstorm in the Northeast today, so we'll be staying in. Hopefully everyone is doing the same to stay safe and warm.






All the best,


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Quilled Shiny White Snowflake Ornament

It has been a super busy week for me. I tabled at a mini craft fair on campus where I work--thanks to Jolene for setting up this event at Teachers College, Columbia University. I met a lot of great people in the community. Thank you for all of your wonderful support and to Susan from Naturally Susan for guiding me on my first event! It was a lot of fun and I will be looking forward to the next one!

Here is a pic of the table:

I originally only booked half of a table, but in the end I got the entire table as a student decided to cancel to focus on her finals. I now know I very much prefer the space!

The hardest part was lugging everything by myself on the train. It was extra exhausting considering how already stressful regular commutes to work are. I have a lot of things to work out for the future. :)

I also attended two work parties yesterday and today I stopped by the 3rd Ward Holiday Craft Fair in Williamsburg to see what goodies are out there. 

How was your week? Full of wonderful surprises, I hope!

Below is the first post in a series of quilled ornaments that I made during this 2012 holiday season.

It's absolutely one of my favorite ones of all time that I've made. It glistens and sparkles and looks fabulous! There are 31 paper strips and 15 rhinestones in all. It was really fun to make too.

I'm not sure if I'll be posting anymore before Christmas as I will be going away for a few days. If I'm not around, then have a warm, happy, and safe holiday!

Entered in:-Unique Crafters Challenge Christmas-Delicious Doodles Challenges #15 Anything but a Card