Jul 30, 2014

Business Card Holders (via digital die cutter)


For my first quilling demo, I had wanted to bring along and display business cards so attendees would know where to find more tutorials on my blog. I searched for existing DIY business card holders out there (SVG files for digital cutting machines), but they were either meant for carrying or displaying, not both.

Jul 23, 2014

DIY Electric Quilling Tool


Before anyone goes out to buy this, I'd like to say that I won't be using this to quill! It spins so fast, I can't keep the strip edge even. However, I'll explain my "just because" experiment.

Quilling by 7th Graders


My brother-in-law is a teacher and was subbing for a class of 7th graders. He decided to engage them in a way they'd never been before, by showing them how to quill. I gave him a quick one hour lesson of the basics the night before, using toothpicks and .5" strips of white photocopy paper we cut by hand on a guillotine cutter.

After showing some examples, they started quilling. Both boys and girls got into it, but the girls took it to another level with focused and larger pieces, varying from the examples they were shown. I was astonished at what they achieved in just one hour! They grasped the basic shapes immediately and started creating their own unique pieces without any patterns.

Some girls decided to stay and finish their quilling during recess. I just love the bird (top right) and wonder if she felt it was finished? As an adult, I think I over-process new things to my own detriment. I loved hearing how the kids dove right in unimpeded. I've got lots to learn!

Jul 18, 2014

Quilled Champagne Congratulations, A New Tutorial Pattern!


My friends got engaged and I wanted to quill them something to commemorate the happy occasion. Champagne glasses immediately came to mind and then I wondered what to put around the clinking glasses — confetti and streamers of course!




I think of pink for a rosy congratulations, whether for a graduation or even an invite to "eat, drink, and be merry". The example shown here has the pink dots ready-to-print along with the frame.




For a classic golden hue, great for an anniversary or to give to your spouse, you can choose to hole punch your own paper out of 1/8" (shown here) or 1/16" hole punch.




As you can see, there are two frame options available, and both come with and without pink bubbles, so you can choose whatever you like. Both have a ribbon along to bottom so you can type whatever message you like. After scoring and trimming, your finished card will be 4.5x6.25 inches when folded.



Of course, it's not complete until you've assembled a customized envelope in matching font as well.

As with all my quilling tutorial patterns, you won't need a ruler to measure the strips needed. Simply lay your strip on top and score/fold along the indicated lines. Then follow the illustrations and photos to see how they are easily assembled.



If you'd prefer a different size of card or don't want the frames, it's easy to make a few more pieces of confetti to throw around it. I like gluing my confetti at different angles so it really looks like it's fluttering around.


This latest quilling pattern is available in my Etsy shop (10% coupon code is in the caption below). I hope you have a wonderful weekend full of paper scraps on the floor.



I can finally buy my quilling supplies locally, at Precious Memories! They sold out of my book at my first ever quilling demo the other night. My nervousness was completed dispelled by the enthusiastic attendees.

I'd like to celebrate (pun intended) my achievement with a 10% coupon for my Etsy shop. Just enter CONGRATS10 (expires July 31) during your checkout.


Craft Ideas is hosting a giveaway of my book! 3 lucky winners will receive a copy if they enter before 9/30/2014.

Jul 10, 2014

Cut-Coil Quilling for Rounded Flowers


I was buoyed by my quick and happy results from the cut coil technique for pointed petal flowers I showed in an earlier post, and assumed a rounded petal version would be just as easy. I started off well enough, with this flower as my first attempt.


It was a rocky road after that. I found it difficult to achieve results consistent enough to explain my process.

From top left to right, the strips measurements I used were:

1) 3 x 3" strips, not loosened
2) 4 x 3" strips, quilled with a skewer
3) 1 x 1.5, 2, 2.5" strips
4) 4 x 4" strips, uncoiled and re-coiled by hand for a looser coil = too many large rings
5) 3 x 3" strips, flattened curves by hand after cutting
6) 4 x 3" strips
7) 4 x 3" strips, not loosened at all
8) 4 x 3" strips, curves massaged after cutting
9) 4 x 3" strips, curves massaged after cutting

I enjoy these flowers overall, but want to make them more consistently, so they look like a bouquet and belong together, because I'd like to show how to make another monogram using the cut-coil technique in the future.


In example 4, uncoiling and re-coiling by hand is what I do to relax the tension of a coil. After coiling a strip, the tension is quite tight (as seen in the 2nd photo below). I use my tool to uncoil it, stopping just before the innermost coil. Then I re-coil it by hand, controlling the tension as I go to make a looser coil. This is different from simply coiling it loosely the first time, because now the paper has a memory of how it's been shaped. I'm simply doing it looser, and it ends up being concentric, like a conch shell. I show photos in my book, Pretty Quilled Cards, and I'll show it here in this blog when I get a chance to shoot again (I dropped my light bulb and it's shattered now).




I usually coil at the very tip of my tool, but since I wanted to cut the coils, I wrapped the paper further down the tool to have a larger inner circle.


I even used a skewer stick to achieve larger circles. I would save the tightly wrapped coil for the innermost part of my flower as a starting point of the flower.


I think the main difficulty lay in the fact that after the coils were cut, the arcs were so different and needed massaging into a usable curve. The pinched petals in my previous post were already mainly shaped. So this type of flower took more time for me and it was harder to maintain consistency.
Anyway, I hope you have better results than I did! If you do give it a go, I'd love to hear about it. 

Phillippa Reid of Quilliance had already made the leap to this flower and has made a wonderful cut-coil round petal flower, encircled with a mix of techniques and colors. She has also experimented with cut-coil methods previously and has other links in her post worthy of a visit!