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A cup of tea is an invitation to put your feet up and relax for a moment, or catch up with the latest news as you chat with a friend. Is it any wonder that teacups are such a popular motif in stamping and paper crafting?

When I first started thinking about this project, I envisioned my card having a decidedly Victorian feel. I had some nice off-white lace that I wanted to use and started looking through my papers to see what I might have to go with it. I was quite surprised to find that while I seem to be drawn to that style, it wasn’t reflected in my current paper stash and I didn’t have anything that would work.

That actually turned out to be a good thing. I am still in a “use what I already have” mood, which made me look at my current papers in a new way. I found a large scrap of striped print paper that reminded me of mid-century modern wallpaper and the look of my card quickly jumped a century from 1850 to 1950 and provided an opportunity to try some new quilling techniques.

I want to give Melisa Waldorf of Paperlicious Designs credit for the teacup template I used as the pattern to cut out my own blue teacup. I resized it a bit since I needed it smaller, but kept the rim wide enough to cover the packaged tea bag.  I cut a slit through the front of the card and slipped in the teabag.  It is held in place with a glue dot.

Most of the quilling designs are made from “solid rings” (the official North American Quilling Guild name for the ring coils) created by wrapping the quilling paper around a bamboo skewer, dowel, or tool handle.

I also used these rings to make the outline of the flower petals which I filled in using the Beehive technique Susan of Susan Quilling Cards introduced us to last December.  Pritesh of Quilling Me Softly was kind enough to make a video of this technique.

I enjoy a nice hot cup of tea, especially on a cold evening, and this card with the enclosed teabag will let me share that enjoyment with a friend.

Quilling Tip

If tea isn’t your “bag” (I know, that was bad … LOL!), this card idea can be easily adapted to hold a packet of instant coffee or cocoa.  Or try changing the tea cup to a soup bowl and add a packet of instant chicken soup for a thoughtful Get Well card for a sick friend.

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My niece is getting married this June and I attended her bridal shower yesterday.  I wanted to create a special card for the occasion and using the colors from the invitation, I designed this one.

Deciding on the actual quilling is usually not a problem; however, it can take me quite awhile to come up with the actual card layout.  If you suffer from this design malady too, then a card sketch may be just what the doctor ordered.

For those unfamiliar with sketches, they are drawings of cards with the various paper pieces and embellishment placements already decided.  I belong to a Yahoo! Group called The Scrapbook Lounge.  The moderator (hi, Diana) is starting up a monthly sketch challenge and I decided to use it for the layout of the shower card.

With sketches there are no rules and you can certainly move pieces around to fit your mood or the supplies you have on hand.  I find them to be a wonderful design tool since the work is already done for you.  And since sketches are a simple black and white, it is much easier to imagine your own colors and papers in the layout, rather than seeing a finished card and then trying to imagine it made from completely different supplies.

You can find sketches quite easily.  A quick Google search will turn up quite a few.  You can also find them in the back of magazines such as Card Maker, and there are some excellent professionally done sketch books you can purchase.  

There are also quite a few blogs that sponsor sketch challenges (again, do a Google search).  Participating in sketch challenges is an excellent way to practice your card making skills and show others the beauty of quilling.

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Feeling sweet, sexy, or playfully punny?  Then one of these quilled Valentine’s Day cards is right for you.

Archiver’s has been advertising a card workshop making Itty Bitty Valentines that are 3-in x 3-in.  They looked so cute I decided to challenge myself to design three Itty Bitty Valentines of my own.  I only had two rules:  (1) my cards needed to be the same 3-in x 3-in size and (2) I couldn’t purchase any new supplies – I had to use what was already in my stash.  

Pretty in Pink

Who says a Valentine has to be red?  For this sweet card I layered three strips of pink card stock (alternating light and dark) on the bottom and rounded the corners with a decorative punch.  I added a quilled long-stem pink rose with moss green leaves.  For the sentiment, I stamped “My heart is yours” in black ink and added a little pink bow.  The rose is a rolled spiral made from a circle punched from card stock.  To finish the card I edged it with pink chalk.

A Berry Delightful Valentine

This card was inspired by the red and tan checked paper which has been in my stash bin for quite some time.  It is from a sack I saved from a purchase made in Savannah.  It reminded me of a country picnic which lead me to the “I love you BERRY much!” theme.  I used my computer to print the sentiment onto the tan cardstock, trimmed it to 2.75-in square and attached it to the front of my red card.  I cut a piece of the sack with pinking shears and glued it near the top-left of the card.  I punched two small holes and added little red heart brads (bought awhile ago with no particular project in mind, but they were cute and on sale – lol!).  Next, I glued on a red heart-shaped strawberry and white strawberry blossom.  I tied a little piece of jute cord around the top of the card to finish it off.

Hot Lips

This card is my favorite.  I had the thought of quilling a pair of lips and as I pondered how I would use that embellishment on a card, I remembered the famous Bogie & Bacall movie quote, “You know how to whistle, don’t you?”  A quick internet search turned up the entire quote and I knew that this would be the card I would give to my husband — Steve.

I used my computer to print the text and a Spellbinder’s die set to cut out the layers for both the front and inside of the card.  I glued two little flat pearls to the front and added the lips.  He’s going to love it.

There’s only one downside to taking on a challenge like this — what do I do with all of the ideas still floating around in my head that I didn’t create?

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We were blessed with our fourth grandchild, Daniel John Morgan, on July 21st, so to say that I have babies on the brain is an understatement.  When I ran across a free “cute as a button” graphic on the Papercraft Inspirations website, I was inspired to make a card featuring quilled buttons — for a baby boy of course!

If you haven’t visited the Papercraft Inspirations site, you are in for a real treat.  This is the online site for the printed magazine.  Besides all of the ideas provided by a team of extremely creative designers, you’ll find free templates, downloads, and papers you can print off to use with your own creations.

If you would like to make your own “Cute as a Button” card, you’ll find the free button card back graphic (designed by Jo Kill) in the free download section.

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I really appreciate all of the feedback I receive from my newsletter subscribers and blog readers.   One request that I hear quite often is for more quilling projects made from recycled materials, which is great because I enjoy creating them!

1. Turn your puzzle piece so that the plain chipboard side is facing up (this will be the front of your magnet) and place it onto your background paper (right side of paper facing up), trace around the puzzle piece and cut out.  Spray the front of the puzzle piece and the back side of the cut-out background paper with spray adhesive and adhere the two together. 
2. Tear the recipe to fit the puzzle piece and glue in place.  Clean up the edges of the puzzle piece by sanding them with the sand paper or emery board.
3. Dab the cotton swab on the ink pad and highlight the edges of the puzzle piece and torn edges of the recipe.  Using the permanent marker, make stitch marks around the edges of the puzzle piece. 
4. You are now ready to add the quilling.  Here is where you can get creative matching the quilling to your chosen recipe.  Since the one I selected was “Cherries in the Snow,” I added ripe red cherries with green leaves.  This design would also work well with a cherry pie or tart recipe. 
5. Spray the puzzle piece with an acrylic sealer (optional), glue a magnet to the back, and you’re done.

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Back in the 1980s, it was all the rage to stiffen strips of large-print floral fabrics (usually mauve) into bows to dress up wicker baskets.  While that decorating look has come and gone, it’s still fun to stiffen fabric, especially if you are a crafter who likes to get her hands a little messy once in a while.   Stiffened fabric has a wonderful paper-like quality making it an interesting textured background for your quilling projects.  The key is to keep it flat as it dries.  The stiffened fabric can be easily trimmed to size using your paper cutter and simple folds are possible.

• fabric (I have found that thin cottons or cotton blends work best)
• fabric stiffener (I used Stiffy by Plaid Enterprises, but there are several on the market)
• foam brush
• throw-away plate or container to hold the fabric stiffener
• heavy plastic to protect your work surface (I used a transparency sheet and it worked like a charm.  If the plastic is too light weight, like plastic wrap, it will wrinkle under the fabric as you apply the stiffener)

Now that you have assembled your supplies, let’s get started.  1.  Cut a piece of fabric (smaller than the plastic) and place it right-side up on your work surface.  2.  Pour some of the stiffener into your container.   3.  Using the foam brush, apply the stiffener to the fabric starting in the center and working your way to the edges, being sure to keep the fabric flat.  You want to make sure that the fabric is totally saturated with the stiffener, but not gloppy.  4.  Pour the excess stiffener back into the bottle, discard the brush and container (or wash them for the next time).

That’s it.  Now just kick back while the stiffener dries.  Depending on how much stiffener you used and how large your piece of fabric is, it might take 30 minutes or longer.  This process can be hurried along with a hairdryer.

The fabric “paper” I made accents this colorful birthday card.   I used a dry adhesive to attach the stiffened fabric to the paper surface of the card.  The small amount of regular glue I used to attach the quilled coils directly onto the stiffened fabric caused no problems at all.  I repeated the circle theme with a silver paper clip bought in a set from the Dollar store.  Small silver half-pearls embellish the upper left-hand corner of the card.

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“March is a tomboy with tousled hair, a mischievous smile, mud on her shoes, and a laugh in her voice.”

-  Hal Borland

In honor of spring, I thought I would show you an egg ornament that I made.  It is a paper maché egg embellished with a quilled peach blossom.  This egg is the size of a hen’s egg, but you could use one larger if you like and adjust your quilling accordingly.  I used the narrow, 1/16″ wide quilling paper since I find it does better for me when I am gluing it to a curved surface. 

Tip:  If you are interested in the bell caps, I found them online at www.CostumeJewelrySupplies.com under the “findings” section.  They have a really nice selection of jewelry findings at very reasonable prices.  NOTE:  I have no connection with this company and derive no benefit from this recommendation, except for that little thrill you get when you tell a friend about something cool.   

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