Feb
07
2012
Valentine’s Day is almost upon us, but there is still time to make some fun candy covers. This would be a great quilling project to do together with the kids since you can make your own lollipop covers as simple or elaborate as you wish.
For the youngest ones, you could try a simple “Be My Valentine” sentiment with heart scrolls of various sizes or a quilled heart made from two teardrops. Older children would have fun thinking up their own quilling designs and matching sayings.
To make the lollipop cover, cut a piece of card stock 5-1/2 inches long and 2-1/2 inches wide. Score it at 2-1/2 inches, 2-3/4 inches, and 3 inches and fold accordion style so that the cover can adapt to the thickness of your particular lollipop. Line up the edges and punch two holes for the ribbon.
To assemble the covers: glue your quilling onto the front of the cover; fold it around your lollipop making sure that the lollipop stick is between the two holes; thread a ribbon through the holes and tie into a bow.
If you need a little help getting started, just search for “vintage Valentines” online. I found wonderful inspiration for my Valentine sentiments from Skip to My Lou’s blog post, “Cute Sayings for Valentines Day.”
Feb
01
2012
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?
Jan
21
2012
Pomanders have been around for centuries. Once used as a way to mask unpleasant odors, modern pomanders are a fun way to add a little extra scent to the air. This fancy pomander is made from a plain paper mache heart ornament I found in my local craft store (on sale, of course).
Since the heart is hollow, the pomander is surprisingly easy to make:
- Replace the hanging thread with your choice of ribbon (this step is optional, but it’s easier if you do it first).
- Decoupage the outside of the heart with torn pieces of decorative paper (thinner papers work better than card stock weight papers).
- Poke holes into the back of the heart using a sturdy paper piercing tool or awl.
- Cut a door into the center of the front of the heart with a craft knife.
- Insert your scent of choice (potpourri, perfumed cotton balls, purchased scent beads – you could even use a torn up car deodorizer).
- Close the door and seal it up by covering it with additional decorative paper strips.
- Decorate the front of the pomander with your choice of trims and quilling design.
To decorate mine, I ruffled a small doily (sew a circular running stitch about a half inch from the doily’s center and pull the thread tight) and glued it to the center of the heart. I then glued on three rolled roses made from card stock, three sets of leaves made from strips of crimped quilling paper, and bits of red pearls left over from a Christmas project done long ago.
Inexpensive and oh, so pretty, these little pomanders would make lovely, and useful, Valentine’s Day gifts.
Jan
23
2011
I love shopping the clearance section of craft stores. You never know what goodies you might find. This was the case with a pack of unfinished wooden hearts. I had no particular project in mind, but purchased them anyway — they were on sale! As with all of my treasures, they went into my inspiration bin.
With Valentine’s Day on the horizon, I starting going through my bin and rediscovered the wooden hearts. The ideas started bouncing around in my head. I could paint the heart red … decoupage a sentiment across it … add a quilled lace border …
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The result is this handsome Valentine’s Day card perfect for the man in your life. The tailored color blocked squares of red and black contrast nicely with the lacy quilled border around the heart making this card flirty and fun.
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I enjoy mixing various elements together with my quilling and this heart’s 1/8-inch depth makes it a great companion element for the standard 1/8-inch width quilling paper. The next time unfinished wooden items go on sale, I’m going to take a closer look at the other shapes available.
Feb
06
2010
Like most crafters these days, I am saving bottles, wrappers, and other packaging pieces for use in future craft projects. I was looking through my stash for Valentine’s Day inspiration and found a wonderful glass bottle that used to contain a marinade. I decided to dress it up and fill it with M&M’s (my husband’s favorite candy) for a great Valentine’s gift.
I didn’t want the gift to look too frilly or girly, and was pleased when I found heart scrapbook paper in shades of beige, pink, and brown (American Craft’s Romance collection, In Love, #34582). I cut a band of the scrapbook paper to fit the bottle like a wrapper and grunged it up with brown blending chalk. I kept the quilling embellishment to a minimum, using simple light pink, red, and brown, quilled hearts, inspired by the scrapbook paper, glued down the center.
To make a quilled heart, roll two teardrop coils the same size. Glue the sides together, starting at the tip and ending just before the curve of the teardrop. If you are new to quilling, learn how to make a teardrop coil
here.
Quilled Heart
Additional quilling instructions, hints, and information can be found in the Beginner’s Corner. The quilled hearts used on the scrapbook paper bottle wrapper were made using 8″ strips of 1/8″ paper for the teardrop coils.
The tag is a collage made from a dictionary page, a February calendar, and more quilled hearts.
Abbie at
The Vintage Moth has been kind enough to post free antique and vintage images for mixed media artists. I found her post containing several pages scanned from a vintage dictionary. 
The word “love” was on one of the pages, so I copied the graphic into a photo editing software program, cropped the section I wanted, enlarged it a bit to fit a standard small white tag (3-1/4″ x 1-5/8″) and printed it out on white paper. I glued it to the tag, trimmed the edges and punched out the tag hole. The graphic already had a nice aged patina, so I just grunged the edges with brown blending chalk. Next, I found a free calendar page for February courtesy of homemadecalendars.blogspot.com. Again I copied the graphic, resized it, and printed it on white paper. I cut it out and glued it on an angle to the tag, trimming the edges, and highlighted the calendar with light pink blending chalk. I glued a 3mm flat-backed red crystal on top of the “14″ of the calendar to mark the date. I then quilled three small hearts, one each light pink, red, and brown (teardrop coils made from 3″ strips of 1/8″ paper), and glued them randomly on the tag. Red fiber string was used to tie the tag onto the bottle.…
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Quilling Tip: Use the same graphics and quilled hearts to create a fun ATC for your sweetheart, or use the tag as an embellishment for a Valentine’s Day card.
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