Jun 28 2010
Happy Independence Day, America!
My sister and I were going through some boxes of old family photos when we discovered four manila envelops full of vintage postcards. I was so excited … it was like Christmas had come early!
There is very little correspondence written on them, but it appears that from 1912 to 1915, Miss Harriett E. Prizer of Brighton, Iowa, was being courted by a gentleman named Arthur residing in Becket, Massachusetts. We are not sure where Miss Prizer fits into our family tree, but we are now very curious.
One card, postmarked 1915, pokes fun at Women’s Suffrage and depicts what those opposed thought might happen if women obtained the right to vote. Thank goodness the 19th Amendment was proposed on June 4, 1919 and ratified on August 18, 1920. I thought it would make a fun graphic for a July 4th card. The postcard reads:
WILT THOU LOVE, HONOUR, CHERISH, AND VOTE AS THY WIFE DICTATES?
The sentiment inside the card …For this card, I created a 5″ square top fold card out of white card stock. Next, I scanned the postcard and resized it a bit smaller, printed it, then double matted it on red and navy card stock. The “ribbon” is actually fabric from my stash that I tore into strips. The red and blue buttons are tied with string and held on with glue dots. I was going to just attach my quilled bottle rocket in the upper right-hand area, but it got lost in a sea of white, so I created a double mat from the same red and navy card stock and glued the rocket to it so that it would pop.
The rocket cone is a triangle made from a 12 inch strip of 1/8 inch wide navy paper. The body of the rocket are C-coils made from 3 inch strips of red, white, and blue 1/8″ wide paper that are turned on end and glued coil side down. The rocket “stick” is simply two strips of white paper glued together for added firmness. To finish off the rocket, I glued a small piece of the the same white string used with the buttons to form the fuse.A big THANK YOU to all who serve our country — both military and civilian — and who work hard protecting our many freedoms.
Have a happy and safe July 4th.
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 
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 
I have been sitting on this news for several months now, but the May issue of CardMaker Magazine finally arrived in my mailbox yesterday and my quilled Father’s Day card, Sail Away, is featured on page 18 in their Quill It Easy section. Needless to say I am thrilled to see my card in print, and yes, I do plan on purchasing an extra copy of the magazine so I can frame the article for my workroom. :-) 
After numerous requests, I am pleased to announce the release of my Quilled Floral Heart Wreath ePattern that was recently featured in the blog post, 
I was browsing through the bargain bins of ribbon and found a funky retro paisley design in yellow, green, and orange that simply screamed mini skirt and go-go boots. 
I used the ribbon as my inspiration for a fun retro birthday card featuring a quilled go-go boot. The boot was created using an “outline & fill-in” quilling technique. You can use this technique to create any design you wish by following these simple steps:
Tear several strips of paper (I find 6″ to be a good length) and quill them into loose coils. Starting at either the top or bottom of your design, pinch the coils into shapes that fit within the outline of your design. Glue the quills together where they touch and pin into place. 
There is still time to embellish your Christmas crafts with quilling. This sweet little angle works up quickly and would add a heavenly touch to your Christmas projects.
To make the halo, fold the 2″ strip of metallic gold paper in half and glue the two sides together. You now have a 1″ strip with gold on both sides. Overlap the two ends and glue together to form an oval loop. Glue the halo flat (with the glued ends down) onto the background, slightly at an angle above the angel’s head.
Last year, I used this little angel on Christmas cards. I used the same blue scrapbook paper that reminds me of a winter’s night that I used on the snowflake cards in the previous post and added a homespun feel with the golden gingham held in place with mini brads.
Try a Google search for images or you can visit 
I want to thank all of the ladies who attended the Christmas quilling class at the Marietta Community School. I hope you had a great time because I know I sure did!
When creating the card, I punched a 1/16″ hole in the card at the top of the circle background. This allowed me to thread the snowflake’s hanging loop through to the inside where I secured it with a piece of tape.
Many of us are on a tight budget, but you don’t have to trim your gift giving list this year. These cards are perfect when you need a little something this holiday season for co-workers, as a hostess gift, or for members of your book club. You can whip up a batch quite inexpensively, but I guarantee they’ll be appreciated and make a lasting impression. 
I experimented with puffy markers in an earlier post and thought that they might work well with spiders. Since Halloween is right around the corner (where did the year go?), I thought I would give it a try. I used a dark gray quilling paper for the spider hoping that the black marker would show up a bit more than straight black on black, but the contrast isn’t there. However, the texture the marker created is good. It doesn’t show up very well in the photo, but it does look cool in person. 
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