Quilling Design Inspiration | theartofquilling.com

Aug 23 2010

Quilled Acorn Bookmark

Published by Charlotte under Fall Quilling, Quilling Inspiration

A while ago, I saw a window tag at the scrapbook store that held confetti. The tag was made from two pieces of card stock with a clear plastic window sandwiched in between. As I examined the piece, I wondered if it would work with quilling and filed the idea away in my idea box.

We have a dog, Trixie, who is part golden retriever, part husky, (and who knows what else) that my husband brought home from the pound. She loves the treats I purchase that come in a plastic bag. This bag is heavy duty, clear, and pliable. In other words …. perfect for crafting … so into my inspiration bin it went.

While looking through my inspiration bin I ran across the plastic bag, remembered the window tag, and I knew it was time to give the idea a try.

First, I created a bookmark template with a window and printed two (front and back). Then, I cut two pieces of plastic (from the recycled plastic bag) larger than the window. I quilled a little acorn and slid it between the plastic sheets. I then placed this between the front and back pieces of the bookmark, tacking the two together at the top and bottom away from the stitching area. Next, I stitched around the edges to hold it all in place. Finally, a tassel on the bottom completed the bookmark.

You’ll find the free quilling pattern for the acorn, along with the bookmark template and complete instructions and photos for creating the bookmark, in the next newsletter. So if you haven’t already subscribed to “The Art of Quilling News” be sure to sign up today. (You’ll find the enrollment form in the upper right-hand corner.)

(Oh, and please excuse the sewing around the window. I was almost done when Trixie decided that she needed my attention and bumped my arm.)

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Aug 01 2010

Back to School Quilling

Published by Charlotte under Back to School Quilling, Fall Quilling, Quilling Inspiration, Scrapbook Quilling

For those of you wanting to add quilling to your scrapbook pages, this sample layout featuring my handsome grandson, Jeffrey, makes the grade. Made for an 8″x8″ album, the primary colors, quilled pencil, and A-B-C charms definitely give it an elementary school feel.

The quilled pencil is 6-3/4 inches long from eraser to tip. 4-inch strips of 1/8″ paper were used for the coils, but this pattern could easily be resized to work with your own layout.

Square coils made from a deep pink quilling paper create the eraser. A strip of the same pink is wrapped around the square coils to give it a more solid appearance. The pencil body is made from golden yellow marquise coils. Strips of matching yellow paper are glued to both the top and bottom sides of the pencil to outline the pencil body. Light beige marquise coils are used for the sharpened tip of the pencil while a black pinched heart is used for the lead. A strip of shiny aluminum tape is adhered on the top and sides of the pencil between the pink eraser and pencil body.

To incorporate the quilled pencil into the page title, I printed “First Day of School” on some matching golden yellow card stock, cut it out, and glued it on top of the quilling.

I created my own A-B-C charms from 22 gauge wire, accenting each letter with quilled beads made from tight coils.

Apples, an old fashioned school house, a student desk, scissors, and crayons, are but a few of the many quilled embellishments you could create to dress up your back-to-school scrapbook pages.

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Jun 28 2010

Happy Independence Day, America!

Published by Charlotte under Handmade Card, Independence Day

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.

quilled-july-4th-bottle-rocket-fireworks

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.

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Jun 06 2010

Quilled Puzzle Piece Magnet

Published by Charlotte under Quilling Gifts, Quilling How-To, Quilling Inspiration

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!

Several weeks ago, I stopped by a local thrift store and found a handmade cookbook from 1971. You know the kind — the recipes were all typed with a real typewriter then the pages were mimeographed and bound with a metal prong file clip into a book for the club members. It was awesome and all for only $0.50. What a bargain.

Along with the retro cookbook, I have had an old children’s puzzle in my supply stash for quite awhile (ever since the all important “last piece” went missing). When I looked in my inspiration bin and saw the cookbook and puzzle pieces, I knew I had the ingredients to cook up this week’s project — a quilled kitchen magnet.

Since your materials will differ (we are trying to use what we have, remember), I offer these general instructions as a guide for making your own Quilled Puzzle Piece Magnet.

You will need

Chipboard puzzle piece

Background paper (scrapbook paper, old wallpaper, etc.)

Recipe (from old book, newspaper, magazine, etc.)

Quilling paper, 1/8″ wide

Basic quilling tools (discussed earlier)

Spray adhesive

Sandpaper or emery board

Permanent fine-line marker, black

Distress ink (I used Tim Holtz’s Tea Dye)

Cotton swab

Magnet

Spray acrylic sealer (optional)

General instructions

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.
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.
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.
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.
Spray the puzzle piece with an acrylic sealer (optional), glue a magnet to the back, and you’re done.

Quilling Tip

If you want THE gift for a special holiday that is sure to touch the recipient’s heart, make a copy of a handwritten recipe from a cherished family member and use it on the magnet, matching your quilling to the recipe. If your family is anything like mine, be ready for a big hug and have an extra tissue handy.

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May 15 2010

Fabric “Paper” Makes Fun Background for Quilling

Published by Charlotte under Quilled Card, Quilling Inspiration

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.

To create stiffened fabric you will need:

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.

If your new fabric paper is a bit wrinkled, I found that it can be ironed flat. Use an iron setting appropriate for the fabric used (cotton or cotton blend) and do not use steam. Be sure to protect your ironing board surface and iron by using a dry pressing cloth over and under the dry stiffened fabric (a piece of the cloth you haven’t applied stiffener to works well).

One word of warning — do not get the stiffened fabric wet. It will turn limp like, well, fabric.

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.

Quilling Tip: The fun swirly doodle designed fabric was some that I had in my stash, but this would be a great way to recycle fabric from old clothing too worn to give to charity.

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Mar 26 2010

Quilling on ….. Spoons?

Published by Charlotte under Quilling News

A wonderful reader of mine, Lisa Malachinski, wrote me about a project she has done where she embellishes spoons with quilling. Yes, you read that correctly, spoons! You know how much I love it when someone thinks “outside the box” with their quilling, and I just had to share her story and photos with you.

Lisa is a stay at home mother of 4, or 5 if you count her hubby (her words — but I do understand, LOL!), two boys, 15 and 11, and two girls, almost 14 and 4. She does a variety of crafts from crocheting, quilling, cardmaking, scrapbooking, to some sewing and different paper crafts.

She got hooked on quilling while watching the Carol Duvall Show and turned to books and the Internet for more information. On a favorite website she discovered Molly Smith who created classes for anyone who wanted to learn about quilling. After each project, the students would post their completed works.

During this creating and posting process she came up with the wonderful idea of adding quilling to her grandmother’s spoons. She chose to quill flowers that reminded her of her grandmother’s gardens and added little bugs for interest. She then made one for each of her sisters and mother who just loved them.

Lisa’s Aunt Marion was a wonderful lady who was full of life and loved the outdoors. She would sit and watch the hummingbirds outside her front window and show the little birds to her children and nieces. When her aunt passed away, Lisa asked her cousins for one of her spoons to embellish with quilling. As a loving tribute to her, Lisa quilled flowers and a hummingbird for the spoon. It is not surprising that she has been asked to make six more for her family and siblings.

I am so impressed with Lisa’s creativity. What a clever way to make such a personal and treasured family heirloom.

Quilling Tip: Lisa glues her quilling onto the spoon with E6000 adhesive.

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Mar 15 2010

Spring Quilling — Easter Egg

Published by Charlotte under Easter Quilling, Quilling Gifts, Quilling Home Decor, Quilling Inspiration

It has been a very cold, wet winter, which is unusual for Georgia. We have had more snow than I can remember in years and I am so looking forward to spring. I was surfing the web looking for a poem or saying to go with this post that waxed poetically about trees beginning to bud as the earth starts its cycle of rebirth, or something to that effect, when I ran across this delightful quote and had to chuckle. I think Mr. Borland has summed up the month of March quite well.

“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.

To get the egg ready for the quilling, I applied a coat of gesso to seal the paper maché. Once the egg was dry, I sketched an oval on the egg and painted the inside white and the rest of the egg a soft peachy-pink. I applied a coat of satin varnish and let it dry. For the final touch, I outlined the oval with a gold metallic permanent marker. Since I wanted to hang my egg on a display stand, I glued on a bell cap with a built in ring, however, this egg would look just as cute displayed in a basket.

For this sample, I quilled a peach blossom on a tree branch with other buds and leaves — at least I call it a peach blossom since I live in the peach state, but it could just as easily be an apple or cherry blossom. I have also embellished these painted eggs with violets, iris, daffodils, and even a cute bunny that I sold before getting a photo (hate it when that happens). I did give the quilling a thin coat of the varnish for protection.

Eggs make a wonderful spring canvas for quilling, and since the area is small, the quilling goes fairly quickly. You’ll have a masterpiece to show others in no time.

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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Mar 06 2010

St. Patrick’s Day Quilling with Kids

Published by Charlotte under Quilling with Kids

While looking around the web for St. Patrick’s Day craft inspiration I ran across Pumpkin Petunia’s free lucky penny template. Jo-Ann, a very crafty mom, created the template for her kids to use as a classroom handout for St. Patrick’s Day. Of course, after seeing the template, I knew that it was the perfect background for a little bit of quilling, so I added the quilled shamrocks. This time I made them with 4″ teardrop coils (using 1/8″ wide paper) that I paired into hearts, just like the ones used for the Upcycled Valentine’s Day Quilling project. When you glue three hearts together, you have a shamrock. I added a small flat-back gold crystal for a little extra bling.

I must have had the lucky penny handouts still on my mind when I went to bed because I woke up thinking how fun it might be if the children could pretend that they were the king or queen of the leprechauns handing out the pennies. That, of course, meant that they would need a crown — a crown decorated with quilled shamrocks and precious jewels! The one I made, using 3/8″ wide quilling paper with a gold edge, is for your inspiration only. A child would do a much more creative version. Throw in some crayons, markers, and glitter and this crown would truly be fit for royalty.

Quilling Tip: I found references on the web to a National Lucky Penny Day celebrated on May 23rd in Canada and Great Britain. My international readers might like to make a batch of lucky penny cards to give to friends and family at that time. The crown (minus the shamrocks) would be a fun children’s project for anytime of the year.

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Jan 15 2010

Quilled Stencil Rose

Published by Charlotte under Quilling Home Decor, Quilling How-To, Quilling Inspiration, Quilling Technique, Quilling Tips

In my last post (Groovy Birthday Wishes) I talked about the very popular technique of filling in an outline with quilling to form a design.

Normally, your piece of quilled art would be glued on top of your background surface like I did with the boot.

But, what happens if you place the quilling under the background, cutting out pieces to reveal the quilling?

You get a very striking piece of art that almost resembles needlework. It will look absolutely stunning and will add value to your home which is perhaps insured with Aviva (aviva.co.uk) or another company. Not just monetary value, but emotional value as the picture will soon become a family heirloom.

The method is quite simple:

Find a stencil that you like and lightly trace it onto the card stock you will be gluing the quilling shapes to. Remember, this paper will show through the coiled pieces, so you’ll want to choose a nice neutral or coordinating color that will go with your design.
Trace the stencil onto the paper you want as the cover for your quilling and cut it out with a craft knife. (Note: the piece is easier to frame if the bottom card stock and the top cover sheet are the same size.)
Roll your quilled shapes to fit slightly over the outline and glue to the card stock. Once finished, glue the top paper over the guilling, lining up the cut out stencil with your quilling and covering up any rough rough edges of the quilled design.
Frame your masterpiece and wait for friends to Oooooh and Ahhhh over your latest artistic endeavor.

Quilling Tip: This would make an awesome home decor DIY project. Add coordinating art work to a room that has a stenciled border. Use the same stencil for wall art and a coordinating pillow. Or create a stencil from a fabric pattern already in the room and bring it up to the wall with your own quilled piece.

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Dec 29 2009

Groovy Birthday Wishes

Published by Charlotte under Quilled Card, Quilling How-To, Quilling Inspiration, Quilling Technique, Quilling Tips

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 wasn’t a teen during the Mod 60’s, but I do remember having a pair of white go-go boots when I was in kindergarten (thinking I was quite the femme fatale) and watching Hullabaloo and Shindig on TV.

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:

Draw an outline of the desired design, or find inspiration on the web. Resize the pattern as needed and print it out for your work board.
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.
Continue filling in your pattern with pinched loose coils. If you are creating an elaborate design, you may want to “draw” lines within the pattern using paper strips or “paint” with your quills by changing the color of the quilling paper used for the coils.
Glue a strip of paper along the outside of your quilled piece to finish off the edge and complete your design.