Valentine Card

I apologize for my absence the last couple of months. The business and family obligations have taken up much of my time; hopefully we will be able to spend more time together now.

Hearts seem to be very popular, the K364 Nothing but Hearts kit I designed for Paplin is one of their best selling kits. Since we are already half way through January, I thought a Valentine card would be timely. Because I planned to use a corner border punch, I trimmed the white base greeting card down to 4”x 5”. (The corner/border combo punches are designed to line up with whole inches rather than fractions.) I cut a 4” x 5”pink rectangle and used the N414312 Framed in Love corner border combo punch to create the border and attached it to the card. I use the Dotto removable adhesive because it is dry as well as repositional and doesn’t leave any “wet” glue marks on the paper. I then cut 3 full strips in half, creating six 12” strips/. I folded all six strips in half using the fold as the point of my heart. I then shaped the six strips into a heart shape (I held the heart with a tweezer while I put a tiny bead of glue on the back and then placed it on the card.)

I made the basic flowers on a work board first so I would be able to place them where I wanted them in the heart. I made two red 1” tight rolls for the centers and then made 12 white 6” marquises for petals. I then wrapped each white petal in red paper and glued them around the center. Once the flowers were dry I lifted them off the work board and glued them onto the card. I made 12 white 6” open hearts which I glued between the flower petals.

I cut two green short lengths (about ¾”) which I shaped into the stems. I made four green 6” marquises for leaves, two 3” open coils and two 1 ½” open coils which I glued to the stems.

Here is another fall “Thinking of You” card. While I was working on it, it occurred to me that the scarecrow or the leaves would look cute on place cards for Thanksgiving dinner. We have about 25 people for dinner on Thanksgiving. With that many people in a very small house it sometimes seems like “musical chairs”, so I won’t bother with place cards. I did, however, think of another use for the little cards. Because I, along with my daughter and sister, are “gluten free” and “dairy free”, I have gotten in the habit of labeling the different dishes, especially things like breads and desserts. I think the table will look more festive with these cute little cards (N01331), decorated with quilling.

Here are directions if you would like to make some of your own.

Thinking of You card: I used the leaf punch N244831 starting at the center of a yellow card and then out to each side, I glued a 3/8” strip of brown behind the punched border. The little scarecrow’s head was a 12” tight coil. His legs and arms were 6” marquises, his chest a 6” teardrop pointing up towards his head. I fringed a ¼” straw colored strip and cut and rolled 1” lengths for the “straw” at his hands, feet and neck. (I carefully trimmed a little off the back of the fringed strips before I rolled them) I used a 4” strip to make a square for his hat with a small strip for the brim. I also glued a small dark strip for his belt. I used a marker to make his eyes and mouth.

Leaves: I used a 6” brown strip and made an eccentric teardrop for the single leaf. For the gold and yellow leaves I used 3” marquises, with small curved strips for stems.

Pumpkin card: I used a 12” marquise for the center of the pumpkin. The crescents on either side of the center marquise were also made using 12” strips. I let those coils loosen before I pinched them into crescents so they would kind of wrap around the center marquise. The stem is just a 4” shaped marquise, you might like to add some tendrils around the stem.

I used the leaf punch for the border on the small cards and then glued two 3/8’ strips together so a narrow strip of color shows at the bottom of the border and the wide strip shows through the leaf pattern. I always use the removable Dotto adhesive so I can “play” with the strips until I get them where I want them. Since I didn’t have “gluten free” stickers, I used removable tape to fasten the small cards to a larger piece of card stock and fed them through my laser printer. The computer font is so much nicer than my handwriting!

Thinking of You!

I am experiencing something that I am sure many others are going through as well. I thought I would share with you one of my ways of dealing with a sad situation. My Mom, who is now 88 years old, is living in an assisted living center in Florida. One of my sisters lives quite close by, but I am way up here in Connecticut where my other sister lives as well. She is in a wonderful place where she is well cared for and is very happy, but sadly, my Mom’s memory is failing and she gets very confused very easily. For some reason she continually worries about me, and though we speak on the phone frequently, she forgets that we have spoken. So I have started sending her “thinking of you” cards a couple of times a week.  If she has something in her hand that came form me it gives her a little reassurance that I am OK. Her favorite cards are the quilled ones which she displays proudly for all of her caretakers to see. It doesn’t really matter that she doesn’t remember when she got the card, it’s just a way for us to stay connected. Here is the most recent card.

I used a pumpkin card blank (N73148), I glued a 3/8” strip of brown paper down one side of card as shown and then glued a strip of 1/8” rust or light brown in the middle of the 3/8” strip. I then used the Sunburst border punch (N250037) to cut yellow borders for each side of the 3/8” strip. I used Dotto adhesive on the back of the strips because it is repositionable (I’m pretty sure that’s a word) and not nearly as messy as a wet glue. The directions for the flower are as follows:

1 Brown sculptured roll (12”) for center
13 Orange tight rolls (1.5”)
13 Rust teardrops (3”) for petals
1 Green strips (2”) for stem
3 Green marquises (3”) for leaves

1 Green loose scroll (1.5’)

Arrange as shown

Tool Lending Program

September is here, the schools are open and soon scout, church, and after school programs will be in full swing. I have written about the Whimsiquills tool lending program before, but felt it was worth repeating. We offer teachers an opportunity to teach their students quilling at minimal expense. All they have to do is contact us (by phone, fax, or email) and we will be happy to sign them up for the tool lending program. Most of these groups have a very limited budget (if any at all), so we send them the tools they need for their class at no charge, along with some other goodies like mat blanks, bookmarks, whatever we have on hand. They tell us how many tools they need and we will send them out; when they are finished with the tools, they return them to us so we can send them on to another group. If any of their students decide they want to keep on quilling, they have the option to keep the tool at a discounted price. They can download and print shape charts, instructions/refence materials, and patterns right from our web site http://www.whimsiquills.com/ at no charge; they will get a 10% teacher discount on any supplies they purchase for classes. If you have never taught quilling before there are a number of blog posts to help you get started.

We often send out some bookmarks that can be used for the first class. Here is a design using a few of the basic shapes that would be easy to complete in a first class. I dressed this bookmark up a little by gluing a ½” wide strip of quilling paper up the center of the bookmark and then glued a punched border on both sides of the strip; they set off the quilling nicely.(In the interest of time constraints, I often prepare the punched strips ahead of time) I used 1 ½” strips to make the teardrop petals, tight circles for the flower centers, and for the ring coils (the red flower petals.) I used 3” strips to make the open S-Scrolls. There are lots of seasonal patterns that would be appropriate for gift tags or cards which would also work for a first class. Another option is just to teach the basic shapes and let the students decide what they are going to put on their bookmark or card.

I spoke last week with a teacher who has introduced her students to quilling through this program. She started with ten students, all of whom are have a great time quilling; she just ordered another 16 tools. Hopefully, there will be a whole new group of quillers coming up to keep quilling around for generations to come. That is the goal of this quilling senior citizen.

Sunflowers

I was at a nursery the other day, and everywhere I looked there were sunflowers in every possible size. They reminded me of this little card. I put an anniversary sticker on it but you could use it for any occasion. The sunflowers are easy to make. For the larger sunflower I started by crimping an 8” brown strip and then rolling it into a tight (not too tight, you don’t want to “undo” the crimp) for the center. I used a 4” strip for the center of the smaller flower. I made 3” marquises for the petals of both sunflowers. I used 17 marquises on the larger flower and 14 on the smaller. These numbers may vary depending on the weight of the paper and how tightly you wind the center. The leaves are made using the alternate side looping technique. The best way I can describe this technique, is to call it husking without pins. Instead of using the board you actually hold the paper in your fingers . . . Make a loop, pass the paper under the starting point and make a loop to one side of the center loop, pass it past the starting point and make a loop on the opposite side . . . hence the name, ASL. For these leaves, I only used three loops and the wrapped the strip around the loops to finish the leaf. This is a little harder to describe without demonstrating, but there is an awesome book, “Quilling, Techniques and Inspiration” by Jane Jenkins, which has great picture tutorials of this technique as well as many others. (I also like to use the ASL technique using different color strips; instead of making the loop with one strip, I use two or three different colors, when you make the loops, pull the different color strips (just a little) so all of the colors show before gluing them. this makeds beautiful flowers and butterflies.)

I used the Sunburst border punch for the border and glued a strip of (½” wide) of yellow to the inside of the card to make the border stand out. The sunflower theme is a very popular one which I have used on other pieces as well. Enjoy!

More paper storage ideas

Last week, I wrote about storing your strips and directed you to my blog post about the topic. I received some terrific responses and some very novel ideas from some of you, thank you for sharing them with me. Here they are for you to read.

I love this T pin idea. I've tried many tactics to keep the paper explosion under control and this seems like an economical method; nothing to lose by trying. And the portability is one of the best aspects. Thanks a lot.

Maureen

I keep my strips in a #10 (business) envelope. One color per envelope. I seal the envelope then cut the end off. Bending the 24" strips in half I stick the curved bend in the envelope and the end stick out. I put the envelopes by color in a box lid that is about 12" wide that allows for the ends of each color to stick out of the envelope. I don't pack then in tightly so they don't get crushed. I also paste a strip of each color on the envelope so I can see at a glance what colors I have.

Naomi R.

Thanks so much for this :)I quill using a tray while I sit on the sofa while I listen to the TV. I end up surrounded by paper strips, lol. I do use a craft cart that has three drawers. One is for unopened packages of paper, one for wide paper strips and one for opened packages and pieces I store in baggies. My coffee table is covered with bottles of glue, dishes of completed flowers and shapes, patterns, graph paper, you name it along with the three or four current projects. (I can't just work on one at a time) If I used your idea and created a board to store my paper I could use my drawers for all the stuff laying on my coffee table. Plus I will be able to actually FIND the colors I need and know just what I need to buy next before I run out.

Jealith

Pat, I wish I had a room I could store my strips on the wall!!! I don't have it. I do my quilling in my recliner in the living room and I want my strip near by.

What I did was order zip lock bags that are 4x12 from ebay. I have trouble with the ones the strips coming in ripping apart. I take off half of the label and stick it in the zip lock bag and then stick as many bundles of strips as I want in the labeled bag. I then take all the reds...all the blues, greens, white/blacks, yellow/oranges, etc in separate very large 12x18" ziplocks. I keep all the same main color together this way. Then I put the large bags vertically in my wooden chest at my feet so I can see the label at the opening of the large bag indicating the color family. Works for me.

Cathy

When I first started quilling, I was at a loss as to how to store them so they remained in good shape, at budget prices. I got a bright idea, and asked the local pizza parlor for a couple of extra large new pizza boxes. I cut up some cardboard strips and taped them lengthwise to make dividers. Then I could fill each slot with pinks or blues or yellows, etc. It's not as fancy as your idea, but it worked for me. As I gathered more and more quilling papers, I filed the bags in a plastic box - easy to get to, easy to see. But then I don't intend to open a quilling store!

Where did June go?

Well, June sure slipped by in a hurry! It’s hard to believe we are halfway through the year! Let me fill you in on what has been happening. Of course it is wedding season, so that has been keeping me busy. I had some of my favorite pieces on display at our local library for the month of June. The library staff was very pleased with the response to the display. A local paper did a really nice story on the display and quilling in general. I am considering having an open house/demo here since so many people expressed interest.

But the best thing that happened was an email I received which said,” I recently read your article "A Brief History of Quilling". My Aunt is Gini Antoine and she is mentioned in your article. She had taught quillig for years, published two of her own pattern books and had her own line of quality quilling paper and kits. She is now in her 80's but no longer teaching quilling and hasn't for years . . . After a couple of emails back and forth, I finally had a delightful phone visit with Gini. Gini is credited with naming the different coils in the 1960’s. I hope to do a more in depth interview with her for the blog, so stay tuned.