Valentine Pattern

Since Valentine’s Day is almost upon us, I thought I would share another Valentine’s pattern with you. This one is a white filigree heart with a bouquet of roses in the center. I started out by drawing (or tracing) a heart shape. I covered the outline with 6” marquises. The number you need will be determined by the size of the heart you draw. I used 34 including the extra six I placed at the bottom and top of the heart. When gluing the marquises down I start at both the center top and center bottom and then work my way up/down the sides of the heart. (The last inch or so before the sides meet I lay them in dry so I can make whatever spacing adjustments are necessary.) Next, I made enough 3” tight rolls to place on both sides of the heart everywhere the marquises meet; a very simple, but pretty filigree border.

For the bouquet of roses in the center I made tiny folded roses using 1/8’ paper. I used floral wire for stems. I dipped the end of the wire in glue and put in into the bottom of the roses and let them dry before I assembled them. Add a simple bow and you have a pretty card you could use for other occasions a well; anniversary, engagement etc.

I have also used a very similar border on a piece I did for a 40th wedding anniversary. Since the color for the 40th is a garnet/red, I made the roses using a deep red 3/8th” paper. I also placed pale pink buds in between the red roses and a pale pink rose in the center. The piece I sold also had a tiny paper ribbon with the couple's name and "Happy 40th Anniversary on it. These are my “trademark” roses; each petal is a separate piece of paper. Here is a link to instructions for the roses in case you are interested. Enjoy!


FYI My next post will be about a very different kind of heart.

Meet Sandra White

This week I would like to introduce you to Sandra White, a quiller from New Hampshire. I’ve admired Sandy’s work for years. I used to sell some of my work through a shop in North Conway, New Hampshire. On my trips up there, (I LOVE the White Mountains and everything about New Hampshire . . . It has always been a secret dream of mine to live in a cabin in the White Mountains), I enjoyed poking around in the shops in and just enjoying being up there. I first saw Sandy’s work in a shop run by the League of NH Craftsmen. I almost missed it. They were pictures of birds and wild flowers (did I tell you I love wild flowers and have bird feeders right outside the Whimsiquills window?) The interesting thing about these pictures was the outline of the birds/flowers was cut out and the actual quilling was behind the cut out. Recently, I came across Sandy’s blog http://www.quillingbysandrawhite.blogspot.com/ and read about how she came up with this idea “by accident”. I contacted her and she has given me permission to share her story.

“I started quilling in 1973. I went to a craft shop and came home with quilling paper to frame and embellish my girlfriend’s wedding invitation. I made all kinds of tiny little flowers. When I went back to the craft shop , I showed the girl and she said “you didn’t even have a quilling tool!” She showed me the tool with the slot, I took it home and have not stopped quilling. It was so easy with the tool that I haven’t stopped.”

“In the mid 80’s …………that sounds so long ago………my mother-in-law Dona was making cut and pierced lampshades to sell in the League of NH Craftsmen shops with my father –in-law Dick’s turned wooden lamps…..very beautiful, I even have a couple.


We had thought that perhaps a little quilling on the shades might be pretty. So I made up some flowers and we tried to place them on the shade. We had envisioned that the flowers would show nicely when the lamp was turned on. But it did not. Instead, the flowers slipped behind a cut-out in the shade, and it happened to be that of a loon. And the accident was born. Quilling my way. When the lamp was tuned on, all you could see was a blob of something. But when it was off, the quilling showed very well behind the opening. That’s where the idea of quilling behind a cut-out was born. A happy Accident. So much for quilled lampshades…………I did make flowers for a few lampshades with Dona completing them. And I did sell a couple……………but my interest was in the birds and ducks…………..and on to wildflowers and other wildlife. Quilling, My Way, developed from that little accident……………I do have a lampshade with quilled flowers on it as shown below. I am unable, perhaps unwilling is a little more honest, to make any more, as I do not have any interest in making the shade itself. Too tedious ………like quilling isn’t tedious.”



If you would like to see more of Sandra’s work check out her web site http://www.quillingbysandrawhite.com/

Be my Valentine

Do you remember being in elementary school and making Valentines for your classmates? I do . . . I remember cutting out hearts from construction paper and decorating them with Valentine stickers. I remember my Mom helping me to make heart shaped cookies and writing classmates’ names on them with frosting. I remember buying “punch out” Valentines with cute little critters and cute little sayings. I also remember those awful tasting little candy hearts that said ‘be mine” or “love”. Too bad I didn’t know how to quill back then; I don’t make too many Valentines now . . . but here are some ideas in case you are planning on being creative this year.

The heart on this card was made with a technique called bandaging. I stacked 1/8” inch strips together (I think I used six) and then wrapped them with the contrasting color. I wrapped the bandaged strips around a cardboard cut out for the heart shape and removed it from the work board (and the cut out) once it was dry. The directions for the little “heart” petals follow.

6 Pink hearts (3”) for flower petals

Wrap red paper around three of the pink hearts

3 Red hearts (3”) for petals

3 Green strips (1.5”) for stems

3 Loose scrolls (2”) for filigree

Arrange as shown

For those of you who have visited my web site Whimsiquills.com , you know I like to use border punches when I make my cards. Here are some that are perfect for Valentines Day. Heart border punch I used for the bottom of the card, here is a Circle Heart Border punch.  , and last but not least "Framed in Love" a corner border punch. I hope these give you some ideas.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! I hope you enjoyed the holiday season and are looking forward to a happy healthy 2011. It’s hard to believe it is January although the temperature and the snow on the ground are pretty good indications. I’m one of those strange people who love the winter! I actually enjoy walking my dogs more when it is 15 degrees out than I do when it is 85 degrees. So in honor of winter I created a new snowflake (no easy task when you have made as many snowflakes as I have over the years) This time I combined husking with traditional quilling, although I used a quilling comb (aka onion holder) instead of wrapping the strips around pins on a work board. In case you would like to try this one, I used the following sized strips for this snowflake

8 ½” strips for the “husked” arms of the snowflakes,

4” strips for the open hearts which I placed between the six arms of the snowflakes.

4” teardrops

2” tight rolls

 

Once again, I plan to feature other quilling artists, starting with Sandra White a New Hampshire quiller I plan to  touch base with some of the quillers I have already featured, just to see what they are doing this year.

For those of you who may not know, I have set up a Whimsiquills “fan” page on Facebook. (Just do a search for Whimsiquills/Facebook and the page comes right up).I thought it might be a fun way for us to have “discussions” about quilling topics. Two threads I have started include getting quilling into schools ( I have not yet been successful here) and making greeting cards. I hope you will stop by and add your thoughts and let me know what you are interested in discussing with other quillers.