Roses, Strawberries and Cupcakes

Can you believe it's already December 29th, creatively; I'm looking forward to 2012. I've made a list of new items I'd like to make and have already made a couple so I'm happy about that. We had a good Christmas this year, I hope everyone else had a fabulous holiday as well.

A coworker of mine requested a card for his friend's upcoming wedding. Their colors are red, black and white; and he was envisioning a heart made out of roses. I found a nice black metallic paper, which I used for the front of the card; which was then embellished with approximately 47 red roses - that took awhile to do - then I printed their names and their wedding date, scalloped it and added some glitter and it turned out just lovely. It's been added to my shop, where you can customize the text - here is an example of it with "I love you".

I also had planned on making more jewelry/trinket boxes this year. They're like little sculptures to me, I really enjoy working on them; and very recently I had sold a few that I had in my shop - so I thought now was as good a time as any. I first made the strawberry, then the cupcake; I still want to make one with a ladybug but haven't figured that one out yet - that will be soon though.

Snowflakes

I have been sooooo busy making snowflakes. I had big plans in November to build up stock of quilled snowflakes for my Etsy shop, let's just say; it did not go as planned. The beginning of November I received an order from a company for 100 snowflakes, I was shocked. I've had people in the past question how much it would be for 100 of a card but that's as far as it would go; this time she kept writing back so it actually materialized. I was excited for the opportunity but I was also a tad worried; not that I wouldn't get it done - I didn't have a choice actually, it had to get done; I called it Operation Blizzard and I only had 2 1/2 weeks to get them done, I did it and the customer was absolutely thrilled with them.

On top of finishing up those 100 snowflakes, I also had to finish my coworkers order of 20 flakes; I had 10 to go - I just finished them this weekend. These are a new design, they're an inch larger then the one's in my shop, they're done using gold edged papers and they have a window in the middle that simulates frosted glass; you can see in the photo how the lights on the tree shine through.

I do love the look of my snowflakes but I'm very much looking forward to creating some new designs for Valentine's Day; which I will be starting within the next couple weeks.

Quilling Class

Earlier today at the local independently owned scrapbook store, Eclectica; I taught a quilling class. What fun! I thought I would be nervous but I really wasn't. I was concerned that I wouldn't be able to explain it in a way that they would understand but they all said I did great, woo hoo. We created a quilled flower for a tag, a snowflake for a card and a pumpkin as an embellishment. I brought in some items that I've made to show what can be done with quilling and we've decided for the next class I'm going to teach fringed flowers and roses - that may be a little tricky, I can make roses but not sure how I'll explain it; that class will be in January of the new year so it gives me plenty of time to figure it out.

Sneak Peak: Cardinal Ornament

I've had a little time to work on some new items, one being a cardinal ornament. Awhile back I had drawn sketches of a bird in a nest with Christmas lights and was able to finish it yesterday. I've also thought I would create a blue bird in a nest and will most likely sell them as a set. This little cutie is about 1 1/2" long and 1" tall. Coming to my etsy shop soon.

Paper Doll Princess

In October at my favorite local scrapbook store, Eclectica; they have what they call a "Scrap Pink" crop, where some of the money goes to help in the fight against breast cancer. Yesterday was the crop, 10 hours of awesome craftiness with a fabulous group of gals; Olive Garden and some door prizes; we all had a great time. They also do a contest where you get to decorate a die cut paper doll and everyone votes on their favorite, I love this contest; it's so much fun and I win it; or at least the last 3 times I entered I won. For my doll yesterday I decided on a princess. I used white swiss dot card stock to create her dress, added bling using my Star Dust Stickles, and created her tiara, jewels, and hair with quilling. I/she won, super exciting; got me a $5 gift card which I used last night purchasing some new paper (which I didn't need) but who doesn't love more paper.

New Projects

I'm so behind on posts, it's awful; when my allergies bother me I just don't do any quilling - the past week or so I've been feeling a little better so I worked on some custom orders. The first project was a set of 4 butterfly magnets, the second was a "lovey" card. For the magnets, I decided to use more than one color for the wings, I chose teal as my main color and accentuated each with purples/blues or yellow/oranges/light green.

On the card it was pretty open, I told him I was thinking of a tree with their initials and in the leaves I would add a few hearts; he said it sounded good to him and loved the way it turned out. If you'd like your own Love Tree card with customizable initials feel free to pop on over to my shop and purchase it. I've also added a set of 2 butterfly magnets to my shop, which would make a great teacher gift or office gift as the holiday's approach.

The Letter M

I'm just finishing up a custom order for a letter "M". I was asked to use pale blue, gray and ivory for the colors, I purchased those colors in bazzill card stock and also a blue that was a smidge darker than the pale blue. Her walls are ivory so I chose the pale blue for the actual M shape and decided to accent it with the other colors. She wanted it to be 12" tall, on the computer I took the M she chose and did a loose sketch of what I thought it would look like. Once I had the right hand side completed (before glueing anything down), I sent her a photo to make sure I was going in the right direction. Once I received approval I continued to finish up the entire piece, going back and forth between the darker blue and the gray and ivory. I happened to have a pale blue sheer ribbon in the width that I wanted (1/2" ish) to hang it by; now all I have to do is create two tabs to go on the back from which the ribbon will attach. I can't wait to hear how she likes it.

All About Paper Etsy Treasury

Ooh, one of my paper pots was included in an Etsy treasury, All About Paper. Some gorgeous items are in this treasury, one of my fav's being the paper dress. Amazing!

Custom Notecards, All Occasion

These little cuties were a custom order for a friend, he asked if I could do 4 of my little cards (notecards, I call them). He wanted two with flowers and two with balloons, just to keep around in case an occasion came up where he might need a card. I really like how they turned out, I may need to do some more soon.

Sneakers, a Wedding Card

 A coworker of mine was in need of 2 wedding cards, one he said could be traditional; the other one he wanted something unique. His cousin is getting married in a couple weeks, she's younger, more hip, loves to run, as does her husband to be. Their "Save the Date" card had an image of a couple in wedding attire, wearing sneakers. So I decided to incorporate their love of running into the wedding card. I envisioned quilling two sneakers, having them face each other; and the laces going up and turning into a heart - it sounded good when I told him what I wanted it to look like; then I had to figure it out.

I did my sketch, then realized; quilling the sneakers would not give them the right look. I decided to use different papers to create the sneakers, and would lace them with my thin quilling paper which would in turn, turn into the heart. I worked on it for a couple nights, a little bit each night and while I was concerned that the laces may not turn into the heart like I wanted, it worked; the card turned out so nice. I love a challenge, and my coworker is sure they're gonna love it.

Recent Custom Orders

About 3 weeks ago we went to Connecticut to visit family, we had a great time. Since returning; I've been super busy with custom orders. While on vacation I received an email from a gentleman who saw on my blog, a custom Juicy Couture card I had made for my coworker's daughter, he wanted one for his wife's birthday. He gave me some of her favorite colors, I chose the Tiffany blue; of course I had to google what that was so I got it right. He wrote her a couple poems which I printed for him and put on the inside.

One of my coworkers had asked if I could create a birth announcement card for his new grandson. His daughter in law loves monkey's and owl's so I knew I would incorporate those elements along with a few other "baby" things and of course his name, date of birth and what he weighed. I sketched out the monkey, this was the first quilled monkey I ever did and I was hoping he would turn out as cute as my sketch - he did and so did the card, I definitely want to make more of these in the future.

Another coworker wanted a graduation card, I did a cap and diploma using the colors from the graduate's high school - blue and mustard yellow. She also needed 3 personalized frames, I picked out three patterned paper's with florals and swirls and printed each of the recipients names for the inside. I then quilled a solid butterfly that coordinated with the colors in the papers; she loved them all.

In the last week I finished up a custom Etsy order, wedding table numbers 1 - 7; and another order from a woman who saw my cross card on my blog. She wanted to use them as baptism invitations, and being that she was in Australia and shipping takes so long; I only had a couple days to create 18 of them. I got them done and out; they turned out so nice - she chose an ivory and gold edged paper for the cross embellishments.

At the moment I'm fighting a sinus/cold situation and hoping to get over it soon, it's making me very tired but too stuffy to get any sleep. Next, more snowflakes.......

Peacock Card, First Attempt

I have been wanting to attempt to make a peacock for about a year. My coworker has a daughter who loves peacock's and this year I told him I would do my best to get a peacock done for her birthday, I actually wanted to do a 3D one; but time was running out so I did a birthday card for her instead which can be framed and hung - I think she's going to love it. I will say I had some difficulty with this, I glued pieces down before thinking it all the way through; but I now know what I'll do the next time I create one.

Round Dog Frames, Zeke and Cori

These were a custom order for my coworker, yes; same coworker - what can I say, she loves my quilling. She wanted dog frames with the names quilled on each one, Zeke and Cori; I happened to find a paw print card stock that was just perfect for these. I wanted to keep them simple and the tone on tone paws worked perfectly I think. I quilled their names, a bone, a ball and a few hearts; she loved them.

Quilly Nilly Christmas in July

www.quillynilly.etsy.com

Starting tomorrow, July 1st and running throughout the month of July; use coupon code cij2011 to receive 15% off your total order. As a BONUS, everyone who makes a purchase during this time will have their name put in for a chance to win an original Quilly Nilly snowflake ornament. Drawing for snowflake ornament will be held on Monday August 1st. 

For The Birds...

I coworker of mine asked if I could make her 4 birds, she has 2 already which are on their own bases; I told her for this I would put them all on one base so she wouldn't have all these single birds standing next to each other. I knew I wanted to incorporate a paper tree and a swing in her sculpture. After creating a sketch of what I wanted it to look like I started on the grass -  I fringed the grass for the base, wish I could say that was my own idea but it wasn't - I ran across the blog of a very talented quiller/paper artist named Suzana Ilic, she has wonderful ideas and creations; I can't believe I just discovered her.

Once I had all the hand fringed grass glued to the base, I moved on to the tree. I had some friends help me figure out how to do the top of the tree, I wasn't sure how I wanted to do it and their suggestions were great, I really like the different paper used for the tree and leaves. I quilled 4 birds in blue, yellow, rose and grape and added some flowers. I think my coworker is gonna love it. I love it, almost want to keep it :)