Paper Quilling from Ann Martin on YouTube.
Somehow I overlooked this fantastic video tutorial by Ann Martin :( Eventually I watched it and enjoyed very much! Check out Ann's post with the list of supplies and instructions, too: That's Clever Video - Quilled Poinsettia Tutorial .
This is another of my big quilling projects, along with the quilled flowers on black velours background. The design is mine, from beginning to end. In this quilling picture I tried to reproduce a few species of Israeli flowers that bloom in February through April. Here they are, left to right:
Besides the flowers, there's also a quilled Gonepteryx butterfly (also known as brimestone) and a ladybug. For this project I mostly used 1/16"-wide strips (1.5mm); but for the ladybug, foliage, and lupin flowers popular 1/8"-wide (3mm) strips were used. I cut-out the leaves of the chamomile using small scissors. Size of the finished artwork: 9x9 inches (23x23cm). Sorry, no close-up photos this time :(
Here are my excuses for not blogging as often as usual: I've been taking art classes! This clay sculpture is one of my first projects. It's a dried seedpod of the sacred lotus.
With 200+ posts and counting, my blog has grown too large, so I'll be posting a series of round-ups in an attempt to make some order. I'll start with quilling (paper filigree) tutorials, and you are invited to suggest a subject for a next one.
I think these Hanukiot (Hanukkah Menorah's) are my last Hanukkah crafts for this year. I'll be giving them to friends and family, hope they'll like my miniature handmade gifts.
This year's Hanukkah Menorah (Hanukiah) — a flying saucer (UFO). Every year we're trying to come up with a new idea for homemade Hanukkah Menorah. Last year it was the Hanukiah with houses, the year before — Hanukiah with jugs, and so on.
This is one of my old quilling pieces inspired by nature, my attempt to make cyclamens with their unique flowers and patterned leaves. As an accent I added the red-and-black firebug, a little larger than life-size. In Israel, both cyclamens and firebugs can be seen in February through April.
Hanukkah (also spelled Chanukah) is a Jewish holiday, the Holiday of Lights. This year it will be celebrated in mid-December. You can read about Hanukkah in Wikipedia, but if you're looking for craft ideas for Hanukkah, I have a few to share:
Some time ago I stopped throwing away toilet paper rolls, because they can be used in a variety of craft projects. This toy rocket is another example of such easy and eco-friendly kids crafts.
Where do I put my finished quilling, if it's too big for a frame or shadowbox? In a fishbowl!
Hanukkah is coming, and I'd like to suggest this simple craft idea. A Hanukkah-themed lantern can be made with kids, it doesn't require special skills or materials and lets you recycle things you would otherwise throw away.
Long awaited instructions and templates for making a beveled paper frame I've used for my quilling projects "Poppies" and "Dandelions and raspberries". To additionally illustrate the use of a frame like this, I've created a quilled passionflower, which isn't a thoroughly designed work, so be indulgent, please.
I've been playing around with my paper punches. My husband is an avid reader and often runs out of bookmarks. I hope you understand why the first design is made up of hearts :) The second one is fall-themed. I cut out the large leaf using scissors, the rest are paper punches. Just another way to make something nice and handy with paper crafts. Don't know why, but I love these simple tricolor designs.
Today I'm sharing a short review of the wonderful "Paper Crafts Workshop: A Beginner's Guide to Techniques & Projects
I've decided to write the instructions for quilling a bat in a separate post. I have also added a diagram to make it clear.
I made these two greeting cards for wedding anniversaries: one for my husband (and myself :), the other for my parents. For both cards I used paper punches and pattern-edged scissors. The first card features a spiral rose with veined leaves, the second — a simple quilling flower. The lettering done with a gel pen. The butterflies on the second card are paper punches. Look closer at the flower center, I used a punch for it, too.
I'm happy to have an opportunity to "blend" my two favorite subjects — children's crafts and quilling — in one post. Today I'm giving some tips for kids' quilling, based on my personal experience.
But before you read on, you may want to check out the basic quilling instructions.
Doing quilling helps in developing fine motor skills, creativity, patience, and diligence. But most importantly, it's just another way to have fun with your kids! So, here are my observations and recommendations.
Many of my readers celebrate Halloween, so I thought I'd post something related. Do you like these cute witch and wizard? They can be made out of paper withing a very short time. Actually, you can make any figure following the same principal: create a paper cone, cut out and attach arms and hands, then just decorate and add attributes and accessories. For the wizards it's a magical wizard hat and Turkish shoes, for the witch it's also a broomstick. Got it? Well, I'll try to make some order:
This is the best video about paper quilling I've found so far. It's been in my favorite links section for a long time, and I thought I'd put it on the blog, too. You might also like other video tutorials in their YouTube channel. Enjoy!
I received an award from Regina at "Handmade by Regina". Thank you very much, Regina! This is such an honor to be nominated by a great fellow quiller like you. Unfortunately, for me passing awards on requires a lot of time, so I'll do it later some time. Sorry.
With this post I'm finishing the three-part tutorial on making quilled poppies. If you haven't seen the previous parts, here's the full list:
What I like about paper filigree is that it presents almost endless challenges, and I like challenges :) In this project the poppy centers were a challenge, at least to me.
Just to remind you, this is the second part of a three-part tutorial on making quilled poppies:
My last quilling work, two poppies and a dandelion; its size is about 7 x 7 1/2 inches (17.5 x 19.5 cm) framed. This time I'd like to share with you complete, step-by-step instructions for making it. When I say "complete", I mean that you will see how each and every part of this piece was made. Actually, this will be a series of three tutorials, due to the relatively large number of different elements:
I made this spider cake for one of my kid's birthdays. I thought I'd post it before Halloween, for my readers who celebrate this holiday.
I'm back to quilling flowers. I know it may sound strange, but the starting point for this work has been a black shadowbox frame I bought once. This frame was just begging to be used for quilling. It's a square frame, 9x9 inch (23x23cm), so a circle layout seemed to be a natural choice for the composition. Once again I've got the inspiration from a Helen M. Stivens' book. This time it was "Embroidered Flowers
It's time to wrap up making Rosh Hashanah greeting cards for this year. Seems like I've made enough for all friends and family :) This is the third and final set, the previous two can be found here:
Well, the one at the top isn't too much original. Apples (how to quill apples) with honey are traditionally eaten on Rosh Hashanah eve. Size: 3 1/8 x 3 1/8 inch (8 x 8 cm).
Isn't this an excellent way to learn! Kids have fun making letters and numbers and then... eating them.
I've been still making Rosh Hashanah greeting cards for this year. Here's another set of cards. The first two cards were made according to the same sketch. Just like with the previous set, I used oil pastels to color the edges and stickers for the lettering. I also added tiny rhinestones at the corners.
Size of the square cards is approximately 3 7/8 x 4 1/8 inches (10 x 10.5 cm).
The book "Nature Printing
The kaleidoscope is one of those toys that make me nostalgic for my childhood. Today, just before children go back to school, I'd like to show how to make a homemade kaleidoscope toy. On the photo above you can see samples of what's seen through the kaleidoscope I've built with my kids. Each pattern is enclosed in a black circle because of the way I photographed them. In reality though, you should see continuous patterns throughout the field of view.
Just like one year ago, I'd like to share a few ideas for greeting cards for Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. On these cards you can see two words in Hebrew: שנה טובה (shana tova). They mean "a good year", this is the traditional greeting on Rosh Hashanah. Pomegranates, apples and honey are all symbolic foods.
I made this bat cake for my twins' third birthday. This happened about a year and a half ago, though. Such a cake is very easy to make: its components are cut out of a round sponge cake and coated with chocolate cream. The eyes, ears and teeth were made of marzipan, although colored cream or candies can be used as well.
I found this great idea in Kids' Party Cakes
This is my new dandelion project, the last one out of three designs with dandelions I planned to do (the other two are Dandelions and violets and Dandelion). If you wondered how I make the seed-heads, here are the instructions:
Two ideas for simple cards for summertime, one with an ice-cream cone and the other with a chocolate mousse dessert. Actually, these are not cards but magnets. They are based on quilling patterns from one of my favorite quilling books, Twirled Paper: Make Almost Anything With Simple Paper Strips
For a bit more complex summer card projects:
As I already wrote, Helen M. Stevens' Embroiderer's Countryside
This dog-rose was also inspired by her stunning work. I had to figure out how to quill it, though. I had made the flowers with husking and the hips in three-dimensional quilling, but was still struggling the leaves. I tried traditional quilling shapes and husking, but ended up making simple paper leaves with veins.
Another simple handmade card with elements of paper quilling (a step up from the summer card I showed). The quilled shapes require some experience in quilling (especially the crab, which is very tiny), so I can't say this is beginners level. I also tried to incorporate some embossing into this project.
My first quilled dandelions turned out so successful, that I was asked to make more of them for my friends. As I try not to use the same design twice, I added violets to the composition this time.
Crimped strips can be used in paper quilling along with regular strips to add special effects and freshness to your projects. A crimper is a device that consists of two cogs, which a quilling strip is run through. The cogs must be wide enough to cover the width of a strip. A crimper can be purchased in one of quilling supplies shops, but for some of you (like for me) that's not possible. After looking for suitable cogs to make a DIY crimper for quilling strips, I've finally got it and wanted to share with you my solution.
You know, I'm not too much into scrapbooking and cardmaking, but from time to time I create greeting cards for my friends and family. This one is a pretty simple paper card with elements of paper quilling. I wrote a short tutorial on making this card, hope beginners will found it useful.
There are many ways to build a castle with children. Once I already made a small cardboard toy castle with my kids, but this time we wanted something more impressive. For our castle we collected cardboard boxes of different size, and toilet paper tubes. Using those building blocks, paint and some colored paper, we created this castle with floors, round towers, windows and a cone-shaped roof.
