Quilled ornaments inside a glass ball

November is a good time to start thinking Christmas. I'm living in Canada now, and my neighbors have already decorated their houses. I thought it would be nice to showcase some Christmas ornaments with quilling today.

Quilled knee cross-sectional anatomy

Impressed with the work of Lisa Nilsson, I decided to try my hand at anatomical quilling, too. A few months ago my husband had a problem with his knee and I made ​​a small gift for his orthopedist — this quilled knee cross-section.

Paper quilling: Miniature squirrel

Do you remember my 3-D quilled family of mice? They have the cone shape in their base, with some traditional 2-D shapes used for other elements. The same technique can be used to make various characters, including animals, fairies, etc. For example, something like this small squirrel I created some time ago.

Quilled Easter greeting cards

As the Easter is coming up, I would like to show two of my Easter cards with quilling. I often choose the Easter egg to be the main element of my cards, and these ones aren't an exception. The quilled egg on the first card is made of 1/8-inch-wide yellow, orange and red paper strips. In addition to the egg, I used a ribbon bow and the words "Happy Easter!" to decorate this greeting card. The lettering was done by hand using a red felt-tip pen. Size of this card is approximately 4.5" x 6" (12 x 15 cm).

On the second card the central quilled Easter egg is echoed by two simpler eggs on its sides. For this card I combined quilling with punches and paper cutting. The red and yellow paper strips in this case are 1/8" (3 mm) and 1/16" (1.5 mm) wide. Size of the card is approximately 4.5" x 6" (~11.5 x 15.5 cm).

Please, use these cards for inspiration only and do not reproduce them.

My other Easter projects:

• Quilled Easter egg with a surprise
• Quilled Easter egg
• Easter eggs & cards in my Etsy shop

I would also like to take this opportunity to wish my female readers a happy International Women's Day. Tons of health, success, love, peace, luck and happiness to you all!

Tutorial: How to make tendrils for paper quilling

In my quilling I often use tendrils (spirals). They are especially good for quilled tree trunks and branches, like in my Cherry blossom picture, for instance. They can be also used in cardmaking and scrapbooking for making intricate embellishments, like those on this Valentine's Day card or the pink Birthday greeting card. However, creating perfect tendrils for paper quilling is not as simple as it may look. Some of my readers asked me how I create tendrils for my quilling, so here we go, a tutorial on the subject :) In this short video I share my method of making tendrils using a needle tool and 1/16" & 1/8" strips. You can also use an awl, a thin knitting needle or even a toothpick. Don't be disappointed if you can't get it right right away, just keep practicing.

Hanukiah made using discarded discs and boxes

A quick Hanukkah post today. For the second time in a row, our Hanukkah Menorah (or Hanukiah) made of recycled materials won first prize in the school contest. That was a big challenge to our craft skills. How many new craft ideas can you come up with, really? This year we made our Hanukiah of round cheese containers and old compact discs we had been collecting for almost two years. The cardboard containers were assembled together to build the body of the Hanukiah, which was then painted dark brown to make a good uniform backdrop for the brightly colored decoration.

Room thermometers with paper quilling

Dear readers! First off, I would like to thank you for all those emails of appreciation and encouragement I receive from you, as well as your comments on this blog. I read them all, without exception. And I value them a lot! Unfortunately, I not always have time to reply, so I want to apologize, too.

Now it's time to keep my promise (see Thermometers decorated with quilling) and show you two other thermometers.