A couple of cards

It's hard to imagine now, but I used to be an avid card maker.  I spent all my free time making cards, but these days I hardly ever make any.  The silly thing is, that when I do make them, I enjoy it.  I think what stops me making more is having my craft room upstairs.  When I was at my card making peak, I lived in tiny little flats where I used the dining room table as my craft room.  With them being tiny little flats, the table was in the living room, pushed up against a wall with towers of storage on top.  I miss those days...

The quilled cherry blossom was made into a card in record time (for me).  I sent this off to Mr CA's nana (would that be Nana CA?) as a thank you for my birthday present.  I simply layered it up and added some brads in the corners.

This card was made from die cuts and a birthday cake candle and found its home with my dad for his birthday.  I needle-felted a card for my mum's birthday but neglected to take a photo.  I'll have to ask her to take on as I know she will have kept it.

Craft Book Review - Pretty Quilled Cards

The lovely folk at GMC sent me another book to review.

Pretty Quilled Cards by Cecilia Louie
Before we go any further, the disclaimers.  I was sent the book for free to review but I was not told what to say and all opinions are 100% my own.  I didn't receive any monetary compensation.  Links in this post, as with all my book posts, are affiliated.  If you click over and buy something, I get a few pence towards an Amazon voucher.  

I have done quilling before, it's something I used to do a lot of as a teenager and I'm used to the traditional coiled shapes.  This style of quilling is a bit different.  It still uses long thin paper strips on their edge, but there is less coiling and more shaping.

The book has 25 designs, each one showing a large colour photo of the finished item, the lengths of each colour strip to cut and a diagram showing how they are put together.

The next pages are a written explanation of how to form each design, including more diagrams.  The instructions really are top notch.

There are a whole range of different designs in the book, including card designs for birthday, Christmas and other special occasions.  You could, of course, use the motifs however you like and aren't restricted to making cards.

Each design is rated out of 5 for difficulty and I, stupidly, chose the level 3 cherry blossom design.  It was tricky.  It was fiddly and frustrating at times, but I did it.

I wasn't very happy with my shapes as I was forming them and I didn't think I'd get a good result, but you know what?  I'm really chuffed with my final piece.  I don't think I've done a bad job.  It took a long time, nearly 2 hours, to put this together so it wasn't quick!

Whilst making the design, I was sure I'd never make another design from this book as it was just too fiddly, but when I'd finished, I rethought this and I think I might just tackle another!

The designs are lovely, I do like the style and the instructions are really detailed.  I think this book would be ideal for someone who's got some experience in quilling, but anyone with a bit of patience who is able to do fiddly work could make the designs.  My one criticism of the book is that there aren't enough designs suitable for me, the only one being a necktie.  

Linking up to:













Disclaimer:

I was given a review copy of the book by GMC however this review and all opinions are 100% my own, I was not told what to say.  Amazon links are affiliate links.

coils and curls

Speaking of which, (though we weren't), have I ever told you I recently discovered I have curly hair?  It's the sort of thing you usually know about yourself, but not in my case.  I've straightened my hair for years, in my teens and 20s it was wavy, but messy wavy with some straight bits and others not.  One day late last year, my GHDs died.  A few days later, my straightening hairdryer died.  I couldn't afford replacements, so I let my hair be.  And it's curly!  I'd always wanted curly hair...

Just thought I'd share.

I've been threatening to do some quilling for ages and it finally happened last Friday evening, after I'd been off work ill all day.  I'd been hanging around on Pinterest and decided to blatantly copy a design I found there.  Now, I hope it's alright that I stole the design - I'm not planning on selling it, or anything made from it, it was in fact for just one Mother's Day card for my mum. 

I'm also not claiming to have designed it, it was designed by a Russian lady who's blog you can find here.  That link will take you directly to her magnolia card.  These are magnolias aren't they?

I used to quill a lot as a child but haven't since and it took me a while to get back in the rhythm of it.  I think I was too frugal and used too short strips so my coils aren't as full as I'd like.  The on-edge paper stem was really tricky!  That will take some practise.  There are some amazing on-edge designs out there.  If you're interested, check out my Quilling Pinterest Board.

 

I added the glass butterfly magnet myself.  I didn't make it.   Obviously.  Not too shabby for a first attempt.  The quilling papers are still in the living room so I might just have to try my hand at a few more designs.