An Old Favourite of Mine

Our second Crafterzoom craft was my choice; I decided to return to a spot of quilling with a beautiful kit from Past Times. This was comprehensive and easy to follow but this was a much longer project. We met a couple of times online and both completed the project in our own time after that. Worth every minute though. I just love the intricate detail you get in a quilled card and this was a delightful pattern to work with.

Having rekindled my enthusiasm for this craft, I was also keen to revisit the production of paper roses using quilling techniques so I went on to create an anniversary card for my long-suffering husband.

I had only ever made roses one way before but this time I tried three different techniques for making them. The folded roses are my favourite but the different styles added a bit of interest and Jessica insisted that I also include some fringed flowers. It was my first attempt at making fringed leaves, which were incredibly satisfying and the results were very effective.

 

Quilled Wedding Gift

It had been a long time since I had done any quilling when I embarked on this project at the end of March 2016. I always forget just how painstaking it is but I find it really therapeutic and I love the fiddly work.

For these flowers I can't use the precut quilling papers so the first job is always to cut the strips, and plenty of them. Next I have to do the fraying. This involves making hundreds of tiny cuts along the length of the strips, as close together as possible, being careful not to cut right through the paper. It takes hours but the flowers that result are beautiful. 

There are four flowers in this design. Two different sized roses, which are created by rolling and folding and two types of fringed flowers, with and without centres. On the ones that are quilled without centres I added tiny jewels on this occasion. The design comes from Anne Redman's book Practical Quilling. It was published in 1998 and it looks like it might be out of print but she has some really beautiful projects in there and I've always found the instructions to be very thorough and easy to follow. 

I don't do it often but I think quilling will always be a craft that I come back to. I enjoy the process and am almost always pleased with the results.

Quilled wedding card

As you can see, Chris and Akiko tied the knot today. I made this last night and felt a little rusty if the truth be told. My petals could have been more consistent but I was quite pleased that I could remember how to make the roses because they’re definitely my favourite quilled flower. At some point I’m going to try making lots of them and glue them together into a heart but not yet. It’s time I got back to that kite…

Quilled flower card and my 30th birthday cake

This has been a fabulous bank holiday weekend. On Saturday we celebrated Amy’s 30th birthday like it was 1933 and on Sunday I had my first of three 30th birthday celebrations (I’m very greedy) with a kids birthday party at Mum and Dad’s house. We were lucky with the weather so Katryn, Archie, Steven, Millie, James, Ollie, Josh (and I) could run around the garden all afternoon. Loved it!

So, here is the card that I made for Amy. I wasn’t sure about the quilled flower in the middle which has petals of different lengths but David and Amy particularly commented on that one so maybe I’m wrong!

The flowers take a little while to make because I have to cut the paper before curling them up around the quilling tool. Here’s a close-up…

Mum made me this fabulous cake. I have no idea when I last had a number cake for my birthday and I loved it! Thanks Mummy!!!

Now I’m all set up for a bank holiday Monday crafting and marking for my exam classes. Could be better, but certainly could be worse. I’ll post my crafting efforts tomorrow.

Cards sold for Mother’s Day 2010

Rather than crafting this weekend I have continued to organise, creating two photobooks of our 2011 holidays (Texas and Canary Islands) from Truprint as they have a 50% off offer on at the moment and inserting photographs into my journal from our most recent holiday. Whilst sorting out I found some unused photos lying around on an old memory card…

In the first half of 2010 I was busy fundraising with the Zingolo girls to spend a month in Ghana in the summer. One of the many things that they did during this time was to hold a Mother’s Day stall at school. Here are the cards that I made for them:

I’d like to think that my quilled flowers are a little more uniform these days. These ones look particularly sloppy to me!

Good luck Year 11

My production of good luck cards for Year 11 is now over. They go on study leave on Friday and I have to admit that I’m going to really miss teaching them. They’re a fantastic group and will leave me with many happy memories. I’m looking forward to teaching some of them in the sixth form and, fingers crossed, having some in my form in September…

A few things I’ve been doing

It doesn’t feel like I’ve had much time for crafting recently but the UCAS references are finally all done and the application process is over for another year so I’m back! Here are a few things I’ve done recently…
I made something like 100 of these simple place settings for a colleague last year who used them for her parents diamond wedding anniversary party. 
This framed A4 piece speaks for itself.
This was an alternative to a normal birth sampler for my god-daughter. She’s nearly two and I still haven’t got around to having it framed yet. Oops.
  This is a stitched isometric cube for one of my Maths department colleagues. It took hours but I absolutely love it, hope she does too!

A couple of special leaving cards

It’s that time of year again, teachers are preparing to move on from Woodford and I’ll be very sorry to see them go. Helen Cleland has been our head teacher for 19 years and I’m sure that she has a long and happy retirement ahead of her. Heather has been my colleague in the Maths department for the full five years that I have been there and I’m going to miss her so much. Here are the cards that I have made for them both…

 

Helen’s took eight hours and Heather’s quilled flowers took me five. It’s definitely a labour of love….

Quilled cards

I don’t seem to have kept pictures of many of my quilled cards unfortunately, but here are four that I have kept.

Quilling is an incredibly intricate craft. I find it immensely satisfying but I also tend to get my fingers stuck together rather too easily! I was horrified a few months ago when I was told at my local craft shop that they weren’t stocking the papers anymore because it “had gone out of fashion”. I’m glad to report that they’ve now changed their minds and supplied me with some lovely ones this morning.