25 for 25

So I posted about the 25 (plus 1) cards I made for Sandeep's 25th Birthday in February and here is what you all saw last time...

I've got a reason to post

I've been putting off blogging for no apparent reason; whether it is my personal blog or this one. Let me assure you though that the intentions are there and my mind constantly thinks of ideas for blogging , but I'm so pressed for time that even typing (which I love) a simple post out seems like an effort.

But today I have a reason. And I'll get there, without dragging it out too much.

My Quilling Supplies are here!! Finally!!

My Quilling goodies are here!!! Ah! The wait had been sooo long!

I had ordered Quilling Supplies (all of them.. Even those that I already had! :P) from Quilled Creations in the US somewhere around the end of April this year and I had been impatiently waiting for them to arrive. My wait ended today!!

Well, technically, my wait ended on Friday; but I wasn't home on Friday when the parcel arrived. So I had to got to the post office today morning to collect it. When I did open it, I was sooo excited to see all the goodies that I wanted to start right away and I did!! I already made something out of it! :D :D

But first, the pictures of my goodies.... :D :D :D

Elmer's Glue Pen - $2.95

Quilling Grid Guide - $5.95

Quilling Circle Template Board - $14.95

Double-Sided Storage Box - $6.95

L-R: Curling Coach - $4.95, Hand Quilling tool set (Slotted and Needle tool) - $7.25, Ultrafine Tip Glue Applicator - $4.95,  Quilling Tweezers - $3.50, Fine Tip Scissors - $3.95

Mini Mold - $5.95

Quilling paper - 1/8" (3mm) - 50 strips per pack in 37 colours - $1.40 each

And here's what I made already!!! :)

More on this later! 

- Nikita.

Two projects in quick succession

The project I posted previously was made when I had already started to work on something else - my parents' 25th Anniversary card. I hadn't finished that when I made the previous one, because I had to wait till their anniversary date. So till then I preferred to make/finish something else - something that I could actually give someone. Hence the butterfly project.

At that time, my parents' card was all but made. I had decided upon the design, made the little quilled pieces and they were just waiting to be assembled.

Even though my parents' anniversary was in September which is a rainy month here in India, I decided to go with an Autumn theme because I loved it when I saw the design in the book 'Miniature Quilling' by Diane Boden Crane. I was so in love with the design that I decided to just go ahead with it.

The quilled pieces of autumn flowers and leaves in various colours.

The arrangement we thought we'd have for the face of the card.

Here's what the face of the card looked like...

Also, for the inside, my sister and I decided to make miniature dolls (also inspired from the same book) but they didn't turn out as great as the front of the card because it was my first time making dolls. Well, it was just the faces that looked weird. The rest of the dolls looked fine and our parents' loved the card which was the whole point anyway.

I also used a few balloons I had made when I was experimenting with my quilling skills during the first few weeks. Glad they came in handy! And I didn't (and I still don't) have a cuttlebug. So the oval cut in between  is totally using a stencil that I used in the 12th standard for maths.. the one with the hyperbola, parabola and ellipse shapes!! I know!! I can't believe I had still saved that!! But it helped!! So all in all it was a successful project once again!! :D :D

Until next time...

- Nikita.

My first sincere try at Quilling

It had been a while since I had purchased my quilling kit and I had got the basic shapes right; at least as close to the pictures in the instruction booklet as I could. When I had purchased the beginner kit, I also bought a few extra strips just for practice, and I made sure I made good use of them.

Once I had enough "practicing," I decided to make something out of it; something I could actually give someone. Actually, the project didn't start this way. I had purchased a few books from the same store where I got my quilling supplies and I read about the Looping technique and decided to give it a try.

I picked one strip in white and two in blue and began. Pretty soon, I had made something that could be used as a butterfly's wing! I was ecstatic and went on to make three more. So I had four wings for the butterfly. I also made its body and its antenna and bam! There was a pretty butterfly right in front of me!!!

Now, just making the butterfly wasn't enough. I needed something to mount the butterfly on. In the kit, there was also this card stock cut out that could be folded to make a tiny box, and it was pastel blue in colour, like chart paper. Since my butterfly was blue, I decided to let the box be bluish but it looked very lifeless to me.

So I decided to paint it. And then I glued the cut out together the way it was supposed to be glued to make it into a box, added a few regular flowers using a tight coil and petals using marquises. I also tried my hand at making folded roses using both, 10mm and 3mm strips.

It's a little over done, but I guess that's alright.

I gave the box to someone really really special (obviously! :D) and I also put a note in it! :)

Here's what it looked like once it was done.

- Nikita.

How it all began

During one of my outings to the mall, I casually strolled into the Hobby Ideas store and checked the collection out. I don't remember what I bought, but I'm sure that I bought something. There was a section of the store that had Quilling supplies. At that time, I didn't even know what Quilling was, but somehow it stuck with me. Months later, on another visit I bought a starter kit from the store and tried a few basic shapes following the instructions in the booklet that came with the kit. This is what turned out..

Not my best work, but I had just started off. Then, I tried making a few flowers..

Day after day, month after month, I kept practicing and learning through books, videos, and blogs and I got better.

This blog is about my Quilling journey - my experiments with various projects, techniques, designs; and other card making projects that I undertake which have a little bit of quilling at least.

Coming up, my first quilling project. :)

- Nikita.