Is it really time to kick off the Christmas season? Wasn't it just the middle of summer?! I miss the warmth, but have to say it's kind of nice to live in this corner of the northern hemisphere where staying inside to make things goes hand in hand with the chilly holidays. Here's an idea for a unique Christmas card that would be a good design to try even if you're brand new to quilling. Because the rolled coils are random sizes, there's no need to stress over them being exact. The card itself is a simple gate fold, meaning the short sides of a cardstock rectangle are folded in to meet at the center. The red, elongated triangle is glued to the left side only, so the flaps can be opened to reveal a greeting. Quilled loose coils make nifty little ornaments. Roll a narrow strip of lightweight green/red paper, 1/8 inch wide, anywhere from two to seven inches in length, on a quilling tool or even a toothpick. Glue the end (a torn end blends in best), spread a little

Feast your eyes on this paper pie slice with quilled pecans made by Sonya Appel for the Custom Quilling newsletter that doubles as a party favor box. Not nearly as many calories as the real thing, but definitely just as wonderful! Sonya is a dynamo in the quilling and stamping worlds, always coming up with inspiring ideas. Check out her blog for more information about how she went about making the pie slice . Quick story about pecans... My mother, who has had Alzheimer's for quite a few years, grew up in southern Virginia where pecans reign supreme - seriously, pecan pie is on the menu of nearly every restaurant. photo credit (and recipe - yum!): Cyndi Allison Last autumn Mom was still able to go to the grocery store with my dad, despite not having a clear idea of who or where she was. On one shopping trip she spied the display of pecans and insisted they buy a bag for my sister and me. Old habits die hard you know... the purchase of pecans had always been an annual t

Several readers have been asking to see more of my quilling - how nice are they?! I promise to do a better job of sharing what I make and today will be one of those days. It's just that I love to show a variety of paper artists and ideas, and always seem to be coming across something that makes me say "wow!" This piece is perhaps a repeat for Yahoo quilling group members, but now is a good time to post it with harvest season wrapping up here in the U.S. and Thanksgiving quickly approaching. Inspired by a graphic design in a CR Gibson memorial garden book that I inscribe for a local church, it came together in a weekend. I always say creating an original design takes me so much longer than actually doing the project itself, so here you are, proof of that - it was relatively quick. To give the vine stiffness for easier handling, I held a few lengths of gold and silver ornament thread together, coated them with clear glue, and set the strand aside to dry completely before tr

Recently I completed a marriage certificate for a couple whose wedding took place in the Jurassic Park area of Universal Studios in Florida. click pics to enlarge They requested autumn flora and fauna to complement the forest theme. I love a quilling challenge, so enjoyed creating a design that includes ferns, leaves, acorns, mushrooms, an owl, blue jay, squirrel, and even a tiny mouse. See him sneaking along down there at the bottom? A marriage certificate is a poster-sized document on which the couple's vows are written in calligraphy. The bride and groom usually sign it during or immediately after the wedding. Guests may also sign as a commitment to support the couple in their marriage. Originally a Quaker tradition, marriage certificates are an alternative to the traditional guest book. A nice advantage is that the art piece can be framed and hung in the couple's home as a special remembrance of the day. The couple's wedding vows were lettered by

Introducing laminated nanopaper lamps from MooDoo , a young design studio in Prague. Simple and spectacular! Leaf Nano Paper Lamp on iroko wood stand The designer of the lamps is MgA. Tomas Paul, a well-known artist in the Czech Republic. Peter Skacel and Marek Schwarz are technical developers of the special paper used to create the line of elegant ambient lighting. They work in conjunction with NeoGraph, a Czech security paper mill. Lady Nano Paper Lamp on wire stand So just what is nanopaper? I was curious and found this wiseGEEK site that explains it is an extremely durable paper that obtains its strength from trillions of linked cellulose nanofibers. Still a very new technology, scientists are working worldwide to develop uses for this fascinating discovery. Guard Nano Paper Lamp on wood stand The line of MooDoo lamps may be expanded in the future to include printed and/or perforated papers. Bethlehem Praga lamp This limited edition shade with stan

Recently a friend's son visited Hong Kong and returned home with a folded paper dragon kit. I thought I knew what she meant when she described it to me, because some time ago I had come across videos for an Asian paper craft that relies on pointy pieces of folded paper to make all sorts of colorful structures. So off I went on a hunt for those same videos without either one of us knowing what the craft is called... and yay , found them! The craft is called Chinese 3-D modular origami. More about it in a moment, first let me give credit for the following pictures. The projects belong to kattykong on Flickr , and all but one are quite unusual... see if you can guess which picture is a beloved and frequently made model in this genre. Multitudes of little paper rectangles are folded into triangles that interlock without the need to glue each piece. In Japan, it's referred to as block folding origami. It seems you can make just about any structure imaginable , large or sma

I love to keep an eye on wedding trends, especially current flower and color favorites, never knowing when the information will come in handy for the marriage certificates I quill. Recently I've been noticing that the ranunculus has become really popular in bridal bouquets. Photo source: Nature Hills Nursery Isn't ranunculus a great name? It's one of those words that's just fun to say over and over. (Yes, I'm easily amused.) Latin for "little frog", it leads me to think of the fairy tale in which the toad turns into a prince after being kissed... and this makes it a fitting name for the flower because the perfectly round and full shape is truly regal. Brandy of Etsy shop, Blush Envy , creates paper ranunculus that look so much like the real thing, it's hard to believe they aren't fresh flowers. She sketches, cuts, and shapes the petals by hand from fabulous colored papers, and highlights each one with paint. Finally, the whole pie

Unique paper cuts by Ruth Becker [edit: formerly Ruth Mergi] are truly something to see. Ruth is an American-born artist living in Modi'in, Israel [edit: now in Chevy Chase, Maryland], who began paper cutting in earnest just a year or so ago. She works by hand with a compass and straight-edge to create intricate single-layer, multilayered, and painted paper cut designs. Ruth says she is strongly influenced by traditional Islamic motifs, as well as other spiritual traditions. Cut paper and gouache 10" x 10" 2010 Recently she began creating original paper cut ketubot, which are Jewish marriage documents. This is her remarkable first design. Meytal's Ketubah 23" x 23" 2010 Nine layers of hand cut paper, gouache Calligraphy by Izzy Pludwinski Meytal's Ketubah - detail Ruth's work compelled me to ask questions about her creative process. How did you begin doing this style of paper cuts? One of my biggest influences i

I love coming across bloggers who have given quilling a try and discovered how much they enjoy the process and results. Here are three such folks... and based on their eye-catching designs it's hard to tell they are all quite new to paper rolling. First up is Lorene, from I am just Lu , who made this pretty W. Lorene gets together monthly with several relatives and friends who call themselves the Crafty McCrafters. Recently they met to quill monograms, using Craftastical's excellent tutorial . Lorene shares helpful tips in her post that are the result of trial and error, often the very best way to learn. She's since gone on to make several more letters. I think it's safe to say Lorene's sister-in-law Dusty, who blogs at Doug's Supertastic Blogging Experience , is also smitten with quilling. Her first attempt was this graceful N. Rather than beginning by shaping a paper frame for the letter, she relied on long scrolls to create it. Dusty's next pr