Quilled Card Making Tips

Here's another card idea that features a bit of quilling - just enough to impress the recipient (well, one can hope!), but not so much that it's overwhelming to even think of making a nice stack to send out to friends and family this year. Yes, there's still time - this card goes together pretty quickly, trust me. The full Quilled Holiday Card tutorial can be found at the always inspiring Makezine website.


My best advice when paper crafting is to use the highest quality supplies you can find. A fair amount of time can go into making a special card, so choose cardstock that's sturdy enough to stand tall, even when embellishments are added. Invest in a paper cutter that comes with a scoring tool - this will make your fold lines crisp and true. My trusty Fiskars cutter isn't at all fancy, but it gets the job done. Use a bone folder, or even the back of a spoon, to further sharpen those folds.

There are so many wonderful papers available... patterns, colors, textures, foil, vellum, you name it. For this particular design, I'd like to give a shout out to the velvet paper I used for the deep green and red packages. It comes in rich colors and cuts beautifully... actually, I think it looks and feels like suede even more than velvet. Whatever you call it, it's pretty fabulous stuff and especially nice for holiday cards.

Take care to use adhesives that truly hold the paper layers and extras in place. This takes a little trial and error... I've had my share of failures, so hopefully this list will help you avoid frustration. A favorite glue to use with regular quilling paper is Elmer's Clear School Glue because I appreciate that a little puddle of it to dip from doesn't develop a "skin", the way white glue does. Crafter's Pick: The Ultimate! is great for slick, pearlized quilling paper and for gluing acrylic or metal embellishments on a card. I usually use a UHU or Scotch glue stick to adhere card layers because they allow the flexibility of positioning adjustments. Double-stick tape and a tape runner are excellent too, but keep in mind they won't provide the same wiggle room.


Try to make your cards a standard size so they'll fit a purchased frame... this one is 5 x 7 inches, for example, or you might go with 4 x 6 inches. What a great compliment it would be if the recipient loves your card enough to frame it as a mantel decoration to display for many Christmases to come!

If you have any favorite card making tips of your own, please feel free to leave them in the comments section. We can all learn from one another!