Make a Quilled Baby Carriage Card

I've mentioned more than once how much I enjoy giving (and shopping for) baby gifts... new life, fresh start, and all that. Making a quilled card to go along with the present always seems right simply because quilling lends itself to cute designs so well. Here's the latest idea I came up with that was given to baby Olivia, born to friends in August. 

 

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New to quilling? Even if you've never tried this time-honored paper craft, with practice I'm betting you'll find success. After all, it's only paper, glue, and a small tool! To get started, check out these two beginner quilling tutorials: basic flower and leaf and simple seashells. You'll also find it helpful to look at this list of Frequently Asked Quilling Questions.

 

Just a few different coil shapes are needed to make the carriage... it's actually a rather simple design. Rather than give you exact strip measurements, it's easiest to work with quarter, half, and full-length strips as each person's rolling tension is a bit different. This takes away the stress of precise measurements and you can adjust the size of a coil as needed by snipping off extra length once it's rolled.

 

Beginners generally prefer to use a slotted quilling tool (this Savvy Slotted Tool is a good one and this set of quilling tools is nice because it includes an embossing tool (plus it's pretty :).

 

1. Use a half-length strip to make a modified triangle for the carriage bonnet by sharply pinching two of the coil points, leaving one rounded for the curved bonnet top.

 

2. For the carriage basket, use a full-length strip to make a modified rectangle, shaping the coil so that it has three sharp corners and one rounded corner.

 

3. Make two tight coil wheels. Begin by rolling a quarter-length white strip with a torn end,  then glue on the torn end of a full-length pink strip when the white coil is the right size for the hubcap and continue rolling. When the wheel is the size you want, glue the strip end and slide it off the quilling tool. Use a glass head pin to dome the hubcap, then place a tiny bit of glue inside the curve to hold its shape. 

 

 

4. Assemble the carriage components, adding a slim handle and trim cut from card stock with scallop edge scissors.

 

5. Refer to the photo for the finishing touches. I used double-sided tape to adhere a rectangle of gingham background paper with scallop cut corners to a white card blank, then added two overlapping hexagons onto which I glued the carriage. 

 

The sides of the gingham rectangle are accented with narrow strips of light green card stock and pink vellum. 

 

I printed A New Baby tag and cut it out with my portable paper trimmer to fit on a rectangle of pink card stock with scalloped corners. I used a 1/8-inch punch to make a hole at each end through which I threaded 1/2" gingham ribbon. The tag was adhered with dimensional glue dots to lift it off the card surface. 

 

The final touch is a row of tiny plastic buttons.

 

 

Here's my favorite video tutorial for making an envelope... so handy if you don't have one on hand in the right size.

For the baby gift, I ordered a custom foil transfer mat from ShineGoodsCo. I'd gotten to know the owner, Megan Lafrenz, when I introduced her new shop in this post. It's wrapped in watercolor rainbow gift wrap with a strip of cherry blossom washi tape (similar) to hold the envelope in place. 

 

I found the birch wood frame after going to umpteen stores... who knew there is a frame shortage out there?! It must be another pandemic supply chain issue.  

As always, I invite you to recreate my quilled designs that are shown on this blog. Looking intently at quilling is a big part of learning. Dissect the design with your eyes, and as you become familiar with the various coil shapes you'll be able to see that you'll need to make, for example, a teardrop, eye shape, or tight coil, and with practice you'll even be able to guesstimate the strip lengths.

 

For more quilled baby card ideas and tutorials, here's an adorable duckling, Oh Baby, and a baby shower swing card.