Paper Houses Round Up

Enough with the quilling posts for a little while (whew, you might be saying)... it's time to get back to my mission of featuring all sorts of paper crafters and paper artists.

Today I'd like to showcase a nifty trend that kept jumping out at me from quite a few sites this holiday season:snowy village by twelve22

I'm referring to the making of tiny paper houses... with enough variety to cause this Weeds fan to start humming the show's theme song, Little Boxes.
cereal box houses by Bella Dia

Perhaps the wee ones are on school vacation this week and would enjoy making homes for their Lego people, or maybe, like me, you'll file the ideas away until next year when it's time to think about a theme for your Christmas mantel or tree. Visit each site for a tutorial, some with print-outs.
card ornament houses from DIYideasholiday village by Claudine Hellmuth
milk carton/cookie-carrier houses from MayaMade
glittered cereal box village by A Field Journal

And lastly, because almost nothing is impossible in this world we inhabit, here's a true house made of paper!photo credit: MaissonBisson

Elis F.Stenman began to build a summer home as anyone would in Massachusetts in 1922, with a wood frame, roof, and floors... but something caused him to choose a different path when it came to the walls, doors, and furnishings. He used varnished newspapers - approximately 100,000 of them, 215 layers thick - to construct the walls. exterior walls
Glue consisted of flour, water, and apple peels... but of course, apple peels. curtain detail - Lookie! Folded paper stars!
The house is now a museum and is open for tours. Stop in to read the headlines.

That's Clever Video - Quilled Poinsettia Tutorial

I'm positive Hollywood won't soon be calling, but in case you didn't get to see my segment on That's Clever last week, scroll down a bit to watch it on the right sidebar.

Since HGTV and the production company for That's Clever are no longer affiliated, the step-by-step information each artist/crafter had been asked to submit is not going to be posted on the show's website. So rather than linking there as I'd intended, here are the instructions to make the poinsettia card:


Materials:

quilling paper - 1/8 inch - deep green, ivory, gold
quilling tool
small scissors
ruler
tweezers
non-stick workboard
glass head pin
glue - suitable for paper
plastic lid - to use as a glue palette
paper piercing tool or T pin - to apply glue
damp cloth or sponge
paper cutter
cardstock - deep green, gold
decorative paper - gold foil
double-sided tape/glue dot
metallic gel pen - gold
hanging cord - gold

Instructions:

1. Marquise (make 7) - make a 7 inch ivory loose coil and glue end; pinch two opposite points to make a marquise shape.
2. Marquise (make 7) - 8 inch, deep green
3. Glue gold paper around outer edge of each green marquise.
4. On a non-stick workboard, arrange a circle of marquises of each color and glue in place. Off-center the circle of ivory marquises on the green marquises layer and glue in place.
5. Tight coil (make 7) 3 inch, gold. Round the top of each tight coil by pressing against one side of coil with the ball of a glass head pin. Swab glue inside dome to hold shape. Use gold gel pen to color the top of each dome. Glue coils at center of ivory layer by surrounding one tight coil with a circle of the remaining tight coils.
6. Insert ornament cord through the end of one green marquise and tie a hanging loop.
7. Score and fold an 8 1/2 inch x 5 inch piece of green cardstock to make a 4 1/4 inch x 5 inch card.
8. Cut a 2 1/4 x 2 1/4 inch square of gold cardstock. Turn square on point creating a diamond; center and glue on card.
9. Cut a 2 inch x 5 inch strip of gold foil, tearing short ends. Center and glue across card.
10. Adhere ornament to center of gold diamond with two short strips of double-stick tape or a dimensional glue dot.

The film editing crew pulled off the near impossible and included the making of not one, but both of my Christmas card designs - such a nice surprise.

I'll save the how-to for the trio of ornaments card for another time, but a quick disclaimer on that one. If you are familiar with quilling terminology, you'll notice I mentioned alternate side looping in the video, but then demonstrated wheatears to construct the red and green ornament. ASL is used to make the other two ornaments on the card, but because of the necessity of editing the segment time-wise, those steps weren't shown.

One last fun thing (to me, at least)... if you look closely at the opening snowy location shots, don't believe everything you see! There are no mountains in Delaware.

Joyous holidays, everyone!

Quilled Santas

Dema Simeri is a prolific quilling artist I enjoyed meeting a few years ago at a convention of the North American Quilling Guild. She's passionate about paper filigree and says she could easily spend all day working on new designs. Dema primarily makes framed pieces to sell at Indiana art shows, as well as gifts for family and friends.Vintage Christmas card illustrations inspired her to quill these Santas. Dema sketched variations of the pictures and then used the outline/fill-in quilling method. Layering the various elements gives a 3-D appearance. For example, the tassel on the hat, eyebrows, nose, mustache, and gloved hand were initially separate pieces, and then were glued to the main body after it was completed. I really admire the way Dema is able to capture such lively expressions with simple coils of paper.

Merry Christmas!

Quilled Gift Card Envelopes

Last Christmas I hung this pair of quilled envelopes on the tree for our little nephews to spy. Since there's no shortage of wrapped packages for the boys to open (doting grandparents, you know) it seemed like a good idea to give them something to spend later on. And believe it or not, they slowed their frantic unwrapping for a moment to look them over. I'm pretty sure it was the big, shiny eyes that grabbed their attention, but hey, perhaps they noticed the quilling too.The reindeer was a CardMaker Magazine design by Alli Bartkowski (Quilled Creations) and I had spotted a roll of Christmas gift wrap with cute graphics that led to the snowman. I'm happy to say my non-crafty, but thoughtful sister-in-law put the envelopes aside instead of tossing them out with the rest of the wrappings and bows. Perhaps she wonders why I spend my time on such foolishness, but that's okay. I'm sure all of you maker-folks understand.

Quilled Snowflakes

11/16/11 Edited to say: For those of you who just can't get enough quilled snowflakes, there are three more free patterns here!

Today I'm featuring the beautiful snowflakes of two quillers I've had the pleasure of getting to know through the North American Quilling Guild (NAQG). Deb Mackes of Pennsylvania is a pro at making snowflakes... in fact, she doesn't even use a grid to ensure an even layout. Mind boggling! No doubt practice makes perfect, but Deb must possess an especially even gaze and steady hands. She enjoys coming up with unique designs and has treated us to a pattern for this pretty little one.

Use 1/8 inch wide white quilling strips.

Make:
2 inch tight coil (make 1)
3 inch marquise (make 6)
2 inch V scroll (make 6)
4 inch marquise (make 6)
1 inch tight coil (make 6)

Working from the center outward:
Glue the 3 inch marquises evenly around the 2 inch tight coil.
Glue a V scroll in between each marquise, making sure the tops of the V scrolls meet each other.
Glue the 4 inch marquises where the V scrolls meet.
Glue a tight coil to the base of each V scroll.

Molly Smith of Texas made these powder blue, silver, and white pearl beauties for Today’s Creative Home Arts magazine. The blue and silver one is extra special in that the two colors are rolled as one. You'll find the patterns here. Molly is always coming up with great ideas... in fact, she's the author of the clever and colorful book, The New Paper Quilling: Creative Techniques for Scrapbooks, Cards, Home Accents & More.

My wooly winter hat is off to Deb and Molly... as much as I love to quill, I have to admit I find snowflakes somewhat tricky to make. Simply captivating though, they're often one of the first projects a new quiller will try. My best advice is to take your time to make the layout even - the oohs and ahhs will make it well worth the effort in the end.

Quilled Poinsettia on HGTV

Ages ago.... well, two and a half years to be more accurate, a camera crew from the HGTV network came to my house to film a quilling demo for the show, That's Clever. I really enjoyed the whole experience and was thrilled to have been asked to do it, but alas... pretty soon the program disappeared from HGTV's lineup. Until now. That's Clever recently returned just one morning a week and at long last my segment is scheduled to air tomorrow at 7:30 AM Eastern/Pacific.This is a holiday card I showed how to make... an ivory poinsettia of quilled marquises and tight coils.The card is actually a little gift because the poinsettia can be detached and hung as a Christmas ornament.

And here's a larger version.
So I'll be watching tomorrow from between my fingers... eek! The crew enjoyed making me say/do a few silly things... hopefully those moments were left on the cutting room floor. As soon as the directions to my project are posted on the HGTV site, I'll post the link.

Oh Christmas Tree

When decorating for the holidays, I like to replace a few of our pictures that hang on the wall all year with something more seasonal. This is an idea I came up with for a quilled Christmas tree that isn't terribly labor intensive. click pics for a closer look

The tree was loosely inspired by a rubber stamp design that caught my eye. Each branch is a shaped coil of 1/8 inch quilling paper. I outlined the burgundy ornaments with silver-gilded paper for a bit of shine and also made the star with silver-gilded paper. The tree stand was especially fun to make... I laid out and wove silver metallic quilling strips overtop a sheet of graph paper, then drew a pattern for the vase shape and traced around it on top of the woven square which I'd turned on the diagonal. I cut out the vase and last of all, added a crimped strip to the top and bottom.

Folded German Bell Tutorial

Isn't this a pretty little ornament? Considering how quickly the days until Christmas are flying by, I bet you'll be happy to hear the directions to make one are surprisingly simple.


Becky from North Carolina introduced me to the German bell via the Yahoo Quillers group several years ago... but relax, zero quilling is involved. She suggested using a 5 x 8 inch index card (system card in Australia) because the cardstock weight is just right. So that's what I used and have to agree... once the bell is finished, no one will ever guess it started as an index card that's cut down in size to a 5 inch square.


After the bell was folded, loop inserted, and top point glued, I applied two coats of antique gold acrylic paint to the surface by dabbing it on with a stubby stencil brush. This gave the cardstock a slight texture... dare I even say an aged patina?

For something different this year, I thought it would be fun to make bells with some pretty snowflake vellum I had on hand.... it's heavyweight, so is quite stiff.


I'm happy to report it folded really well and I love how the translucence of the vellum allows light to shine through. Think how pretty these would be on a real Christmas tree... ahem, mine isn't up yet, not even close!


But wait, I'm getting ahead of myself. Here's what you really want to know - how to do the folding! Onto the tutorial...

Materials:
index cards, lightweight cardstock, or heavyweight vellum
paper cutter
ruler
bone folder - for sharp creases
scissors
double-stick tape
quick-drying glue - suitable for paper
acrylic paint - gold or silver
stencil brush
beads - gold, silver, white
ornament cording - gold or silver

Instructions:
Step 1 Cut a 5 x 5 inch square. Fold square in half.


Step 2 Open square, turn paper ninety degrees and fold in half again.


Step 3 Open square and fold two corners point to point.


Step 4 Open square and fold remaining two corners point to point.


Step 5 Open square and make an airplane fold at each corner. Do this by bringing paper on each side of fold line to midline and creasing.


Each corner with its airplane fold will look like this:


Make sure to open each airplane fold after you have creased the two sides before going on to airplane fold the next corner.

Step 6 After all four corners have been folded, open the square and press the space between each airplane fold... the square will begin to look like this:


Step 7 Cup the paper in the palm of one hand and gently press in on the center with the fingers of your other hand... this will convince the bell to take shape.


If you have successfully completed all of the folds, the four points will spring up and you'll be holding a bell!


Step 8 Make a hanging loop of ornament cording (cut about 10 inches) and knot the end after stringing on a bead or beads. Make another knot at the top of the beads so they won't slide off the loop.


Step 9 Apply narrow strips of double-stick tape to the inside of the bell along each of the airplane folds. Adhere the tail of the hanging loop to one of the pieces of tape. Gently press the outside of the bell... the tape pieces will stick to one another, holding the bell closed.


Step 10 Add a dab of quick-drying glue just inside the tip to make sure the bell won't pop open.

Tip: I find it's best to use tape along the airplane folds as extra security when working with vellum, but if you are using an index card or cardstock, a bit of glue where the four corner points come together will most likely be all the adhesion that's needed.


If you'd like to see the actual making of a bell, there's a great little video here. Watch Cindy Landecker fold one in an impromptu demonstration at a Stampin' Up! convention.

Variation: Cindy adds an eyelet at the bottom of her bell and runs a ribbon loop through the middle and out the top, leaving extra ribbon at the bottom onto which she ties on a bead or medallion.

Matted Quilling: A Novel Approach

Sandra White began quilling as a hobby thirty five years ago. Gradually she has turned her love of nature and paper art into an online and craft show business via membership in the League of New Hampshire Craftsmen.Guardian Angel
(click pictures for a closer look)
After experimentation with combining quilling and cut lampshades, Sandra developed her unique method that marries attractive hand cut mat overlays with quillwork detailing. Trumpet Angel
Her contemporary designs incorporate paper sculpture and paper cutting in addition to quilling, and many feature wildflowers, birds, and wildlife animals. The streamlined shaping of paper coils provides the effect of veins in flowers and the fur and feathers of animals and birds. Heron Scene
Sandra says this process has taught her to 'see again' as she goes about creating each scene, working to get the most effective color shading.She begins by designing the cut out, then transfers the outline onto a background mat and fills the space with quilling. Sandra uses an exacto knife, changing the blade frequently, to make the required precise cuts on the top mat.Cardinal
Visit Quilling By Sandra White to see many more examples of natural subjects... some of my favorites include the painted trillium, jack in the pulpit, and pink lady's slipper, and don't miss the tiny chickadees.

Paper Cutting and More

Every once in a while I feel the need to assemble a post that's chock-full of links to things I'm pretty sure you'll find interesting... clicker at the ready?!

Design*Sponge featured lovely paper cut illustrations Kate Forrester created as a holiday ad campaign for John Lewis department stores. Ten typographic images of the merchant's seasonal slogan "Give the Perfect Gift" can be seen on billboards, buses, underground stations, and newspapers all around the UK.
How awesome that paper art is making such a statement in advertising lately.

And just in case you're shopping for a budding paper artist this holiday season, there's a terrific little book/kit called Twirled Paper by Jacqueline Lee. It's part of the Klutz series for kids and is the perfect introduction to quilling.Very nice quality quilling paper, a slotted tool, fine-tip glue bottle, google eyes, and lots of nifty designs are included. It suggests a reading level/ages 9-12, but with supervision I'm positive younger children would enjoy it too. In fact, this comment I received recently really rang true to me about kids and quilling:

oh my goodness! i learned quilling at summer camp eons ago but could never remember the name of it; thank you for the memory burst! it was so much fun and surprisingly good for 7-year-olds because it takes such intense focus.

So there you go... affirmation that little ones can handle the challenge too.
While checking out how-to links at Craftig, I came across this clever little cardinal ornament designed by cheekymagpie. Print, cut, and fold... I'm thinking it would be a lot of fun to add some filigree wings and tail feathers. Hope I'll get a chance this weekend to make one.This pretty origami wreath by Maliah, was featured at Folding Trees. I love the fresh color scheme... if you don't have time to make one before Christmas, it would be perfect as a springtime decoration too. Maliah used scrapbooking paper from Target and the petal pieces are modified cherry blossom folds.
Lastly, here's a really quick Christmas card tutorial I did for CRAFT this week... skinny ribbon trees with a retro flair. Be sure to check out CRAFT's site as it has a brand new look... all the columns and features of the former print magazine, but now with lots more content and it's wonderfully free!