Happy (belated) Launch Day

My book officially launched yesterday and it reminded me of turning 13. Why was counting down the days to turn into a teenager? I dunno. I thought I would feel different. I didn't know what to write about my book being available for shipping yesterday, but I didn't want it to pass by without saying something to note the date. Yes, it was yesterday and so this post is a bit awkward, but if I have nothing to say, then I can't write.

So I dug around in my files today and remembered what I did near the end of my book. I forgot what I had considered the "holy grail" of solutions for leftover bits and pieces of quilled items that were going to get squished if I didn't glue it down immediately. I wish I had time to photograph steps of how I made these, but please keep in mind my room was overflowing with my book projects in various stages and my bits bin was exploding.

These cards are not my usual methodical style because I simply had no time to think – and that's what I think I like most, that they are more impulsive than the items I usually make.

See the circle in the middle with a message? That's included in the book for a cupcake topper project. I used this one on this card because it was off-center, and it didn't seem to matter because all the elements behind it were so random.

All I did was turn the circled message upside down and glued my bits hanging off the edge. I allowed the nice looking curls to do whatever it wanted. Once I "outlined" my circle, I turned the whole thing over and glued the patch down and added whatever stray coils on the side.

Here is one of my tester butterflies. I did most of my testing in white first until I liked the length of strip I used. To give the plain white butterfly some color, I patted it with an ink pad. I quite like how it gives it just a thin edge of color, almost like a halo.

After turning over this patch, I added extra swooshes on the top and bottom.

 

I was quite amazed at how quickly all my unmatched scraps got used up.

 

What I loved most was how it looked different once I turned it over. Strange but true! When you see all the coils from the back, it looks one way - flip it and it becomes something I didn't plan, kind of like a happy accident.

If anyone else has ideas of how to use up bits of quilled items, or if you are inspired to make something, I'd love to hear about it!