Paper Anemone Flowers

Don't you just love how nature supplies the perfect color palette? Anemone flowers have so many variations that I never get tired of looking at my finished blossoms.

My favorite part is how the center dome is covered in what looks at first to be pollen.

They are great as table setting decor or as a 3D greeting card. Can you imagine using this on top of gift boxes instead of a bow? I'd have a hard time opening my gift.

I teach how to make these anemone flowers in my Craftsy class, Quilled and Sculpted Cards, as well as 6 other lessons. To celebrate Black Friday, ALL their classes $19.99 or less! It's the best deal of the year and you can watch whenever you like because it'll never expire.

Craftsy classes are up to 50% off!

If you've been wanting to try a Craftsy classes but was on the fence, now might be a good time to spend a cozy afternoon having fun making. Craftsy is offering up to 50% off all their classes from today till Sunday (Oct 30 to Nov 1, 2015).

I designed my class to focus on cards that you can use for many different occasions and needs. This owl lesson comes with 3 different messages and a 4th one to customize for yourself. There is nothing more expressive than a message you're giving from your heart.

Craftsy Flash Sale! 25 to 75% off all online video classes

Hey everyone, guess what? Craftsy is having a Flash Sale (this is my affiliate link) between Sept. 25-27! You can enjoy so many more project ideas on paper and beyond!

As you can see in the photo above, the crew zooms right into the project so you get front row seats to what the instructor is talking about. If you've ever taken a live class, you'd know you're always straining your neck to see something so tiny. Plus if you happened to be looking down, you missed what they said or showed - with online learning, you can ask it to repeat - well, repeatedly.

They have a 100% happiness guarantee, so no worries!

My Craftsy class is now in session!

It's been quite some time since September heralded school for me, but it certainly does this year! Is that really me up there doing show and tell?!?

I have read and re-read your comments, cheering me on through all these years. Thank you all so very much!

Cecelia

Craftsy Class - Sneak Peak of Lesson 1 and a Giveaway!

True to my blog and passion, Craftsy chose topics that have always been my readers’ favorite features. I teach 7 classes and show techniques in quilling as well as making flat sheets of paper pop off a page. 

Let me show you a sneak peak of Lesson 1, a Christmas Tree Card. All DIY crafters know Christmas surprises are planned in advance and need a few elves to complete before the special day. In my class, I show how to assemble the tree, dust it with snow, and top it with a 3-D star. Besides the 1/8-inch hole punch for snow, the cutting files are all included in the Class Materials.

If you look closely, you'll also see a little Hershey's kiss tucked inside the tree, just a sweet prezzie for someone special. It's hard to see in this photo, but the falling snow is not simply flat dots - they're textured paper that really look like fluffy snow.

I don't like wasting paper so I used up the space within the tree too. The Class Materials includes a bonus shape to make a place card holder - in case there are any Christmas weddings or large parties being planned this year. It really made my sister-in-law-who-is-a-Christmas-fanatic, start salivating. 

What I learned as a Craftsy instructor, is their high standards for ensuring students receive skills to apply what they've learned in class to other projects. To show how this can be done in Lesson 1, I made a birthday card using the fanned 3D symmetrical shape technique. 

First, I made an oval and elongated it, tapering one end to make the balloons. I assembled the balloons in varying colors to make them more festive. I put two 3D stars back-to-back and glued all three elements to cloth covered floral wire. To make the streamers out of quilling paper, I used the technique I show in my book, Pretty Quilled Cards (Easter Basket, page 88). I chose a font I liked and cut it out several times to create my own chipboard (I show how that's done in this post). Then I assembled them all on my 3D Cake Collection (available in my Etsy shop).

If you'd like to make your own 3D balloons, I'm offering the free SVG or PDF files here. The shapes are simple enough to cut by hand as well.

To thank you for all your wonderful words of support, I'd like to offer a giveaway of my 3D Cake Collection to one commenter of this post. The details are very intricate, so I do suggest using a digital die cutter that can handle SVG files. To enter, please leave a comment and a way for me to contact you. This giveaway will end Friday, September 18th. I'll announce the winner once they've been notified.

*** UPDATE ***

Congratulations to Honey Moser of Honey's Quilling, who won my digital die cut file for a 3D cake. I pulled the number 2 out of a deck of cards and she was the 2nd person to comment. Thanks everyone!

My Craftsy Experience

After months of preparation, I can finally tell you all about what it was like being a Craftsy Instructor. My class is called Quilled and Sculpted Cards, a combo of both my two loves. It's available later this month and you can bet I'll be doing a giveaway!

They really know how to make you feel like a rock star! Here is the filming studio, complete with my personalized dressing room.

When I put all my prepared cards on their shelf and looked up and saw their logo on the brick wall, just as I had seen in other Craftsy videos, it really hit me - I'm here! I'm doing this! It's real!

This is a teleprompter and Rudy the Rooster hand puppet, who I crocheted way back. I sat him up there to remind me to keep looking up, rather than what I normally do at home, which is to get so involved in what I do that the whole world fades away.

When I look back on this memory, I'm happy that I pushed past my fears of being in front of a camera and made it happen. There is good stress and bad stress in life. This was definitely good stress, and now I know what I'm made of.

My Quilling Inspiration

Do you have a bucket list? I was very young when I dreamed of one day writing a craft book. After achieving that, I didn't realize I ought to update that list and add more items to reach and strive for. Although I know I want to create a new career surrounded by paper, I don't quite know what that could look like. I didn't realize I could push myself up and reach for something like being a Craftsy Instructor (coming out later this month).

Hello Denver!

Have you ever had to hold onto a juicy secret? Each time you wanted to share it, it would bubble up inside of you just wanting to burst out of your mouth and escape as a giggle instead?

Well I haven't been able to blog for some time because I've been burning the midnight oil between reality and a secret project. In May of this year, I was invited to {giggle}.... be a Craftsy Instructor!