Quilling Letters for Mother's Day by Carrie Finson

I received a FaceBook message from Carrie Finson the other day and was just blown away:

I stumbled across your blog a couple months ago and am in awe. A few years ago, I got a quilling kit at Hobby Lobby and did a few of the tutorials in the booklet provided. Other than that, I hadn't done any quilling. But your blog inspired me to do a special project for my mom. My mom loved it. She kept staring at it and saying how pretty it was. Now, it's nowhere close to your level of work, but I'm pretty proud of it and am looking forward to more projects. Just don't look too closely. Also, apologies for the poor quality of the photo... I took it at my light table and with my phone. Thanks for the lovely, inspirational work you do and for sharing it with the rest of us. 

Carrie

Isn't Carrie amazing??? I wasn't able to do something like this after a couple of tutorials and I certainly didn't dare do something so large! Can you imagine her next few projects? Thank you so much Carrie, for letting me showcase your work and message. It's what I've always wanted my blog to do - inspire others to give quilling a try. You've given me such a wonderful feeling to carry around!

3D Cake Card by Stephanie Elliott

This is a card made by Stephanie Elliott, who customized my 3D Cake Collection. I love how she customized it with dripping icing and then topped it off with glistening glitter. Here's how she did it:

I love microfine glitter so I layered cardstock with double sided adhesive, stacked the icing designs on the cake, and sent it through the cutter twice – once to cut the design from the adhesive liner, the second time to actually cut the parts from the card stock. The design cut beautifully and, after coloring the icing & cake parts with glitter, assembly was easy (with your great instructions). I used the double sided adhesive only because I wanted to color by selection with glitter. Using that adhesive, though, proved to be incredibly useful in assembly. I completed one card and constructed the box (which is great, by the way). I love how everything turned out.

I cut all of the parts for the first card on a Black Cat Cougar. I cut all of the parts for this last card on a Cameo (can’t let either cutter feel left out). This card is a top fold card with accordion pockets on the inside. There are note cards in each pocket. Again, thank you so much for designing such a wonderful set. I’m already thinking of a dozen events for which your design will be perfect.

OK, so I admit to being just a tad OCD and the way Stephanie has opened up those pockets to show the accordion file holding note cards makes me itch to make something just as organized. However if I were the recipient of this wonderfully coordinated card, I couldn't bear to use them!

When I asked her about the differences between cutting machines she's used, Stephanie went into great detail, describing their fine points and sharing her knowledge. She has been tempted to start a blog to share tutorials and files, but I think she's busy creating gifts to be cherished. She very kindly let me show her work here, and I hope you'll leave a comment for her to read - and hopefully she'll start her blog to share more of her projects! Thank you, Stephanie!

Quilling Letters / Name by Karen Harr

I’m thrilled to introduce a new quiller, Karen Harr. Can you believe she JUST started quilling after buying my Flowers and Butterflies patterns? I asked if she’d mind me posting her photos here and share her experience.

I think many readers would be inspired to know what you’ve done because they think it’s too hard. Would you like to describe what the process was like?
First and foremost you were my inspiration for my project.  I knew I wanted to do something special for my granddaughters and when I saw your beautiful quilled name “Jade”, I knew I wanted to try doing something special like that for them.  You were the biggest help to me.  I had so many questions and you were so kind and helpful, sending me links, answering all my questions, and going above and beyond for me, someone you didn’t know.  Thank you so very much.

 

Any advice you might give to other beginners?
Quilling is very relaxing and rewarding to me!  I had so much fun doing these.  Since I am a beginner, I don’t really have much advice.  I am in awe of all the beautiful work that is out there in the world.   There are so many wonderful people out there who are willing to help, give advice, etc. 

What helped you get started?
Actually my wedding invitation was quilled as a gift 36 years ago.  I didn’t know anything about quilling back then.  But I did know how beautiful and special it was.  I was looking at it a few months ago thinking how beautiful and unique it really is.  Here I am, just learning to quill and thinking, why didn’t I start this years ago.  Better late than never.

What are you most proud of?
I am most proud of the fact that my adorable granddaughters love them.  It is something special that I could do just for them.

What are you going to make next?

Here is a pic of my next project.  I am just starting it as you can see and have been playing around with colors and shapes.  As you can tell nothing has been glued yet, lol.  I thought I would do just the first letter of my grandsons name for something different.  Hopefully it will turn out like the idea I have in my head.

Thank you, Karen, for letting me showcase your work on my blog and offering your thoughts. You have given me just as much inspiration by letting me know how my work has meaning – definitely a win-win! I hope you will start a blog of your own and continue to show us your masterpieces.

Readers, I hope you’re inspired by Karen to give quilling a try. Please let her know your thoughts by commenting.