DAYDREAMS

Quilled miniature clown

2012-02-10T22:43:00.000+05:30

Here is a quilled miniature clown for Akhil's friend for his birthday. Making this little guy really cheered me up.

I promised Akhil a miniature clown for his friend but put it off as long as I could .Although I am not very confident about quilling miniatures , when I finally had to start making this doll I really enjoyed the process.It turned out to be lot easier than the quilled hanuman which had lot of minute details.

It is still not perfect but I fell better about this doll than all my previous ones and it stands so well.Except for the wire to support the balloon(it is a balloon!) and a small bling on the bow the doll is completely made of paper.

Thanks for stopping by , have a fun filled day.

Quilled valentine

2012-02-02T17:23:00.000+05:30

I started with the idea of using roses on my card and ended up making this whimsical Valentine's day card. These roses were made using this quilled roses tutorial .The only difference is instead loose coil in the center , I added more petals.The difficult part in this card was in shaping the multistrips.

Kavi's challenge-Love is in the air + colour pink

Thanks for stopping by , Have a wonderful day.

Quilling on Arathi thattu

2012-01-27T18:30:00.003+05:30

Arathi thattu or decorated plates are used in Indian weddings to welcome the bridegroom and his family on the day of the wedding. It is an important part of south Indian culture. Plates are decorated and lamps are lit on them .
This is a square wooden plate covered with hand made paper .The inner rectangle is little more than A4 size. I used crimped swirls to quickly fill up the space . No amount of bling is enough when decorating these plates. The swirls and the quilled swans are all glittered ( it doesn't show in the picture). Seeing so many valentines on other blogs I too was inspired to do a heart shape.I am decorating a few plates and this is the first of them.

Thanks for stopping by ,have a great day.

PONGAL WISHES

2012-01-15T00:09:00.002+05:30

"May joy , Prosperity and good fortune overflow in abundance this pongal and throughout the year."

Today is Surya Pongal, most important day in the pongal celebrations . Salutations are given to the Sun for the harvest. I tilted the pot to face the sun , we do cook our pongal with the pot slightly tilted east wards.Even before I completed the pot I was sure I would use Susan's beehive scrolls to show pongal overflowing out of the pot.
I only planned the pot but my sons felt , it would not be complete without the paddy sheaf and the sugarcane.Lot of colours and glitters are a part of every Indian festival.

This is the kolam I made yesterday in front of my house for bhogi , and I also quilled it for a friend as my pongal gift.

This is the picture of the kolam from the book .

Thanks for stopping by, A very happy pongal to everyone..

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2012

2011-12-31T23:28:00.001+05:30

Wishing everyone who stops by a very happy

New year.

Quilled miniature Hanuman

2011-12-22T01:00:00.009+05:30

Today is my second blog anniversary,and I have something new to share - a miniature Hanuman doll. Hanuman is a Hindu God , he is depicted with a face of a monkey and he is worshipped for good health.He is famous for being very brave and strong and deeply devoted to Lord Rama. He is also the favourite among kids, like a super hero with lot of animated movies based on his stories.

When I first got the request I took it up with lot of doubts. It was not easy and it took me a long time to figure out and then quill this doll, but I am happy with the likeness I managed to get .

Here's how he looks from behind. He is very colourful and he is made almost completely from paper , except for his earrings which are beads and the floral wires which were inserted inside his legs, arms and his tail. Even his jewels are cut from a shiny paper and his clothes are made from duplex crepe paper .The dome shaped of his crown is made from gold colour quilling strips.I am most happy with his tail as it took shape without much trouble . I worried about it's drooping down.This doll is more than four inches tall.

When I wrote this post I did not know but only learnt from Anandhirajan's comment that Hanumanth Jayanthi is on 24 th , which makes for a happy coincidence.
This is another kolam which is also a repeat of my earlier work for the same person who requested the doll .So far I have only accepted requests from people whom I know ,this is the first time I accepted a request through Email.

LInking to Kavi's Challenge -anything but a card.

Blog land has given me above all an opportunity to know so many wonderful people. I received this lamp from one of my blogger friends, Viji I came to know her from the wonderful comments she would leave in my blog and I found her from her blog to be such a warm person who takes joy from the smallest of things . When she posted pictures of her lamps ,I liked this one so much that she would have a similar one sent to me. I am so very touched by her affectionate gesture.

I thank again and again all my blogger friends for generously sharing their work and techniques.Ann for always inspiring me by her awesome finds and her all too elegant quilling.Also many thanks to people who take time to email me and tell me how my blog has been of help .Makes me feel better at times when I find blogging overwhelming.
My husband for buying me a new camera early this year, and for promising me all the paper strips I want for my big projects.
Akhil enjoys quilling and even Abi , during his holidays when he had nothing to do wanted to know how I made the square shape. My kids say such nice things about my work and bear with me when all is not working , that I am so very thankful to them.
Leaving tomorrow to visit my mother in Bangalore for the Christmas holidays and will be back with one last post(I hope) for this year.

Thanks for stopping by.Merry Christmas to everyone .

Christmas card

2011-12-11T19:55:00.000+05:30

A simple card for Christmas. I saw an image of this candle on a greeting card with similar such flowers , The frame with holly leaves is printed. For me Christmas season is such a joyous time. Even in quilling I get to make such pretty things.

This is my first trial of Mihaela's tutorial for the greens.

Thanks for stopping by, Happy a lovely day.

Quilled kolam

2011-12-06T19:48:00.000+05:30

I have never tried to repeat any of my work , as I think I am always first time lucky. But when I got a request to quill a kolam which I had done almost two years ago, I wanted to find out if I really can make a similar one. This is the kolam , I made it when I was cutting paper strips with scissors with very thick paper .And it was a time when I was blogging just for myself to record my own progress in paper crafts with only Akhil as my follower.
I am happy that this kolam is an improvement over my previous one and hope I will find my quilling more improved when I look back at this after a few more years. This turned out a bit bigger than the earlier one. Though I don't have the previous one now , I know it fit inside a C.D.
I have used thick white pearlised paper for this kolam and hand cut A4 size paper 80 gsm for the pink teardrops.The kolam is quite sturdy and since Thiru Karthigai is just a day away it is nice to post a kolam. Thiru Karthigai is festival of lights for Tamilians even more important than Diwali, It is such a beautiful sight to travel through Tamil Nadu on that night , every house with lamps lit on the windows and doorways. I make Kolam inside the house using rice paste with the help of a bit of cloth and place lighted lamps over them.

Thanks for stopping by ,have a lovely day.

Quilled flowers in a pot

2011-11-27T00:10:00.000+05:30

I wanted a quilling comb for a long time ,to help me make perfect wheat ears and to make this flower.

The colour I choose was the one I have not used much(a little different in real) , I hand cut the strips and used the quilling comb for the petals and a fringed flower for the center.

The flowers kind of popped out when placed against this background. The background is a hand made paper from my favourite pack. I hoard handmade paper and admire them and it is with some difficulty that I cut them up for a project.

It took me a lot of time to figure out how to arrange the flowers as most colours did not show on this background or looked too bright.So I used the same colour paper for the pot, which is hand cut with a pair of scissors (I stuck quilled elements underneath to give it dimension). I must say I had a lot of input from my kids .

Stick the first loop around the first needle.

Loop around the needles .

Once you reach the required number on the comb, cut up the strip and stick the end.

Remove from the comb.

A very simple tag ,using my scraps for priya's challenge. Glad I remembered on time.

Priya's challenge

ICR Challenge 12

Thanks for stopping by, Have a wonderful day.

Some quilled ornaments

2011-11-18T23:33:00.004+05:30

QUILLED SNOWFLAKE

QUILLED ANGEL

Red colour earrings for Pritesh's challenge.

This is what I got from Piyu, she kindly ordered them for me and got it shipped to me. These are somethings I had wanted for a long time. Though I have alternatives that I use, these are so compact and very useful. I really enjoyed online shopping and want to order all the other tools too ,including the curling coach.

Quilled butterfly mobile

2011-11-10T10:49:00.008+05:30

The first challenge on Kavi's new blog is starting from today. The challenge is to make a project that can be hung. It can be a tree ornament , wreath or a wall hanging or any other project of your choice. It need not have to be a quilling project ,you can use any material for your project.

I made a quilled butterfly mobile and I hope it inspires you all to join and play along this challenge . You can find more on the challenge here.

Exam time for my kids mean less computer time and crafting time for me . I tried to do as well as I can in the little time I had.

I went Ann's blog for inspiration and there I found this which answered to all my wishes for making something beautiful with paper strips mainly .

The pot was not easy at all. I cut a whole lot of paper and then rolled them all together , I enlisted the help of an old C.D to support the coils as I don't have a curling coach. That was the easy part, when I tried to shape the coil , I did not drop the coil once but several times and I very nearly gave up on it. When only the recollection that I have put so much strips into this project made me complete the pot.
I used 5mm wide strips but I suppose using one centimeter wide strips would be a wiser option. The pot is not as perfect as I had planned but it is better than what I had hoped for at one time .I applied a nice coating of glue and gloss to the pot for durability.
I already had this string of beads which I attached to the center and then quilled some small butterflies which I stuck to the beads at regular intervals. Then I attached a bell to the string , I had the bell with me for sometime It was hanging from my Kusudama until recently.
Photographing the mobile was the next challenge , the butterflies were always in motion and it was not easy to get a nice shot.

I am top three and winner of take a quill pill Piyu's first anniversary challenge. I get 10$ to spend in any store of my choice(for a curling coach perhaps).I had entered this project for the challenge. I am so very pleased .

Thanks for stopping ,have a creative day.

Sweet leaves Blog hop.

2011-11-04T18:30:00.135+05:30

Welcome to my blog for more sweet leaves, If you are from Syaz's blog you are in the right place.

I choose eccentric coils for my leaves. I used about five to six A4 colour strips joined together end to end to make one leaf. The flowers are fringed flowers with a tight coil center.I only added one butterfly to this.

For the butterfly , I gave them royal wings. First I used the Multiple strips method to make the loops and then I used a slotted tool to curl the loops.

Here's the complete picture.

Your next stop is Annie Anastasia, she is already famous for creating so many different quilled leaves.

Here's the list of blogs in case you lose your way, do hop on.
  SANDY
JACQULINE
  SYAZ
SUGANTHI you are HERE
ANASTASIA
LIN
THUSITHA
  MIEZ
  AMNA
CRISTINA
  SUZANA
FINNUALA
  PRITESH
PHILIPPA
JENNIFER
PAULA
LINDA
  SHRUTI
MELISSA
  BRONWYN
  REGINA
  NATILDE

To be a part of this blog hop with such quillers as you see from the list above is really an amazing feeling. Many thanks to Sandy for asking me to be a part of this hop.

Thanks for stopping by , Have fun blog hopping.

Akhil's birthday gift.

2011-10-27T06:00:00.018+05:30

Akhil is turning fourteen today and this is my birthday gift for him. A quilled guitar fashioned after his own guitar.

Akhil is so good at almost everything he tries and he is really good at playing the guitar. He is very creative ,if I can get him away from his computer games . I haven't found a way yet:)).

Here is a poem Akhil wrote one day when I was cross with him , he can be a real charmer when he wants to be.

Quilling strip

Oh! what is it's beauty? he asks,
For its just paper ,thin and long.
But few know the beauty it masks,
Too good to put into a song.

It's the art of quilling,
And it is easy to learn as well.
All it needs is guiding and rolling,
And there it is, ready to sell.

He is good at writing poems that rhymes.

Thanks for stopping by, Have a joyful day.

Diwali greetings

2011-10-20T15:00:00.007+05:30

A quick post ,wishing everyone who stop by a very happy Diwali.

Take a quill pill-first anniversary challenge.

Quilled easel card

2011-10-13T18:24:00.006+05:30

I am making an easel card after a long time ,this one is for my childhood friend.

She is now in Bangalore . We lived close by and went to the same school when we were kids .Though we have gone our different ways she always remembers to wish me on my birthday and on friendship day. She doesn't know about my quilling , so I am hoping this will be a pleasant surprise to her.

ICR challenge 11

Update:

Since I have so many requests from my friends ,who want to know how I made the crimped circle, I am updating this post. There might be an easier way but this is how I made it.

For the crimped circle, I used a very thick white strip (hand cut) for the first inner layers( Thick paper remains a bit stiff even after crimping and can be shaped easily).

I applied glue to the edges of the purple circle on the card and stuck two layers of the thick white crimped strip. Next I stuck a lot of purple strips together and crimped them. I applied glue to the entire width of the circle ( I had already marked the width of the crimped circle with pencil) and quickly wound the purple strips around the white ones.Adjustments can be made before the glue dries. It is important that we apply the same pressure when we wind crimped strips or else the circle will not be perfect. For the last couple of layers I again used the thick white crimped strips to get the right circle shape.

Thanks for stopping by , have a lovely day.

Multi-strip scrolls.

2011-10-03T21:00:00.009+05:30

Tips for multi-strip scrolls were recently shared on facebook and I am so charmed by its elegance .I have seen so much of these scrolls on Neli's blog , that this piece is much inspired by her work. I had different coloured strips left out from other projects in a box and I tried to use as many colours as possibe. I am entering this card for the first anniversary challenge by Piyu at take a quill pill. All the strips are hand cut from A4 colour sheets.

For those who missed this on facebook here is the picture . (click on the image to view).

I also have such wonderful news to share. I won Ann martin's fabulous giveaway . I won a beautiful glass paper weight kit, which has space to house quilled work!!. I have been smiling all week:)).

I have some more news too, I just now found out that I have also won the challenge for last month at the Emirates quilling guild on facebook.The topic was leaves and I had entered my Peepal leaf Ganesh. I would like to thank everyone who voted for me. The prize is a goodie bag from Meg crawford another super quiller from Australia:)).

Thanks for stopping by, Have a wonderful day.

Quilling for Navarathri Golu

2011-09-25T08:59:00.006+05:30

Still in Navarathri Golu mood. I wanted to share some papercrafts I made for our library's golu. The quilled lamps are but 6mm in diameter , I rolled scrap book paper for the lamps and quilling paper for the flame . All the kind ladies there were so delighted with it . The scene depicts a festival where lamps are lit and placed on leaves and are let afloat on water. The water itself I made from hand made paper.

This is not a real shirt but a tiny origami shirt less than two inches in length.I made the shirt with pattern paper for a scene where new clothes are gifted to newly weds. I found the tutorial on you tube.

This is a miniature Mulaipari( During festivals seeds of nine grains are let to sprout in a vessel in the dark) and then the vessels are carried on the head in a procession . This is done as a worship for rain and fertility.

My part of this year Golu is the story of birth of river Cauvery. Me and my friend completed the steps with scenes which tells the story. This is the main scene where Cauvery starts flowing.I made the mount with themocol and then painted with acrylic paints and then for the water I used handmade paper crushed and folded with the help of water and glue.
According to the story the sage is carrying a divine girl after transforming her into water in a small vessel. But when he is meditating in the forest with the vessel beside him a crow(which is lord Ganesha in the form of a crow) knocks the vessel over and she flows down as the river Cauvery.

Since I started working for our library's golu I have learnt a lot of mythological stories. We have a senior member who is so knowledgeable about these stories she also researches them thoroughly . She suggests the topic , tells us the stories and then guides us through . I am really fascinated by these stories and love working for the golu.

Thanks for stopping by , have a happy navarathri.

Linking this this Take a quill pill secret sponsor challenge -celebration.

Golden lotus pond.

2011-09-17T19:43:00.003+05:30

Hi everyone , I don't have much to share because I don't have time to quill these days. Navarathri Golu preparations are on at our library and I am trying to do justice to my part of the work there. I am also in the middle of my kids exams which means even less internet time for everyone.

One of my dear friends who always has a beautiful golu at her home every Navarathri asked me to make this for her . This is a miniature pond of Madurai Meenakshi temple with lotus flowers with the center one being a golden one. It is called Porthamarai or golden lotus pond.

The temple has mention in Tamil literature for more than two thousand years ,As legend has, new literature was tested by placing it on the surface of the pond(written on palm leaves) , weak literature sunk whereas good literature floated.There is also this story that Thiruvalluvar's Thirukkural was rejected by the Sangam poets for not following the prevailing rules for poetries of that time, and thrown into the porthamarai kulam , but Thirukkural came to the surface on a golden lotus.The Thirukkural though written more than two thousand years ago ,is relevent even to this day and is the most translated book in the world second only to the Bible.

For the water I used a hand made paper . For the one step that I have made for the pond it is a shadow box made from a thick paper and I stuck red colour strips all around at regular intervals as it is seen in temple ponds. For the gold lotus I cut gold colour paper but the edges were not golden ,I painted the edges with acrylic gold colour. The rest are flowers made from 2mm paper pink strips . I have not stuck the flowers I will give it to my friend and she can arrange them just as she wants .The entire pond is about six inches in length and the flowers are really tiny. My friend did not want any leaves.

Thanks for stopping by, have a great day.

Quilled scenery

2011-09-09T22:34:00.006+05:30

I wish all my friends from Kerala a happy Onam. This quilled picture did start with my intention to quill something with the onam theme. Scenes of Kerala always show coconut trees and back waters, I started with qulling the coconut trees(they are coconut trees). I wound brown colour strips around an empty refill to make the tree trunk and fringed the leaves. I rolled some strips cut from scrap book paper for the coconuts.

For the solid land I cut brown colour handmade paper in random widths and rolled them by hand and stuck them .Handmade paper when cut into strips have edges that do not have a uniform colour and this gave texture to the coils. For the water I crimped four different colours strips , light blue, dark blue , light green and white (the colours were Abi's idea). I stuck them in a wavy fashion to give the appearance of water and ripples. This picture reminds me of drawings I made as a kid. I am happy the way this turned out .

I edited my picture in Picasa and gave the frame to the picture which is a new feature in picnik.

Thanks for stopping by. Have a great day.

Quilled Peepal leaf Ganesha

2011-09-01T11:47:00.012+05:30

Lord Ganesha or Pilliayar is widely revered as the remover of obstacles and the lord of new beginnings.

This elephant face God is represented in so many amazing ways. Peepal leaves with the proper shapes are arranged to represent this God. This design has found it's way in paintings and kolams and I have attempted it with quilled peepal leaves.

I made all the leaves separately and then arranged them.

On this day of Ganesha chaturthi lord Ganesha is worshiped for knowledge , good health and prosperity.

Thanks for stopping by , have a joyous day.

Quilled leaves

2011-08-22T08:00:00.062+05:30

Ever since I saw Annie Anastasia's unique leaves I have wanted to try making them. When I first tried making them it did not occur to me that she used a comb to achieve this effect so I couldn't get it right. Now that she has a very good tutorial where she shows just how she makes her leaves with veins.

Looks like I have filled up the entire card.I am planning to put this in a shadow box. The paper strips are all hand cut from A4 colour sheets.

Thanks for stopping by, have a creative day.

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY.

2011-08-15T06:00:00.012+05:30

A VERY HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY TO EVERYONE.

Akhil is ready with his speech, we are now off to our local library for the flag hoisting.

Quilling for kids

2011-08-08T04:00:00.023+05:30

This month on take a quill pill, it's quilling for kids.Your entry can be a card, a tag, book mark , a frame or any such other of your choice , with quilling on the given theme. Here's more on the challenge.

A card with a quilled clown was my first choice , I found this clown in the quilled creation gallery. The strips are hand cut and the sentiment hand written. This card is with my brother's son Rithesh.

Here's a book mark with a quilled book worm I made some time ago for my son Abi.I found this book worm on a shopping bag from a popular store.

Gift tags with a quilled girl dress and a quilled dinosaur. The tags are now with two lovely kids in Ireland .

These quilled strawberry earrings- easily the most popular among all the earrings I have made. I have lost count of the number of pairs I have made in the past few months. Little girls love them, with beads on them it looks really pretty.This pair is with Prisha. I have found it is so much more rewarding when quilling for kids, you get paid with hugs and kisses.

Thanks for stopping by, Have a great day.

Quilled royal flower card.

2011-08-03T09:46:00.001+05:30

After seeing so many on facebook , I had to try making these flowers. I followed Amna's video tutorial to make these flowers. The only difference is I have curled the white strips with a needle , instead of a slotted tool.I particularly loved the way she first made the outer tight coil( orange here) and then fitted the scrolls(white) inside to make equal sized petals.

The background paper is very rich pearl colour .I hand cut white strips 90gsm paper sheets for the inner scrolls and 80gsm paper for the outer orange colour.I stuck the petals at an angle to give the flower some dimension.

Thanks for stopping by, have a lovely day.

Quilled miniatures

2011-07-26T19:37:00.008+05:30

QUILLED MINIATURE FLAMINGO.

I chose to quill this bird for its colour. My brother is visiting from Australia , this time with his kids(The framed grape vine is for him) . My six year old niece Prisha loves all things pink. She will be visiting me next Monday and will be with me for just that day. My plan is to win her over as soon as she comes.

Quilled miniature girl.

I have tried to keep it simple as this is my first trial at quilling miniature people. I don't have the colours for the face and so had to hand cut strips and I am very happy with it. There is a lot of room for improvement I know, but it looks good enough to interest a little girl.

Thanks for stopping by, Have a lovely day.

Quilled grape vine.

2011-07-19T19:41:00.008+05:30

This would be my first framed work. I shot these pictures before framing it. My husband has long been telling me to come out of the comfort of quilled jewellery and cards ,but I am honestly scared to start something big. This is not very big but the biggest quilled work of mine.

The coils for the grapes I had made a long time ago even before going to Bangalore. i thought I will finish this there , but my mom likes to have my complete attention when I visit her.So the coils remained in a box. Now I need to give someone my quilled work as a gift and that encouraged me to finish this grape vine.

This is not my design, it is something I found at Claire's blog . I have tried to recreate her grape vine, for which she has given very easy instructions.I really love her blog and have learnt a lot from her work.

The background is a handmade paper which really brings out the colours of the strips I have used(which are brighter than they look in this picture).I have used 3mm purple colour quilling strips for the grapes and 5mm green colour quilling paper for the leaves. 1cm wide brown strip for the large stem and 5mm for the smaller ones.I quilled the entire piece with my tapestry needle to which I have attached a handle.

Thanks for stopping by, have a great day.

Quilled flower bunch

2011-07-11T19:12:00.004+05:30

When I start making quilled jewellery , its very difficult for me to think of cards again. I have been quilling some earrings and gift tags for my friends . A link from facebook took me to this site where I found this bunch of flowers which I think is more like a kusudama. Here's my own trial.

I made six flowers and stuck them like I would stick petals but on the wrong side.That is, I stuck the flowers upside down to make a flower with one flower in the center and the rest of the flowers like petals and then after the glue dried I turned the whole flower bunch upside down. I must own that some glue is showing and it is not as beautiful as the original , still I like it and it is a nice idea.

Thanks for stopping by . Have a great day.

Quilled earrings and a flower

2011-07-02T08:00:00.001+05:30

This one is made from 3mm width purple and ivory crimped strips - I love to work with crimped strips .

The husked flower and crimped flower earrings are small and were made as a special request for small kids.

The crimped flowers are made from 3mm width blue pearl colour strips.

These brown crimped earrings ,for a chocolate lover perhaps? made from brown and metallic brown colour strips.

This is my favourite , tight coil earrings made from red and blue strips.

QUILLED FLOWER-

With such encouragement from white Racoon I made this quilled flower to enter the Homyachok quilling challenge #1. The petals are made from eccentric circles. For the center fringed flower I have used the same crepe paper I used to make my crepe paper rosettes. The paper is duplex with yellow on one side and very light yellow on the other.The background for this flower is a handmade paper to give the illusion of water.

Thanks for stopping by, have a creative day.

Abi's birthday gift

2011-06-24T14:23:00.003+05:30

Today my son Abi is turning 16. I decided to quill some things that he likes the most and give it to him as his birthday gift. Anyone who knows Abi will tell he can't do without books. He is a voracious reader and is so well informed.My first gift was a stack of books. Akhil came to my rescue and showed me a logo which had two red socks and said that his anna(elder brother) will be delighted if I quilled the logo of Boston red sox.

I always pride on knowing every thing about my kids and I was surprised that Abi should have a favourite baseball team and more so as baseball is not popular in India.

Once I decided on the logo I decided to make fridge magnets and gift them to him. My husband wanted a card to write our wishes so I stuck them all on to the card without the magnets but gave the magnets to him, for him to use as he wishes.

He has always been crazy about cars since he was a little kid and can't wait to drive one.It has not been easy at all quilling for my kids ,they have seen me quill so much that nothing surprises them. And to quill for them without their seeing, I have found is impossible.

After i finished this card i realised that this card would be right for a six year old as well. I wonder if I will ever think my kids grownup .And he was delighted with the logo:)

I can't thank my fellow blogger's enough for their support , I don't think I would have learned so much if it were not for these talented people who share their work and tutorials . Blogging has helped me learn so many different techniques and styles which no one book can give.Thank you .

Thanks for stopping by , have a creative day.

Quilled baby card

2011-06-16T22:37:00.008+05:30

This will be my first baby card and I have tried to quill a baby in a cradle.

A well worn cotton saree is all it takes to make a makeshift cradle .My kids did not take to this cradle, which was very well with me. Except, Abi slept in such a cradle for a month or so and would always peep like this when he wakes up and I have such adorable pictures of his looking from his cradle.

I used crimped strips to make the word 'girl' , The 'G' unfortunately looked like 'C',I altered it a bit and hope it looks little more like 'G' now. I found both the baby in the cradle and the girl lettering on pictures of stickers on the internet.

Thanks for stopping by , Have a lovely day.

Take a quill pill Baby cards.

Quilled card

2011-06-09T19:46:00.002+05:30

             This card is inspired by ICR4 colour splash- black and white with hues of blue. ICR4
   I made this husked butterfly , I already had a blue colour fringed flower which I used in this card. Really simple one but not so easy for me , just using these colours.I punched out some flowers for the background .

         I would like to thank all my blogger friends who encourage me with their kind words and make me like my work more than I did to start with. When it is not easy to craft through the ups and downs ,which is typical of life , the comments that I read make me believe in what I am doing . Thank you all for making blogging so enjoyable .

     I sometimes drop my flower into this small bowl (this is half of the round box in which gems chocolate came) to angle the petals a bit. I have stuck a small cone shaped paper at the bottom which also helps keep the shape.

Inspired by Ann Martin's post on Aluminium quilling, I tried a very simple quilling by cutting out a used can. Ann's post shows some intricate work ,do take a look if you haven't yet. If you would like to see how I did it I have some more pictures here.

         My Crepe flower card made it to the top three at ICR3 ,
         My monochromatic card made it to the top three at kavitha's guest challenge and won the take a quill pill challenge for may.

         Thanks for stopping by. Have a wonderful day.

Quilling on silk

2011-06-02T10:51:00.003+05:30

After a long anxious week , Abi's tenth standard CBSE results were finally announced and Abi got all A1s and got the group he was hoping for. I am a typical Indian mother ,my kid's academic performance is most important to me. Relieved, I sat down to make this card.

The background for this card is a silk cloth that I had saved with a lot of other materials that remain from my sewing. I followed Ashmitha's video tutorial to stick the fabric on to the paper . She does warn about using silk but this particular material is quite thick and heavy and so the glue does not show on the other side. I am really happy that it worked so well. The quilling also sticks quite well on to this fabric.

The glue does show more than on paper so had to be very careful. I cut out handmade paper with craft scissors for the border.

Thanks for stopping by, Have a nice day.

Quilled flower

2011-05-25T20:56:00.005+05:30

This post is quite in contrast with my previous one:). I made this flower as a trial by cutting out two shades of violet colour strips. It turned out really pretty.The colours are a lot different in person, Purple tends to look more blue in my photos.

The first picture is with my camcorder as I lost my camera charger somewhere ,between here and my mom's house. I took the second picture after my husband got me a new charger.

I have used many shades of purple in this card(doesn't show in the picture) ,the scrolls were an afterthought and the leaf shapes were made to support the scrolls. I glued all the petals and let it dry in one of the circles of my palette I use to mix water colours, to get this shape.

Kavitha's guest challenge -handmade flower
ICR colour challenge -handmade embellishment
Take a quill pill-monochromatic
Papercrafting journey -anything goes

Thanks for stopping by, have a creative day.

crepe paper rosettes

2011-05-22T21:52:00.002+05:30

I have never used such brilliant colours on my card! Kavitha is having a long celebration on her blog and I wanted to take a little part in it. For this card my starting point was a card of Kavi which she had sent me with her candy.I link this card to her Inspirational challenge .
The brilliant colours I have used is inspired by ICR colour challenge I love bright colours and really enjoyed putting to use some of the stuff I never thought I would use. The back ground paper is from a hand made paper pack I got from Bangalore -a very bright yellow.The crepe paper rosettes are handmade and there is also a quilled flower.I have also used quilled letterings "Be Happy" with dark blue quilling strips, hope it shows in the picture.

Crepe flower rosettes:-

Cut two strips of 1cm width crepe paper.

Accordion fold the strips.

Take a circle of paper and spread glue on the edges of the circle and stick the strip slowly gathering the folds as you glue all around the circle.

Cut off the extra strip of paper and stick the end.

Apply glue in the center and glue the second strip same way as the first.

I stuck a big bead in the center.

Thanks for stopping by, Have a lovely day.

Quilled mother's day card

2011-05-16T10:30:00.006+05:30

I am back from visiting my mom after a most enjoyable vacation with my parents. Without an internet I did miss all the updates from my favourite blogs.

I did not have time to make a card for my mom for mother's day but I did pack a few strips when I left for Bangalore. My mom has always wanted to see how I quill. I made this simple card for my mom and showed her how to quill with a slotted tool. My mom has flowering plants all around her house and in the terrace , mostly in pots. And also her calling bell looks like a bird house and makes bird noises . I included the bird house in this card and my mom was most impressed by it.

Thanks for stopping by, have a creative day.

Quilled miniature plants

2011-05-01T10:31:00.001+05:30

I have always been fascinated by quilled miniatures ,but somehow I have not the confidence to try miniatures myself. Before I could try little people ,this is my first attempt at quilled miniatures.
My sister in law collects miniatures from all her travels around the world and when she celebrated her birthday last month I decided to gift her with quilled miniature plants .

      I discovered the joy of quilling all over again making these little ones.

    Thanks for stopping by , have a wonderful day.

Gift tags

2011-04-25T07:34:00.002+05:30

   I like to give small quilled cards to my students . Last year I made lot of flowers to encourage them and it worked so well I am making some this year too. Its also so wonderful to see the reactions of kids who see quilled work for the first time.

   Thanks for stopping by, have a great day.

Quilled girl card

2011-04-18T09:22:00.024+05:30

Another girl card with something on it which was on my to-do list for a long time-a quilled dress for a girl. New clothes are as important as a beautiful birthday cake for a little girl.

Another picture of the quilled dress. I do so love to work with crimped strips. I have used two shades of blue strips for the dress.

Today is the first day of my summer classes and I expect to be super busy for a month . I still have a couple of card requests and so will be quilling too.

Thanks for stopping by, have a creative day.

Quilled fruits

2011-04-11T12:40:00.005+05:30

   I was asked to make a card with a raspberry on it . I really had to search to find out how a raspberry looks like .Thankfully I also found a few quilled raspberries in the quilled creations gallery.Along with the raspberry I also quilled a slice of watermelon , a strawberry and an orange slice(or lemon slice like Akhil seems to think).Quilling the fruits with all the small elements was not easy at all.
   I want the card to delight a little girl for whom the card is . My kids liked the quilled fruits and I hope she likes it too.
   Its summer here and Chennai is becoming hotter by the day but then, it is also the watermelon season.

The request is from the girl's grandmother ,she is also the one who bought my first card and the sweetest of people .She wished me so well when I was too nervous and unsure about selling my work.

Take a quill pill - season

Thanks for stopping by, have a creative day.

Bunch of flowers

2011-04-04T16:46:00.003+05:30

   Quilling flowers is what I love the most and what could be a better gift than a bunch of flowers. I made this card for a butterfly lover and so I included this small butterfly. I have already sent this card and hope it reaches her safely.

   The card is for non other than our kavitha of kalalayaa .Ever since I received her candy I have been thinking of making a card for her. I had a lot of card requests that I had to finish but ,better late than never . I enjoyed making this card and hope she likes it.

   Thanks for stopping by, have a creative day.

Quilled earrings.

2011-03-28T13:23:00.001+05:30

Quilled eye chart thank you card.

2011-03-21T20:50:00.007+05:30

As a part of observing world Glaucoma week(couple of weeks ago), a hospital near by offered the women members of our library free eye check up for glaucoma .Though I couldn't take the offer lot of our members did and so a thank you card for the kind doctor for her valuable time.
I was asked to make the thank you card, and as I thought about an ophthalmologist the first thing that came to my mind was the dreaded eye chart.

For the eye chart (THANK YOU DOCTOR) ,I stuck at least six strips of thick black strips for the first row and then four strips for the second , two strips for the third and single strip for the last row. The letterings I found most difficult and time consuming. The flowers are a bright violet colour , but doesn't show in this picture.

For the butterfly , I have used eccentric coils . I have stuck three different colour strips for the wings.

Update : Katrin has a neat tutorial for these flowers in her blog.

Thanks for stopping by, Have a wonderful day.

Basic quilled shapes

2011-03-14T10:24:00.005+05:30

My kids have their exams going on and soon it will be vacation time. Every summer , classes are conducted at our local library for school children . This year classes for quilling is also being planned. I will not be teaching quilling , I have my English class each summer for the past seven years. The girl who has been asked to teach quilling is a fine arts graduate and Akhil's favourite drawing teacher.

Our co-ordinator asked me to make a quilled card to show people who come to enroll their kids for summer classes -since most of them have not heard of quilling. She wanted me to give an example of the basic shapes of quilling in my card. I have tried to use all the basic shapes in the flowers and the leaves ,a bud and a fringed flower to show some variations with tight coils.I included quilled letterings also to show how much more can be done with paper strips. It is just lack of further space on the card that stopped me from adding other techniques.

I like to recycle as much as I can ,I have cut an old wedding card in to strips for the basket. I rolled the strips and pinched them to make identical semi circles and stuck them on the flat side . It had a very rich shimmer on it and using the strips flat gives a nice effect.

Most of us know how to make a fringed flower , I include these steps for my non blogging friends who like everything to be in my blog.

To make the fringed flower- take a strip of half inch width and cut fringes with a scissor as shown . Stick a 5mm width strip to the fringed strip .(click on image to enlarge)

Roll the strips using a slotted tool starting with the 5mm strip and make a tight coil.Continue rolling the fringed strip over the tight coil.

Stick the end of the strip .

Press the fringes on all sides with your fingers ,here's a beautiful fringed flower with a tight coil center.

The news of the devastating earthquake and Tsunami in Japan brings very sad memories of the agony which lot of people in Tamil Nadu went through not many years ago. I end this post with thoughts and prayers to the people of Japan in these difficult times.

Little girl

2011-03-08T13:12:00.008+05:30

   I was asked to make a card for a little girl by her grandmother. She did not want any sentiment on the card . I quilled a little girl with a bird in her hand ,an image I had seen in quilledcreations gallery.The card did not turn out the way I had planned .I made the girl too small and then I had to make a lot of changes in a hurry as I had promised to give her the card today. I am most often never satisfied with the photographs and for this card I had little time for photographing properly.

   A very happy women's day to everyone who stop by. Have a creative day.

Quilled giraffe

2011-03-02T21:25:00.011+05:30

Both my son's think that this is not my style ,but I liked this cartoon giraffe I found on the internet when I was looking for a cute giraffe I could quill.
Why a giraffe? because it seems Akhil has finally grown taller than me and is very pleased with himself. For months I have been dragged to stand in front of the mirror with him to see if he has grown taller than I am . It would be with shoes on , without shoes , after a meal , after a haircut ....Now I hope it his father's turn. My elder son Abi is more than six feet and this giraffe is for my tall boys.

I drew the giraffe on a yellow colour paper and cut it out ,I added quilling only for the dark shade.Then I stuck thick black colour strips to the outline. I also cut out the tree and the bark of the tree from brown hand made paper.

There is also some good news. I won Kavitha's blog candy.

Kavi is my first blogger friend and of course namma Chennai girl. I initially visited her blog for her excellent paintings and then for her cards. I have seen her grow more and more creative with her cards.She amazes me with her aptitude to craft . We both have one thing in common we both are not happy until we fill up our entire card::)

For me making cards is just an excuse to quill ,I hope I learn to use all these cool stuff.

Thanks for stopping by, have a creative day.

Red Roses

2011-02-23T17:25:00.014+05:30

   I love making paper flowers and roses are my favourite. I made these roses with red colour half inch strips.

   The paper for the background is from my handmade paper pack. I liked the texture of the paper and roses was the first thing that came to my mind. As I finished this card , I was surprised I haven't filled up the entire card like I am used to . I liked this arrangement of roses and with this background I felt it best to keep it simple and with some difficulty I avoided scrolls .

   For each flower cut a half inch wide strip in to quadrilaterals as shown.
Ten petals make a flower.

Take one piece of paper and cut on the narrow side of the quadrilateral as shown .

Curl the sides of the larger side on both ends with a needle.

Apply little glue on one half of the slit end.

Overlap and stick the slit ends one on top of the other .You have one petal.

Take a small circle of paper and stick the petal as shown

Stick five petals to form the outer circle of the petals.

Next stick the other five petal inside (or even four if you don't want it to be too crowded) and then roll a loose coil of the same colour with 5mm paper strip and stick it to the center of the rose.

Thanks for stopping by, have a creative day.

Quilled jewellery

2011-02-14T16:52:00.002+05:30

This brooch I quilled as I was packing to go home for Christmas, it occurred to me that the blouse of my saree was too plain and it would do well with some embroidery, I don't have time for needle work now and quilling a brooch sounded like a good idea. I wanted more red on the brooch as I had to wear it on green background, but it turned out more green. Still I wore it and my mom thought it would make a nice pendant. I was also surprised that the brooch was quite sturdy even though I have not used tight coils.

This earring I made along with my valentine day card. It has the same design. I liked the folded rose inside the circle of tear drop shapes.

I decided to make some more quilled jewelry and this is what I had in mind for a long time. After I wound the crimped strip I applied a generous amount of glue on the other size of the earring . When the glue dried the crimped strips had become quite stiff and kept its shape well. I have used violet colour strips for this one but looks more blue in this picture.

   This is a blue one , made with the basic quilling shapes , tear drop and round coil. I punched out small white circles from my card stock and stuck it behind the round coil.

   Thanks for stopping by, have a great day.

Another quilled valentine card

2011-02-08T21:02:00.004+05:30

This is really a simple card and did not take too much time. I made this card for Piyu's take a quill pill challenge.

The challenge is to make a quilled valentine card with a quilled pair on it.

I have made an easel card after a long time.

It seems I have been neglecting my sewing for a long time and now it is demanding my attention . Thanks for stopping by , have a beautiful day.

Quilled valentine

2011-02-02T23:03:00.007+05:30

I see so many beautiful valentine cards all over blogosphere , I couldn't resist making one. I love to quill heart shape , its my favourite.I have just used some basic shapes for this card. Almost the entire card is made with identical tear shapes and I folded some roses using 5mm wide paper strip.

I feel like always that the photographs don't do justice at all to quilled work. I struggle sometimes to photograph my work. I finally took a lot of snaps in many angles experimenting with different lighting. Hope you all like it.

Thanks for stopping by, Have a creative day.

Quilled card-alternate looping method.

2011-01-27T20:54:00.009+05:30

   I love the alternate looping method and swirls and curls, I always hope I know where to stop when I am using these methods. It looks like I have completely filled up the card.

   I am trying to use the pack of hand made paper that I had brought a while ago. This particular paper is thick and stiff and also very uneven . It is not easy to stick paper strips on this surface , so I had to use a lot of glue.

   I have hand cut A4 size colour paper for the entire card.

   Thanks for stopping by, have a creative day.

boy card

2011-01-21T19:28:00.000+05:30

   It is a bit difficult to make cards for boys. When Akhil asked to make a card for his friend I thought a kite would be a nice idea for a boy and since it is not much work I put it off till the very end. Yesterday evening I found that quilling a kite not at all easy to me .The four right angled triangles with equal common sides was not easy. I finally quilled some clouds and finished the card as I did not have time for another trial.

   This pongal holidays I was determined to quill, but not easy when my kids are home. I was still taking my quilling things around and leaving it about, this encouraged my family members to try quilling.

   This one is by my husband :).

This is by Akhil. He used the slotted tool and is so careful while working not a bit of glue shows.

My elder son Abi finally was impressed with some quilled work. He was completely bowled over by the anotomical quilling on All things paper posted by Ann Martin. He went through Sarah's entire blog wondering why I don't quill like this. Boys do have different taste.

PONGAL GREETINGS.

2011-01-15T01:34:00.002+05:30

Today is pongal ,harvest festival of Tamil Nadu. This festival is the most important festival for all Tamils. Pongal means overflow, on this day a sweet dish called pongal (made from rice and jaggery) is made in a pot and let to overflow or spill over - its an indication of plenty. Today is surya pongal the most important of the four day celebrations and salutations are given to the Sun for the harvest. Traditionally pongal is prepared in open space in view of the Sun( which is still followed in villages in Tamil Nadu).

Large colourful kolams adorn the streets on this day. Sugar cane is also offered during the prayers. Pongal is always special for us and the rice we cook pongal with comes from our own fields . Another pongal tradition in our family is to visit the Chennai book fair , both my children read a lot and they wait all year for the book fair.

Thanks for stopping by , have a happy pongal.

Something new

2011-01-08T21:34:00.010+05:30

This is my first post this year and I would like to wish all my readers a very happy new year with lot of new beginnings.

This work is inspired by an embroidery design. I liked the pattern a lot but I am not sure if I have been true to the pattern . Trying to get the same effect I have tried a new technique for the leaves(new to me).I hope you all like it , I like it a lot.I have used three shades of green for the leaves.I first made a long loop according to the length of the leaf needed and then I have made smaller loops continuously on one side all the while sticking the loops to the long center loop .Then I started on the other side with another long strip with the same center loop I made small loops on the other side sticking the base of the smaller loops all along the length of the center loop.

Thanks for stopping by,have a creative day.

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2011

2010-12-31T18:28:00.004+05:30

A very happy 2011 to everyone.

" May the new year be warm with the memories of yesterday,

Happy with the presence of today,

And bright with the promise of tomorrow."

Wishing everyone who stop by a very happy and creative year ahead.

Quilled kolam

2010-12-22T01:00:00.079+05:30

We are in the middle of a Tamil month called Margazli , this month starts from mid December and ends mid January. This month is considered very auspicious and a month dedicated to the Gods(there is an interesting belief -In general 4 to 6 Am in the morning(Brahma Muhurtham) is considered very auspicious time for prayers .It is also believed that one day of the Gods is one year for man and that the 4 to 6 Am of the Gods ,which is one month duration for man is this Margazli month .Therefore this is the month when it is auspicious even for the Gods.)

As is the tradition every year ,I can see large kolams in front of houses . I only go down to make my kolam on very special days , but I can quill a kolam whenever I want.

I wanted to post today because it is exactly one year since I started this blog. It was about this time last year, I was making my first snowflakes and Christmas tree to take to my mom's house . I had made at least a dozen snowflakes and hung them all on the tree. I decorated the house with kusudamas and paper snowflakes .

In this one year I have made so many friends ,learnt so much and rolled so many hundreds of strips. Like every other place bloggerland is so beautiful because of the beautiful and talented people in it . I would like to thank all the people who have encouraged and inspired me and look forward to draw more inspiration from them all.

Thanks for stopping by, Have a wonderful Christmas.

Christmas tree

2010-12-14T18:29:00.010+05:30

As one of the winners of the last CraftyJC challenge I am invited by Jaya to participate in the 5th challenge to provide some inspiration. The challenge is based on the Christmas season -Brrrrrr.

I am so glad she asked me and I got to quill this Christmas tree, I needed just that inspiration to get me started. Do join in this festive challenge and play along.

For the Christmas tree. I have completely used crimped strips. I have tried this idea before in another card and it looked really like nib painting. I first drew the outline of the tree (really light) and then stuck a length of strip on the outline for all the three layers .After the outline dried I stuck one end of the crimped strip to one end of the outline and I looped the strips with my hands and stuck it to the outline as I filled the entire space inside the outline (Strips when crimped become so flexible and workable) . I have used two shades of green hoping to get a nice effect.

To make the holly leaves first make a loose coil and pinch on both sides to get an eye shape. Now hold the center of the marquis tight with one hand and with the other hold one pointed end of the marquis and push it towards the center.Now repeat the same on the other side .

Thanks for stopping by, Happy holidays.

Quilled ornaments

2010-12-07T22:10:00.005+05:30

Quilled ornament

Quilled Snowflake

Quilled angel

Quilled star

Quilled bells

Christmas card.

2010-12-02T23:03:00.004+05:30

With so much inspiration on the internet I couldn't put off my Christmas card any longer. Quilling the holly leaves was really a challenge ,no two leaves looked the same and I did waste a lot of strips trying to get it right. As soon as I saw this cute little angel I knew I had to quill it.

Another quilling idea

2010-11-27T15:16:00.014+05:30

   I think the petals of the flower look like they are embroidered. I saw a picture of flowers in google images which looked like paper embroidery and attempted to reproduce the same effect , I Pinched my coils in every imaginable way and only ended up disappointed. It so happens that there is a method to how we can get the effect. I chanced upon the tutorial at Alli's blog.

   The wings of the dragon fly I made using wheatear technique. I added the dragon fly just to show the similarity in making the petals and the wings.

Wheatear method for the wings.

   For the four wings take four strips and make folds in them as shown. Starting with one centimeter fold the strips increasing by a centimeter for each fold. Up to seven centimeters.(Six for the smaller two wings)

Take one strip and make a loop as shown starting with the one centimeter length .

Then fold the two centimeter length fold over the first one and form a loop and then the three centimeter so on.

Once you finish looping the whole strip stick the end .(six loops for the smaller wings and seven for the larger).

Now apply glue at the folds so that the loops stay in place. That will make one wing of the dragonfly.

The petals are also made in a similar way, first make a small loop ,

Loop the strip around the first loop to form more loops each time folding the strip on one side where you are holding( just like wheatears). Be sure to hold all the loops together.

Once you have finished looping the entire strip ,stick the end of the strip .Don't let go of the coils.

Flatten the loops by nicely pressing on the side away from your hand,still holding the folds firmly.You can shape the petal a bit.

Now let go of all the folds that your were holding.You have a beautiful petal. This method also has a name it is called a vortex.Both the flowers are made using this method and without any quilling tool.

I think it is beautiful , while I was finishing one flower this way, it occurred to me that the loops look more like eccentric loops . As a trial I did this flower by first rolling the strip with my needle to make a loose coil . I pulled all the strips to one end and then pinched it and held it firmly after that I pressed the other side flat and then released the coils. And this is the result.

Thanks for stopping by, Have a great day.

Quilled Annam

2010-11-20T22:42:00.008+05:30

   Annam is the name of a bird also called annaparavai, I am not sure whether such a bird existed but its beauty and grace has inspired Indian art for ages. We can see this bird in paintings ,embroidery , in temple sculptures ,brass work and on saree borders.....Its also the favourite of poets and writers of Tamil literature. This bird has been celebrated by writers as an epitome of grace and purity. It is supposed to be white in colour and has a character of when given milk and water mixed together to leave out the water and drink only the milk.(symbolically when both love and hate or good and bad exists together, the lesson to be learnt from this bird is to choose good and love).

   I traced the picture of this bird from a shopping bag and then got an impression of the picture on this card . I started with the swirls in the tail, then next I wanted to make sure I got the face right before I quilled some more. I found it really difficult and I fairly gave up, but the eyes looked good and I was eager to know how it will look when completed and after a long struggle with paper strips , scissors and glue. I completed my annam. I have used a metallic brown colour paper strips through out , I had to cut small bits and piece them together. Its a bit thick paper and so I had to hold down the pieces until it dried. But the end result was really more than I had hoped for.The beauty of this annam is it is wearing jewels around its neck , anklets and also a small dot on its ears, which I suppose are earrings.


   This also coincides with this month theme crafty JC Indian ethnic challenge.

   Thanks for stopping by, have a creative day.

quilled flower card

2010-11-14T22:45:00.005+05:30

   I always find photographing my quilled work difficult , I sometimes find the colours not true to the real one. My brother thinks it is my camera and that I need to get one with more pixels. Though I cut strips for quilling I prefer pre cut strips. Here, in the craft stores I only get multicolour strips and when I need a lot of the same colour strips I have to cut

   For this card too I have cut strips and tried to do something new with the green strips( I have seen this technique on lot of other blogs).

   I feel so happy when someone tells me I have inspired them to quill. I have people where I live asking me to teach and I have also seen people start quilling after buying my cards . I introduced quilling to my students this summer ,my hope is that quilling becomes popular in India ( that way I can get quilling paper easily and I don't have to go half across my city to get it).

   Thanks for stopping by , Have a great day.

quilled card

2010-11-08T22:20:00.005+05:30

I am experimenting with different colour combinations and shapes. This design is inspired by the kolam I made for this Diwali. In my recent posts I have been using either one colour strips or two colours , here too I have used only two colour strips . I have hand cut the strips from blue and red colour sheets.

Thanks for stopping by, Have a creative day.

Celebration

2010-11-03T21:17:00.005+05:30

I have tried cursive lettering for this card. I first wrote the word 'celebration' in pencil and then stuck the strip over it. I must say it was a bit difficult.I had to cut and stick the strip to look as if it is continuous.
The petals are made from eccentric coils ,I have hand cut orange and green colour sheets for the flowers and leaves. This is a time for celebration and I would wish in advance a very happy diwali to everyone.
This card goes to take a quill pill challenge.

Thanks for stopping by, have a great diwali.

Akhil's birthday.

2010-10-27T15:39:00.012+05:30

   Today Akhil is turning thirteen and he is having a wild party. He is my younger son and a ray of sunshine in our home. We both have a lot in common , we both love to do art work , we both are daydreamers and both of us spend at least an hour a day looking for things we miss-lay:)).

   We share the same work table , so when I am blogging he is doing his home work and I get to share all the wonderful blogs I visit with him. He is good at quilling too and loves making quilled cards and he takes time to admire my work.For his love of his guitar I wanted to add some music notes on the card , but it looked too crowded and I gave up the idea.

   I started this card with the idea of quilling his name with a tiger for the letter 'I', but the tiger turned out like a teddy bear .For the rest of the letters I quilled the alphabet first and added on leaves and berries to give the look of plant vines .There is a caterpillar on the letter 'K' but it looks just like a design, and there is a ladybird on the letter 'L' .

   I am very pleased with the card, it looks so much better than the photograph(quilled work always does).For the paper bunting I cut out small triangles of quilling paper and I have stuck each of them on small pieces of double tape to give it some dimension.The cake is on a tree trunk , the honey bee is bringing an apple and the ant is carrying a gift.My son liked it and I am happy (and relieved:)) ).

   Thanks for stopping by,Have a great day.

folded roses

2010-10-24T11:56:00.006+05:30

I have been away for a while and I did take my quilling things with me. A slotted tool ,1cm width strips and glue is all that is required for folding a rose , I had folded a few and arranged them on this card.

As before I have used Inna's tutorial for a folded rose.

Thanks for stopping by, Have a creative day!

Birthday card

2010-10-18T01:00:00.003+05:30

This card is for my sister who is celebrating her birthday today. She was the crafty one in our family when we were growing up. She is a doctor and has very little time now,but she always gets creative with her kolams and other art work when ever she finds time. She is also a huge admirer of my work and I take great pleasure quilling for her.

I have cut yellow colour paper for the entire card, I always avoid swirls when I have to mail the card but I couldn't help it I think swirls are elegant ,so I have added an extra swirl so that the strip does not bend.

I am going to take a few day off from blogging, hope to catch up on all my favourite blogs when I come back.

Thanks for stopping by, Have a blessed day.

more gift tags

2010-10-14T20:16:00.002+05:30

inspired by Navarathri

2010-10-12T23:17:00.004+05:30

For this Navarathri Golu I made two golden lotuses , I made a miniature Madurai temple pond which has a golden lotus at the center. This card is inspired by that lotus and the golden stars are all punched from the paper I have used to make the lotus. I have also used the ribbon we used in our golu.

   The pattern in the card made with combing technique is inspired by the lotus.I have made a pair of ear rings which goes with the card which will make a nice gift as well.This time it is inspire and create at craftyJC . Right now I can't think of anything but Navarathri and my card is inspired by all the glitters of Navarathri festival.

   Thanks for stopping by, happy Navarathri.

Flowers of Munnar

2010-10-04T09:59:00.009+05:30

This summer me and my family holidayed at Munnar(a bit of heaven on earth). it was such a welcome change from the hot and dry summer of Chennai. Tea estates covering acres and acres looking like green carpets was such a beautiful sight.I knew there must be a reason why Kerala is called God's own country.There were daises and roses and beautiful violet flowers everywhere.

I wanted to quill something nice for my elder brother who is visiting us from Australia after four years to take back with him. I drew inspiration from the colourful flowers of Munnar for my quilled basket with flowers.

I really wanted to frame my work but did not finish it in time so I made a shadow box to mount the basket and the quilled flowers( I bought a sheet of green hand made paper to make this shadow box,a beautiful example of the sheets we are using for our library's golu this time).

Thanks for stopping by, Have a lovely day.

Thank you card

2010-09-27T20:32:00.006+05:30

   Time to say thank you to some wonderful people. I made this card for a teacher , my neighbour who kindly tutored my elder son Abinesh for his tamil exam.

   I also would like to thank Madhavi Sivan of Get crafty for featuring me on her blog.

   I don't have time for cards, but somehow I can't stop quilling. The ladybird I made on request from my younger son. The yellow paper I cut from A 4 size colour sheets and I have crimped the black strips for the center of the flower.
   Thanks for stopping by, have a great day!

quilled daisy

2010-09-23T06:33:00.008+05:30

   I have been thinking of quilling a daisy for some time ,I quilled one finally and really enjoyed making it . I did not mean to use it on a card, as it will be difficult to put the card inside an envelope without crumpling the daisy.
Then again I used it on this card with this beautiful background. I will keep this card for myself .The quilled bee and the word happy together will make "bee happy", and it will look nice on my son's table.
   I almost never use pattern paper as it becomes difficult for me to quill over the patterns, but these had daisies on them and I thought I could use it. I vastly prefer white base as it will allow me to use lot of colours and the card stock I use has a slight gloss which reflects the colours in the strips making it look all the more beautiful.

   I have quilled the word happy with black strips. The swirls are all dark green( it doesn't show in the picture).

Take a strip of 10mm quilling paper , yellow colour and fringe it as shown.( I cut the fringes with a pair of scissors)
.

With the help of a slotted tool roll the fringed strip.(Roll it with your hand if you don't have a tool)

Remove the rolled strip from the tool and glue the end.

Press the fringes on all sides to make a fringed flower.

Take a small circle of paper and make a cut as shown.

Stick the cut ends one on top of the other to form a small cone .

Cut strips into small pieces of required length and then round off the edges.Stick the strips over the cone as shown.

Continue this way , until you have at least three rows of petals.

Stick the fringed yellow flower at the center of the strips. Here you have a beautiful daisy.

Thanks for stopping by , Have a creative day.

quilled card

2010-09-18T12:51:00.001+05:30

   This is a simple card so I finished it fast. It has turned out almost monochromatic , but it is completely unintentional couldn't match a lot of colours against this background.

   We have started to get ready for Golu at Avvai( Our library) , our golu is a massive one with scenes depicting stories from Hindu mythology. Constructing the scenes involves lot of craft work. Just yesterday new packs of paints and fresh hand made paper arrived for us to work, couldn't stop admiring the paper . Last year at this same time I was totally unaware of quilling ,So this year I want to introduce quilled work and paper crafts in our golu. I will post if something interesting turns up.

   Thanks for stopping by. Have a wonderful day.

Quilled snowflakes or Kolam?

2010-09-16T13:34:00.006+05:30

I had this page book marked (along with so many other pages with beautiful creations that I hope to quill some day)and was wanting to quill the beautiful snowflakes by Deb mackes. Mine does not have the characteristic hexagonal shape of a snowflake , It is more circular like a kolam. I love to do symmetrical shapes and I am happy with this one.

I have hand cut the strips and I have used my favourite hand made paper as background.

Roll the strip into a loose coil.

Pinch on two opposite sides to get the eye shape.

I have pinched the eye shape again in two opposite sides to get this square shape.

Thanks for stopping by, Have a creative day.

Quilled Ganesha.

2010-09-11T18:59:00.001+05:30

On the day of Vinayaga chaturthi , I thought I would post my quilled Ganesha. I have long been fascinated by how the image of Ganesha, the Lord with an elephant head has been depicted in drawings and paintings .

Ganesha is celebrated as the Lord of good beginnings and Lord who removes all obstacles. I quilled this Ganesha from an image in a wedding card.

I first drew the figure with pencil and then stuck the strips over the outline.

This Ganesha, I quilled looking at a picture from google image search.

Quilled birthday card

2010-09-08T08:32:00.003+05:30

   The same person who bought my quilled birthday cake card wanted me to make another similar birthday card for another of her grandson . I have tried to make this card appeal to a little boy.
   I have quilled a toy car as a well as a cricket bat and ball. A cake and balloons for celebration. All these together I hope will make a great birthday gift for a little boy.

   Thanks for stopping by, have a great day.

Stitched card

2010-09-04T20:50:00.002+05:30

   This is my first stitched card. I found this pattern here . Best thing to do would be to print out the pattern and then prick the card stock and then stitch, but since my printer ran out of ink at the last minute, I drew one butterfly and I have used it on all four sides . Very difficult and not perfect, since this is the simplest of stitches( a series of long stitches) I managed to complete this card.

   I wanted to translate my oil painting of blue morpho butterfly into quilling but alas it ended up looking like glass painting.

   Too many experiments with this card. I always wanted to try stitching on cards . Regina's challenge No 7  inspired me to try. Hope to use more embroidery in my cards in future.

quilled teddy

2010-09-01T21:11:00.007+05:30

I am happy to have made it to the top three in craftyjc challenge No 1 and craftyjc bonus sketch .
I also made it to the top three in Regina's challenge No 6 with this card .

I am also happy that my teddy bear turned out like my favourite yogi bear.
It was not easy to use only pink and brown for Craftyjc challenge .I had a very dull pattern paper so I have punched it out and stuck it on a brighter pink paper.

I never thought I would fold a rose again but Inna's folded rose tutorial was so good , I now enjoy making a folded rose.

Thanks for stopping by , have a creative day.

quilled flower card

2010-08-29T10:43:00.002+05:30

Some time ago I saw a quilled flower in google images with this same petal but with a variation. The petal looked so like embroidery , I tried to get the same effect with these flowers, sometimes I though I got it but other times I only succeeded in crumpling the strips further.

I will try it again some other time with more practice . These flowers are beautiful too and with the leaves its right for Regina's challenge .

Thanks for stopping by ,Have a beautiful day:)))

quilled birthday cake

2010-08-26T10:27:00.002+05:30

My intention was to quill a birthday cake ,but the card turned out to be a huge birthday party. Just right for a small kid. I love making eccentric coils and balloons are my favourite.I enjoyed making this card, using so many different colour strips.

Here's another view of my quilled cake.

   I would like to give some tips on quilling that I have learnt from lot of other blogs and also by my own experience.

   While making a longer strip by gluing two or more strips, it will be better if we tear the strip at the ends. This way the place where the strips are glued will not be prominent. Tearing strips while quilling also will help make a neater coil.(Thanks Ann Martin for this tip)

   Take glue on a plastic surface, and touch your quilled elements lightly on the glue before placing it on your work(again ,I learnt this from Ann Martin). We can also use a toothpick to gently apply glue on the coils , If we apply glue only in one area sometimes some of the coils will stick out.

   I have learnt that much care has to be taken while gluing ,taking a second to see if the coils are in place helps.


   Thanks for stopping by. Have a creative day!

quilled pookkalam

2010-08-23T00:08:00.006+05:30

   Today is Thiruvonam ,one of the most important festivals of kerala. The celebration of onam marks the homecoming of the legendary king Mahabali .  As part of the festivity,large floral carpets(pookkalam) are made in front of the houses.

   Only last summer my friend who grew up in Kerala showed how to make a pookkalam .She shredded the flowers and separated the petals. Flowers like Marigold ,rose and other flowers which have small petals were chosen and different colour petals were collected in different plates. A pattern is drawn with chalk and then the petals are taken handfuls and arranged according to the pattern. It is time consuming but the kolam turns out really beautiful and fragrant. For green colour my friend chose leaves from a Gul mohar tree which have tiny leaves. Whole flowers can also be used in required areas.

   I have quilled this card to look like a pookkalam , I have crimped the strips to give the effect of small petals arranged in a pookkalam.

   Sunday morning in the front pages of the newspaper was the picture of an enormous pookkalam which has been named snehapookkalam ,a 17622 square feet floral carpet created with an aim of getting it into the Guinness Book of World records at Swapna Nagari in Kozhikode ,Kerala in connection with Onam celebrations.

   Thanks for stopping by ! have a joyous day!

quilled Anniversary card

2010-08-18T22:24:00.004+05:30

   I have tried another husked flower here. I used the alternate loop method to make the petals.I have cut strips from colour papers which one of my dearest students gave me this summer. She had brought some of her drawings to show me and I was curious where she got the paper she had drawn on which had such light and pleasant colours. The very following day she brought some unused sheets and gave it to me.
   I have used kundan stones,red and green on this card and have also used a different background to shoot the picture. Hope you all like it.

   Thanks for stopping by, Have a great day!

Happy Independence day

2010-08-15T08:08:00.001+05:30

A very happy Independence day to everyone. Since I started quilling I have included quilling also in all my celebrations and in that way I wanted to quill a card for independence day. I meant to keep it simple, it is a simple design but making the wheel with 24 spokes was a challenge. For the background I have used water colours .I have made the center wheel with 3mm Navy blue colour strips.
This is an easel card ,I have quilled a small kolam at the base, again I have used only the colours in our flag .I have used 3mm width quilling paper for the kolam. I found the tutorial for easel card here. This card goes to Regina's challenge.

My elder son particularly wanted me to take a picture in this angle to show how it is an easel card.

   This is another picture of the kolam .

   We hoist the National flag early morning on August 15th, independence day at our local library and this year after the flag hoisting my younger son Akhil spoke about one of our prominent freedom fighters Va Vu Chidambaranar.

   Thanks for stopping by, have a creative day.

quilling comb

2010-08-10T17:55:00.002+05:30

I saw this exact design in the quilled creations gallery and wanted to try it.We need a quilling comb to create this pattern. I have used an ordinary comb to make this flower. I used this colour just to try out the technique but liked it and so have used it in my card.

Its right for craftyJC challenge I think.

To make one petal take a strip of 3mm width quilling paper.According to the length required loop it around the teeth of the comb as shown.

Stick at the bottom now loop around a tooth lower than the first ( I have looped around the very next one) and stick at the bottom to keep the shape.

Bring the loop to the alternate side and insert inside the gap between the two teeth to form a loop on the other side.

This way alternate the loops on both sides and stick the end to the bottom of the petal when you are done.

Now slide off the petal from the comb .All the while be sure not to stick the strip to the comb.

I have stuck three strips two yellows and one red in the middle and have made a tight coil for the center.

quilled card

2010-08-03T12:36:00.001+05:30

In our local library, where I volunteer we conduct inter school competitions every year in the first week of August . The competitions start tomorrow. Its the job of my group to supervise the pencil shading competition and to conduct the preliminaries and the finals of the general knowledge quiz .For the past week I have been pouring into books and compiling questionnaires .My head is so full of who did what when. I thought of taking a break and quill some flowers. Really a joy rolling and pinching strips to make these flowers ,seems I have been making open petal flowers for some time now.

I also have to help judge the origami competition , so have to fold a crane or two before that since I have not folded for a long time.

This is my favourite quilling tool. I have a slotted tool , but have always preferred a needle. I usually fix a handle to my needle but have never found it comfortable. I have had this silver pen for sometime, it can hold a refill of a very small size .I fixed my needle to the pen with some strong glue and it fit so well. I made this card with this needle . The long handle is a great help while rolling and also looks so beautiful . Really love my tool and thought of sharing it with you all.

Thanks for stopping by. Have a creative day!