Last Year's New Designs

As I look back on the year, as we all do, I realize that there really weren't too many new designs in my work. I did add the WindowBoxes, which are really different for me. And fun. That's is what really counts--doing what you love.

I am back to quilling a few Christmas ornaments, on a limited basis. I did numerous amounts of them thirty years ago. They are fun to do if you only do a few and then move onto something else. So I will do a few and move on to something else....maybe I will design a few more elegant ornaments, nothing too cutesy.

I really love the snowflake........maybe I will do a different snowflake in 2011.................hmmmm.

As I look back, I do realize that I spent alot of time reframing and matting and getting my current designs looking just right. That is a process all its own.

During the next year, I plan on trying to design a new piece each week..............that sounds quite ambitious. And when the piece is complete, I will post it here and await your comments. Maybe I will even get new ideas that I haven't even thought about. 

Happy New Year to All.

Take Time to Enjoy the Little Things.

Check out this website for quilling supplies:

http://www.quillingsuperstore.com

Great Blue Herons

One of my favorites, and everybody else's favorites,
is my Great Blue Heron.

I first started with the Heron below.
And the cattails were added later on.

My next heron is the Heron Turned.
He really is looking over his back at you.

The third heron in my collection is the Heron Fishing,
which is shown in the close up below.

I love the addition of the cattails to my quilling. It adds a little dimension.

 My fourth heron is the Heron in Flight.
He has wonderful movement and is really big in person.

 

Take Time for the Little Things......

This week's websites to check out.............

League of New Hampshire Craftsmen

New Hampshire Made 

Birth Keepsakes

This is my son's birth announcement from 1981. I printed it myself, but the teddy and balloons were already on the card. I love all the colors. Most of the announcements are already printed and I embellish them with flowers and custom frame them.

The announcement below is one of my favorite ones. The birth announcement was really nice with three different photos of the child. The parents decided to add a very pretty gold embossed wood frame.

Even the cute ones make really nice keepsakes.  Please note that these are the birth announcements that were sent to me to embellish with quilling. I have only added the quilling and mats, and then custom framed.

There are many more on my website for you to see.

Take Time for the Little Things.....


This week's blog to check out:
Oh So Beautiful Paper

Wedding Invitation Keepsakes

This is my own invitation from 1973..................got married, started quilling. Still quilling and still married.........................and a grand daughter now.

As you can see, this is traditional quilling. Most of the Wedding Invitation Keepsakes that I do are with traditional quilling -- that is, the flowers are placed on top of the invitation. The one below is produced with Quilling, My Way. Any of my designs can be combined with the wedding invitation for that perfect keepsake. I particularly love sunflowers, so this one of my favorites.


My wedding invitation keepsakes keep me busy all year round. Every invitation that I receive to quill and frame is different, so that means each keepsake is different. I have done over 2600 of these since 1973, so I guess that I have had a little practice. I photograph each one and they get uploaded to my website.....there are over 200 on my website to look over.


Below is a Wedding Keepsake that I quilled for a friend of my son and daughter-in-law's. The wedding invitation was not included in the keepsake. Included are the wedding photo and the wedding vows from the bride and the groom. This is a great example of a different way to make up the Wedding Keepsake.


The Victorian Wedding Invitation Keepsake below has many little flowers and leaves which can be made in any color. This is a very time consuming piece.


As you can see, I really enjoy making each and every invitation a one-of-a-kind gift. Next time we will take a look at some other invitations that I find particularly beautiful and elegant.

And we will look at Birth Announcement Keepsakes some time in the near future.

Remember, you can check out many more photographs on my website. And if you have an invitation to be quilled, drop me an email. We can choose a design that is just right for you.

Take Time for the Little Things.....

this week's website to explore:
http://www.rockgardenpottery.com
Roger Galuska's Polish-American influenced designed potter

WindowBoxes

This is one of my newest designs. I initially called them 'quillages', a cross between quilling and collages. Then a Friend saw them at my last show in Wells, Maine, and said "I love your windowboxes"...... and so the name changes to remind us of past images.

These pieces are all one-of-a-kind with a quilled flower, many rolled paper beads which I made myself, interesting threads, and handmade or fancy papers that I have gathered over the years. Some even include hand-cut pieces and sometimes glass beads. I cut multiple openings in the mat and fill the spaces and add elements until I am Happy. I also add two or three mats to give depth to the piece. I then custom frame under glass, usually in a wood painted frame. Red is my favorite color, so you will see the red WindowBox here.



I enjoy these WindowBoxes because it gives me the freedom to create a new piece every time and they are all wonderful pieces of me. I try to name them based on the feelings they create when they are admired. Let me surprise you with a WindowBox of your very own...........just give me a color and let me do it my way.

I have more of these WindowBoxes on my website in a variety of colors.....and more coming everyday. I am thinking about smaller pieces.

Take Time for the Little Things........
today we just relaxed, and it rained and rained and rained...... I love the rain...


This week's website to explore:

www.devittliptakdesign.com
I love her hand carved pottery.

The Accident

Yes, the accident.....
In the mid 80's............that sounds so long ago...........my mother-in-law Dona was making cut and pierced lampshades to sell in the League of NH Craftsmen shops with my father-in-law Dick's turned wooden lamps............very beautiful, I even have a couple.

We had thought that perhaps a little quilling on the shades might be pretty. So I made up some flowers and we tried to place them on the shade. We had envisioned that the flowers would show nicely when the lamp was turned on. But it did not. Instead, the flowers slipped behind a cut-out in the shade, and it happened to be that of a loon.

And the accident was born. Quilling my way. When the lamp was turned on, all you could see was a blob of something. But when it was off, the quilling showed very well behind the opening. That's where the idea of quilling behind a cut-out was born. A Happy Accident. So much for quilled lampshades..............

I did make flowers for a few lampshades with Dona completing them. And I did sell a couple................but my real interest was in the birds and ducks.........and on to wildflowers and other wildlife.

Quilling, My Way, developed from that little accident.............. I do have a lampshade with quilled flowers on it as shown below. I am unable, perhaps unwilling is a little more honest, to make any more, as I do not have any interest in making the shade itself. Too tedious...............like quilling isn't tedious.

Take Time for the Little Things........



This week's website for you to explore:
www.lorimendenhall.com
really beautiful jewelry in southern california

The Very Beginning -- My Story

As promised, the story from the beginning.............On one of those trips to the craft shop in 1973, shortly after Don & I married, I picked up quilling paper and went home to "quill" my girl friend's wedding invitation. I had a pin, glue and paper and made many little flowers to glue around the invitation in a frame. When I was finished, I took the invitation back to the craft shop to show my work. The lady was very gracious, loved the work, and said "you didn't have a quilling tool?" I did not. So when I took the tool home and tried quilling again, it was so simple that I was addicted.

I began making flowers and gluing them to wooden plaques, and then began cutting logs into plaques (well, my husband did, but I sanded them). And so began my life at shows. My first show was in Gilmanton in the school and I sold little soldiers for $1.00. They sold so well that I decided to try more shows, selling wall plaques and making wedding invitation keepsakes.

The shows continued on for many years, and when I began Quilling, My Way, with the cutout over the quilling, I juried with The League of NH Craftsmen, and was rejected. I perfected my craft a little more, well maybe a lot more, and a friend told me to go back to be juried again. So I did.........and I have been doing the Fair ever since.........the first time for me was in 1987. I did not do so well that year, but again, that same friend told me to go for the entire week. So I did............and it was well worth it. And still is well worth the 9 days in a booth.

A little about the 'perfected a little more'........ my loon had all little quilled circles behind the cutout when I was first juried. One of the jury wondered if the little circles could be made to look like little feathers. She saw something that I had not. And since then, I have designed the cutouts to be simple and allow the quilling to be the details. Sometimes you can't see the forest for the trees.

Next time I will tell the story about how the Quilling, My Way, developed. It was simply an accident. But the best things are..................

Take Time for the Little Things........
yesterday we decorated for Christmas.............


This week's website or blog for you to explore:
http://luannudell.wordpress.com
http://www.luannudell.com

Quilling, My Way -- Loons

Thanks to Sherry for suggesting I get back to this blog and continue to share. She is a scrapbooker whom I have met through Paperbackswap.

Let's go back to the beginning of Quilling by Sandra White, MY WAY. (Some other time I will go back to my beginning of quilling for me, about twelve years earlier.) My first piece was a Loon where I cut all the little feathers out on the Loon's back. That piece is long gone in someone's collection.

The photo to the right is the end result -- but we all know that the next one will be a little different, as I always try to do it better.

And the photos below are descendants of the original loon -- everybody's favorite, The Loon in Flight, The Loon Calling, The Loon in Display, and The Loon and Baby.