Week Fifty-Two: Framed Christmas Piece FINAL WEEK!

We've done it! We're skating over the finish line, we've got the medal clutched in our fist, we're tired and need a rest. But no! There won't be rest yet, not until after Christmas, as I have quilling to do for loved ones for that day.

It has been a long and very rewarding journey. I have at least tripled my loyal viewership, I have about doubled how many views this page has had, and I have a massive, massive pile of stuff ready for my next market. It's been wonderful.

To my Pinterest followers, you are a delight and I get a huge thrill out of seeing someone pin one of my projects and they didn't pin it from me, it's been on a magical journey to find them without me. Art can move through the channels of our web community, isn't that inspiring? Makes you just want to make and share more stuff I say. Speaking of which, I will be starting a new board for my quilling and leaving the challenge board to sit with its contents as is, I've called the new Board PDPD Quilling, so come have a look and follow it to keep up the fun and inspiration! Seriously, I thought I would be out of ideas and totally over this whole quilling thing after this challenge, but I'm not, I've got ideas pouring out of my little ears and I'll be going strong long after this challenge.

You'll see I've changed my blog header and Facebook page banner to display all the quilling challenge, or at least one thing from each week.

Anyway, enough gushing and happy-ranting from me, let's get on to our last project of the quilling challenge!!This week we're ending on one last framed piece and it's Christmassy to boot.

Santa is off on his busiest night of the year, with his trusty steeds ahead. There are only five visible, but let's just agree that magical flying reindeer are probably so in tune with the reindeer they fly beside that their movements are matched, and all nine reindeer are there, with Rudolph leading them all onward.

Perhaps this is part way through the event, Santa's tummy looks like it is full of milk and cookies!

I used the husking technique for all of these, with the one reindeer drawing to create all five, but they still came out with slight differences and I like that, Rudolph obviously having one very intentional difference.

This is a lovely way to depict the magic and wonder of Christmas.

I'll be back soon, some time in the next couple of weeks to show you the stuff I've made for loved ones for Christmas and get some pins in that new board on Pinterest.

Until then, Merry Christmas to all, and to the Quilling Challenge year, a goodnight.

xnata

Week Fifty-One: Christmas Window Wreath

This week's project is appropriately Christmassy, seeing as it is now December!

I wouldn't put it on the front door or outside as it could get wet, but it makes for a lovely wall or window decoration.

I went for a peach and cream colour scheme, using scrapbooking paper to make it firmer than regular quilling paper.

It was a beautiful two sided paper with pink, green, blue and yellow butterflies on one side and peach and cream stripes on the other.

I did the same treatment to this as I usually do to my snowflakes such as those mentioned at the end of this post and last week's pegs, with my favourite glitter glue and a spray with Crystal Clear.

I added a ring of the paper at the back to slip the ribbon through, I didn't want it through the front at all as I think it would have looked messy. This works with my 'kid safe' set of ornaments for our tree, which are shades of peach, cream, white and aqua. My toddler can't be trusted around my old glass ornaments. I look forward to the day I can use them again, but at least I have a soft and pretty alternative.

 

 I have hung it in a front window of our home. Next week is the final week of my year long Challenge!! I can't believe it, and I have heaps of things left on my list to create, so not to worry, it won't be the end of my blogging I promise.

 

 

xnata

Week Fifty: Christmas Card Pegs

It seems that Christmas is thoroughly here, you only have to go into the madness that is shopping centres at this time of year to know. As I only have three weeks of my quilling challenge to go, it's good to get a few quilled items in.


This was supposed to be next week's project, but I must do a bit more planning for what I was intending this week. Instead we've got an incredibly easy, simple and cute idea to help display your Christmas cards:

Christmas card pegs are such a nice way to display cards without them clogging up space on your sideboards or bookshelves. I've always thought they were adorable and nifty, and when I saw a pack of tiny wooden ones I realised how easy it would be to make little sets of quilled card pegs!

I have nine designs here, twenty pegs in all, but others that could be added would be tiny snowflakes, reindeer, candy canes, santa's face, elves, Christmas lights, letters to make them spell out 'Merry Christmas' or some other holiday message, etc. I could go on all day with ideas for these, they're just so quick and easy and cute. They were each topped off with Crystalina glitter glue and given a quick spray with Crystal Clear Acrylic.

I love the little angels...

...and the mistletoe is pretty cute....

and this shooting star is quite dazzling too. As I do with my usual snowflakes I added some glitter glue here and there to add that extra Christmas magic.

Super adorable right? Yes. Here's proof that despite their tiny size they can hold up a card, though these are all blanks as I don't have any Christmas cards immediately on hand just yet. If they were larger than the average size there's a chance you'd need two, but they held these up without any sign of difficulty.

Next week I'll hopefully have worked out what would have been on this week, but if not I'll push it to my final week of the quilling challenge! I've got so many other projects to work on after these three though that it'll probably seem like I've barely stopped at all.

If there's anything I've learned from doing this year long challenge apart from new quilling techniques and an overall improved ability, it's that this is a really good way to establish a blog, a following and help you decide if your craft of choice is for you. And quilling is for me, I love it, so that's good. Though I now have a massive supply of stuff to go and sell at a market, and no market actually planned yet! Hmm.


xnata.

It's Super...

I've been up to another crafty project in the last couple of weeks, and it isn't quilling.

My toddler needed a costume for some parties that we attended this weekend, so for the last few weeks I've been creating a second identity for him...

...The felt pieces were cut and then backed with iron on interface to firm them up a bit and prevent them from coming apart as I stitched. I hand sewed the whole lot, even the hem of the cape as sewing machines and I just don't get on.

One layer of felt was sewn to the next from the top down, and the shirt was bought and the symbol sewn over the top of the shirt's own little symbol. The socks were plain so I added a star to jazz them up a bit. I added some little Velcro squares to the back of the shirt and the top of the cape to keep it in place and avoid having the ribbon tug at his throat, which would surely have been guaranteed to bother him and have it end up thrown off within a matter of minutes.

He LOVES it. Especially the cape. he swooshes it around and loves to be picked up to 'fly' around, and on the swings he wants it out so it can flap in the breeze. He didn't try to take it off once, and it all survived the day very well.

Worth every minute of hand stitching.

I'll be back in a day or two with this week's quilling project, which is the beginning of Christmas fun!

xnata.




 

Week Forty-Nine: Rose Pattern Card

This week I've taken a different approach to roses than my usual 3D quilled roses.

And it's a pleasant vintagey sort of look. I love it.

 

 

The way I made it I ended up with it all solidly attached without being a part of the card yet. It was very cute as a sort of doily on our table.

 

 

These took a lot of paper and time. I used three shades of pink and two shades of green.

It's wonderfully pink, soft and elegant.

Next week I'm going to get started on Christmas fun early to get a few Christmas themed projects into the end of my quilling challenge. Only three projects left!! I've got far more ideas than that though, it won't be the end, I'll just perhaps not be quite as reliable with my posting. Unless asked nicely.

xnata
 

Week Forty-Eight: Poppies

In Australia today is Remembrance Day, 11/11, when we remember all those who have died in battle to protect others.

See you next week,

xnata
 

Week Forty-Seven: Bees

I'm back! My university studies have delayed my challenge by three whole weeks, but at least that means there are six more projects still left, and lots will be Christmassy as we head closer to December! I'm finished with uni for the year, yay! Now I can focus on quilling in my son's nap times instead of desperately cramming information into my tired head. It's going to be a lovely three months.

This week we've got some sweet little 'buzzies' as my toddler calls them...

Bees are lovely. So interesting and colourful.

Five quilled bees, and the rest are drawn on, and then the hive is made of quilling paper too. I put some shimmer and glitter on their little wings to make them extra special.

They make me happy, and they're in short supply these days! My husband and I want to have bees when we're old and our kiddies are all grown.

Next week we've got a flower that is very important this time of year...


So happy to be back!

xnata. 

Week Forty-Six: 3D Koala

This week we've got one of my favourite Australian animals, the koala.

He's delightful, wouldn't you say?

This was fun to make and I'm already halfway through another, I want to keep one because they're just so cute.

This project was inspired by a spontaneous meeting I had with a koala a few weeks ago not far from my house. They're a precious animal and we all need to take care of them as they're a threatened species, so please go right now and Google your area's koala rescue service, and put the number in your phone just in case you find a koala in need of help!

I was going to glue his eucalyptus leaves in place, but I like having it so that he can hold it or go without or whatever looks most adorable.

Have I given you enough cuteness yet? Next week I'm going to have to postpone thanks to my uni studies, as my sanity is hanging in there by a threat, but I promise I'll be back with something fantastic.

xnata

Week Forty-Five: Lavender

After this week there are only seven projects until the end of my 52 weeks challenge! I can't believe I it, I hadn't noticed that until today. It's gone so quickly, and I certainly have more than seven projects left on my list of ideas, so don't worry, I'll still be quilling and posting after the challenge is complete, just maybe not as often.

This week we've got some lovely lavender cards.

On the bigger one they're growing wild...

...and on the smaller one we've got a bunch of them on a nice metallic purple background.

These are lovely and simple, yet all those little purple dots end up taking a lot of time! I didn't expect they'd be all that time consuming.

They're very softly feminine. I loved the different shades of purple I used in this card, the purple section of my paper supplier's range is one of my favourites (the blue range is the best though - and I seem to be constantly needing more green!)


Next week we've got another 3D quilling project inspired by a furry friend I made a few weeks ago...

Remember that even if I am nearly done with my year of quilling challenge I am happy to hear any suggestions you have of other quilling project ideas you'd like to see me tackle. I am also happy to do some more 'how to' posts with step by step photos by request, I might do a how to on another 3D project I have planned for around Christmas time.

xnata

Week Forty-Four: Dragon

I'm finally fitting in another request subject this week, and it's one that two people actually suggested. Let's see if I have met people's expectations shall we?

He's red and scary, at least for a dragon that hasn't got his fangs out. And he's got a bit of a belly on him. But you're intimidated, right? Even the cute dragons can breathe fire.

Here he is before he became all colourful. I went with red as it's the colour I immediately imagine when I think of dragons. I suppose he'd look equally lovely in green or blue.

I know he's not in line with my usual style, but I like to be diverse in my creativity and I'm quite pleased with the result. Especially his wings.

Next week we'll go back to my usual super-girliness with a type of flower I haven't quilled before (hard to believe there are many types of flower left, but there you have it! And I won't stop until I've done them all).


xnata.