Week Twenty-Eight: It's Winter!

Remember that Autumn tree I did? It's lost all of it's leaves!

Actually, it got sold at the last markets I went to back in April.

But here's a new one!

I liked the idea of little half pearls being added to make it look like glistening drops of snow, and I'm really happy with the effect, I think I'll make one of these again.

As I'm writing this I'm shivering despite being in long pants and a jumper. And I live no where near snow. And it's not even technically winter for two days. So I should probably be grateful that this little tree is the closest I'll be to snow this winter.

Some of the pearl beads are reinforced with a little bit of white quilling paper to keep them in place, because the little branches were a bit precarious for them to sit on.

 

I'm working on next week's project at the moment, it's something I've been dreaming up for a while and I'm really happy with how it's going so far. It's a framed piece, and pretty different from everything else I've done so far, but I think you'll like it. As I work on it I'm getting more ideas for other pieces like it...maybe it'll become a series!

See you next week snow bunnies,

xnata 

Week Twenty-Seven: Two!

This week my son will be turning two years old, so this week's project was to make two two cards!


One is blue and green and probably suited to a boy, but I didn't want to show a bias and ignore all the beautiful two year old girls out there, so the second is pink and purple.

To make these numbers I printed off a flipped number two, and used the husking technique again, but with some modifications. I used dress pins instead of berry pins, so that the heads of the pins wouldn't get in the way...

I loved the simple design of this balloon card. I once the balloons where in place I decided to just add a layer of crimped blue paper inside the two, and then it just looked perfect to me.

 

 I love it. It just makes me smile.

 

I almost made the girl's one the same design as the boy's one, but I wanted a bit more variety so I went full on girly with it.

 

Ruffles and polka dots...

Pink crimped rainbow, a flower and a love heart. Could it be girlier? I don't think so. I love the bright colours of both.

Next week we're moving reluctantly on from the theme that is my wonderful boy and all things baby, and celebrate the changing of seasons!

xnata

Week Twenty-Six: Baby Fever!

We're half way through my year long challenge! Holy wow that's gone fast!


This month I've caught baby fever, because I'm the mother of an almost two year old and it's making me terribly nostalgic and clucky. I can't believe I'll never get to cuddle the baby version of my boy again! On a positive note, he is a fantastic kid, fairly obedient as far as toddlers go, clever, cheeky and hilarious.


I'm not alone in my baby fever though, I have several pregnant friends, and friends with babies, and my baby cards are always bought on their first trip to a market, so I guess the fever is everywhere!

I wanted to make some baby boy and baby girl typography cards, and then that led to me making a bunch of baby themed gift tag cards too!

I added a bow, a flower and a love heart to the super pink it's a girl card...

I really like the addition of the bow to the I.

 

 

And a hat, a cricket bat and bouncing ball to the lovely blue it's a boy card.

The hat on the O has the same magic as the girl's bow.

 

For the little gift tag cards I added squares of scrapbooking paper in the classic colours, then added the words, punched a hole, added the string, and quilled some little tiny feet...

These would be nice to add to a bag of goodies to give to a new mummy when you get your first cuddles, or at a baby shower. I like small cards like this for my own gift giving purposes, because it keeps your message inside short and sweet. Big cards make me feel obligated to write a big long message, which probably leads to rambling.

I want to make sure I have heaps of baby cards available for my next market, because they're such good sellers and I hate to disappoint my customers when I run out. This lot has me off to a good start!


The text I've used on these are rub-on stickers, and I love them, they are perfect for the look I want for my cards, and I've just discovered today that the 'it's a boy' and it's a girl' of these have been discontinued :( so I hunted around online and found some at one shop and bought five packs of each in two different colours, so I've got 100 of each which arrived in the post today, and for only 30 cents per packet  :) hopefully by the time I run out I'll have found a new design that I like.


Next week baby fever continues, with more of a focus on my soon to be two year old.

xnata.

 

Week Twenty-Five: 3D Quilled Mouse

This week I've tried to add to my 3D quilling collection, with a sweet little fellow that I hope no one would set a trap for.

I don't know why I decided he should be reading, but the idea grew into him reading The Lion and The Mouse of Aesop's Fables. The book actually does contain that story, though it is just that one over and over. I went to far (as I tend to do) and even made it an inside cover page, which no one will ever see without destroying it, as I've glued it so that his hands hold the pages open.

I imagine he's a mischievous chap, seeking wisdom and information from one of the great mice of history. Perhaps it's his favourite story.

Here's a look at the book before it became the permanent belonging of the mousey.

 

He has to lean up against something, because in my magical mind he would be leaning up against the trunk of a tree, reading in the sunshine one lazy afternoon. I don't have a small tree at my disposal though, so I've put him up against walls mostly.

It's nice to have a mouse about the place that makes me smile rather than scream and leap up onto a chair.  

 Would you welcome this little guy into your home?

 

 

This month is the month in which my son was born, so next week's project is baby themed (also partly because I'm all out of baby cards and I need to replenish my stock!).

 

xnata

Week Twenty-Four: Water Fountain

I finished it! Yippee!

This week's project is the one I was making while at the markets, before my many students came to learn quilling. I'm a couple of days later than usual, I apologise, but I've been swamped with uni studies. It's getting to that really unpleasant half of the semester.

 

I decided to keep it fairly simple, and just filled in the fountain. I did toy with filling in the bushes, but I found that detracted the focus of the card and made it look too busy.

 

I'm loving the movement of water. It's given me an idea for another project actually, but it won't be for a while because I like all the ideas for the next few weeks too much :)



 

We have a painting in the hallway of our house of a fountain, it was painted by my husband's grandmother, and it's lovely. I'm guessing it seeped into my subconscious and that's where the idea for this one came from. Or water is pretty.

 

I've been working on next week's project today, and it's very complicated but booooy is it going to be adorable.



Have a good week!

xnata