On the Second Day of Quilling

On the second day of quilling we Adorned a Birdhouse.

This will not be the only birdhouse that we see during this Quilling month of December.

For this Birdhouse, I started with creating the basic birdhouse shape by taking green paper and decorative scissors and did the following:

• Cut a 1-/12 inch square for the base
• Cut another 1-1/2 inch square and cut it in half at an angle to make a triangle for the roof
• I then took a gel pen and made a dash-dot (-.-.-.) pattern around the outside edge. I did this so that it is easier to see the delineation between the roof and the base.

I had some new English quilling paper that has a beautiful gilded edge. I love it, it is so beautiful and I will tell you that the pictures don't do it justice.

The next step is to make quilling to adorn our new birdhouse. For this design, I used a shape called a "flag" that I have not previously described. Use this picture as your guide and do the following:

• Take your strip of quilling paper (width does not matter) and fold it in half length-wise
• Do not glue the strip
• Starting from the end that is open, start a coil
• You only want to make a few turns and as you turn you will see the end where the fold is will start to push out, like a flag

The instructions for putting together the birdhouse are as follows:
Roof

• 3 - 3 inch (7.62 cm) teardrops
• 1 - 3 inch (7.62 cm) flag
• Arrange the 3 teardrops with points glued together and attach flag to the glued points
• 2 - 3 inch (7.62 cm) S-scrolls are added for additional decoration

Base

• 1 - 9 inch (22.86 cm) tight coil
• 4 - 3 inch (7.62 cm) heart scrolls
• Arrange as shown in picture

This would look great on a card or if you add a hook you can make it an ornament to hang on your tree.

Technorati Tags: quilling, paper filigree, filigrana, free quilling pattern, christmas quilling, free pattern, naqg, childrens crafts, quilled birdhouse

Enjoy!

Copyright Antonella DeFalco

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On the First Day of Quilling

Welcome to our First Quilling Pattern!

For today's quilling we will make your basic open coil Christmas tree. This is a staple that everyone should know how to make because it is so simple and quick to make that if you needed to make a quick Christmas card in a pinch, this is probably what you put on it.

I decided that green Christmas trees are overrated, so today we will make some neat red trees.

The tree itself is made with 10 open coils. You make the open coil by winding your paper and then releasing it when you get to the end of the strip. It is an open coil because you do not glue the end. This is a picture so that you can see what it looks like.


I like working with 3 inch (7.62 cm) strips. The reality is that you can use any size strip you would like. You can make the tree smaller or larger by changing the strip length or by adding more rows of open coils. In the basic design I am sharing with you today, I selected a 4 row tree with the following:

• Row 1 (top) - 1 open coil
• Row 2 - 2 open coils
• Row 3 - 4 open coils
• Row 4 (bottom) - 5 open coils

You simply add one more coil than the previous row for each new row you add. Here is a picture of the basic tree.


In this first tree that I made, you will see that I tore the ends. Although this is perfectly acceptable, I find that when using open coils I like a more clean look. You will see in the additional pictures, I have created trees where I have cut the end at an angle.

The two additional trees that I have included, have some finishing touches added to them.













You will see that I started with the Open Coil Christmas Tree instructions above. To this tree I have added the following:

• 1 - Diamond Star - 3 inch (7.62 cm) Diamond

For the trunk of the tree I have used

• 1 - 3 inch (7.62 cm) V-Scroll
• 1 - 3 inch (7.62 cm) S-Scroll

For those of you visiting for the first time, you can find the instructions for the Coil and Scroll shapes by clicking the links.


Here is a picture of the Christmas Tree I added to my Christmas cards last year.

A word of advice. The open scrolls are quite delicate when mailing. The open end will get squished unless you carefully package it. This is why I usually hand deliver my quilled cards, but on those occasions I have to mail them this is what I try to do. I buy a padded envelope (or use bubble wrap). I take 2 pieces of cardboard, one for the top and bottom to stabilize the card so it doesn't bend in the mail. I then will make at least 4 tight coils. It is important that the width of these tight coils is bigger than the height of your quilled piece. I then place one piece of cardboard on the back of the card. For the piece on the front, I glue the tight coils to the other piece of cardboard, taking care to align it so that it does not touch my quilled design. I then place this in the envelope and mail it. I take this special care particularly if I have made something that is more delicate, like these open coils or fringed flowers.

Have fun with this, and remember to experiment!

Technorati Tags: quilling, paper filigree, filigrana, free quilling pattern, christmas quilling, free pattern, naqg, childrens crafts, quilled Christmas tree

Enjoy!

Copyright Antonella DeFalco

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25 Quillings 'til Christmas

25 Quilled Crafts til Christmas

I decided to try something fun this year. With the Holidays approaching I wanted to attempt to do a "Craft a Day until Christmas," a bit like an online version of an Advent Calendar where each day we open a new craft or quilling tutorial.

This is a fun activity where there will be a bit of experimentation and lots to share. How this will work is that every day between now and Christmas, I will share with each of you a quilled craft or technique. Some of the items will be standalone quilled items and other will be what I call “adornment quilling”. Adornment quilling is when take an item such as a box, ornament, or paper item and we add quilling. The quilling truly enhances the item and embellishes the item. In my opinion, this is the essence of quilling. This is my favorite way to quill, so I think you will see a lot of it over the next few weeks.

This will be a very challenging few weeks for me, since I don’t yet know what I will be crafting. I hope that my creativity finds the time to construct that which is in my mind’s eye. These are my initial thoughts about the types of projects that we will see over the next few weeks:

• A birdhouse or two because I love them
• Perhaps a few days of different trees and wreaths
• I have some paper that I purchased for Christmas and weddings that has a gilded edge that I will have to incorporate in a few of the projects
• I know that some of the projects will have fringed flowers, so I will be certain to share the instructions for how to make them with you
  
• I have always wanted to try a technique called Spreuer, so I am thinking of sharing the instructions for how to do it and perhaps make an angel and a cross
  
• Perhaps I will also share an origami reindeer that I made last year?
  
• I am fascinated with colors, so we will have some red trees, perhaps a black and white design
  
• Oh, one last thing, I have been dreaming of a white Christmas so don’t be surprised if some of the items are white with a splash of color,
  
• 
  

Oh boy, I just cannot wait to get started! Let's have some fun!

Important note: Each day I will provide the instructions for the specific quilled item. These items will remain posted until after the holidays, at that time, I may take some of the daily quilled crafts and remove the instructions.

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Copyright Antonella DeFalco

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Black Friday and Quilling

For those of you who have decided to venture out and make purchases, best of luck on the busiest shopping day of the year. For those of us who have decided to stay inside and surf the net, I have a great thought.....

For those crafters on your shopping list, how about this: Quilling Pattern-A-Day 2007 calendar?



It is jam packed with free patterns for every day of the year and is perfect for anyone who loves to make cards, scrapbooks, or any of the paper crafts. The possibilities are endless.

Best of all, you get the basic slotted quilling tool and all the paper strips you need to make each project. If you are a teacher looking for ideas you have an entire year worth of ideas. Looking for something to do with the kids, quilling is an easy craft that everyone can do together.

C'mon, give it a try!
Enjoy!
Antonella
:-)

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Happy Thanksgiving 2006

Thanksgiving2006
Originally uploaded by AntonellaD.

For those of us in the states, I wanted to take this opportunity tp share with everyone Warm wishes for a Happy Thanksgiving!

I wanted to try something new. This was a quick and easy project for you to try. You can see that I picked a variety of colored strips to make this little guy very colorful (and I must admit, the really fun part was picking the colors) :-)

• 10 - 24 inch (60.96 cm) strips - variety of colors
• 1 - 12 inch (30.48 cm) brown teardrop for his head
• 1 - 6 inch (15.24 cm) black triangle for beak
• 1 - 3 inch (7.62 cm) red spiral for the piece that hangs down

For making the body and the feathers, I rolled all 10 strips at the same time keeping them as tight as possible.

I rolled them unti there was approximately 6 - 9 inches (15.24 - 22.86 cm) free. I glued the end and held it until it dried.

I did this so that I could then take the lose ends and create loose coils at the ends. I coiled them in various directions to fill in the "feathers".

I hope you give this a try, it was a lot of fun to make. Now I need to figure out how to do feet! :-)

Gobble, gobble!

Technorati Tags: quilling, paper filigree, filigrana, free quilling pattern, turkey, free pattern, naqg

Copyright Antonella DeFalco

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Free Quilling Pattern New Home

As you know, I love birdhouses. I try to come up with new ways to incorporate them into my crafts. This is a magnet that I attached to a card for my sister and her family when they moved into their new home. This is a bit of a change for me in that I haven't done too many magnets and I tried to select brighter colors.

If you would like to give this a try, here are the instructions:

I started with a 1-1/2 in (3.81 cm) square and added a triangle on top to complete the house

Regarding the quilling, I did the following:

Fringed flowers (all 3 were made the following way):

I used 1/8 in (.3cm) wide paper. For the fringing, I took small scissors and cut tiny cuts approximately 3/4 of the way through the width of the strip. It looks something like this ||||||||||||||||||||||||

• 3 inch (7.62 cm) - center of flower
• 4 inch (10.16 cm) - outside of flower

For each flower, I glued the 2 strips together and tightly rolled them. I glued the end. When the glue dried, I placed the fringed flower on the table and using my fingers gently spread the fringes to create the flowers shown.

For the large central flower, I did the following:

• 8 - 4 inch (10.16 cm) marquise shapes
• 3 inch (7.62 cm) plus 6 inch (15.24 cm) tight roll. Similar to the fringed flowers, I glued to two colored strips together before rolling them into a tight roll.
  

I then arranged them as shown.

I like small projects like this because it allows me to play a little with some of my smaller pieces that are left over from other projects. Experiment with your quilling because it is so much fun to do!

I hope you enjoy this little pattern and that I have inspired you to try something similar.

Love Unconditionally, Laugh Uncontrollably, and Live Unexpectedly Free!
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Copyright Antonella DeFalco

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Veterans Day

Today is November 11th. In the United States this is Veterans Day. Veterans Day is always on November 11th. This day was chosen because on the 11th hour of the 11th day in the 11th month World War I ended (November 11, 1918 at 11:00 am). Every year at that time, the President of the United States places a wreath on the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery.

I did not want to let today pass without taking a moment to remember all of those men and women who have served and those who have given their lives. So many have served their country and given their lives. For those who have survived and returned I say "Welcome Home and Thank You"

For those who have given the ultimate sacrifice, I say "God Bless you and Thank You for keepting us safe."

These little Patriotic Love Birds are my very small gesture to all of you brave souls.

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