Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Homemade Valentine's Day Cards

  Paper Curling

What the world really needs is more love and less paper work.

Pearl Bailey





How about a little of both?? My daughter and I explored the art of paper curling or Quilling, something I only just recently learned about, in an effort to make some really fun Valentine's Day cards. Quilling is essentially curling thin pieces of paper around a stick of varying circumference to get different sized spirals of paper. Then you glue the spirals to something else, making a design of some kind, or even using it as scroll work around a piece of art. It very easy and you get some great results for such fun and simple work.




The top and right pictures my daughters designs and I really love the bouquet of colors. I was going to be traditional and stick with reds, pinks, and greens.....but she wanted blue, and I think it really makes it pop!! My girl has got a real sense of style.


So, for this craft you need:
  • Thin strips of colored paper (preferably the same width)

  • Slim wooden sticks (pencils, paintbrush ends, etc)  thicker = more open curls
  • glue
  • paper cards (I like to make mine to save some moolah ) 
Just curl the paper around the stick in one spot. Pull it off and allow it to open as much as you would like and then put a dab of glue on the inside of the loose tail and glue it to the rest to hold it together. Let it dry a bit.  Use the glue to make a design on a card. Arrange the curls as you would like, and allow them to dry. Experiment with different techniques: wrap two pieces at once, curl both ends of a strip of paper, fold the curl once it is off the pencil in one spot to make a spade shape (perfect for leaves and buds).....there are endless possibilities.....




     



 




8 comments:

  1. Awesome job Miss. You are so creative. Emma is one lucky girl.

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  2. Cute cards!!! We have something in common...you should visit my website at www.greetingcardsforourgarden.com.

    You can view my DIY project here...
    http://bethouaknight.blogspot.com/2010/01/no-more-of-loo.html

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  3. Kell-These are really fun and easy to make. Em could do all of it, except the curling....and I think that was by choice. :-)
    Lianna-I did check out your cards. They are so cute and very inspiring from a fellow crafters point of view. Thanks for visiting!!

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  4. WOW...thanks for the idea. It has been years since I did paper curling...all kinds of crafty ideas are going off in my head.

    Have a great day!

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  5. You're welcome and thanks Julie and Kelley for visiting!! I was really inspired too once I saw how unique these cards look. Right now, most of my focus is less for beatifying the home and more for finding fun things to craft with my three year old. You can tell from the construction paper. ;-) Still, once I saw the finished product my mind was reeling with possibilities.

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  6. Way cute! I'll have to try this tonight!

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  7. Cute idea and I like how it looks.

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  8. Nice! I love crafts and would love to make this

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