Wednesday, January 31, 2024

Life Is Really Simple, but We Insist on Making it Complicated. ~Confucius

 Hello! 

A bit of quilling news first.

The 2024 Annual NAQG Conference "NAQGCON" will be held in Oklahoma City, OK, on Friday, May 31 and Saturday, June 1 at the Embassy Suites by Hilton. This location is only 5 minutes from the Will Rogers World Airport. There is a huge discount on rooms when you book as attending, and for the first time, an "early bird" discount if you register by February 15. There is so much information on the website here North American Quilling Guild.



I haven't posted this link in a while. Real Simple magazine online is very inspiring, even if you only scroll through and look at the pictures.๐Ÿ˜„ I hope you will take a look and find something entertaining or helpful or both. It will renew each month.


Enjoy the magic ๐Ÿ’– of February and stay safe.

xo ☕
~Molly





Saturday, December 30, 2023

Dreams, Hopes & Happiness

Hello! ๐Ÿ˜Š



A short 3:25min video for ideas and inspiration. At :40 seconds, ManuK slows down and shows many how-to shapes she uses for her creations. She has individual videos on her channel for how to quill all these flowers.

Happy crafting or doing what you love. Have a very warm & safe end of the year. 

May the New Year bring you and yours new dreams, hopes and happiness. 

xo ๐ŸŽ‰
Molly 

P.S. This blog post sponsored by my Zazzle stores. ๐Ÿ˜‰


Thursday, November 30, 2023

November Quickie

Hello there, ☕

I have a few links to share.

This is a longer video than usual but Miriam has added a Playlist in the description. You can click around and find a design you may want to quill and give. ๐ŸŽ

NEW Christmas simple card ideas (for beginners and advanced) | Paper Quilling

Sunday, October 22, 2023

10 Fall Self Care Tips For Stress Relief

Hi there, ๐Ÿ‘ป

Have you ever been looking for something and ended up on a completely irrelevant webpage, but you can't resist taking a look and reading on, clicking on and on? 30 minutes later you are taking some kind of silly test? 

I hope the info below is a small nudge to make more positive me time for you, even if it's only half a day. This is totally unisex

Searching for my store, I landed on the article below. It piqued my interest and I skimmed through the 10 suggestions. It made me realize a lot, so I want to share with you. Nope to 8. as I can dance in my own living room for free. ๐Ÿ˜

10 Fall Self Care Tips For Stress Relief

Made a few notes, then went back up and clicked on the hygge link I noticed at the beginning. Never heard of the word... clueless to the meaning. 

While reading the history of this hygge lifestyle, I saw an advert and it made my night. Know that blanket people knit with their hands or huge needles with big thick yarn? I've wanted one for years but never made one. Walmart sells them starting at $22, in many colors.  

About an hour later my search came full circle with positive new ideas. ๐Ÿ’–

US link, search Chunky Knit Blankets

Happy Autumn!

xo ๐ŸŒป
Molly

P.S. Just a thought, ๐Ÿ˜‰ speaking of hygge, head on over to my mug collection.





Sunday, October 1, 2023

Paper Quilling is Easy, We Make it Difficult.

Hi there, ๐Ÿ‘ป

I hope you find this video inspiring. Daisy starts at 2:20 mark and is a little more than 4min long.


I love the daisy. She uses regular 1/8" (3mm) wide strips and the coils are loose. I like shaping loose circles. You don't need any of the tools she uses. Put your circles on a flat slick surface to release as you roll them. When you glue them, try to make them the same size. The circles > flower petals do not need to be exact. If you ever do a commission like Miriam is doing, YES make them exact. ๐Ÿ˜‰ Always use odd number of petals 7,9,11... even numbers look unbalanced (unless you are doing a 6-point snowflake).

The center yellow doesn't need to be as big as hers to be awesome. In fact, you can do a tight roll > dome center if you don't want to do the fringing. I noticed she fringes 2 strips at a time.

It looks like she uses a peg to lift the daisy when gluing to the surface. A peg can be 1-3 tight rolls glued on top of each other and then to the back of the flower to prop it up.

To make the tight circle berries, use a round tool to shape them into a dome... be sure to coat inside with glue after shaping and let dry. I use round jewelry and wooden beads, with a toothpick glued in the hole. They work perfectly. Lots of pens and markers have a rounded end. Look around and you'll be surprised what you have.

The green wheatears are quick and easy looping of the paper. Make the number and length you want. It looks like she folded and glued two green strips together and glued on the edge to start. The same with the brown berry stems. 

Happy October!

xo ๐ŸŒป
Molly

P.S. I think this design would look good using 1/4" wide strips. I may try it. You DO NOT need a slotted tool to quill. I used a slim toothpick and then a hat/corsage needle-- to begin, for 20 years. ๐Ÿ˜ If you do try these two tools, lick the end of the paper like you would a thread, and this will make it easier to start rolling. 


Monday, August 21, 2023

TODAY IS, Look at Extraordinary Paper Quilling, MONDAY

I decided to look at Yulia Brodskaya videos for a bit of inspiration... and this one caught my eye, WOW. ๐Ÿ˜ฎ A paper quilling portrait of Joanna Gaines of Waco Texas, the Fixer Upper show lady. The Magnolia Empire woman.

Yulia does more folding paper art now, along with a gazillion multicolor tight rolls, and oh my gosh, she is increasingly AMAZING at what she does. 

In the beginning, I noticed it wasn't Yulia's hands, and I saw a different way of rolling 1mm strips, with the same tool I use, for the magnolia flowers. So excited, no more slicing my thumb. ๐Ÿ‘

As it turns out, Yulia asked Manuela Koosch to do the gorgeous paper magnolias added to the Joanna portrait.

I went to Manuela's channel and discovered she is ManuK who is a subscriber and was active here years ago. Very HAPPY to find her again. Manuela's quilling is so impressive and inspiring. 

I hope you will enjoy Yulia's short video and visit Manuela's channel Paper to Petal . Tell her I sent you. ๐Ÿ˜Š

Have a fabulous week!

xo ๐ŸŒป
Molly

P.S.  Yulia's Portfolio ๐Ÿ’–

This low-quality screenshot is dated 2011. Yulia had her own MS Browser theme. 

Tuesday, August 1, 2023

I'm Puzzled About This Craft Trend, UGH.

 A.I. Digital Crafting.

I tried to learn the specifics and benefit of AI, but it's not for me. I grew up in the greatest generation of crafting and did just fine. Only thing I would do different is learned to sew. ๐Ÿ‘—

The above is listed as No.10 of the top ten craft trends for 2023. Yes, I know, I am a bit behind with this info. 

Number 1 is, are you ready? ๐Ÿฅ

1. Slow Crafting: The Art of Mindful Meditative Crafting

"It is not a craft itself, but slow crafting is set to be the most influential trend in crafting for 2023. If you haven’t heard of slow crafting before, you’re not alone. Think about why you took up your craft or are seeking to take up crafting. If you said to relax, you would not be alone." 

Four others that made the list: Repurposing, Recycling, Upcycling, using Natural materials. IKR? ๐Ÿ˜‰ 

Enjoyed doing this recycling in 2010. Using the inside of envelopes with the security print to make things.

I couldn't get into Christmas in July... first time in ages. I started searching for project ideas in June, never found one to post and share. I could've posted 80 in one video, but nah

With July gone, hey, Happy August to you! 

Stay safe and take care of yourself. 

xo ๐ŸŒป
Molly

Changed my mind. ๐Ÿ˜‚ I watched eight. If you have the supplies, these look easy, or maybe give you ideas for craft fairs year-round. 

P.S. 80 AMAZING CHRISTMAS DIY Crafts You Will Want To MAKE NOW - YouTube