Saturday, January 29, 2011

Quilling with Whimsiquills


Pat Caputo of Quilling with Whimsiquills has the most gorgeous quilled valentine on her latest blog post and she is sharing the pattern. Take a close-up look at Pat's valentines ... they are perfect, as always. Pat has been quilling longer than I have and does not use a quilling tool ... she rolls with her fingers! She is a good friend, actually my mentor for quilling, and if you don't already know, she has the largest supplies of quilling papers, accessories and books in the world (and she ships worldwide last time I checked).



Her store: Whimsiquills

Happy weekend everyone!

~Molly

Monday, January 10, 2011

Paper Clutch Purse

This is a favorite project that I came across recently. It was a paper clutch swap and this is the one I made.


Use the template to copy a front and back printed on 8.5" x 11" cardstock. I covered both sides of the templates with matching paper.



Template

The front and back is adhered to a color coordinated paper bag. Before gluing, I trimmed the top of the bag with decorative scissors and folded down the top, inside, to fit just below the handles.


As an afterthought, I used the cut-outs of the handles to make inspirational word tags and attached to the top with ballchain. Cutting the handles was the hardest part because I didn't have a good exacto knife. I later learned some of the better crafters first used a small circle punch to start the cut-out, then finished cutting straight across with a blade. (I know a machine will do it now, but this is the part of crafting where I prefer handmade to machine made.)



I embellished the clutch with large colored eyelets using a Crop-a-dile, added three strands of paper beads made with the same paper (coated with Mod Podge) and the layered paper flower. I added clear Swarvoski crystals to the front. I used a silver leaf pen around the word tags to try to hide my imperfection when cutting out.

As a swap gift I made a matching paper bead bracelet. My note to the recipient was inside the folded noteholder with the quilled flower on the front.



Reduce the size to make a little girl's purse for party favors or to decorate at a party. I made this Easter theme clutch for my 2-y/o granddaughter and personalized it.



I hope this inspires you to make something with paper today!

Enjoy :)
~Molly


P.S. Remember, imperfection adds character!

Friday, January 7, 2011

Fabulous Friday Giveaway

Happy Friday, readers!

I am starting something brand new on my blog for 2011, I have a ways to go, but first I wanted to give away these stickers that have been sitting in a stack since last fall. This giveaway is five packages of my quilled stickers, once sold by ProvoCraft and on QVC beginning in 2004. All 64 packages are retired. I picked a set of five flowers for the fabulous Friday giveaway. A few examples of how I have used them are: 


Scrapbook pages
Greeting card
Magnet
Small container, jar
Journal cover
Gift tag (major cute on a wine bottle)
Picture frame
Bag topper
Napkin ring, place card
Notepad cover
Papier mache box
Candle ring
Hair clip
Matchbook box
Bookmark
Checkbook cover
Tin box
Wrapped candy

You have up to three chances for the drawing.

1. Comment to this post.
2. Follow my blog or tell me that you already follow.
3. Like my brand new Facebook fan page or tell me you already Like.

Please make sure I have a way to contact you either via your blog or an email. You can email me privately with contact info if you wish. Thanks! I will announce the winner on Saturday morning :o)





Flower Power, Bees and Daisy, Lavender Hearts, Daisy Garden
 (best seller!), Sunflowers

Good luck and happy Friday!
-Molly

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

31 Smart, Low-Cost Organizing Ideas



31 Organizing Ideas from Real Simple Magazine

I know so many people cleaning and organizing this week! I am going to start this weekend when two of my girls come to visit and help. My big tip is to buy at a Dollar Tree if you have one close by. They have many organizing products to use. My favorite is their HUGE bags to store things. I used to buy the Ziploc brand and spent about $4 a bag. Dollar Tree has all sizes, big enough for a twin bedspread for only $1, smaller ones are two and three for $1 and they all have handles.

Do you have any favorite cleaning or organizing tips?

Happy Wednesday!

-Molly

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Little Bit Whimsical

This is a paper bead jewelry set I made for niece's oldest daughter (8). I thought it resembled Mary Englebriet's brand a little bit. I bought a journal at Michaels to go along with it and suggested she write down her thoughts, decisions, feelings, both good and bad, every so often. Then go back a few days later and read them to see their effect and importance ... and learn from it. I would have loved to learn how to journal at an early age :o)




I used a sheet from a Me and My Big Ideas paper pad.

-Molly