Life is Sweet Blog Hop

Hello everyone, welcome to the 'Life is Sweet' Blog Hop!

If you arrived here from Amna's blog, then you are on the right track! If you stumbled across this blog hop out of order, you can start from the beginning here with Sandy at Sweet Spot Cards. This is an international blog hop, with 14 quillers from every (inhabitable) continent participating and I feel so honored to be part of them! Do visit all the talented quillers on this hop so you can see all the wonderful projects they've created and win some lovely prizes along the way.

I'm a self taught quiller. I discovered quilling only 2 months ago and absolutely love it.  For this hop I did something that I've wanted to try for very long : 3D quilling! 

As all of you know, I love flowers (you seldom catch me without a flower clip in my hair!). So when Sandy told us we could quill anything for this blog hop, it was a no brainer. FLOWERS! But it had to be more than the basic quilled flowers - hence these miniature quilled flowerpots. (I got the idea from another excellent quiller, Inna).

They're tinier than you might think! The dark red tulip is about 2.4 inches tall and the yellow flower is about 2.1 inches.

I am also having a giveaway!

One lucky reader will win a surprise handmade gift from me! (I haven't had the time to make it yet *blush* but it will definitely be created with lots of love!) 

To stand a chance of winning, just leave me a comment below this post (don't forget to include your email!) and I will draw a winner on February 11th 2011. (I decided to make the candy last a bit longer). 

Next up is Jacqueline from Africa!

If you get lost along the way, here are the list of bloggers in this quilling hop. Have a great weekend!

North American Quillers:

Sandy -   http://sweetspotcards.blogspot.com/

Linda - http://www.krazyquilling.com/

Fran - http://quillcentre.blogspot.com/

Mona - http://quillingideas.blogspot.com/

Shruti - http://eenzybeenzy.blogspot.com/

Cheryl - http://cardsbycheryl.blogspot.com/

South American Quiller:

Regina - http://regina-ribeiro.blogspot.com/

European Quillers:

Phillippa - http://quilliance.blogspot.com/

Suzana - http://quillingwithfun.blogspot.com/

Asian Quillers:

Lin - http://azlina-lin.blogspot.com/

Amna - http://alfardh.blogspot.com/

Yuenie - http://yueniesfancies.blogspot.com/

African Quiller:

Jacquline - http://cutekipepeo.blogspot.com/

Australian Quiller:

Bronwyn - http://quillme.blogspot.com/

"Life is Sweet" Quilling Blog Hop Announcement

Hello everyone, I'm back!

Just a quick post to let you know that I will be participating in my first quilling blog hop this Saturday! It's entitled Life is Sweet, and organized by Sandy from The Sweet Spot. We've got quillers from every (inhabitable) continent, and it's going to be fun, fun, fun! I've been working on this project for a while and simply can't wait to unveil it! 

The blog hop starts on Saturday 29th January, at 8.00am EST (for my Malaysian readers, it's 9.00pm on Saturday). Do join us in a weekend of craft and fun and sharing in our love of paper!

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For those of you who don't know how a blog hop works, it goes like this. We (all of us quillers taking part) will release our blog posts at the same time (8.00am EST, 9.00pm Malaysian time). You (dear reader) can start the blog hop from The Sweet Spot or just click on the Life Is Sweet Blog Hop button on my sidebar. Then from that blog post, you will link from blog to blog, checking out all the other projects that these talented people have prepared. There will be lots of blog candy to win along the way too, so be sure to take part! See you this weekend!

Sincere Apology, Sulky Laptop

Hi!
I'd like to say a very big SORRY to all my readers out there for the recent lack of update.

My laptop has just decided to break off our year old relationship and I am devastated. Right before Valentine's Day, too! Everytime I try to turn it on, it hums and whirrs for a while, then shuts down with a huge sigh. It, I mean he, (or is it a she because it's pink?) obviously doesn't love me anymore.

So please be patient while we kiss and make up. I promise I'll be back soon, with pictures and updates! =) Have a lovely Chinese New Year and a mushy V-Day everyone!

p.s. For all my Malaysian readers, any good computer repair shops to recommend?

Flowerpot Accordion Card

 

I've been very busy ever since college started, but quilling is starting to become a bit of an obsession with me.

Can you guess what I've been busy with today? In shades of mint green, lime green and forest green =) I'll tell you in my next post, when I'm done with it!

That teeny little quilled rose among all the greens is my sad attempt at quilling a rose. Many times I've tried, using different methods and various tutorials, but still the perfect rose evades me. It's so frustrating! The coils are always loose so the petals are too far from one another. Any tips, anyone? 

One thing to add to the List of Things to Do Before I Die : Quill a nice rose.

And just so you don't link away, annoyed at the lack of update =) here's something I worked on quite a while ago :

This is a 3-fold flowerpot accordion card. 

The flowers glitter in the light, but as usual the details don't show in the photo.

Have a lovely flowery week!

Valentine's Day You're So Sweet Cupcake Card

What better way to say "You're so sweet!" than with a card full of sweet treats? I made this for Valentine's Day, but it can be used for any occasion at all. Wedding anniversaries, Mother's Day, a thank you to someone sweet, a little token of appreciation or just to tell someone what you think of them =)

A glittered cupcake and patterned flowers adorn the front of this card, with a lollipop and candy on the inside. All the embellishments are glittered. =)

I'm thinking of exploring 3D quilling next! Sometimes I wish I didn't have to study and could just craft full time instead.

Miniature Quilled Christmas Tree

I participated in an Embellish Me With Quilling Blog Hop a while ago, and to my surprise I won the Miniature Quilled Christmas Tree by Tracey at QuillyNilly!

I've been eagerly waiting for it ever since before Christmas, and it just arrived today! The postman had thrown it over the gate into our front garden and I was more than a little annoyed. I mean, what if it had rained or got damaged? 

When my mum handed it to me, I was so excited I squealed and started ripping the cellotape from the box straightaway. And it was just as exquisite as I thought it would be. 

My favorite part of all : the adorable little presents beneath the tree! They're so tiny and cute, especially that little fringed flower on the red present. Tracey, I really don't know how you work with such teeny tiny strips and yet still manage to keep the whole thing so neat and beautiful! If I were doing it there'd be glue stains all over I'm sure.

(I simply must draw your attention to the little details Tracey included : the glitter on the presents and the star, the 3D glitter baubles on the tree).

Probably due to the postman's carelessness (grrr), the tree was tilting forward and the star was falling off. Thank goodness I had some 3D glue on hand and used some to keep the tree and star upright.

This is Tracey's business card, and below is a handwritten note from her. Love the pastel colours and her cursive writing! 

When I first started using Etsy, Tracey helped me out a lot in giving tips on pricing, photos and marketing (which really helped a lot - Etsy can be pretty intimidating for new sellers!). She quills lovely stuff, and although her blog isn't updated very often, when it is updated, I always enjoy looking at her newest brightly coloured creations. 

And now I'm so proud I actually own a Quilly Nilly original!

Quilled flowers and coffee cups

Here are some cards I made over the festive season but didn't have the time to share :

This was a birthday card for a friend. SO glad her name had 2 "I"s, otherwise the letters wouldn't have been able to fit in one card!

Complete with quilled steam and handles, these dear little coffee cups were requested as a Christmas greeting from a loyal daughter to her parents.

The flowers are all dimensional - one of my favourite techniques.

This card can be used as a Valentine's Day or wedding anniversary card as well. Or maybe wedding invitations? 

College starts tomorrow. I can feel the dread sinking in already. Goodbye, holidays.

Subway brochure origami rose

Subway is really cranking up on the sales promo, what with a free calendar for every customer (complete with 12 coupons, one for each month of 2011) and brightly coloured brochures with the menu and yummy looking pictures.

Our family had lunch there a few days ago, and being me, I simply couldn't leave that piece of paper alone. 

In about 5 minutes, the Subway brochure had turned into this :

In case you couldn't tell, that's a rose.

And here is the torn brochure. No. 11 looks yummy. Turkey breast! 

Maybe I'll make a bouquet one of these days, if I have the time. And enough Subway brochures.

Of all things paper and more!

When I first started crafting, one of the first blogs I came across was Ann's blog, and it was simply amazing. There were paper ornaments, paper jewellery, paper handbound books, paper everything! And of course, quilling, which has to be a category all by itself. There are so many talented quillers which she has featured, and Ann herself is a brilliant quiller. Check out the Twitter Fail Whale that she quilled!

And below is the original Twitter Whale :

Amazing, isn't she? Ann's blog was also partly one of the things that made me want to try out quilling and see if I could produce works of art like that one day. Imagine my excitement when I saw that she had actually commented on one of my blog posts!

And guess what? Ann is having a giveaway! She's giving away a card she made herself, and an issue of Cardmaker Magazine, which is the only American magazine that features quilling in every issue and always has tutorials on a nice variety of techniques.

To participate, click here to learn more!

Even if you don't win, once you get started on Ann's blog, you won't be able to stop reading!

Good luck!

Valentine's Day

Went a little crazy making Valentine's Day cards these past few days, and the above one was a design I've had in my head for quite some time. The heart spirals twice before ending in a larger heart.

A simpler card here =) more more more hearts.

Can be used for Valentine's, wedding anniversaries, mother's day, boyfriend's birthday, etc.

To all my dear readers :

May all of us have an eventful and fulfilling 2011 =)

Sparkly spinning skater

I saw a spinning card tutorial on one of my favourite pop up card blogs, Cornerstone Cards and Pyrography, and decided to give it a try.

I've got glitter all over my table, my computer and my hands now (my friend even said there was a sparkle on my face!) but the skater is so pretty I don't feel like strangling someone anymore =)

The skater gives a little twirl the minute you open the card, as shown in the video below.

I don't know why the purple looks so dark here. The real card is more purpley, like in the first picture.

I could do this with anything that looks pretty spinning. Maybe a cupid for Valentine's, a snowflake, or a pink ballerina next!