Handmade lovelies

I've been buying on Etsy more than I've been selling lately, and that's due to my AS finals which are looming nearer and nearer. 

So here's a post about my favorite purchases. As a handmade artist, I feel it my duty and pleasure to increase awareness and support for handmade artists everywhere, and these sellers really have amazing handiwork!

I bought this bracelet and another pair of earrings from naturaler. Beautifully handcrafted flowers and great prices too! Well, for those of you who deal in USD, she offers the cheapest bargains on Etsy, including shipping. If you're converting to Malaysian Ringgit (like I am), it can get a little pricier, but it's well worth it nonetheless!

These elegant violin earrings are from The Queen's Dowry whose prices are on the high side =( but these violins were classic! I really wanted something to represent my love of music : singing, piano and the violin. One down, 2 more to go! I was a little disappointed that they weren't exactly as 3D as I imagined them to be though, but the intricate detail really made up for it : check out the shoulder rest!

This is a non-Etsy seller, Chatterbeads, and the owner actually attends a church not too far from mine. These birdy earrings are now one of my personal favorites and I wear them every few days. The jewelry she makes all show good taste and elegant design, reflected quite accurately in the price. 

Long live handmade! =)

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!

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!

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!

Miyyah@Kertas giveaway

Miyyah@Kertas is having her first giveaway!

Just check out this pretty photo album which she has decorated with quilling :

The giveaway album won't be exactly like this, but is also of the same type of quilling. Isn't it lovely?

Miyyah is one of the best Malaysian quillers around and I must say I've gotten a lot of inspiration from her. What I really love is her generosity in sharing bargain finds, like the Mini USB Paper Shredder which I just checked out at Cineleisure today!

To stand a chance to win this lovely handcraft of Miyyah's, drop by here and leave her some love!

Sale of hand powered shredders

A question to my fellow quillers out there :

Tired of hand cutting endless strips of paper? Or feel that purchased quilled paper is too expensive?

Rainbow Chick Resources is having a sale for Mini Hand Powered Shredders on her blog! 

They're pretty cute, and really useful! =) Believe me, it is waaaay better than having to cut hundreds of strips manually. I still shudder at the thought of THIS : 

I manually measured, drew and handcut 185 strips of 3 mm for quilling, and I wasn't fit for anything but the bed after that. 

So, yes, shredders = gift from heaven.

If you're interested, email her at happy_feet6@yahoo.com or leave a comment on her blogpost (click here).