Random Memory Pages

I recently decided that I was going to start a new kind of page to go with my chronological scrapbooks. These pages are called "Random Memory" pages. Random Memory pages highlight trends, sight/sounds/smells, incidents, and favorite experiences from all times of my life. They all have the same layout, and each page has lots of journaling and a picture or 2 if I have one. With a layout already in mind, I can spend more time recording my experience, and less time trying to create a cool page for each one. I've only made a few of these pages, but I am pleased with the idea and think it will help me to express myself more in my scrapbooks.
Now I keep index cards or a notebook in my purse wherever I go. If I think of an idea for a random memory page, I can record it right away. I came up with lots of ideas at my cousin's graduation ceremony from nursing school...I just need to get scrappin'!

My Mini Masterpiece

I decided that after all the quilling I've done recently, I ought to have one project for myself. This is my 5 x 7 shadow box project, which I finished in June.
There a lot of roses in this, and even more leaves! I branched out and quilled a rectangle box for the rose garden, instead of making a pot. I made the box by wrapping brown quilling strips around a rectangle Lego.
The only things not made of paper in this are the 2 brown shelves (made from a dowel and stained a walnut color) and the bird cage, which is a Jolee's Design 3-D sticker. I took out the sticker bird and put a quilled one in its place! I also made the girl's necklace from white wire and a diamond star sticker.
I am proud to have something I quilled on display in my own house ;) I call it my mini masterpiece.

Display Case Project

These are the display case scenes I came up with for my niece, my mom and my girls. I learned how to make little tulips, fringed flowers and miniature rose bushes. I love the roses the most. They are intricate and lots of work, but SO pretty. In order to have sturdy stems to hold up the rosebuds, I had to use toothpicks wrapped in green paper strips.

I also figured out how to make some new birds! Mom and I love cardinals, so I made up my cardinals based on real life photos of the birds. Quilling is a lot of work, but I love the finished product. Each quilled piece is glued to the floor of the display case. There is a clear cover that sits on top, since it is actually made to show off and protect baseballs. These display cases are perfect for keeping the quilling dust-free and safe.

This is the one I gave to my daughter, Jenna

This is the one I gave my Mom. It has a little stool instead of a bird bath and yellow roses since they are her favorite!

My niece got this one. I love the little blue flowers in the center.

3-D Girly-Girls

My mom and my niece, Taylor, came from California in July to visit us in Connecticut. I thought it might be fun to present Taylor with her own "thanks for coming gift" exclusively made by Aunt Tiffany. So I started quilling like crazy in May. Over the course of the next 2 months, I came up with several quilled girls as part of the present. Yes, part of the present.
I let mom, Taylor and my daughters choose the ones they wanted, since only my mom has any of my quilling samples. Here is what I came up with. Personally, I think they are darling. Without interruption, these little girls would take about 3 hours to make. In my world, they take a whole day to create because I have 5 children. They are about 2-2.5 inches tall. What do you think?

This was my 12 year-old's choice. She LOVES green!

Taylor chose the purple girl and my mom picked the pink one

This one I gave to my mother-in-law a few days ago

This one is mine :)

My 10 year-old decided to learn to make her own girl. She did a great job.

Quilled Wall Hanging

A few years ago I was given a lovely 3-D quilled project in an 8 x 10 shadow box. My friend Julie didn't make it this, but when she heard I loved quilling, she let me have this wall hanging. Basically, it served as inspiration for my first big project.






Here is what I came up with as a Christmas gift for my mom. I used an 8 x 8 black shadow box. I made the windows and shelf from small dowels which I cut, sanded and painted. The rest of the project was made with paper, pins and glue.
I came up with all of the birds and insects. They are my favorite parts of the design. My mom loves hummingbirds, so I knew that I needed one of those, complete with a hummingbird feeder. The bird bath is my other favorite part. The water in the bird bath is tacky glue and blue food coloring mixed together. I like how it turned out. It took an entire month to make, whenever I had a chance to sit down and do it. It was hard to give away after all of that work, but at least I've got pictures, and I can visit it whenever I'm in California.

Quilled Bride and Groom

I think this is the most adorable little married couple that paper can make! I couldn't resist buying this kit called Bride and Groom Miniature Kit from Quilled Creations. These 3-D quilled cuties are designed to be cake toppers, but please never put them directly onto the frosting! They are a little over 2 inches tall. They are also extremely intricate and their miniscule pieces can be very hard to hold onto before they are all glued together!

I loved making them so much (once I figured out how) that I made a set of them for my mom and some friends of mine who were engaged. My mom watched me make her bride and groom, but my engaged friends didn't realize for a few days that they were made exclusively out of paper, vellum and glue. I enjoy watching people's faces when they see my bride and groom up close. Most people are quite impressed. I like showing them off and I also like the compliments that follow :)

My 1st 3-D Quilling Project

After a few years of shopping at Quilled Creations online, I found that there was a 3-D Quilling kit for sale. I just HAD to try it! Even though this kind of quilling was never going to go onto a scrapbook layout, I liked quilling so much that I bought the kit. This little flower pot is one of the projects from Alli's "Miniatures 101" kit, and my very first attempt at 3-D Quilling. So cute!