Quilling on ATC's

What better way to practice quilling techniques than on ATC's (Artist Trading Cards).  I have been a member of Swap-bot for a few years now and I love trading ATC's.  I'm always looking for new techniques to try and ATC's are the perfect little size (2 1/2" X 3 1/2") to experiment with.

Paper quilling is the technique of taking strips of paper and manipulating them or "twirling" them to create beautiful objects.  There are three books that I love and refer back to often:
I Can't Believe I'm Quilling By Jane Cleveland
Paper Quilling For the First Time  By Alli Bartkowski
Thrilling Quilling By Elizabeth Moad

This swap was called 100 Hearts.  I used scrapbooking paper for the background, quilled the hearts and the little black dots are puffy paint. 

For my next one I wanted to try a new flower technique.  For my background I used a paint chip you can get at your local hardware store (trimmed to size).  Fringed my paper.  Twirled it around my quilling tool then glued each flower in place. 

 The next morning I opened them up and LOVED how they turned out:

 This swap was called Flower ATC but my partner's profile stated that she loves green butterflies so I wanted to incorporate both:

Owl ATC.  Again, another paint chip and then I painted the tree with acrylics.

This swap is called Ladybug ATC.  Shhhhhh... I haven't sent this one yet so my partner doesn't know what it looks like.

And here are some more that I've done in the past:

Quilling if willing!

My sister-in-law knows that I like arts and crafts stores. I never know what is going to inspire me or what I'm going to want to try next. This past summer when we were visiting my sister-in-law in Wisconsin she took me to this neat arts and crafts store. I forgot the name of it but we don't have them here in Virginia. I wandered every aisle slowly. Then I walked down this aisle with paper for quilling. Interesting. Quilling.

But I didn't buy anything to get started. It looked very interesting but because I didn't know the first thing about it I decided to get a book and read up on it first.

(From Wikipedia)
Quilling or paper filigree is an art that involves the use of strips of paper that are rolled, shaped, and glued together to create decorative designs. The paper is wound around a quill to create a basic coil shape. The paper is glued at the tip and the coil shaped, these shaped coils are arranged to form flowers, leaves, and various ornamental patterns similar to ironwork.

I now have 4 books, quilling paper and a quilling tool. I have practiced a few techniques and it is surprisingly easy.
On page 26 of the book Quilled Borders and Motifs by Judy Cardinal I fell in love with the rose trellis. I decided to create a lattice for my roses instead.
Then I made the individual leaves and roses before assembling it. The roses were kind of difficult because it involved more than just making a coil. The very first rose I attempted was the red one and I think this one turned out the best.
Then I assembled everything. I'm not sure if I'm finished yet. I wanted to do a lot more roses and creeping vines but I really like the simplicity of this.

The last book I ordered on quilling, and received about a week ago, is called Thrilling Quilling by Elizabeth Moad. I haven't tried any of the projects yet but isn't this "beach life" fantastic!! I love the yellow starfish.

This book has hundreds of cute and innovative designs from little baby footprints to bugs and a fairy queen. Of course my favorite is the black cat.


So stay tuned! But right now there is a feud of sorts going on in my head... do I quill or watercolor? Lately watercoloring has won out.