Daisy chain!

Punch art card with just a little quilling, a photo by Philippa Reid on Flickr.

The idea of creating a lattice of punched shapes over an aperture cut in the front of a card was shared at a craft workshop that I attended last week ... and I just had to have a go!

I cut a rectangular aperture in the front of this card, and then used a daisy-shaped punch to cut an array of flowers out of variously patterned papers. Some of the daisies are punched from the blue/white security patterns that you find printed on the inside of business envelopes; the rest are from colourful patterns that I have printed out using my extensive collection of digital images! I'm sure that any pre-printed patterned paper would work equally well.

By gluing one flower on to the the card at each corner of the aperture, and then attaching others across the open space using tiny dots of glue at the adjoining tips of their petals, I was able to create a colourful lattice effect of my own. As you can see, I also added a punched-out swirl and tiny dragonfly on the face of the card for good measure!

The centres of the flowers were made by quilling closed loose coils using inch-long (25mm) strips of 3mm wide yellow paper, which I glued on to each daisy. Somehow, the addition of these really brought the whole design to life!

I'm pleased with this card, even though there isn't much quilling in it. All the different colours seem to create a lovely summery effect, reflecting the wonderful weather we're enjoying here in the UK right now. Long may it last!!

Front page news!

Quillers Today Summer 2013 front cover, a photo by Philippa Reid on Flickr.

Well, here it is ... the front cover of the Quilling Guild's magazine, Summer 2013 edition, with the spiral that I created for my Accreditation project featured on the front cover. Next to it (bottom right) is the Accreditation piece made by my colleague on the Quilling Guild committee, Janet Hunt, whose 3D flower vase creation is a truly breathtaking piece of work. And above them: a beautiful quilled rosette motif by Christine Donehue.

Janet and I will be receiving our Accreditation Certificates at the Quilling Guild's forthcoming 30th anniversary celebration of quilling in Liverpool next month, where our work will also be on display ... I'm so looking forward to the event!

If that weren't exciting enough, I have now been officially appointed Editor of Quillers Today magazine with effect from the Autumn 2013 edition. I can't wait to get started on creating this special issue which will report fully on all the wonderful displays, competition entries, workshops and shared ideas that will make the Liverpool event so special.

I'm also planning to post 'live' news updates from Liverpool on the Quilling Guild's Facebook Group page throughout the weekend, which I'm hoping will be an exciting new development for the online quilling world.

To find out more about the Quilling Guild, our magazine, our exclusive members' blog and the Liverpool festival, please visit the Guild's website at: www.quilling-guild.co.uk - and hold on to your hats! This is going to be an UNFORGETTABLE Summer of quilling!!