Times are changing ...

quilled floral sculptures, a photo by Philippa Reid on Flickr.

Things have been moving on rapidly in my life just lately, and my poor blog has been getting neglected as a result!

I haven't posted to Quilliance since January ... but that certainly doesn't mean I've been idle!

I'm still quilling avidly, creating things like the embossed frame cards that I featured in my last post; these little quilled 'sculptures' (see above) which I'm proud to say are now on sale in my local Gallery; plus competition entries for the upcoming Quilling Guild 30th Anniversary Celebration of Quilling which is going to be held in Liverpool, UK, on 10 - 11 August 2013. (You might like to check out the Guild's website at www.quilling-guild.co.uk for more details of this unmissable event.)

More than that, however, my involvement with the Guild is taking up increasing amounts of my time - and I'm loving every minute of it! The special Blog which I am now writing exclusively for Guild members has proved to be a great success ... and it now looks as though I'm going to be taking over as Editor of the Guild's highly-acclaimed members' newsletter, 'Quillers Today', with effect from Autumn 2013. So these really are exceptionally exciting times for me. I may not be posting to my own blog so often in future, but I'm still very much involved in online activity via Facebook, Quilling Cafe and other quilling sites. I hope to see you there!
Philippa

Embossing, quilling and background papers

Embossed frame card, a photo by Philippa Reid on Flickr.

My Cuttlebug machine has been working overtime these past few days, creating embossed frames for some more new card designs.

The embossing folders I use have a blank panel in the centre which is perfect for adding a splash of colour in the form of a printed background paper and some quilling.

Somehow the white textured 'frame' sets off the coloured centre very well, I think - especially when the pattern is 'echoed' by the background print. I'm having fun with these!!

New year ... new cards!

Three new cards for 2013, a photo by Philippa Reid on Flickr.

Well, I'm finally back to making a few cards again after quite a long time spent doing other things (one of which has been launching the Quilling Guild's new blog - such an exciting new development!).

I have always liked the 'framing' effect that embossing brings to a design, and for these cards I used one of my Cuttlebug folders which features an attractive profusion of swirls set around a plain rectangular space in the middle.

I wanted a bold, bright centre for these designs, so decided to glue a piece of coloured card to the centre of each. Then it was 'just' a case of adding some quilling!

The design on the left features a crazy combination of vortex coils, a 'twisted' wheatear, 'beehive' work and closed loose coils ... a bit 'off the wall' in classic Quilliance style, but I like it!

The central card is a bit more conventional, incorporating gold-edged strips to go around the purple shapes in the middle section of the motif.

The right-hand card is another 'crazy' one, featuring two-tone beehive twists inside an asymmetrical ring of vortex coil diamonds.

It's great to be back making cards like these - they give me such a great opportunity to experiment.

Happy New Year everyone!!

A summertime scene for the darkest days of winter

Summertime garden scene, a photo by Philippa Reid on Flickr.

Well, the shortest day of the year is nearly upon us here in the Northern Hemisphere - so I thought it was high time I posted this 'sunshine' card design to remind us all of the warmth of summer!

I made this card for the North American Quilling Guild competition in 2012, in which the theme was 'A backyard garden scene'. I decided to use an oval aperture card as a frame for my quilled picture, which is set on a solid background of vortex coils that form the sky and grass. I love working with square vortex shapes - they are so much more amenable than circular coils for filling up awkward spaces!

The sun is made from a crimped coil, and I have used the beehive technique for most of the foliage and flowers. I also couldn't resist adding a few 'twisted wheatear' shapes for some of the larger leaves. The fence panels are cut from plain gold quilling strips.

The result? An unusual image which was probably way too quirky to gain many votes in the competition. But I'm pleased with it, and I'm sharing it today as an antidote to the gloom of the winter solstice!

Quilling with the elderly

Christmas quilling project in an elderly care home, a photo by Philippa Reid on Flickr.

I'm so proud of the quilling done recently by my enthusiastic 'students' who live in an elderly care home! All aged in their 80s and 90s, and all suffering from varying degrees of dementia (plus some physical disabilities), they nevertheless managed to produce some lovely quilled snowflakes, baubles and stars to decorate these Christmas trees!

I love working with the elderly ... and they all absolutely love quilling! Because they find it rather difficult to manipulate coils, I generally take a lot of pre-rolled coils with me, in varying colours, so that all they have to do is press the coils into different shapes. Then I can help them with assembling things like snowflakes, and with gluing their quilled shapes down onto a background. Many of them have very clear ideas about where they want their quilled pieces to go ... and I think that, after this particular workshop, we ended up with some lovely Christmas designs!

Now we're already thinking ahead towards quilling some Easter chickens!!

Still here!

Quilled 'sport theme' card, a photo by Philippa Reid on Flickr.

Quilling workshops ... Christmas markets ... gearing up for the launch of the Quilling Guild's new members' blog ... well, those are just a few of my excuses for the lack of posts over the last couple of weeks.

I have been quilling - honestly! - but it's been work on another of those 'secret projects' that I'm going to have to keep under wraps for a little while yet.

So, because it really is high time I broke the silence, I'm going to share with you a card that I entered into the Guild's recent competitions for 2012. The theme for the Greetings Card Category this year was 'Sport', so I decided to adopt an Olympic theme with a row of medals (gold, silver and bronze), alongside the Olympic flame and a winner's laurel wreath.

As you can see, I used a cut and folded tent card for this design, and created the ribbons for the medals using two-tone 'beehive' twists and a coloured paper background. The medals themselves were made using crimped, solid-coil strips edged with shiny metallics.

More from Quilliance soon - I promise!

Tagged!

This past week, it has been my privilege and pleasure to be involved in setting up a brand new website for the Quilling Guild. If you click here, you can see it in all its glory! The site has been restructured, comprehensively updated (with plenty more to come ...) and given a completely new look - and I'm pleased to say that it has received quite a few favourable comments already! This has all been part of a major initiative to reach out to the quilling community worldwide, leading up to our special 30th Anniversary Celebration of Quilling that will be held in Liverpool, UK, in August 2013 (click the 'Liverpool 2013' link on the site to find out more!)

But I'm not finished yet ... next week will see the launch of a brand new Blog exclusively for members of the Guild, which will be regularly updated with quilling-related news, exciting features and 'how-to' articles - and guess who will be writing it? That's right, me!! I can't wait to get started ... but, in the meantime, there's no escaping the fact that Christmas is coming and I really need to boost my stock of quilled items for the Friday market here in our village. So it was great to be able to sit down this afternoon and assemble a few sets of assorted gift tags with quilled motifs that I hope to be selling from tomorrow onwards.

Here they are:

Much as I love all my internet activities, it's also a real pleasure to settle back into some quilling and 'making' which, after all, are what it's really all about for all of us.

Right now, I guess you could say that I'm enjoying the best of both worlds!