Now into Beading

I have re-kindled my interest in beading and, after years of not doing it this mat is my first effort. It is an interesting (Olaf) design as the design has different looks when placed on different backgrounds.

This is the image on a black background.









Now here it is photographed on a white background

This is a seedbead daisy stitch necklace (Anna Peters design) and I think it is just beautiful. Glass seed beads with silver centre and it really sparkles.











Now this Lariat is 1.25 metres and I am making them as Christmas presents. I have already made six of them but a friend of mine was ill so I gave her one to cheer her up, another friend's husband was in hospital so she received one and I gave one to her daughter. I met a friend and showed him what I was doing so he bought one and the same thing happened with two other acquaintances.

If I keep selling them I will be lucky to have any to give as Christmas presents!

More quilling

There was a challenge for a piece of
jewellery on the quilling forum and the square rose earrings was my submission.

I made the round rose earrings first but could not photograph it well enough. I used gilt edge green paper for the leaves which support the rose and the rest is black gilt edge paper. They look really good in "real life" but I could just not capture all the detail in a photo.





Shayne asked me to make a card to welcome her niece's new baby. This is the first time I have done "the feet" but it is not too bad.


Shayne also wanted a card for a friend who is to celebrate her 90th birthday.

I still have to work on my photography skills

One of my favourite past times - visiting craft shows!

I visited the Craft Show at Rosehill at the weekend and, while there was not much in the way of qilling supplies, there were quite a few exhibitors with card-making, stamping and scrapbooking supplies. Of course there was quilting, patchwork, embroidery, tapestry and candle wicking suppliers and lots of beading.

I picked up an interesting product called Perlen-Pen which adds "shimmering half-round pearl drops on your textiles, hand made greeting cards and scrapbooking". It is in a plastic bottle allowing you to squeeze drops of the product out to form the pearls. It was $10.00 for 25ml and would be very economical for anyone who likes to add pearls to their work.

I think this is a rather new product as, when I googled Perlen-Pen, most of the sites seemed to be in Dutch. I purchased this product from Posh Pendants but I am sure this product will become more readily available

I also attended a Make and Take workshop with Posh Pendants using another new product which which is eamelling without having to use a kiln. It costs about $4.00 a bottle and I bought a few colours. I hope this is not one of those products I buy and put in the cupboard for later use.

The most exciting item I bought was the Embellish Knit. When I was a child sewing machine thread had wooden spools and we collected these, hammered four nails in and spent our time "french knitting". Then came Knitting Dollies (aka Knitting Nancy) made of plastic which gave the same result but lost some of the adventure. Now they have mechanised the french knitting dolly and you just turn the handle and the French Knitting comes out at such a fast pace. You can use this tubular knitting for embellishments like frogging or flowers or use it as a yarn to knit or crochet scarves, bags or whatever you fancy.

Had wonderful time at the Craft Show, saw what I wanted to, discovered some new and interesting products and spent more than I intended and isn't this what craft shows are all about?

Not everything in quilling is easy to master.

Is it Worth the Pain?

I twist, I turn and fold it,
I do not think this is right.
I curse, I yell and throw it,
Did they say to roll it tight?

I crease, I roll and bend it
And now I'm feeling queazy,
Again curse, yell and throw it
They said it would be easy.

Fifty tried and thrown away
But think I'm getting nearer.
This is good, what do you say?
(Instructions could be clearer.)

To continue is it wise?
Tell me is it worth the pain?
Yes it is, surprise, surprise,
I have made a rose again!

Jocelyn - March 2011

Quilling and Poetry - love them both

I really love poetry and I hope to get back to writing verse. A member of the Creative Quilling Forum began a stream on poems about quilling so here is my first effort (in the form of an acrostic).

Discovering Quilling

Quite a few to choose from but
Until I find the best bit,
Its a maze of buy and try
Lest I should fail to test it.
Look all around the craft shop,
It needs to be fulfilling,
Not any here that grab me,
Gosh! I have just found Quilling!

Jocelyn - March 2011

Andrew's wedding stationery

My nephew's wedding took place last Sunday and this is the invitation I made.

Although it does not show up on the photos I put glitter glue around the edge of all the teardrops on the flowers and butterflies as they seemed quite "bland" and needed a lift. The butterfly has a special significance for Chinese weddings.

As my friends know, I do not feel comfortable using glitter or any embellishments in my quilling (personal thing) so it was quite a surprise to see it there.

I used the "heart slug" from the centre of the card as a place card.








We attached it to a pair of white chopsticks which have the Double Happiness symbol embossed in gold. Just tied it on with red cord. My sister wanted just a touch Chinese feeling to the wedding.

I made the Origami box with a lid for the cake box and lined it with a round paper doily. I had not made many of them when, unfortunately, the reception centre said they wanted to use cake bags for the cake. So a lot of work saved. Anyone want 70 white fringed flowers?