Quilled Monogram with Suzy's Artsy-Craftsy Sitcom

I'm always on the look out for crafts that I haven't tried. While perusing the internet, I ran across a website called allthingspaper which absolutely inspired me. I was amazed at what you can make with a simple piece of paper. You can make something beautiful and not spend much more than pennies. My kind of project. I decided that I would have to try this new craft called Quilling.

Now I call it new, but quilling is only new to me. Quilling has been around for ages. It was actually quite popular at one time according to my vintage craft magazines. While quilling seems to still be around on some handmade cards, you really don't see it much these days. So after doing a bit of research, and looking at some online tutorials, I decided to go to the store to get supplies. Unfortunately, the stores carried nothing for this craft.

So...I bought some cardstock that was on sale and then some large darning needles to make my own quilling tool. Yes, I know they can be purchased on line, but my inner cheapskate really hates that. I took one of the larger tapestry needles and clipped off the tip of the eye. Instant quilling tool.


The technique is actually pretty simple. Cut your paper into strips. I cut mine in 1/4" strips because I wanted my quilling to really pop.


You then take your cut strip, put one end in the eye of the needle and wind it tightly around the needle. If you want a tight wind, hold the wound paper while you pull the needle out, then put a drop of elmers on the end and glue. If you want a looser wind, let go of the paper after winding, remove the needle and then glue. You can pinch one end for a petal effect, two ends for leaves or go crazy with so many other options.


I had bought some larger cardstock in brown for the background, but wasn't pleased with the color. So I got out my acrylic paints and added more browns to it, blending to give it a leather look. I then used a ruler to draw the letter H. Using dark blue cardstock, I created the outline by folding the paper to fit and glueing it down. My plan then was to fill in the H with white scrollwork.



Naturally, I got carried away. The scrollwork looked like leaves to me, so we really needed some flowers. And then we needed some green leaves. And then we need butterflies!!



To create the butterfly wings, I drew a wing outline on a piece of waxpaper, then filled in the outline with my paper scrolls, gluing them together as I went. I then flipped the wax paper over and made the opposite wing so that they matched.


I then propped the butterfly up so that the wings would be freestanding after the glue dried.



I finally had to make myself stop at one point. I didn't want to lose the definition of the H. And I do know how carried away I can get. It was incredibly fun to make.

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