Surviving Christmas

Just a little note to say that I hope you had a very Merry Christmas, and enjoyed lots of hugs, laughs and great food!

My wish for each of you is to enjoy love, peace, health and prosperity in the coming year - until you are just bursting at the seams with all the goodness flowing in your life!

I'll be back in a couple days to post on what sales to start watching for...

If you've been reading, you know I don't advise hitting the sales immediately after Christmas unless you are looking for something specific that might not be around a week or two from now -

Until next year, then

MERRY CHRISTMAS, Happy New Year and 

Many Blessings,
GrannySue

Paper quilling is a form of art or craft born out of creating decorative designs using thin strips of curled paper. This age-old quilling craft has been practiced for centuries!

Quilling originated during the time when nuns used small edges trimmed from Bible pages to create a simple but beautiful form of artistry. This craft was known as “Quilling” due to how the scraps of paper were wrapped around goose quills to create “coiled shapes”.

Getting into paper quilling craft is not very expensive, as most of the time you will only need few basic materials, all which you can buy at most art and craft stores. If you're really pressed for cash, simply buy a sheet or two of colored paper, and cut your own strips!

With a bit or practice and a touch of perseverance, the opportunities opened up by this unusual and highly flexible medium are endless.

Christmas ornaments made through paper quilling are quite common and in-demand. According to paper quiller, Lana J Bates, she earned $900 at a single farmers’ market style Christmas crafts show. That’s quite a good return for a bit of paper, clue and your creativity.

Moreover, the tools used in paper quilling are rather simple and straightforward.

Some of the common tools used in the process are slotted quilling tool, needle, glue, tweezers and pins. Just by using these simple tools, long strips of paper are wound tightly and released, and hereby forming complicated and complex shapers.

Tear-drop shapes are made by pressing one part of the circle. Using just the coils and some tear-drops, endless combinations are possible.

Get creative and create squares, ovals, etc – and the sky's the limit!

Slotted Quilling tool – the slot along its shaft is used to hold the paper securely as you turn the tool in your hand. Generally, the knurl on the handle ensures a firm grip of your hand that will be helpful in the rolling of a neater and even tight roll.

Needle tool – the needle is used to used to enable a finer center hole after rolling. This will generally produce a much tighter roll.

Glue – One of the most important tools in paper quilling. The glue is widely used in joining the shaped quills.

Tweezers – Tweezers are excellent tool to put the small bits and pieces of your quilling in the right place. They can be used to hold the coils that have been shaped, while you put a few drops of glue on the edges you are gluing together without damaging them.

Pins – While the tweezers will help you to put your pieces together when you are sticking them to their background, pins are used while the final design is drying. The pins will also allow you to put the project aside and finish it later.


Using pre-made strips, or your own hand cut ones, make several dozen coils of varying colors. Pinch some off to form tear-drops, squares or triangles as needed for your design.

After all the coils have been made, place them together on a sheet of paper to finalize the design and make sure you have all the shapes you need.

One by one, glue two or three shapes to each other and let dry. Then glue the larger shapes together into your design. Use your pins on a piece of cardboard covered in waxed paper or plastic wrap to hold the shapes while they are drying.

Once your piece is finished, you can either use it as-is, glue it to card stock or other background, or even create several layers to add to a shadow-box!

If you are going to be covering something that is not flat, generally it is possible to glue directly to the surface if you wish.

For covering glass ball type Christmas ornaments, I have found that it is very easy to use two styro-foam balls of the same diameter, and create half of the design on each ball... They will come off easily, and then can be glued onto the final glass ball with minimal effort.

Many Blessings
GrannySue 

Making a peacock feather wreath is a very easy project and will result in a beautifully elegant finished product.

This sort of wreath makes a beautiful adornment for your home at any time of year, and can be enhanced by the addition of ornaments, dried flowers or left in its natural splendor.

For this project you will need a straw or foam wreath base, feathers, white craft glue and ornaments (if desired).

The size of the wreath base which you choose to use will be a part in determining the size of the wreath. After you have chosen your base, you will need to buy peacock feathers.

The amount of feathers you buy will be determined by the size of your straw wreath base, the larger the wreath base, the more feathers you will need. There are great sources of peacock feathers on the internet or you may choose to visit a local craft supply store and pick out your own.

If you live near Chinatown, peacock feathers, both natural as well as dyed, can be found for almost ridiculously low prices. Sometimes you can also order them through the gift shops in bulk as well.

In buying a product of this kind, I usually buy a few more than I think I will actually need for my project.

I find running short of supplies before a project is finished to be very frustrating and I’ve found that I can always add the surplus to my craft supply box and just knowing that they are there usually brings to mind some sort of fun project for which they can be used.


You may also want a sharp nail to help make openings in the straw wreath in which to place the feathers.

Before you start your wreath, you will want to look at your feathers to see where you want to cut them off. While there are fronds nearly all the way down the shaft on these feathers, usually only the last 6 to 12 inches should be used (or you might have a 7 foot wreath!).

Cut about 2 extra inches, and trim off the side feathers so that you have a smooth quill to stick into the base.

First, dip the cleaned end of your feather in a bit of white craft glue (the kind that dries clear, like kid's glue for school), and then insert the feather into the wreath base about two thirds down. You may need a nail at this point, to create the openings for you. Set the feathers about three to four inches apart, all in a row.

When you have gone completely around the wreath base, you will want to go up about a half an inch, and repeat, setting these feathers over a bit so that they don’t come directly over the other feathers.

Repeat this for about two more rows.

Then you will want to do one more row with slightly shorter feathers. This will give your wreath a fuller layered appearance.

If you are going to add in sprigs of dried flowers, they will go in the “V” created between two feathers, and the stem should be dipped in glue as well.

To add small ornaments (glass balls or otherwise), use floral wire, and attach by running the wire through the ornament hoop, then around the back of the wreath, and twist to secure.

Tuck the twisted end into the wreath base so that you don't scratch whatever you hang your wreath on!

Congratulations! You have just created a beautiful work of art, ready to be hung!

Many Blessings
GrannySue