Monday, December 07, 2009

She's Kidding, Right?!

Pam, Pam, Pam. I think the woman stays up nights thinking of ways to make me crazy. I think she needs more sleep. Honestly. I told you that there was a story behind my aversion to today's challenge. Well, somehow, Pam has spies in my crafty space and found out the things that I am not wanting to do! How does she do that?! I didn't even cheat last week! All I can say is, I'm so glad the DT gets the challenge list a week in advance!

The challenge for today at 365 Cards is to use QUILLING on your card. Now, for those of you who do not know what that is, it means you coil skinny strips of paper up, squash them into shapes, and glue them together to make stuff. Ok, about 8 years ago, I decided I wanted to try quilling. It was popular in scrapbooking at the time, and you could buy premade goodies. So, me being me, I purchased a quilling tool and a bunch of the precut paper strips and decided to make my own, thank you very much.


I then got the idea to enter a swap, thereby having to make 25 sets of 4 quilling "deco squares." Deco squares were 2 inch decorated squares. And each of mine had a quilling project on it! Poinsettia, tree, whatever else I cooked up. So that's 100 quilling projects! And did I mention you need to use GLUE? Wet glue?! That I despise touching?! That cured me forever of quilling!

Fast forward to about a year ago when a friend told me she was going to learn quilling. So I gave her all my junk. I was never touching that stuff again! Until TODAY! So, here is my quilling project. Made WITHOUT my quilliing tool and WITHOUT the precut paper strips! Happy now, Pam?! I think I am twitching....just a bit...on one side...

I grunged this baby up. Guess I took out some frustration on my paper! The printed paper is all from those big stacks that we all buy and then use 5% of the paper in them. The stamp is SU.

There is my quilled poinsettia. I cut paper to about 1/8 inch, or so. You can tell my paper strips are not uniform! Then I wound the strips round the tip of my paper piercer to roll them up. For the petals, I just squeezed the rolled coil a bit to smash it into a petal shape. You need to glue the ends with wet glue. The center is just a coil. The leaves are punches, that I rubbed with a embossing stylus to give them some dimension.

Gluing these puppies together is frustrating. So, I glued the leaves, petals, and center to a square of cardstock, then after the glue was dry, trimmed it all round so you cannot see the "background" but everything is all held together and stable.
And that's the end of my quilling saga!

This card is also for The Play Date Cafe challenge 07. They wanted red, white, green. I'd never been to that site before, but Julie posted a comment here on my blog and asked me to enter an older card she saw here. But I did not think it fair to enter a card I had made before they posted the challenge, so I'm entering this one instead. (See, I don't cheat when it counts.) And, this card is also for Practical Scrappers who wanted something Christmas themed.

ETA: For those who are new to my blog...I am just busting Pam's chops. I am not really upset about the quilling. Honest...{twitch twitch twitch}

25 comments:

  1. Luuuuv the distressing and all those layers look great! Ok I'm off to slice up some strips for this challenge... but what to make...

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  2. Oh your card is gorgeous ! And I can say that you make me love quilling ...

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  3. ♥thud♥ For a woman that is bitter about quilling you absolutely and definitely ROCKED this challenge Gloria...sweet mother of pearl...that is one gorgeous card!!!! Pam obviously knew that you would be up for this challenge...good grief, I twitch to think what I would have come up with...

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  4. Hi Gloria,
    Your card is fantastic! I love your post, you're so funny!
    :) Janice

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  5. You made a very pretty card despite your quilling aversion! I enjoyed your post and understand your frustration. When I first started quilling I found it tricky at first too, but then something came over me, and now I'm positively hooked... the fact that it's something a bit different, plus I just love the look of it. Like anything, it takes practice, but I'd say you're well on your way to being a quiller, like it or not. :-)

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  6. You are simply so wonderful! really. I'm so amused by this post!
    and your card is just FAB! this is a great take on the challenge!
    I have my own guess about how Pam gets her ideas for the challenges...
    I LOVE YOUR CARD! (shell I say it once again or did you get my point? :))
    hugs
    Libeeti

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  7. This is a super fantastically beautiful card! Well done!!

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  8. I invite you to take a look at my comment on today's quilling challenge...
    I think I'm going to look for all my forgotten works, maybe that the hints to Pam's new challenges... LOL

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  9. well you may not like it (quilling) but you did an amazing job, beautiful, thanks for joining us at the Play Date Cafe. Sandi

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  10. wow! gloria, this is gorgeous!! although, i have to admit, i'm glad you got this challenge and not me! i've never quilled and already know i don't have the patience required! great job!

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  11. Great post - made me smile! Love the grunged look, and the quilling is brill!!!

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  12. WOW That flower is fantastic. beautiful card.

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  13. Gloria...what a lovely offering for the Play Date Cafe Challenge...so glad you played along with us : )

    You sure made the quilling work for you!

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  14. great card. love the poinsetta. quilling is something i have'nt tried yet. i keep looking at the paper and tools but the outline stickers hanging beside them in our craft store always draws me away quickly.

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  15. Wow
    What a beautiful card, I love that flower , great job.
    Thanks for joining us at Practical Scrappers.

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  16. SNORT GIGGLE!!! you crack me up :0) just got back into town after driving in RAIN and traffic so thanks for the much needed laugh*smile* your card is awesome!! FYI I picked up some premade items as I was NOT going to even attempt this technique EVER!!! **shhh don't tell pam LOL

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  17. Beautiful card Gloria! I'm heading out to find something premade just like Rose ~ no way can I attempt this - quilling tool or not! However if you were the only card posted at 365 that would be ok too as this is an awesome card! :)

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  18. Your card is so BEAUTIFUL! I LOVE the quilled pointsetta! Not sure that I'd have the patience to do that technique myself but it is so wonderful to see on your card!

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  19. WOW - considering you don't have the "tools" to quill, you did a fantastic job - this really inspires people to just give it a go! Thanks for playing along at PS!

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  20. Wow - your quiling is gorgeous! Super card. Thanks for playing this week at Practical Scrappers.

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  21. oh, it turned out quite lovely! You know, if you would just do a crappy job maybe you would get out of these challenges. You just always do so well, so that twitch is your own fault girl!

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  22. Oh my goodness, what a beautiful card! Thanks for playing along with us at Practical Scrappers.

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  23. WOW.. this is BEAUTIFUl.. I LOVE quilling.. you did such a wonderful job at it.. thanks for playing with us at "The Cafe".. HUGS

    ~don't forget to come and get your new free digital stamp today.. :)

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  24. Such a beautiful card--really love it! So glad you could play along with us this week at The Cafe'!

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  25. Congratulations on making The Fab 4 with your entry at the Play Date Cafe...make sure you stop by and get your sidebar badge and get this week's colors!

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