Rainbow beads slotted quilling tool

I'm getting the hang of making these slotted quilling tools now.....so far, it's been quite thrilling :). Especially the part of arranging the different colours of beads inside the plastic tube. This one was a request from a customer of mine. She showed me the different colours of beads that she would love for her quilling tool and I was very happy to do it for her.

Hope to make more in future with other colour combinations. ;)

Do check out the video below to view how to use this slotted quilling tool :)

My own DIY slotted quilling tool

Just a few days ago I was thinking of making my own slotted quilling tools. At first it was just for fun....(as if I didn't have enough quilling tools in my collection already! hehehehehe).....yes I have plenty of different designs of slotted quilling tools but the curiosity to find out how to make a slotted quilling tool just wouldn't go away . I made some using some old pens and a needle like the photo you see below.

But then, the obsession to make better ones came. Of course the minute that thought came to mind, I had to think of ways of doing it and I came up with the design that you see at the first two photos above. As you can see, the handle of the tool is plastic and it is filled with gold and silver glitters. I just love the effect! 

I even made some using beads like the ones below. I simply had fun making them! I used all the beads that I have in my collection. I haven't been using them for a long time and I thought it would be cool to try it out for the slotted quilling tool.

So what do you think? ;)

Green theme hand-bound book

HBB016

Making hand-bound books was never something that I consider easy to do. It takes a lot of effort and patience. Those who have tried it would be able to relate to what I'm saying. The same goes to this book I made recently. I had to make the same book twice before I got it right.

It's an A5 size hand-bound book, with Kettle stitch binding. Kettle stitch binding are cool...I love how they end up looking like ribbon bows or some say butterflies. I used 165gsm acid free paper for this sketch book and there are about 50 plus pages inside the book. It comes with an attached beaded bookbook too....I love arranging the beads to the bookmark. Reminded me of the beaded bookmarks that I used to make so long ago.

Just sewing the pages together is just half the story.....decorating the cover is another. But once it's all done, there is this kind of satisfaction that's so hard to explain. Furthermore, I find myself so attached to the book, I somehow refuse to let it go. But of course eventually I have to...huhuhu.....

The person who ordered this book is the same person who ordered the green theme floral swing card. That explains why the book has a combination of green colours as well. I guess my customer just love that colour so much.

Once the pattern paper for the book cover was chosen, I had a difficult time deciding on how to decorate the book. My customer wanted me to put some quilled roses on it. But putting just 3 pieces of them like she requested on the cover would look so bare. So I put more and I was happy with the results.

This is the first time I'm using a few die-cut Flourish design on the cover in this arrangement. I only wanted to put 2 in the beginning....but ended up putting 4 of them and arranging them to look like a frame. I had fun making those die-cut quilled roses again. If you would like to learn how to make them, you can check out the video below:

Green flora theme swing card

HB117

Hmmm where do I begin? I guess it's been a while since you last saw any new handmade card designs from me....the last one was probably the swap card I made for a fellow crafter last month. I've been busy making hand-bound books instead of making handmade cards. It felt a little difficult to start creating cards again because I left the arena for quite awhile to concentrate on other projects that involves mass producing craft materials for sale. Well, I've put that one aside for now so that I can concentrate on making cards again. I miss creating cards....I really do.

My customer gave me the freedom to design the card anyway I like except that there were a few conditions which was she wanted the card to have some quilling designs on it and she would prefer the card to have a green theme. So green it is!! It's 90 percent green and 10 percent, a combination of brown, gold, beige and yellowish tones.

It's been awhile since I last made any quilled flower like the ones you see on the card. I adore it very much. I hope to make a video tutorial on how to make them soon. Because I am afraid if I don't, then one day I might forget how to make it altogether! hehe! When I wanted to make them for the card, I had a hard time remembering how to start! Thank God I remembered it in the end after a few trials. ;)

Oh ya....not forgetting those ladybugs! They are so much fun to make. So cute. I will do a video tutorial on that as well this year. Gosh, so many video tutorials that I wanna make. Hopefully I can do them well :).

Oh! And another thing I would like to mention is those die-cut leaves.....oh how I love them so.....it's actually one of the three leaf patterns from a die-cut I recently bought when I went for the craft gathering. It's so worth it. It's a bit difficult to use but I can't help but love the design. So it didn't matter much to me. I'll learn to deal with it in time. 

I made a simple design for the wordings on the front of the card.....not much designs there....just arrangements of alphabets and liquid pearls on paper that was layered with distress ink. I love sewing on the paper to give it a more special touch.....that's why I also did the same for the paper that was meant for writing wishes inside the card. I really love that one. A special stencil that I bought to get that special shape....inking the lines and sewing around it in the end. It was fun to do!

All in all, this was a fun card to make, especially since it is a swing card. You can never feel bored with a swing card. ;)

Have a look at how the card swings in motion in the video below:

Plain black sketch book

HBB015

I received some gorgeous black gold pearl shell wrapping papers from WholePort some time ago and was waiting for the right project to use them until one day I got an order from a customer who wanted to order a hand-bound book with a plain black covers. 

It suddenly hit me that I had this black gold pearl shell paper in my collection and it was perfect for this project because the gold shine on the paper really suits the colour of the thread that I was going to use for the book. Yes, coincidentally my customer wanted the thread to be gold in colour.  

I simply love the paper so much....it's quite thick....looks like leather but it's not.....it's just paper....really love it!

You can check out where to buy the the black wrapping paper for the covers at the link here : Black Gold Pearl Shell wrapping paper

This book I made does not have that many pages in it.....just about 50 pages of  acid free 165gsm drawing paper that would be suitable for sketching, colouring and etc. Which is exactly what my customer wanted. She adores it and so do I ;).

Checkered books for good friends

HBB014

I love this checkered pattern paper.....seriously I really do. The minute I saw it at the bookstore I knew I had to buy it and use it as a cover for my hand-bound books for men. I think the special thing about it is the silver dots along the lines....how it shines when it hits the light...so fancy :)

Both the books at the top of the post were made for 2 guys who are good friends of my sister. One I've never met but been hearing a lot from her for quite some time now.....the other one is a good of mine too whom I've known since way back in the 90s and is also my neighbour :).

To be honest I was in a little hurry to get the books done at the time coz I was so busy with other orders and living my life hehehhee....so much so that I didn't have much time to think about how to decorate it. The pattern paper itself already looks good to me because of the design.....I just didn't know how else to make it look nice! LOL! So to personalise it a bit, I decided to use the same method I used on my earlier hand-bound book design which was decorating it with the wooden ring I got from Wholeport and put their names inside it. For one of them I used a short form of his name and the other one, just his initials because he didn't have a short form for his name....hehe....I've always called him by his first name...so, having his initials there was the best thing I could think of at the time.

At first I wondered if I  should make single colour pages or multicoloured ones. It seems like doing single coloured ones would be too plain so I opted to make them a little fancy by choosing a few coloured papers that would match the cover of the book. And I really like the outcome of it. :) I'm glad that both of them liked the books that I made for them too. Alhamdulillah. :)

Weaved heart card for swap

I'm thrilled about this card that I made after I came back from my holidays. The card was meant for a fellow crafter, Hambali Arifin, who swapped his card with me during the craft gathering that I attended in KL last February.

Actually I was out of ideas....was not in the mood and didn't feel too well to do anything much. But I had to do it quickly because I have so many other pending orders to settle and I couldn't waste time being such a baby....sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do.

I bought quite a lot of craft products when I was at Scrap-n-Crop (the location of the craft gathering), and I took the opportunity to try some of them out for this card design. I used some new distress inks that I bought.....a new die-cut leaves pattern....and also tried a new technique which I've been wanting to try for quite some time now which is mix media. But what I tried for this card is quite amateurish because it was my first time and I was a little afraid....but I did it anyways....just a simple one....if you can spot it, it is the brown polka dots in the background. I used molding paste and a polka dot stencil to create the effect....and then just blend it with Vintage Photo distress ink. I really like the effect :).

I also tried something new for myself which is making the weaved heart....it is actually a great way to recycle pattern papers. Since this swap theme was all about using scraps, so I took some scrap pattern paper that has double pattern on each side...and the colours were really matching so it was suitable to weaved them together. I had fun with it. Lots of new ideas came to mind when I made it. Which I will use for future projects ;).

I really had fun making it and would probably make more ready made ones for sale but with different colour combinations and captions ;).