How to make a two tone quilling teddy bear

I've been thinking of making a video tutorial for a quilling teddy bear this year but I wanted the design to be different from the quilling teddy bear I've made years ago. So after taking such a long time to practice making and redesigning my quilling teddy bear for the past few weeks, I'm finally satisfied with the new design.

As you all know I have made quilling teddy bears before way back in 2010. Back then, the quilling teddy bears that I made were a bit bigger and mostly were brown in colour. Later after that I did make smaller ones but they were simpler, with loose coils and had faces that didn't even have any eyes or lips.

But for today's design, although they are small, but it's combination of the big and small quilling teddy bears.  Also, I've added something new to my quilling teddy bear design especially for the face and body. If you take the time to look at my older quilling teddy bear designs then you will be able to see the differences between the old and new. 

A lot of people have been asking me to make a video tutorial for my quilling teddy bears over the years but I never got around to doing it till now. So I hope that this video tutorial will make a lot of people happy :).

As promised, below are the measurements for the two tone quilling teddy bear:

I am using 80gsm quilling papers to make my two tone quilling teddy bear. The quilling papers were made by cutting up an A4 colour paper using a mini paper shredder. The size of each strip of paper is 3mm x 297mm.

1. For the face:
    - 5 quilling strips
    - Circle number 7

2. For the body:
    - 11 quilling strips (5 strips of soft cream colour + 6 strips of any colour).
    - Circle number 11

3. For the hands and legs:
   - 1/2 strip of any colour + 1/4 strip of soft cream colour.
   - Circle number 5

4. For the ears:
    - 1/4 strip of any colour + 1/4 strip of soft cream colour.
    - Circle number 3

5. For the cheeks and nose:
    - 1 strips of soft cream colour, cut in half and joined together + 1/2 of the 1/4 strip of black colour.
    - No need to use a circle template for this. Just roll the strips to make a tight coil.

6. For the eyes:
    - 1/2 of the 1/4 strip of black colour for each eye.
    - No need to use a circle template for this. Just roll the strips to make a tight coil.
    - Paste on top of each eye a tiny white paper dot.
    - Then finish it by pasting on top of the white paper dot with an even tinier black paper dot.
    - The tiny dots were made by using a Martha Stewart craft punch.

7. For the lips:
    - I hand cut the shape of the lips using a craft knife.
 
Do enjoy watching and learning how to make the two tone quilling teddy bear from my video tutorial below. Have fun quilling!! ;)

Little pink and green notebooks

The first time I made mini notebooks was sometime last year. I thought I would make more after that but never really got to making any because was too busy diving into other projects. These little notebooks I made here was kinda made in a hurry because it was not something I planned to do. It's one of those spontaneous things I do sometimes for those I love.

These were for my cute little nieces. They dropped by yesterday and I had to make something for them before they went back to their hometown. I just couldn't let them leave empty handed. I have always wanted to give them something that I made myself. It gives me a lot more satisfaction than buying something from the store.

I'm so glad that they loved their gifts. Although it's just a small little gift, it's the thought that counts, some would say. They were really careful with the notebooks. Opening them up slowly and gently. They appreciate art very much and hopefully someday I'll get to teach them a thing or two about quilling. Then they can make art for others too. :)

Rainbow coloured handmade slotted quilling tools

I made these rainbow coloured quilling tools about a week ago and I just love how they turned out! The tools were of course handmade by yours truly. I'm really happy with the latest look of my handmade slotted quilling tools. They are so cheerful and bright. I think I am now better at making them compared to the first try. There is always room for improvement. :)

I hand coloured all the rainbow coloured quilling tools instead of using pattern paper like I did for the black gold quilling tools. Although this rainbow quilling tool takes a little bit more time to make, I really enjoyed it. It was a good experiment. I'm glad it worked out.

After making these rainbow quilling tools I began to experiment more with other designs and it's just endless. There is just so many types of designs that I can insert in the quilling tool. But I guess for now I have to limit the designs to just making them for personal use because it's not as easy to mass produce them. I can only do a few of them a day. I'm not a machine. My hands do hurt in the process of making them.

For now, simple designs is all I'm concentrating on. Nothing overly fancy. Ever since I've been making these quilling tools, I hardly have the time to make handmade cards. It's so frustrating not being able to multitask as much as I want to. Hopefully I can make some cards soon. Or books! Gosh, I miss making the books the most!!

Do check out the video I made about the rainbow coloured quilling tools below and my new white glue bottle that I have added in my new quilling kit. Thank you!!

How to use my quilling starter kit

This is something that I should have done much much earlier for quilling beginners who have been getting my quilling starter kits over the years. Simply because not all quilling beginners have the idea of how to use the quilling supplies provided in my quilling starter kit.

I have gotten a lot of inquiries from them and most of the time I would just try to find suitable quilling tutorials on YouTube for them to see and the get the idea of how to start quilling with the supplies. Some would ask me to teach them instead and I would then do basic quilling classes for them. I haven't done so in quite a long time because I just never seem to have the time to spare these days for a quilling class. I have too many other things to get done everyday and to hold a quilling class would just take a lot of my time away.

I guess that's why I prefer to do video tutorials instead. This way, a lot more people would get the benefit from learning about quilling from me. No more do they need to see me in person and get lessons on quilling. They can just click the play button on the YouTube video and replay it as much as they like to. Free of charge! And I get to teach people through the videos anytime I like! So it's a win win situation. 

One most common issue that rises when it comes to using the quilling supplies is how to use the plastic circle template. Seriously I get that question A LOT! First of all, my circle template is not like the circle template quilling board most quillers would commonly use for sizing up their quilling paper. I use a plastic circle template that students use in schools to draw circles. It's not the same thing, but it helps quilling beginners to do quilling at a much reasonable price. The quilling board is quite expensive to buy. I myself still don't own one till now.

Another common question would be, how to glue the quilling shapes on the card. That's another common problem for quilling beginners. They cannot get a clear picture of how to apply the glue on the quilling shape correctly. They either apply too much glue or too little of them. So the quilling shapes don't look nice on the card.....sometimes very messy and that would spoil the look of the card.

Hopefully my not so short video would give them a clear idea of how to basically do simple quilling shapes and how to apply them on the card. I made the video quite late at night therefore my mind was not working as good as it should be if done during the day. Please excuse me for that! Haha! What's important is that quilling beginners can understand what was taught in the video and they can apply it fast. 

So do watch the video if you are a quilling beginner. Hope it helps a little!

My new handmade slotted quilling tool

I remembered what it felt like last year when I first got the idea of making my own handmade slotted quilling tools. I tried to DIY it all by myself. I felt like an inventor or something! haha! Although it was not the best invention ever as it had many flaws, I have to admit, I kept the dream alive and kept on experimenting on it. I didn't stop thinking of ways to make the invention better.

This year, after all the experiments I had done over the months, I finally created another handmade slotted quilling tool to replace the first invention. This one had a better grip, better handling and felt so comfortable when turning the tool over and over. Totally different feeling compared to the first invention.

The major difference in this one is that the plastic handle itself is not curved like the one before. It's almost as straight as any normal standard slotted quilling tool. So it makes it more comfortable when using it to quill. The handle is made of plastic but the filling inside the plastic has been replaced with a different material. The first invention had glitters and colourful beads in it. No more of those in this latest invention. One other good thing about it now is that I get to put my name inside the plastic tube too! Love that part! So those who buy the slotted quilling tool would know that it is handmade and who made it too :).

It was not easy for me to create something like this. I had wasted a lot of materials before I finally decided on the best method and design. Since the process of making the slotted quilling tool itself had to be done by hand, and not by any special machine, it takes time for me to get one done. It's a very interesting process and seeing the finished product gives me joy :). I don't think I will be able to mass produce the slotted quilling tools like other companies do as I am doing this alone and am not in the best of health. I'm just helping out those in need of affordable slotted quilling tools while I still can :). 

Actually the initial idea of creating my own slotted quilling tools came about when a lot of people contacted me to ask about where they can buy slotted quilling tools that is more affordable for them. Standard slotted quilling tools in the market can be quite expensive, especially if they are branded. But they are undeniably better in quality. Sometimes, it also depends on how good you take care of them too. If you abuse them, they will eventually lasts a short period of time even though they are good in quality. So be nice to your tools and they will last longer ok? hehe!

I have to admit that I was one of those people who couldn't afford those standard slotted quilling tools back then. So I know how it feels to want to buy a craft tool and yet have to reserve that feeling till I had enough money for it. I remembered how expensive my first slotted quilling tool was. I bought it at a fancy craft shop in Kuala Lumpur. Back then I didn't know much about quilling and only knew very little about it from my friends. I bought it anyways even though it was pricey because I knew I would never get the chance to buy it at my place. It is not easy finding craft tools here in Alor Setar.

I'm happy if my humble handmade slotted quilling tools can help people create beautiful quilling creations. That's all I ever wanted. To see people make pretty things without having to spend so much money. Quilling in my mind now is a craft that everyone can try to do. Everyone can afford to try it. There are numerous of ways you can find on the net to do it with or without a fancy quilling tool. You just have to keep the dream alive, believe in yourself and be creative in creating beautiful things. :)

Here's a video below to show you the slotted quilling tool in action and how well it works. Thank you for watching!! :)

Quiling fan flower tutorial

I was just playing around with my quilling papers the other day, thinking of a new quilling flower for me to make. I guess I was getting bored of doing the same kind of quilling flowers for my cards. So I just needed a new quilling flower to try out. Something simple to do, nothing complicated and yet interesting enough for me to get excited about. But I wanted to make something I can call my own instead of making something that is taught on YouTube.

When I was in the process of making this quilling fan flower, I was actually inspired by a certain type of quilling flower I saw on the net. It was so beautiful. When I made the video tutorial for it, I wanted to mention the name of the flower that inspired me but I forgot the name. Now I remember! It was the quilled poppy flower made by Manuela Koosch. The quilled poppy flower she made was stunning!! I can't imagine making a quilling flower like that just yet. It must have been really difficult to make and time consuming too!

My flower however is of course not a poppy flower at all. But the petals of my quilling fan flower have those straight lines that are similar to the lines made in the quilled poppy flower. My lines are the same length unlike the lines of the poppy flower. SO that's one of the major differences.

Anyways, I do hope you will check out my latest video tutorial below. Learn to make a new flower today! :)

Salam Aidilfitri pop up mosque card

HR029

I had a request to make an eid card for a good friend of mine but I was contemplating if I had the time to do so since I have my hands tied already with all the other orders of eid cards that's waiting in line. She didn't want the ready stock pop up mosque card that I made using ribbons because the card she requested is to be given to her ex boss who happens to be a man. I guess it won't be suitable to give a man a card that has ribbons and bling bling on them right? Since I didn't have time to figure out a new design for an eid card, I suggested to her that it would be less girly to use all paper instead to make the weaves since the paper would look less shiny and less girly ....and so paper weaving it is!!

Again for my pop up eid card, I kept it simple and clean cut. Since it's for a guy, it has to be even simpler. No shiny or glittery embellishments. No flowers either. Gosh....I always have trouble deciding how to design a card for a guy. I always end up going for straight lines as the main design. I love LINES! It has been my favourite since God knows when. Just simple clean lines. And weaving makes it a little complicated. Makes it a little fancy than the usual simple lines.

I do find it a bit harder to weave paper compared to ribbons. Weaving the ribbons are a lot simpler and faster. But the paper looks a lot neater. Well I guess both materials have their own specialties in their own ways.

As for the pop up mosque....I promised her that I would make it a lot fancier than the one I made before. She wanted it to be different than the rest. And that was what I came up with, with the limited time I had. Instead of using just one colour paper for the mosque, I decided to add some gold colour paper to it to somehow beautify it as minimum as possible. More engraving though.....definitely more. I'm so happy that she loved it! That's all that matters :).

You can view the card in motion at the video below. Do check it out! Thank you!

Salam Aidilfitri pop up spiral card

HR028

OK! So here's what happened. Some time ago, I had received some really pretty card stock that I got from a good friend of mine. I'm not really sure what they were for, they looked like wedding invitation card stock or something. I never asked her what it really was. It has this really pretty gold lining on all sides and twin gold heart shape on it.

You can see what it looks like in the photos below. Anyways, I have been wanting to use them for something but didn't have an idea back then of how to use them until recently I came up with the idea to recycle them as Raya cards. It doesn't necessarily need to be a Raya card. It can be used as any type of card for any occasion. But I decided to put a Raya sentiment inside so that I can use it myself to give to my loved ones this year. :D

On the inside of the card, once it is folded, you can see like an impressed image of the twin hearts....I really love it! So even though, I don't get to use the twin gold hearts on the outside as part of the decoration on the card, at least I get to see it on the inside.

Oh yeah, one more thing....I got this beautiful pattern papers from her as well. The papers are actually paper scraps that I received in different sizes. I couldn't use them for big projects, so I thought the idea of cutting them this way like small size washi tapes and pasting them on the card as a background design would be a great way to recycle them. I don't have a lot of washi tapes, so using scraps of pattern paper such as this in this technique would be great! And it's so simple too!

The Malaysian quilling flower! Gosh, I haven't been making these in ages! So it was a little awkward trying to make them again after a while, but I quickly got the hang of it after a few tries. They are so much fun to make and pretty too. Definitely not that difficult to make either. You can find a tutorial on how to make them on my YouTube channel and give a go if you are interested to make them yourself.

 

See all those teeny tiny paper dots?? Those are paper dots that I got whenever I use one of my craft punch. I was reluctant to throw them away and they make great background decorations if you know how to use them :).

These are some spiral pop ups I made for the pop up that I plan to paste inside the card. They are probably one of the easiest pop ups that I can make. Simple and fun to look at. :) Once I've cut them up, all that was needed to do was to just past the spiral pop ups with flowers and sentiment. I really enjoyed making this card as I can to recycle all the materials that I had in my craft room. I don't like keeping scraps of papers or card stocks in the room for too long. Need to make way for new materials and have fun experimenting with new ideas. Do check out the video of the card below. You can have an idea of how the spiral pops up inside card! :)

How to make a quilling ketupat

I have been getting requests to make a video tutorial on quilling ketupat since I first started making them in 2010. Gosh that was so long ago!! I've been postponing it for too long and I guess this year is the year to make it. Finally! 

Eid is coming soon in about a month's time so it would be a good time to make this tutorial now as many out there would benefit from it. I'm sure a lot of people especially from Malaysia who would love to make this quilling ketupat for their Eid cards.

Quilling ketupat? So how does one make them anyways? Well, for starters.....you would need some quilling papers or shredded papers. You can use any colour paper you like. But if you don't have the means to make shredded papers using the mini paper shredder, you can easily cut the A4 size paper length wise by hand to the size of 3mm x 297mm. You would also need white glue, a slotted quilling tool and a circle template. Just the basic tools.

The idea is to make small quilling squares about 9 of them per quilling ketupat and join them up together to form the shape of a quilling ketupat. The larger the ketupat you wanna make, hence the longer the quilling paper you need per quilling square. To make my quilling ketupat, I only used about half the length of the quilling paper to make one small quilling square. The frills at the top and bottom side of the quilling ketupat uses the same length of quilling paper to make them too.You can understand more on how to make them by viewing the video itself.

You can see examples of quilling ketupat cards that I've made in the past at the links below: 

1. http://azlina-lin.blogspot.com/2010/08/more-ketupat-cards.html
2. http://azlina-lin.blogspot.com/2010/08/quilled-ketupat.html
3. http://azlina-lin.blogspot.com/2010/08/quilled-squares.html

Below is the video tutorial on how to make the quilling ketupat. Do check it out and try making them yourself. Have fun! :)

3 tier pop up birthday cake card

HB124

Just recently I made a handmade birthday card for a good friend of mine whom I've known for many years. We were room mates when we were studying in ITM. I had wanted to do this for her for quite a while now. Planning and planning but the plan didn't work out as it should and in the end I had to post the card to her instead of giving it to her by hand. I guess God had something else planned for me on that day. I'll just have to make another plan! haha! :D What matters is that she loved the card so much and that really is all I could ask for. To make her happy even if it was just for a day :).

OK! Back to the card! I came across some really nice DIY pop ups at a stationery store recently and I was really excited about it since I love pop ups so much. I never knew they sell these things! I've never seen them before. So you can surely imagine my excitement. Hahaha! Unfortunately, the choices that they had were quite limited. I wish they had more.

Usually I would make the pop ups myself from scratch but I thought it would be nice to once in a while use a ready made one instead for my handmade cards. It's so convenient especially if you are in a hurry to get a card done for someone's birthday. You can also add some personal touch to it if you like to make it different from the original design. But if not, you can just use it as it is.

It was not that difficult to fit the pop up birthday cake in my handmade card as I am quite familiar with the mechanics of the pop up. So it was easy peasy for me. Besides, they do have some photos in the package that explains how to fit the pop up inside the card. 

I also did something I've never done before with quilling flowers. A difference in technique in this case. Usually when I add more than one colour to each petal, it's mostly done using the combing technique.....but for this one I used the slotted quilling tool instead. Perhaps I should consider making a tutorial on how to get that effect on quilling flowers and leaves. If there is a demand for it....or not....I just have to find the time to do it. :)

Another different thing I did was sewing all around the decoration with multicoloured embroidery threads. No cross-stitch this time....just plain straight line. That was really fun! It created a texture on the card and a colourful background that would match the decorations. The gold painted soft clay that was pressed with a birthday sentiment was something new for me to experiment on with what I can do with soft clay. It reminded me of what I used to do with real clay back when I was studying ceramics. Gosh I missed it all so much!

Do check out the pop up birthday cake at the video below and you'll be able to see how it pops up in the card. :)

Seven flowers pop up birthday card

HB123

Way back in 2009, I made my first 7 flowers pop up. It was for a Chinese New Year card. I remembered how excited I was to see all the 7 flowers pop up each time I opened the card. I felt as giddy as a school girl. Back then, in my mind I thought that this pop up was the most difficult of all to make. But now I know, there are others types that are much much more difficult to make compared to this one.

There were little flowers and leaves added to the 7 flowers pop up to make it look like a bouquet of flowers. I didn't want to leave it plain and simple. I just had to add other things to the flowers to make it look more fancy. What do you think? Did it work? heheheheh!!!

I guess that this is the first time for me to use the Teary Loop flowers for my handmade card. I made a tutorial on how to make the flower long time ago and uploaded the video on YouTube, but never used them for any of my cards until now. In the tutorial, I made a small version of it, but for this card, I made the small and large version of it combined as a flower. I like the way it looks, either single or double.

The previous birthday card I made had cross-stitch on it too, where I used 4 different types of colour threads. In this one I only used two colours but had them stitched side by side. I love this idea and will probably use this idea for future cards. The cross-stitch took such a long time to sew on the paper but at the end of the day, the results made me so happy. 

Another thing I would like to mention here is the gold frame that I added to the card. I made it myself using a hard board. After cutting it up, I painted it with a gold colour to make it look fancy. I framed the washi tapes and patterned paper with this frame and decorated it with the flowers and sentiments. The rhinestones simply added some bling bling to it and made it look fancier than before. I just love how it all turned out.

This birthday card was made for someone who is very dear to me. I really hope she likes it. I know that she looks forward to receiving my handmade cards every year, but I sometimes don't have the time to make one for her. I'm so happy that this year, I can. Hey, even handmade card designers have problem sending cards to their loved ones, I kid you not! Hahaha!!

Do check out the video of the card below so you can view how to flowers pop up inside the card. Enjoy!

Mother's day pop up heart card

MD009

I know I'm a bit late in uploading photos and blogging about my Mother's day card. I guess I got carried away with the Eid cards recently that I completely ignored this one for a few days. You know how it is when we are in the "zone". We just can't get out of the zone until we are over and done with it. Only then can we see or do other things. Like seriously, it happens to me all the time. Hahaha!

This card is actually quite simple to make. The only thing that was complicated was the pop up heart inside the card. This is of course the first time for me to pop up a heart using this mechanism. Another new one for me. Another challenge. But I love a good challenge :). I especially like the little hearts dangling at the bottom of the heart. I love seeing them swing! 

The sentiments were written by hand by yours truly. I had a hard time writing it with my shaky hands. It gets harder each day. But I'm being positive about it and really hope that I can still do more with these hands. In shaa Allah...... :).

I think I probably over "blinged" the card with all the pink and green stones. I got a little carried away there but luckily my Mom didn't mind it. Over glittered it as well! LOL! But all is good because the recipient loved it. Phew!

Do check out the video below of the pop up heart card.....then you'll get it why I was so enthusiastic about making it in the first place :).

Eid Mubarak pop up mosque card

HR027

This year we will be celebrating our Eid in mid July. I'm starting early this year with my Eid cards because I don't want to rush making them last minute like before. I'm allocating more time for my Eid cards this time around. But still no custom orders as planned. I still prefer making ready stock ones so that I have more time to complete other projects.

If you have been following my work in the past years you would know that I love using the weaving technique for my Eid cards. It all started with my favourite subject matter which is the Ketupat. I used to make Eid cards that was embellished with Ketupat. The Ketupat was made using ribbons that I weaved by hand. And the common colours I picked are usually shades of green. That's why for this card I did the weaving technique for the front design. So the whole page of the card is embellished by the weaved ribbons. So instead of weaving ketupat, I decided to weave the whole front page of the card. Just trying something new for a change :).

For this card I specifically picked the colour green and white as the main colours because it's the Prophet Muhammad's favourite colours.  I still have a lot of left overs of green ribbons from last year's ketupat card design. So I used them up for this new design. It's simple....just weave different shades of ribbons and embellished them with some rhinestones.

Since I'm more focused on making pop ups cards this year, I  decided to try making my own pop up mosque for my Eid cards. This is the first time that I've tried making it and to my surprise I managed to do it. Seriously I never thought I could. It was a struggle in the beginning to draw up the shape and details and choosing the right type of mechanics for the pop up. But I'm glad I gave it a try. If I didn't, I would have never known that I could.

I might do different shades of the same design or I might just stick to this colour combination. It depends. If there is a demand, I might just do it. The important thing is to have fun making it :D.Do check out the video of the card below and see how the mosque pops up in the card. :)