For Someone Special - Quilling + String Art card

Hello everyone!

I'm back with another quilling handmade card! After playing around and experimenting a lot with the 2mm and 5mm quilling papers that I made using the pasta machine, I finally assembled them all on a piece of card. 

I had sewn a Spirelli string art on a piece of a circle card and added matching seed beads that matched the quilling flowers and leaves. This type of design can be made in different colour combinations. 

This is my first time using the polka dot stencil to make the background of the card. I really love how it turned out. The Tim Holtz's Peacock Feathers distress ink that I used to ink the polka dots on the metallic card really suits the base of the card and the quilling arrangement.

It's a simple card design and not too crowded and bulky. I was happy to be able to use the die cuts that I got from In Love Arts Shop again as sentiments for the card. It is one of my favourite die cut sentiments from them. I'll be using more of it in future because it's suitable for all sorts of occasions. :)

Making quilling papers with the pasta machine - REVIEW

Hello everyone!

Once again I'm experimenting with a new tool that could help me with my quilling crafting. This is something that I've been wanting to try since last year. I saw a few videos on YouTube that shared how we can make quilling papers using a pasta machine or a pasta maker, whatever you'd like to call it. When I first saw the video I was really shocked to see how easy it was for them to cut an A4 paper to make quilling papers of different sizes with the machine. It was really exciting to see the demo and I wished I could do the same.

I only have a manual paper shredder and it only cuts 3mm paper strips. If I wanted other sizes, I would have to cut the paper with a craft knife. I do wish that there is a machine that could cut other sizes as well. That's why I wanted to try the pasta machine. So I went to searched for it in town and found a cheap one that I could try at home.  I wish there was a better quality one here but I couldn't find one. In this post, I just want to do a little review on the product and share with everyone my experience using it. 

In the beginning, I did have problems using the pasta machine as it didn't cut well and the paper strips didn't come out straight. The edges were not clean cut either. So I was a little frustrated. But I didn't give up and tried to figure out what I did wrong. After numerous tries and lots of spoiled papers, I managed to cut the paper straight enough and less paper went in the dust bin. I needed to be patient went running the paper through the machine, must slowly crank the handle. I cut the A4 paper in half and run it through one piece at a time. The best weight of paper to use is 80gsm. The thickest I've tried with the machine is 120gsm.

The pasta machine that I bought could only cut 2mm and 5mm paper strips. I was happy about that especially about the 2mm strips because I've never used a paper strip that small before. I'm used to 5mm already, and I liked it too.

As you can see from the photos above, I really love making those leaves using the 2mm strips. I could also make it look like a 3D leaf and yet it doesn't look so bulky. That's what I love about it! Awesome!

I also made small little flowers with the 2mm strips. I really love them! They will compliment the bigger flowers really well. I've always wanted to have different quilling paper sizes for different purposes and now I can make it happen because of this machine.

I cut the 5mm paper strips and made bigger sized flowers with them. It's nice to make flowers with different size strips. I'm so used to using 3mm paper strips for so many years so it was nice to be able to cut a lot of 5mm strips at one go and work with them.

Another thing that you can do with the pasta machine is use it to emboss your cards or papers. But the emboss is not that deep which I actually like because sometimes there are times when I use the Big Shot machine to emboss, it pressed the embossing folders too hard and tears the paper. So the pasta machine does not tear the paper at all. Love it!

All in all, I don't regret buying this machine but I don't necessarily recommend it to anyone especially if you don't have the patience and don't like rough edges on the paper strips. The machine has helped me cut the 2mm  and 5mm strips that I wanted even though it does have some rough edges. I really don't mind it that much because I'm used to the rough edges already. I've been making quilling cards using shredded quilling papers with rough edges for 10 years now and it has not stopped me from being creative. Hope to make more interesting quilling shapes with the new quilling papers!

Do check out the video below to see how I use the pasta machine. Thank you!