Multicolour quilling flower tutorial!

Hello again!

We are closely coming to the end of August and September is just around the corner. Today I had the opportunity again to make my second quilling tutorial for this month. This particular quilling flower seems to be a favourite among my followers on Instagram and many had requested me to make a tutorial for it. I've been trying to find some free time to do it the past few days and only today I had the chance, alhamdulillah.

Although I'm not that great at making video tutorials, I do what I can with what I have and make it happen. I really hope in future I'll be better at it. 

Well, this multicolour quilling flower is a little different from other quilling flowers I've made before. One thing for sure is that the quilling papers are not like the ones I've been using for my other tutorials. This particular quilling paper is longer than the usual A4 printing paper's length. I really like it a lot. 

The width of each quilling strip is 5mm and the length is 390mm. So, if you are using the A4 printing papers as your quilling paper, you may need to join 2 quilling strips together to make each petal of the flower, because 1 quilling strip is not enough.

Yellow and orange combination

Purple and pink combination

There are many colour combinations you can try out to make this flower. I tried making it with the blue and purple combination and that really was nice. But of course the pink and green combo is always a favourite with me! You can try yellow and orange or purple and pink! That will be lovely too!

Do check out the video below and give it a try! Have fun quilling! ;)

Husking leaves design with quilling comb

It's Friday! Believe it or not, this week I've been really busy quilling. I started quilling again after taking a break from it for months. I share a lot of what I've been making lately at my Instagram @azlinaabdul almost every other day. What can I say, it is easier to share photos there hahaha :D.

Come to think of it, it's not like I have stopped quilling completely, because I did do some minor quilling for my one of my Raya card designs this year. Well....just a little, hahaha!! I think the last time I did any quilling video tutorial was way back in February. So long ago! I guess it's high time I make new ones!

I've been working on some ideas for quilling video tutorials this month and I'm starting off with this simple husking leaves tutorial. It's really easy to make and looks really fancy. They are great for quilling beginners. 

Once you understand the method, you can make them in any size that you want. You can even make flowers with this leaf design. I'm having fun making leaves with this method instead. I have plans to use them a lot on my handmade card designs soon.

First time ever, I am doing a quilling tutorial using quilling papers that I cut myself using razor blades. They are a bit wider compared to the shredded quilling papers that I've used before. The width is 5mm and 297mm in length. But it doesn't matter because I'm still learning how to cut them without the use of any machines. Using the razor blade is a pain but I'm getting the hang of it. Someday I'll try and cut them smaller in size, maybe 2mm or 3mm.

So guys, do check out my latest video down here and try out yourself and have some fun making leaves! ;)

How to make cute paper bows!

Hello everyone!

I can't believe that's it's almost the end of July! We are left with just a few more months to be filled with lots of crafting joy! What have you all been doing lately? Well, I have been playing with these paper bows. I can't seem to stop making them ever since I figured out how to make them! Aren't they just so cute?! I love them! I started making them early this month. Once I figured out how to make them, I just had to share with everyone how it's made.

These bows looks just like the bows made with the We R Memory Keeper punch board, but they are NOT!! I cut them up by hand. No special boards were used in the making of these paper bows. Believe or not! Yes, all that was needed was just a pencil, a ruler, a pair of scissors, some white glue and a circle template or a 180 degree round ruler.

The measurements for the paper bows are as below:

1st piece is 6 inches x 1 inch.

2nd piece is 3 1/2 inches x 1 inch.

3rd piece is 1/4 inch x 1 inch.

Once you know how to make this paper bows, you can use them to decorate on paper bags, handmade cards, gift boxes and more! It's all up to your imagination. It's a great way to use up all your pattern paper scraps you have in your collection. I know I'm gonna use them all up. I have lots of them in my craft room just waiting to be turned into paper bows!

Do watch the video tutorial below if you want to give it a try! Thanks so much for watching! Enjoy!

My first twist circle pop up card

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Hello everyone!

In continuation from yesterday's post, today I want to share another Eidul Fitri card that I made this year. This one is a little bigger in size compared to the other design that I blogged about yesterday that is only half the size of this card. I only made two Eidul Fitri card designs this year and as I said in yesterday's post, this year's card designs are all about flowers and I chose the Rose flower as the subject matter for this one.

I also made a pop up for this card and the thing is, the mechanism for this one is similar to the one I made for the other Eidul Fitri card. When I was learning how to make the pop up twist from the various YouTube tutorials, I found out that the base for the pop up twist is the same as the base for the pop up twist circle. The only difference is how the position of the circle is glued to the base of the pop up. They both twist as they pop up but in a different direction and I find that to be so interesting!! That's why even though I don't have the die cut for this pop up, I still challenged myself to do it manually. The pop up twist is definitely easier to do compared to the pop up twist circle. I almost gave up doing it in the beginning but my many experiments finally became successful in the end. So NEVER give up trying!! :D

I just love these Rose flower die cuts from Die-namics. I have two different types of Rose flower die-cut patterns, but this one is my favourite. Once the patterns are cut, they need to be embossed in order to get that look similar to of a Rose flower.

Another thing I love doing whenever I make my handmade cards is sewing beads on the card. I think this is the first time I'm sewing these beads this way. Usually I would sew them on a square or rectangular shaped paper, so it's a first for me to sew them along the lines of this oblong shaped paper. 

Although I didn't make any quilling flowers, I did however made some quilling sprigs to use as part of the decoration for the flower arrangement. Not too many of them though, as I don't like seeing them too overcrowded. They seem to blend well with the Roses ;). 

You could see that I used a Rose pattern corner punch to punch out the corners for the pop up insert inside the card and also for the front layer of the card. I really like this puncher because not only I can use it to punch out Rose pattern on the corners but I can also cut out pieces of Roses with it. And I used them to decorate on the twist circle pop up. I love playing with the Rose puncher and see what else I can do with it for future projects. It's nice to buy a puncher and to find out that it can be used for multiple of things, not just one. :)

Do check out the video of the card below. Thank you so much for watching!

Salam Aidilfitri pop up twist card

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Salam Ramadhan everyone and hello again!

It's already June! That means I missed out blogging in April and May. Sigh! To think that I wanted to blog everyday this year and end up not even blogging every month. The guilt is always there, ok!!.HAHA! Oh well, hope to do better next time!! So today I want to share about what I've been up to the past couple of months. 

This year's Raya card design is all about having fun! Fun means that I just don't think too much about the Raya theme and just focus on how to make it look pretty. Previously my Raya cards had to have Ketupat or Mosque as the subject matter. But this year, I decided to do something that has nothing to do with Raya at all. So it was all about flowers! Lots of them! 

I was thinking of doing quilling flowers, but they are a bit time consuming and I didn't have enough time to do it this time. Maybe next year, I'll be more prepared, if I start really early. As you all know, I was a bit distracted early this year with the knitting, weaving and crocheting, which took my mind off from paper craft for quite some time. When I got the order to make the Raya cards, I had to shift the mode from playing with yarns and focus on paper craft. Somehow it didn't turn out as well as I thought it would in the beginning. I had a hard time deciding what kind of design I wanted to do versus what I can do.

What is certain is that the Raya card has to have a pop up inside no matter what. I've always made sure that my Raya cards have pop up inside. For my Raya cards this year, I wanted to use a pop up mechanism that I learned from various YouTube tutorials. It's the Pop Up Twist mechanism that really interest me this time. I watched a few tutorials before deciding on how I would to do it. Because watching different tutorials means that different teachers will give me different tips on it, so it's always wise to watch more than one tutorial so that I will have a better understanding of how to do the pop up. 

I also thought of my craft punches. I have lots of them. But not enough for a showcase though! LOL! So, the idea is to figure out how to incorporate all these craft punches in one card design. That of course took me a lot of time to figure out, hahahahaa! I wanted to make a simple design, nothing too complicated because I need to make a lot of the cards. So if it is too time consuming, I have to think of something else to do. 

To be honest, decorating the card with the punched out flowers and leaves are not that hard to do and not time consuming at all. The only reason why it was time consuming was because I embossed them. The embossing took so much of my time. I embossed hundreds of the flowers and leaves. I had to do that because the embossed look was so much better than if it was not. So, for the sake of beauty, I sacrificed my time and energy. HAHA! It was worth it though! :D

OK, the butterflies, need not be embossed....so I just stick them on the pop up spirals I made. The pop up spirals were cut by hand by the way. No die cuts for that. 

I think I used about 11 punches for this card alone! That's the most I've used for any of my handmade cards before. I really made used of them this time, HAHA! As you can see, I had to make the pop up twist from scratch. No die cuts. I've seen on YouTube how they use die cuts for this pop up and it's so easy when you have that at hand. But it's also good to learn how to do it yourself. It's more challenging and interesting. Keeps the brain working you know.

Last but not least.....my love for writing my own sentiments for my handmade cards. In a way, it's my way of forcing myself to write with the brush. It gives me the practice I needed. You know how it is if you don't get the practice every now and then, you tend to lose the skill. 

All in all, making this card was a good lesson for me. I learned a lot in the progress. It's always good to try new things and work the brain a bit. Do check out the video of the card below. You can see how the pop up twist works inside the card. Thanks for watching! ;)

How to make Ketupat ribbons for Raya cards

Hello again!

It's March 2018 and I have been busy the past few weeks with lots of things. Early this year I was so obsessed with knitting, crocheting and also weaving. Most of the projects are still ongoing. Still not completed yet because I only do them during my free time, which is mostly at night while watching TV hahahah. But I think I might have to slow down or even stop my obsession for a while because I have a lot of cards to make before Ramadhan comes.

This post today is something that I have been meaning to do for years. It's a very simple tutorial and something that is very easy to do. This year, I got another request from one of my followers on Instagram. She is one of hundreds who have requested me to do it over the years, so  I made sure this year I would find the time to do it and share with everyone how I make these Ketupat ribbons.

As most of you know, I've been making them for so many years now in different sizes. Each year I would make it a point to make them for my Raya cards. In this tutorial, you'll see that I've only shown how to make the big size Ketupat ribbon. This is because it's easier for you to make the big ones compared to the small ones and it's easier for you to see and understand the process. Once you have mastered making the big ones, it would be easier for you to make them in any size you like.

Below are samples of Raya cards that I've made over the years using the Ketupat ribbons. But you can also see some really old ones that I made at the links below:

https://azlina-lin.blogspot.my/2010/08/ribbon-ketupat.html

https://azlina-lin.blogspot.my/2009/09/orange-and-yellow-ketupat-ribbon-card.html

https://azlina-lin.blogspot.my/2009/08/blue-and-brown-ketupat-ribbon.html

https://azlina-lin.blogspot.my/2009/08/pink-and-green-ketupat.html

https://azlina-lin.blogspot.my/2009/08/green-yellow-ketupat-ribbon.html


Hope you'll get inspired by them and make your own! Do check out my video below too. Thanks for watching and happy crafting! :)

Raya Card 2013 - Swing card

Raya card 2013 - Swing card

Raya card with tiny Ketupat ribbons

Raya card 2017

Quilling leaf tutorial

(My handmade birthday card that I made last year using those quilling leaves)

My first quilling tutorial for 2018. ☺☺☺

I wanted to do this simple quilling leaf tutorial since last year after I made the leaves for one of my  handmade cards. There was a lot of demand for the tutorial after I made a blog post about the handmade card. In fact I did make one video tutorial of the quilling leaf last year but there was some major mistakes that I did in it therefore I couldn't upload it on YouTube. Ever since then, I never had the time again to do another one till today. Waahhh sibuk sangat ke??!! Hahaha! Oh well! At least I did try to make it again this year. The first of many more to come in shaa Allah. ☺❤

When I made those quilling leaves for my handmade card, the leaf was pretty simple. Basically I just used the same technique as I did the quilled sprigs and just wrapped the sprig with another piece of quilling paper around it to make it look like a leaf with veins. This year, I thought of pasting the leaf on green coloured paper so that it will have a background colour so that it will not look like a see through leaf.

As usual I used 3mm x 297mm shredded quilling papers to make the leaves. But you can use any type of quilling paper that you like. Any size, any colour, it doesn't matter, as it is all up to your creativity to make it look more beautiful. I just wanted to share the method so that you have an idea of how it is done. 

I do hope you will check out the video and try making the quilling leaf yourself. Have fun quilling everyone!! ☺☺☺

My first woven scarf

Hello again!

I hope you are not disappointed to see me updating my blog with a post that's not related to quilling or handmade cards. I guess I'm taking some of my free time from card making and quilling to pursue my joy in other types of craft. I want to make this year, a year about learning and experimenting on new crafts and expanding my skills.

Anyways, this year, after finding joy in knitting, I wanted to also find back the joy in weaving. Knitting, crocheting and weaving, all use the same the material, which is yarn to make scarves, sweaters, blankets or whatever we like with them. So after starting the year with knitting, I thought of weaving or maybe after that, try my hand at crocheting too, which I have also tried many years before but was not really good at it. Who knows, maybe this time, I'll be much better at it right? Hahaha! God willing! 

I believe this is not my first time experimenting on weaving. I've tried it a few years ago but on a very small A4 size diy loom made of mounting board. Not sure if I blogged about it here. Tried to find a post about it here but failed. So maybe I didn't write about it here after all. But I'm sure I post about it on Instagram or Facebook back then. It was not continuous weave though....but it was the conventional weaving method (which I was not good at! LOL!)

So, after I tried my hand in knitting two scarves, I wanted to try weaving one too. I went on a search on YouTube (as always hahahaha) to look for tutorials on how to weave it and found one particular tutorial that I find really interesting. Interesting because of the method of weaving! They called it the Continuous Strand Weaving Method! Probably because, you don't have to cut a certain amount of yarn to start weaving. You can continuously use the whole ball of yarn for the whole project. That was one of the reasons why I liked it and also because, I don't have to worry about the sides of the weave curving up as I weave. Usually that would be one of the main problem that I face every time I weave. So this technique solves all the problem I had with weaving.

As you can see from the photos and video above, I didn't have to cut the yarn at all. I just continuously weave the yarn from the bottom of the loom up till the end of it. And on each side the edges were even. I really LOVED that!! It's so difficult to get a really even edge when you do the conventional weaving method.

After all the weaving is done, I would take out the pins one by one and then, I would use a big crochet hook to join up all the loops around the scarf. This will seal the weave and complete the scarf. You can see how I do it from the video above. :)

Although in the beginning of the weave, there were already some fringe on both ends of the scarf, I added more of it once the weaving is completed. This is because, there were not enough fringe and it looked so loose. So since there were still a lot of the yarn left at hand, I added more to it to make the fringe look more thick.

I made this scarf the same length as the board, so that means, it's not that long. Compared to the knitted scarf I made before, this one is pretty short but it's the average length of a scarf. The weave is about 43 inches long and plus the fringes on both ends that has a total of 12 inches long, that makes the scarf, 55 inches long altogether. The width of the scarf is about 5 inches. So it's not that wide and long but good enough to go around the neckline and hang on the back and front of the body.

I will definitely try to make another scarf with this method but it will be a more challenging one and with wider and longer loom. It takes a shorter amount of time to do a simple weave like this compared to knitting, so I will definitely try this again. I already have an idea of how to do it. ;)

22.2.2020 - This woven scarf now belongs to Jed! Made this scarf for him way back in 2018 and yet he only received it 2020. I was supposed send it together with the knitted scarf I made for his Mom but I didn't get the chance to get it done on time. Anyways I am glad I get the chance to see him wearing it and gosh he is all grown up now! A fine young man he is. I first knew him when he was still wearing diapers! I'm feeling really old right now, LOL!