Painting again.

As an artist you'd think I paint a lot. That would be as far from the truth as possible. The last time I painted was when I was in art college. 

 

It's not that I completely hated painting and preferred the designing. But my professors would always be annoyed that I wouldn't do what they asked for and just did my own thing. 

 

I have absolutely no idea where this new found love for abstract portraits has come from. But I am just going with the flow and enjoying this artistic journey while it lasts. 

 

These are 4 portraits from a set of 10. Created with acrylic paints on 4x4" canvas 

 

They're coaster size and I'm not sure how to display them yet. But more on that once I figure it out. 

Till next time..

Xoxo

K

Quilled jewelry box.

I've always wanted to try the beehive technique but for some reason I was very hesitant about it. 

I finally decided that enough was enough and tried it. The flower on this box is my first try with the beehive technique. 

I must admit I did view a couple of tutorials first though. And when I went over the steps in my head (yeah.... I tend to do that) the turning parts got me a bit frustrated. 

I created mine without turning the strip. I don't know if there's already a tutorial that already exists, but I am planning on doing one my way. 

I'm just in love with this filigree lace effect. I'd love me some beehive lace earrings. That's the next plan. 

See you soon. 

Xoxo

Karen. 

How to make simple earring cards for your handmade jewelry.

You spend so much time and effort sourcing and designing your handmade jewelry and creating your wonderful one of a kind pieces. You've marketed your product and got potential buyers. But how do you present your wonderful creations to the world? Well for starters you place them on earring cards that are as unique as the earrings you put your heart and soul into creating. 

Tools and materials you will need: 

* Coloured cardstock of your choice

* pencil

* old eraser

* ruler or scale

* scissor

* double sided tape

* a thumb tack/ push pin 

(I've used a large safety pin instead) 

* decorative rhinestones (optional)

To begin with, select the cardstock that you want to use. I'm using the coloured card for the background and white for the front. 

I cut my background pieces to 6x9cms

The white foreground pieces were cut to 5.5x8.5cms to get a small border of colour when stuck. 

My double sided tape measures 1 inch in width. I put 2 pieces of tape at the top and bottom of the foreground card. 

Peel off the backing paper and stick it in the center of your coloured card stock. 

Almost done...

Using your pin pierce holes at the top where the earring hooks will go. There is a punch available to this part also. 

If you're piercing manually make sure the holes are aligned. 

And it's ready. 

To personalise my cards I'm going to print my business name and put in on the bottom with a rhinestone on either side. 

Hope you enjoyed this little tutorial. 

I'd love to see your spin on these simple cards. 

Xoxo

Karen. 

Sibling strength

Talented hands run in my family in both maternal and paternal sides right from my great-grandparents. It must definitely go back way beyond that too. 

My sister Kirstin for example is one of the most talented people I know. 

That's her on the right. Gorgeous!

She's an awesome baker. Her cakes, cupcakes and cookies are always a hit. Her food is delicious as well - Chicken in oyster sauce, Fire chicken, Stir-fry veggies, Pasta...

Our birthday cakes are never ordered at home. They are homemade with a lot of love and effort and creativity. 

Even with Carple tunnel she crochets beanies, doilies, hair bands and little flower clips for children. Besides all this, she has even made crochet jewelry for one of our summer collections that sold like hot cakes. 

She even managed the restaurant she and her husband started - before her little angel came along. Being such foodies they experimented and created their own burgers and dishes right down to the sauces. 

Having had a background in fine art she designed everything for the restaurant. She has worked with several advertising agencies in Bombay and even designed bags for 'Baggit'.  

To accomplish so much by using your God given talents is what we all need to strive for. This excellence to create and keep on creating for as long as we can. 

Thank you little sis for inspiring me to do better and for pushing me to work harder. 

Xoxo

K. 

Using a circle sizer or quilling mat.

A circle sizer or quilling mat come in handy when making flowers. It ensures that all the petals of the flower are the same size. 

You will need: 

* Circle sizer/ quilling mat

* Slotted tool

* Tweezer

* Quilling strips

* PVA glued

If you look at your circle sizer you will notice circles of different sizes. These will make sure that all your loose coils expand to the same size for your flower making. 

To begin, quill a coil using your quilling strip and slotted tool. Do not stick the end down. Now as a rule of thumb, your coil should be about half the size of the circle size you choose so that it can expand properly. The one here is way to large. 

This one seems to be a better size. 

Place your coil in the center and let go of it. It should expand and look like this. 

My circle sizer has 6 circles of the same size so I went ahead and made 6 coils to fill up the 6 circles I'm using. 

Using your narrow nose tweezers, insert one prong into the center of your coil and pinch the outer end with the other and lift off of the circle sizer. 

Make sure you hold firm cos' if you let go there might be a change in its size affecting the final size of the petal. 

Apply a dab of glue at the tip. 

Stick the end down. 

Now shape your petal. I chose to do the drop shape for my petals. 

Complete all 6 petals in the same way. 

Stick the petals together to form a flower. 

Using another colour form a tight coil to form the center. 

Add some leaves and you're done. 

In case you've missed my earlier tutorials you can find below the ones I've used to create this flower. 

Tight coil

Teardrop shape

Crimped leaves

Thanks so much for dropping by. 

Xoxo

Karen. 

How to use a crimper in quilling

Everyone is getting on the "Quilling Craze" and a lot of people are amazed with the crimp effect on quilling paper but are a little hesitant in trying it. I personally love the crimped effect on my paper jewelry but I definitely want to try and incorporate it into some of my framed art pieces. 

You're gonna need:

* Quilling strips

* Crimper tool  

* Slotted tool

* PVA glue

The crimper tool is a simple tool consisting of 2 wheels and a rotating handle. All you have to do is gently feed in your willing strip between the two wheels while rotating the handle. You can see here how the smooth strip of paper now gets the zig-zag effect. 

I've got 3 quilling strips crimped and ready for the 3 leaves I need to make. 

To roll and shape your crimped strips, place one end in your slotted quilling tool and gently roll without putting too much pressure on the strip or pulling it tight. Both of these will result in losing the crimp effect from the paper. 

Once you've rolled to the end, take the crimped coil off the tool. 

Leave it on a flat surface to gently unravel to the size you need. 

Shape your leaves as desired and stick the end down. I made Marquis or eye shaped leaves. 

Hope you enjoyed this little tutorial. 

Xoxo

Karen. 

Quilled jewelry box

Quilling has a lot of uses. It's used to decorate birthday cards and wedding invites. It adorns photo frames and magazine stands, tea-light votives and wall art, Christmas deco and filigree eggs. There's also a wide variety of quilled and light weight paper jewelry. 

Quilling has a lot of uses especially around the house. Here I have made a three dimensional quilled jewelry box using only the 'Tight coils'. 

The top and bottles of the box are flat and the sides are built up from the edges of the bottom by overlapping each coil on each row. 

I used the square border buddy to create a handle and decorated it with a little strip of rhinestones. 

For the deco I've used one large quilled flower in dark blue to match the blue in the box. I've also added three purple three dimensional punchcraft flowers for a little pop of colour. Again all the flower centers have rhinestones to match the ones on the handle. 

Here's the top view of my quilled jewelry box. If you do try one, I'd love to see a photo of it. 

You can find my tutorial on the 'Tight coil' here

Xoxo

Karen.