Diana Official Blog

Easter is coming soon, and this year it is celebrated from Good Friday on March 30th, until Easter Monday on April 2nd - making Easter Sunday fall on April Fool's day. For this occasion, I would like to show you my new quilled Easter egg - a Northern Hawk Owl. Read more »

Some friends have a new home so I wanted to quill a "Happy Housewarming!" card for them. I glued the heart outlines first to set the boundaries. Then I trimmed a popsicle stick on an angle to match the heart angle and set that in place. When making the house, I realized it was too big for the space and trimmed it down – I do that often. Just eyeball and adjust on the go. Same with the birds. They were too large at first, so I made them smaller by making the tails longer. I used Aunt Berni's left over strips, and wow, it was fun! Why? By using what she had on hand, I was forced to use the colors on hand in whatever size was there. I don't normally use so many colors in this way and am happy with how lively and vibrant it turned out.

This year's last Easter egg is a birdcage. It is delicate, airy, intricate, and at the same time easy to make. This egg may look simple compared to the Emperor penguin or the super-complex egg with a surprise , but I like it no less than the others. Read more »

On an Easter note, I would like to show another quilled egg I made recently. This is an emperor penguin. Emperor penguins are the tallest and heaviest of all living penguin species and are endemic to Antarctica. In my opinion they are the most beautiful, too. Males and females are similar in plumage and size, so my penguin may be either a mom or a dad, whichever you like better :) And there's a surprise, too. Read more »

November is a good time to start thinking Christmas. I'm living in Canada now, and my neighbors have already decorated their houses. I thought it would be nice to showcase some Christmas ornaments with quilling today. Read more »

Dear readers! First off, I would like to thank you for all those emails of appreciation and encouragement I receive from you, as well as your comments on this blog. I read them all, without exception. And I value them a lot! Unfortunately, I not always have time to reply, so I want to apologize, too. Now it's time to keep my promise (see Thermometers decorated with quilling ) and show you two other thermometers. Read more »

This post is about this year's costumes I prepared for my girls. I know, it's too late for Purim and too early for Halloween, but I decided to show them now anyway. My elder daughter wanted to dress up as an owl, and I thought of the idea of a quilled mask right away. The mask is built on a cardboard base. First, I made the inner rim of the eyes using yellow and black strips 1/8 inches wide (about 3 mm). Then I cut wide brown and beige paper strips and used the fringed flowers technique to create the "feathers" around the eyes. When they were ready, I cut the rest of the brown and beige paper into 1/8"-wide strips (3 mm), used them to roll "eye" shapes, and glued the shapes onto the base, at the sides of the mask. The beak is made of plain and corrugated , 1/4"-wide (6 mm) brown strips. A brown skirt and a sweater with simple wings attached to the arms complete the costume. Read more »

This flower arrangement in shades of orange was inspired by the flowers of lily, mum (Chrysanthemum), rose, pot marigold (Calendula) and flame vine (Pyrostegia/Bignonia Venusta). Read more »

I was writing this post when the news came about the tragedy in Japan. Like many other's, my thoughts, heart and prayers are with the people of Japan. For those looking for ways to donate to support the disaster relief efforts, here are a few links: Japanese Red Cross (via Google) American Red Cross British Red Cross Read more »

Dear readers! First off, I would like to wish you a happy New Year! May the upcoming year be full of joy, good health, peace and creativity. I'd like also to apologize for not blogging, and not responding to emails and comments lately - I've been too busy with my classes. Read more »

It's time to wrap up making Rosh Hashanah greeting cards for this year. Seems like I've made enough for all friends and family :) This is the third and final set, the previous two can be found here: Rosh Hashanah cards with quilling , and Quilled Rosh Hashanah cards, continued . Well, the one at the top isn't too much original. Apples ( how to quill apples ) with honey are traditionally eaten on Rosh Hashanah eve. Size: 3 1/8 x 3 1/8 inch (8 x 8 cm). Read more »

The owl is one of the most amazing birds in my opinion. I like owls as a subject of my crafts: I made an owl cake , a salted dough owl , owl salt and pepper shakers , and this time also a paper quilling owl. Read more »