Diana Official Blog

When confronted with a letter like "y", I like to pause for a second and study where the most challenging part of the letter is, and tackle that part first.  In this case, I want to solidly glue the inner angle first, allowing the sides and bottom to fall into place around it. Yep. Very happy I'm dealing with the tail AFTER most of the other bits are down {whew!}. Oops, the curve isn't quite where I want it to be. No prob. I'll just do selective curving. Ok, just a bit more... Now to dab glue to the end of the "y" so it can be glued against the other end. Here I'm using my tweezers to help align the ends so the join looks clean and I'm saved the hassle of having to trim any excess. Similar to the "w", I secured the top edges of the "u" first, then worked my way down. Since I anticipated this one to be tricky, again I skipped the prior letter. What would I do without my tweezers? At this point, I feel like a snake handler, wres...

I started quilling a typography project around November 2016, starting with the letter "f". The next letter, "o", is the one I find most challenging in the alphabet. There are no corners to diminish a join's seam.  I kiss the glue on the end, then match it up with the opposite end. Since it has no flat sides to align against the surface of my desk, I have my tweezers squeeze the flat sides. Not too shabby of a join. Then comes the smoothening out so the arc of the circle or oval. Wondering how I traced the outline of the letters on the surface of my paper? I used the s coring tool of my   Cricut Explore Air , and ask it to trace the outline of the letters.  If you don't have an electric cutter, simply lay a printed letter on top of your surface, and use a dried up pen to trace the letter on top. I suggest using removable tape so it stays put until you're done. There's something enticing about knowing where a letter is going to be. It's like that...

Ever since Honey of Honey's Quilling blogged about Paper Peacock Jewelry around the world, it's been on the back of my mind to make a pair for a friend who loves peacocks.  I wanted to experiment with Aleene's Paper Glaze (left) and  Mod Podge Dimensional Magic (right).  Both gave good results. I found the Paper Glaze retained the color of the paper better, while the Magic tends to deepen the color. Both tend to make bubbles very easily so I had to pop them using my quilling needle.  I chose to use the Dimensional Magic because I wanted the dark blue to pop out from the other colors.  It comes out cloudy, then dries clear. I also called the company to find out more about their product. Although it's water-based and non-toxic, it's still not cleared for someone like me who deals with eczema skin issues. Since the area I was covering was being encircled by several rings of paper, I felt it would be safe to give to my friend. So the rest of the paper has been le...

For years, I've been tempted to make paper jewelry, but for some reason haven't taken the leap. Then along came Ann Martin's book, The Art of Quilling Paper Jewelry , and BAM! You know what that's like right? For me, it's a weakness behind the knees and an impatient twitch of the fingers. Although I don't wear earrings, I know a few people who do, and immediately embarked on a new adventure in paper. Each project in Ann's book starts off with a concise list of materials, shapes, and finished sizes so there are no surprises. The steps are illustrated and I highly suggest reading the beginning chapters to familiarize yourself with the basics. Although I've quilled for a while, there are many techniques and knowledge bombs specific to jewelry making, such as handling 3-ply quilled paper in Chapter 2. I have been SO curious about a Mandrel Set  for eons, and finally broke down with this oh-so-valid justification. The mandrel's sizes are not marked, so I ...

My neighbor was just about to chop down his first sunflower plant last year, when I asked him why he wasn't saving it for the seeds. He was surprised when I showed him where they were hiding. He gave me a bag after they were dried, but actually they were kind of too small to bother eating. I thought it would be intriguing to make a paper sunflower from those seeds. I first glued about 4 of them side by side and waited until they dried. Then I stuck them on top of an adhesive backed foam dot (used for holding CDs in place). Row by row, I layered the glue and another set of seeds. It's key to step away and do some other task before gluing the next row (yes, I'm talking to myself here). The foam dot is really just to mound the center so it gets a bit of height. As I got near the rim, I placed it on a yogurt lid and slid seeds in below. The glue does not stick to plastic and using a flat surface for the last rows ensured I would have a flat item to glue to my final surface. I m...