Happy Birthday with Quilled Balloons

Have you ever tried quilling? It’s very relaxing! I used to do a lot of custom quilling orders back in the day, but now I only do it for fun or for special occasions. Today’s card features a quilled balloon design that, with the right tools, is pretty easy to make.

To start, I glued together two 23” long strips of 1/8” wide quilling paper in each of the five balloon colors. You can get quilling paper online or at some local craft stores. It doesn't matter if it's the super long kind like I used, as long as you have a total of about 46” of each color to a coil.

I rolled up each strip into a tight disc, then placed it inside a 1.25” punched circle to expand (which I punched out of a scrap of Royal Sundance 110lb Felt Cardstock).

To make it what’s called an “eccentric circle,” I used two pins and a small cork coaster to pull the center over to one side. After adjusting the rings with a pair of tweezers, I added a dab of glue on the paper in between the pins to keep everything together.

Once I had all five of my circles ready, I gently pinched one side to shape them into balloons. Next, I threaded some silver baker’s twine through the bottom ring of each balloon and tied them carefully.

The paper I used for the background is Basis 110lb Cardstock. It’s my favorite for mounting quilled pieces since it’s uncoated and has some texture to it. I find it hides glue extremely well (glue shows up as shadows on smooth paper) and the colors of quilling paper really pop on it.

I die cut the panel I used for the card with a cross-stitch border die (Cross Stitched Rectangles, Lawn Fawn), and adhered the balloons with Tombow Mono Multi Glue. The pink balloon is attached with a snippet of a foam square just behind the top center. Then, I pulled all the strings together and tied them with another piece of twine, tucking the ends underneath the panel.

To make the sentiment, I stamped and embossed “Happy Birthday” (Hats Off To You, Lawn Fawn) onto a die cut banner (Small Folded Banners, Simon Says Stamp) cut from Basis Dark Purple Cardstock, then adhered it to the card front with a couple of foam squares.

To finish off the card, I attached the finished panel to an A2 sized card base made from Royal Sundance 110lb Felt Cardstock with foam adhesive strips.

Thanks for coming by today... I hope you give quilling a try - I bet you’ll love it!

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❤️  Niki • cardstoq.com • @cardstoq (on Instagram, Pinterest & Twitter)