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Mrs. Penguin, Northern California Age and Occupation: 27, Weddingbee Editor in Chief Fiance's Age and Occupation: 30, Doctor of Physical Therapy Engagement Date: January 29, 2007 Wedding Date: June 7, 2008 Blogging Since: September 14, 2007 Venue: Winery in the Gold Country About Me: I love the Spice Girls, dogs with underbites, bean burritos, making messes, high fives, avoiding showers, crossword puzzles, blogs, weddings, and blogs about weddings!
About Mrs. Penguin

Quillin’ Like A Villain

February 7th, 2008 @ 12:07 pm by Mrs. Penguin

Awesome title, yeah?  No? Okay. I tried  :)

Fueled by the quilling high I got from making my Valentines, I decided to get cracking on my table numbers! I mentioned earlier that I wanted to incorporate a Minnesota theme for the table numbers, and while I generally despise “themes” of any sort, I thought it would be a fun way to showcase Mr. Penguin’s hometown at our wedding.

I found these neato old drawn maps of various cities in Minnesota from the Library of Congress’ Zazzle site, so I ordered 20 cities on cards to turn into table numbers. Here’s a few, they are so pretty I hated cutting them out!

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So, I’m not going to lie. Quilling takes a lot of time. And the tinier the letters, the harder it is. I originally started out with a smaller font, but had to double the size of the words because of my chubby fingers. But here’s the process:

First, you have to make quilling strips. My shortcut is to tape some graph paper to the paper that you want to quill with, and cut with an exacto knife.

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Next, find a pretty font that would look good quilled. Anything flourish-y works. Print the words out and tape the printout onto the cardstock that you will use for your table numbers. Work at a glass table so that you can shine a flashlight under everything so you can see through the paper.

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Quill your little heart out using a quilling tool (easily found at any craft store)

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To adhere your quilled paper to your cardstock, simply dip them in glue and lay them on the paper.

Voila! The glue will dry clear.

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I didn’t adhere the card/blue background to the cardstock yet, but I taped it really quick so you can see the outcome:

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With chubby little fingers, this project is exhausting. But I think the results are pretty wedding-worthy! 19 more to go….

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42 Responses to “Quillin’ Like A Villain”

1.
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Guest
Miss Cream Puff

WHOA. That is HARD CORE, Miss Penguin! I am DIYing a TON of crap, but I don’t know that I have the motivation for something that intense! High five!

 
2.
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Member
Angel (message)  1,252 posts, Bumble bee

Oh my gosh, that’s amazing. You must have the patience of a saint to do that.

I must admit; I’ve never heard of this before. See, that’s why this website is awesome. I get to add more words to my vocabulary: Etsy, Gocco, Quilling.

 
3.
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Bee
Miss Dahlia (message)  412 posts, Helper bee

That’s awesome, Penguin! I can’t even imagine the amount of patience you must have to do that for all of your tables.

 
4.
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Mrs. Emerald (message)  901 posts, Busy bee

Ho.Ly.Mo.Ly.

!!!!!

I can’t believe how ambitious you are… I still don’t understand how you get the quilled strips of paper to form the letters, but that’s awesome!!

 
5.
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Miss Cherry Blossom (message)  696 posts, Busy bee

Geez #1. It’s one awesome thing after another with you ain’t it?

Wanna quill me?! kekeke. =0)

 
6.
stargazerlily
Member
stargazerlily (message)  946 posts, Busy bee

Mrs. Emerald - you kind of have to “form” the paper to do what you want, and use quick drying glue so that as soon as you stick it down where you want, it stays. It is surprisingly not very hard, just time consuming!

 
7.
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BIL Bee (message)  45 posts, Newbee

Wow, nice work! For the sake of your bleeding fingers, I hope the other city names are shorter. If it were me, all my cities would be as short as possible, like DC or NYC. Also, as I’ve just demonstrated, I’d bust out every abbreviation I could think of!

 
8.
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ChicagoSarah (message)  159 posts, Blushing bee

That looks amazing, Miss Penguin! And here I am thinking “can I really punch 120 butterflies out of card stock for my invite closures”? If you have the patience for that, I’m sure I can. :)

 
9.
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Guest
Laura

The finished product is beautiful!!! This is defintely a detail that will not be lost on your guests - great job!!!

 
10.
stargazerlily
Member
stargazerlily (message)  946 posts, Busy bee

Unfortunately, no such luck BIL…and if I abbreviated “Minnetonka” as “MTA” people would be like, WHAAA?

Maybe Mr. Peng should have though about being raised in a place with shorter names, PSH!!!

 
11.
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modernbride12 (message)  16 posts, Newbee

that is amazing!!!! you’re giving martha stewart a run for her money. lol

 
12.
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Member
beanchar (message)  549 posts, Busy bee

A-mazing. You one talented lady.

 
13.
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Guest
meleven

That looks great! I love the maps, the fonts, and the 3-D letters. Quill is certainly a fun word. Good luck with the rest of the cities!

 
14.
tea
Member
tea (message)  2,616 posts, Sugar bee

i think i’d do that just so i can say, “no, i’m not busy. just doing a little quilling.”

though it took me a little bit to figure out how the quilling strips worked. i’m uber-impressed pengy!

 
15.
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cgeniew (message)  68 posts, Worker bee

Wow, that looks great!

 
16.
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L

:( i still don’t see how you cut and then get to the letters. i have to admit though, i’ve never heard of this either and it looks super cool! if i weren’t so craft-challenged i might try it!

those table names look great! so cute!

 
17.
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Guest
bloomin'

Damn…

That’s all I have to say.

 
18.
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griffen

All my props are belong to Pengy

(I’m not grammatically challenged, just a geek.)

 
19.
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Guest
McCaulie

I LOVE this!!! It’s Stunning!! I’m still a little confused on how you did it. Where’d you learn about this crafty quilling technique?? Please share oh-crafty-one! :)

 
20.
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Lan

gosh, they look professional! i’m confused too…i guess i need to read up on quilling..which to me also is new.

 
21.
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E

i had to youtube quilling! seriously amazing!

 
22.
stargazerlily
Member
stargazerlily (message)  946 posts, Busy bee

Everything you need to know you can learn from Martha :)

Here’s the link:
http://www.marthastewart.com/portal/site/mslo/menuitem.3a0656639de62ad593598e10d373a0a0/?vgnextoid=6cf68a3d95405110VgnVCM1000003d370a0aRCRD&autonomy_kw=quilling%20valentines&rsc=header_2

she traces the words onto the paper rather than does the flashlight thing that I did, which I dont like, because then if you dont follow your tracing exactly, you will be able to see your drawn lines. Using a flashlight/glass table is cleaner.

Its really just like curling ribbon with scissors almost, except you use little strips of paper instead…does that make more sense? And as for forming the letters, seriously, you just have to do it by hand….its painstaking, but PRET-TAY!

 
23.
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Red

You are on a ROLL!! I’m gonna have to save your quilling posts to try later. :-)

 
24.
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catherine

Wow! It looks amazing! What font did you use for your project?

 
25.
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Bee
Mrs. Lemon (message)  426 posts, Helper bee

you’re crazy… that’s all I’m saying… CRAZY! :)

 
26.
stargazerlily
Member
stargazerlily (message)  946 posts, Busy bee

Catherine - The font I used is “Renaissance”, Free Here:

http://www.dafont.com/renaissance.font

Also I used size 94 and spaced it out a bit (by 7 point I think). I tried originally with like size 80 or something but I started to go blind from all the small curlies. Bigger is better anyway for table numbers though, right?

 
27.
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Mrs. Corn (message)  1,010 posts, Bumble bee

wow…just. wow.

I am in awe.

 
28.
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alexinwonderland

I want to have your quilled babies. Is that forward?

PS: I am seeing the Spice Girls TONIGHT.

 
29.
stargazerlily
Member
stargazerlily (message)  946 posts, Busy bee

ALEX OMGGGGG

I saw them in Vegas! AMAZING show. Too short. I teared up a little bit when they first came out. So pathetic. They all look AWESOME and the show is insanely good.

 
30.
Mrs. Bee
Bee
Mrs. Bee (message)  3,261 posts, Sugar bee

wow now this is a project i’ve never seen before. so cool!!!!

 
31.
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Kyleigh

Stooooooooop it Pengy! Stop giving me ideas!!!! I’m already goccoing every friggin piece of wedding paper in my life, and now, NOW, you give me quilling?! Damn you, pengy, damn you.

 
32.
stargazerlily
Member
stargazerlily (message)  946 posts, Busy bee

HAHAH JUST DO IT Kyleigh! SO CHEAP! Quilling tool $4, Paper, like what, 99 cents? People will see the blood, sweat and tears you put into it…okay maybe only crazy people like us.

 
33.
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BIL Bee (message)  45 posts, Newbee

Pengy, be careful with your quilling tool, so your guests don’t see actual blood on the quilled letters! :-)

 
34.
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Miss Sundae (message)  198 posts, Blushing bee

Um, wow. I bow to your quilling greatness.

 
35.
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Miss Lovebug (message)  714 posts, Busy bee

Are you kidding me right now? That’s the coolest thing, ever. omg. This was a “Mr. LB, get over here. You gotta see this” post.

 
36.
stressgirl615
Member
stressgirl615 (message)  316 posts, Helper bee

Miss Penguin, I was going to do quilling numbers too for my table numbers when I saw the directions on Marthastewart.com!!! However we came up w/a different idea later on. But I love how your’s came out! It’s just spectacular. Good luck on all your quilling.

 
37.
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Guest
December

Yay! Minnesota names may be long, but they are beautiful, just like the state. Sigh.. missing my Minnesota.

 
38.
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Bee
Miss Chickadee (message)  208 posts, Helper bee

Dang Miss Penguin, you are like the best crafter I (sort of) know! First you’re a gocco diva and now a quilling machine!

 
39.
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Guest
jnicholea

I still don’t really understand how you did this, but the results are so beautiful!

 
40.
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Guest
Kyleigh

I was wondering what the cost would be for the tools. Do i sense a trip to AC moore in my future? Oh yes, Yes, i do.

 
41.
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GetMarried4Less (message)  915 posts, Busy bee

this is insane! in a good way….but insane nonetheless!

Awesome. i guarantee that people will think these are cool. they will pick up the cards and be like, wow! neat 3-d effect.

you should write in uber-small letters on the back that they are made by the Bride. that will get you the praise that you mightily deserve!

 
42.
pancy
Member
pancy (message)  288 posts, Helper bee

I LOVE quilling and totally plan to use it for my wedding as well! I learned it in Korea a few years back and they sell tons of quilling paper in all types of beautiful colors, but I haven’t been able to find any good ones here (and theones I do find are not very pretty and SUPER expensive!) You know - you can also quill flowers and other images. fruits and things like that are super easy to do.. you can also look it up as twirling paper… I think that is the common term in the states. :) LOVE it! your table numbers are beautiful!

 


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Mrs. Penguin Mrs. Penguin, Northern California Age and Occupation: 27, Weddingbee Editor in Chief Fiance's Age and Occupation: 30, Doctor of Physical Therapy Engagement Date: January 29, 2007 Wedding Date: June 7, 2008 Blogging Since: September 14, 2007 Venue: Winery in the Gold Country About Me: I love the Spice Girls, dogs with underbites, bean burritos, making messes, high fives, avoiding showers, crossword puzzles, blogs, weddings, and blogs about weddings!
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