My daughter Brittany's favorite poem is Langston Hughes' Hold Fast to Dreams. She has always dreamed of going to Germany and last August she finally got the opportunity to work and study over there. In October she became very ill and had to have an operation. She began to question why she wanted to go to Germany at all. I reminded her of the poem and encouraged her to hold fast to her dreams. Now that she's feeling better and things are going well, I decided to frame the poem and give it to her. I printed the poem on parchment paper and added quilling to enhance it.
(Click on picture for a larger view)Here are the directions for the project.
1. Type the poem into Microsoft Word using the Gigi font and print onto parchment paper.
2. Using the Cricut Winter Woodland cartridge set the dial to 1 1/2 inches and cut Bird 3 out of white card stock. Using the blackout feature cut Bird 3 out of antique gold metallic card stock. Distress the edges of the birds feathers, tail and beak tea dye Distress Ink. Glue the white bird on top of the gold bird.
3. Cut six pieces of lavender quilling paper in 6 inch lengths. Slide one end of the paper into the slotted quilling tool. Roll the paper into a tight circle. Remove the paper from the quilling tool and let it rest on the work surface. The circle will begin to uncoil slightly. Don't worry, this is normal. Put a dot of glue on the end of the paper and press into place. Do this five more times. Pinch the coil between your fingers to make a marquis shape.*
4. Cut nine pieces of lavender paper and four pieces of pink paper into 3 inch lengths. Repeat the process in Step 3 to make a marquis shape.
5. Cut one 3 inch piece of yellow quilling paper and roll into a tight coil. Place a dot of glue on the end of the paper and remove from the quilling tool.
6. Cut ten 3 inch pieces of green quilling paper. Make eight marquis shape. Fold the remaining two pieces in half and lightly crease. Roll a circle at each end of the paper.
7. Cut two 3 inch pieces of green quilling paper. Curl each piece using the blade of a pair of scissors (similar to curling ribbon).
8. Cut eight 6 inch pieces of green quilling paper fold the paper in half and roll the ends into circles. Do not glue the ends. Using your fingers shape the ends into loose curls. Glue the paper together near the fold to form vine shapes.
Assembly:
Arrange the large lavender marquis shapes around the yellow circle and glue into place. Arrange vines on either side of the flower. Glue the small pink and lavender marquis shapes around the vine to resemble flower buds. Glue small green marquis shapes around buds to resemble leaves. Use the two small rolled pieces to accent the top of the buds on the hanging vines. Embellish the buds with pearls.
Glue the bird below the vine and above the title of the poem.
Arrange five small lavender marquis shapes into a flower and add a pearl in the center. Glue the flower at the bottom of the page. Glue a vine shape on each side of the flower.
*For basic quilling instructions can be found on Martha Stewart.com or in Martha Stewart's Encyclopedia of Crafts.
