Quilled Wedding Invitations

My daughter Brittany's friend Nancy is getting married in June. Brittany and Nancy met in an Economics class in college. This was about the same time that I began baking my way through Marcel Desaulnier's Death by Chocolate books. Nancy and Brittany agreed to become my cookie testers, so I would bake a batch of cookies and send them off to be critiqued. I wanted to give Nancy a special gift (after all she was one of my cookie testers) so I decided to do a quilled invitation to commemorate her wedding.




Quilled Invitation Directions:

1. Make 3 roses using 3/8 inch wide red paper. To make the rose insert the end of the paper into a slotted quilling tool and turn it 3 times to form the rose's center. Fold the paper away from you at a right angle. Roll the paper, keeping the bottom edge tight against the quilling tool causing the top edge to flare out to form the petal. Repeat this step until the rose is the size you want. Carefully remove the rose from the quilling tool and let it rest and then glue the end in place.

2. Make 1 small rose using a strip of 1/8 inch ivory paper. Then make 1 rose using 1/2 inch ivory paper. Color the rose made with 1/2 inch paper using pink chalk.

3. Tear 3 pieces of 12 inch (1/8 inch wide) quilling paper in half and roll into coils. Let the coil rest on the work surface and then glue the end in place. Shape the coil into petals by tightly pinching one end with your fingers. Glue 5 petals together to form a flower. Tear 2 pieces of 12 inch quilling paper in half (6 inches) and then tear it in half again (3 inches). Roll the 3 inch strips into coils. Let the coils rest and then glue the ends in place. Glue 5 petals together to form a small flower. Glue a pearl to the center of each flower.

4. Using 6 inch strips of 1/8 inch wide green paper roll 10 coils. Let them rest then glue the ends in place. Pinch the one end between your fingers and form the coil into a leaf.

5. Make the vines by rolling 6 six inch strips of 1/8 inch wide green paper into loose coils. Slowly unroll the coil until the end of the vine has a slight curl.

6. Place the wedding invitation in a mat. Remove the glass from the frame. Then place the matted invitation in the frame and arrange the flowers and the vines along the side and the top of the mat. Cover the invitation with a piece of plastic wrap and carefully glue the flowers, leaves and vines in place. Let the glue dry and then remove the plastic wrap.

Note: I used an ivory double mat and an ivory and gold frame. For further quilling instructions go to Martha Stewart.com