I'm quilling to give it a try...

Quilled greeting card with daisy and butterfly.

In some older craft books I came across repeated references to quilling. After some research, it seems easy, beautiful and cheap. Quilling is the art of folding or rolling thin strips of paper into intricate shapes, which are then glued together to create decorative designs. It is supposed to mimic the fancy guiltwork or ironwork of more expensive antique items.

Quilling 101 articles said you really only needed a quilling tool and some paper.

I went to Michaels to pick up a ruler (to mark off the thin paper strips) and a quilling tool. Apparently Michaels doesn't carry quilling tools anymore! So I ordered one online for under $5.00. I did however pick up a clear ruler marked with inch grids, which turned out to be very helpful.

I looked around for some patterns online and decided to try this Simple Quilled Daisy Card.

Blank greeting card with pastel gradient.

I always keep some blank card stock on hand because it's cheaper to make a custom card for a friend than to spend $7 on one from Hallmark. For the background I did a pink-purple gradient using chalk pastels and sealed it so it wouldn`t smudge.

I think my first mistake was using cheap printer paper (it was all I had). Cutting your own strips allows you to exactly match the specifications of the pattern. But it would have been easier to order pre-cut strips online. As a result of el cheapo printer paper, my strips didn't want to gently relax for a proper "loose roll".

The pattern said the card should take about an hour. Mine took three to complete; I'll chalk that up to beginners experimentation. Normally I could never justify spending that long on a greeting card!

Here's a comparison of Ann from All Things Paper's card and my attempt. It's not horrible, but I had to give up on some of the finer details inside the daisy, as my petals were too small. There weren`t any measurements for how long your finished shapes should be. Ann sometimes gives measurements for how long a strip of paper you should wind, but not the dimensions you should make your petal or leaf.

I tried to make a heart, but it turned out lopsided, so I made it into a butterfly. Adaptability!

I think one of those quilling templates may be worth the money as part of a starter kit (apparently called a circle shaper).

I'll try another project with better quality paper and see if that helps.