Birthday Balloons

I teach 3 quilling classes after school nowadays.  Two classes at the Y nearby and one class at my school.  The kids love it and it's finally given me time and a renewed passion to quill more often.  With that said, I'm creating birthday cards.  I spent about a couple of hours making 70 balloons.  Here are some pics.  By Friday, I should be done and working on something else.   I have so many ideas... so many possibilities that I want to create!

The parts of all my balloons:

Whew... done... for now.

Long overdue...

I started a new job and it has been such a great, positive change in my life.  I teach 3rd grade gifted & talented in a new school.  The teachers are awesome, parent support is incredible, but of course, it's a lot of work.  As a result, this school year was VERY busy, and it's not over just yet.  With one month left, my students and I are working on learning how to research a topic, cite resources, create a bibliography, and so on.  We are also finishing up our Philharmonic partnership program, getting ready for Springfest and Dancefest (two really cute events- one fundraiser and one for the students). And so much more!!

I took quite a long hiatus to focus on my new job and plan our wedding in Clearwater, Florida.  The year is coming to an end soon, and there's a little more down time.  I took on an online class to continue my plus 30, and have decided that if I want to truly make Reves En Papier what I envision it to be, it needs to become a higher priority than it is.  Sooo, here I've been since Monday, creating the sketch and design for a 1966 Pontiac GTO.  A former colleague of mine (and one of Mike's current colleagues) wanted a GTO for her husband and it was such an enormous difficult looking project.  It really intimidated me.  To capture such detail and form seemed like a task far beyond my reach.  Well, Monday I woke up and realized NOTHING is far beyond my reach.  That night I began sketching and cutting out.  Tuesday and Wednesday I continue sketching all the pieces.  Thursday  and tonight I finished all the detailing and coloring.  And as I write this blog entry, pieces are slowly being glued together to create the actual structure!  Here are some before and after pictures once I sketched the main pieces.  All that is missing is the top of the car but I need to have a structure to lay it on and bend.

Not Forgotten...

My dream is still heavy on my mind... making Reves En Papier, truly what I envision. Unfortunately, time is not readily available and in large quantities at that so it has been VERY difficult to quill and work on Reves En Papier's name.

BUT I never forget its progress, my dream, the possibilities, and all I CAN and WILL eventually do to build REVES EN PAPIER!!!

In the meantime, I am engaged, happy, and EXTREMELY busy. With 2 jobs (working 7 days a week) and planning my wedding - it has been quite hectic. This year teaching is going better than expected and certainly WITHOUT A DOUBT better than my past experiences so I look forward to each day at work... for new experiences.

With that said, I have not forgotten and look forward to orders that will bring me back to another happy place of mine. Or maybe even me coming up with a unique project idea...

We'll see and PLEASE don't forget about me and Reves En Papier.

Feel free to drop me a line, send me some suggestions, put in a request.

With love,
Jenni

Wow! Summer has flown by...

I cannot believe it's September already! It's been a fantastic summer and I'm looking forward to a good year. Let's catch up!

The end of summer camp in New Rochelle went really well! My students really LOVED quilling and everyone finished their awesome projects! It's always a bonus when the students go above and beyond expectations! They were excellent all summer long and their artwork displayed their creativity, their new knowledge of quilling, and their freedom to express their interests!! Check out some of the photos of the kids working hard and the GREAT finished pieces of work the students created:


Working Photos:






Adding details!


For those that needed guidance on their final paper, they resketched their idea as an outline for their quilled pieces! Differentiation! =) (It's the teacher in me!)


Coming along!


Example of the sketching.





Notice the sketch before the gluing. I like my students to sketch their idea out onto paper BEFORE making and gluing all of their quilled circles. By doing this, they know what they need for their project and when they do start gluing on the final pieces, there are less opportunities for accidents or mistakes. The students seemed much more confident when doing their final pieces since they had their sketch to guide them!


Practicing using the tool and the glue pens (Day 1)


Yay! Quilling!




Finished Works of Art:
WARNING: PREPARE TO BE WOW-ED!!!!!!!


Check out the sting ray in this ocean scene!


Grass, flowers, and a sun... wow, a cloud too!!


Awesome creativity on this one! Celebrating the New York Yankees.


Rain and butterflies!!


Under Sea Adventure!! It's a shark!!! Ahh!!


Check out the swimmer in the middle!
Great details added too!


Pink jellyfish, blue octopus, bubbles... Wow!


Great design/pattern on this Yankee symbol!!




This student incorporated their favorite cartoon too: Spongebob!
Check out the fish and the eyes of the fish!


What a great sun! I love when the kids do their own thing and don't follow models or their friends!


The Yankees were popular!



This student went for the pinstripe effect! Great work!


Tropical sea!




Some students did their names. Ashley was very organized and neat!
Love it!


Teaching the summer program students how to quill was a great experience and so much fun! They learned quickly and LOVED EVERY SECOND OF CLASS!!
They asked questions, explore different ideas, and in the end, IMPRESSED ME with their great work and positive attitudes! Every child was pleased with their finished project and practically BEGGED me not to keep them for the display in school this September. I promised they'd get it back from the summer program coordinator in September! I bet they'll be excited!

Haven't forgotten...

I haven't forgotten about quilling. Actually, the complete opposite- I'm on a roadtrip and wish I had my hundreds of colors to work on some projects. It's been a great time so far and am full of new ideas for when I return so check back soon!!

If you haven't done so already, click "Follow" on the right side of the screen to follow my blog!

Dancing Nancy... Fire Dancer

In the past 3 years, I have become a true Dave Matthews Band fan. My boyfriend collects posters and with my recent concert performances, I've purchased the latest woman's shirt. Mike asked me if I would create a poster replica! I couldn't wait to begin! This was the first time I had used a new surface and a new step into the process.

Here's the image I found online that he liked and wanted me to replicate:



Typically, I use foamboard or oaktag as a base or foundation. Sometimes cardstock. If I can find the oaktag or foamboard in the base color I need - PERFECT! If I can't I usually color in the base to my liking. For example, my classroom floor was a white foamboard but I wanted a checkered floor. I sketched the tiles and shaded the base with colored pencils. Then, I quilled on top.

For this paper creation, I use a near poster-size canvas! The canvas was also white. I purchased some black acryllic paint and gave the canvas a nice coat. Since I couldn't use a Sharpie or colored pencil (my usual shading/coloring tools) that would really cover the canvas properly, this was a great base! Once it was dry I was able to glue my quilled pieces.

Here are some pictures as I'm working on it. They were taken on my phone camera so I apologize for the poor quality. I need to order black quilling strips to finish it up so check back soon to see the finished product. I can't wait to finish and frame it to add to Mike's music room!!

In the first photo, I had already painted the canvas, sketched the Fire Dancer and the letters "D, M, B", and began outline the Fire Dancer using very small, metallic silver tight coils. Instead of standing the coils up, they are laying down for a more distinct outline.


Getting through more of the Fire Dancer.



The Fire Dancer BEFORE I fill it in. I filled the Fire Dancer with loose coils.



The finished Fire Dancer.



Next time, I'm going to finish the entire canvas in black loose coils!

Just a quick hello...

It seems much easier to create and construct a blog than it really is. I find that my ideas are so extravagant that it takes a little longer to get where I want it to be. BUT good things come to those who wait and I'm rolling along happily.

I'd love some feedback on things that people may want to see on the blog or learn about.