Color Monday: Rabbit Food

A palette of greens! From bright lime to deep emerald, all the possibilities within a lettuce leaf!

Feel free to use the palette in your art works and other projects.

Quilled Peacock Earrings

For this next project, I used a different inspiration than my normal

 designer pieces. Peacock feathers!

I wanted to capture both the colors and the elegance of these beauties, so I figured I'd try something new and make a quilled earring. For those who don't know, quilling is the art of rolling and shaping thin paper strips. I find it very pretty and versatile, and not used often in the world of art.

This is a very easy tutorial for quilling beginners; usually, you want to use a quilling tool (sort of a wand with a slot at the end to insert and roll the paper), but you can use an eye of a large sewing needle instead if you are new. It will be a little harder 

though, but it's still doable.

Adding gems and glitter to these earrings makes for very sparkly and eye-catching earrings, despite their size. A perfect party accessory when you want something just a little different, something that people haven't seen before. They will be surprised when they find out the majority of the earring is paper!

We seal these earrings with clear gloss so they are somewhat waterproof, but still be careful with these.

Use any color combination, my combo was obviously inspired by peacocks, but if you have a certain outfit to match please do. Make these in all different color schemes for different party outfits!

Let's get started.

Step 1: Gather materials. Needed are scissors, glue, a toothpick, glitter, clear gloss (not shown), flatback gems (like 3mm or so), two earring posts, a quilling tool, and quilling paper.

If you're new to quilling, I suggest you buy yourself a quilling set like this one, it's got all the basics you need and isn't expensive at all. That's what I did when starting out! You can get really creative with the art, and can even make things like Christmas ornaments. The possibilities are endless!

Step 2: Cut 6 4" pieces of quilling paper. Create coils out of each strip, winding, the paper around the quilling tool, and glue the end down to hold. The toothpick helps you with getting little bits of glue on the paper! Let these dry.

Step 3: Pinch both ends of your coils to form eye-shapes. Glue two of these shapes side to side, as seen in the middle pic. Glue the third eye right into the center, then the posts onto the arrangement, as seen in the picture. Let dry.

Step 4: Glue three gems onto each center of the three coils. Let dry. Take the gloss and paint the edges of your earring, and cover in glitter. Let dry.

Then, paint the whole earring with clear gloss (don't paint over the gems as this will make them glassy), and let dry. This will help seal and strengthen the earring. Let dry.

Very elegant and dainty, plus tons of sparkle!

Little, but pack a punch of sparkle!

All photos and instructions copyright Allison Cooling. Do not repost this or use my photos unless linking back to me.

Color Monday: Jungle Fever Palette

A bright blend of the colors of the jungle; yellows and greens, browns and deep reds. Catch the fever!

Feel free to use this palette in any of your designs.