Quilled Moon and Star Tutorial

Quilling is an art form that uses paper stripes and a slotted tool that looks like a sewing needle with the end clipped off.

Recently I was paid a visit by With a Spin, who left me with her beautiful cookie cutters.  Since I'm an artist, I didn't even think of putting them in the kitchen and immediately I saw them as quilling walls to fill.

In the past, I've had to build my own walls to make letters or arabesque shapes. But here were walls that were reusable over and over to give me the same consistent shape.  I couldn't wait to try them out.

To the disappointment of my baking daughter, the cookie cutters came into the studio.

I hope you enjoy this cookie cutter tutorial and look around your house for new, unusual, walls to fill.

Quilled Moon and Star with Cookie Cutters Tutorial

Supplies
Paper crimping tool
Watercolor paper
White shadowbox frame
Scissors
Glue
Quilling tool
Two colors of 12 inch quilling stripes

Quilled Moon and Star with Cookie Cutters by A Crafty Arab

Start by making beehive quilling stripes.  Start a little bit down one end and fold the paper onto itself. Take your tool out, go down a bit more on the strip and do it again.

I made four and a half to fill the moon.  For the star, I used 3 stripes, but I precut them all in half stripes before I beehived quilled them. The six small stripes fit in much better then trying to fit in the longer stripes in the star. (You'll thank me for hours of your life back, trust me.)

Quilled Moon and Star with Cookie Cutters by A Crafty Arab

Wiggle them in. It's a tight space. If you have tweezers or a toothpick, use them.

Quilled Moon and Star with Cookie Cutters by A Crafty Arab

Place glue dots where your paper meets.

Quilled Moon and Star with Cookie Cutters by A Crafty Arab

Run a strip through your crimping tool to make the paper corrigated.

Quilled Moon and Star with Cookie Cutters by A Crafty Arab

Wiggle your quilled piece out of the cookie cutter. I placed one of the same color around it first and then a contrasting color over that.

Quilled Moon and Star with Cookie Cutters by A Crafty Arab

Wait for everything to dry, peel off all the glue from your fingertips, then glue your shapes to your paper.

Quilled Moon and Star with Cookie Cutters by A Crafty Arab

I used watercolor paper and this blue color because I still hadn't cleaned up my workspace from our last art piece.

You can also use colored cardstock behind your shapes to make them stand out. Your next dilemma will be to decide on placement in the frame. Put them together? Place them apart?

Quilled Moon and Star with Cookie Cutters by A Crafty Arab

Of course, nothing can beat white background in a white frame. Always a classic.

Quilled Moon and Star with Cookie Cutters by A Crafty Arab

For those that follow me on Instagram, you've already seen a sneak peek of playing around with different colors too.

Quilled Moon and Star with Cookie Cutters by A Crafty Arab

There are two more shapes in the cookie cutter set. I might actually take the left over green triangles from my last project (did I already mention the messy workspace?) and start playing around with architecture.

Stay tuned as cookie cutter quilling might show up again!