Hobbies: Quilled Handmade Greeting Cards- 1

Asalam waliykum,

Just a Quick post, introducing my favorite hobby. One of the reasons why I started blogging was to share with you all my favorite hobbies, Alhamdulillah I have always been creative. Allah didn't bless me with the thirst for Maths, English etc. My strength has always been art and being creative from painting, hennaing to cooking and poetry. 

When I was younger, I felt disappointed because Art would not get me a A in my Maths/English Exams and thought it was rather a useless skill, However it did end up helping me as my diagrams were always the prettiest in the class!  

None the less it is a gift from Allah, that I can utilize, it makes me happy and it brings happiness into peoples lives. So, it can be turned into an act of worship with the right intention. And another thing is, only recently I started to think, "I love painting and making cards, so Why Don't I make it into a career?" I was always put off because I seen so many my I know try and fail. However, Allah gave me this talent, I enjoy doing it, makes me happy, and why not make it something I do daily and earn from it. Is that not the best job ever, to wake up everyday and Love what you do? Not to mention the benefits, working from home, not mixing with non mahram men, being your own boss and even one day having my own studio/Shop (In Sha Allah).

In Sha Allah, that is my intention to work on creating my pieces of art and handmade cards and selling them and one day make a successful business from it. My first real event to show case my cards and sell them was at the Smile Again Charity event (Fundraiser) last week, I was unable to attend last minute due to sickness and unexpected changes, however, lots of people bought my cards. Alhamdulillah all the money went to charity.

All my family and friends love my work and always ask me why am I not selling them? The answer, I dont know why? In Sha Allah I will give it my best and work hard to get things started and see how it goes. Please make dua for me... I would so love to own my own business and emulate our mother Khadijah RA.

Anyway, Enough rambling on, I want to share with you a few pieces I have created over the last 4 weeks (I have millions more to share another time, little at a time people)

The very first photo (above), is all 62 cards I made for the charity event, all sealed and organised. Alhamdulillah people seemed to really like them, and I got a lot of positive feedback regarding the cards and they sold very well, AlhamdulillAllah. 

These ones above, I have made in lots of colours in the past, and can be used as any sort of greeting card. However, I intended these to be wedding invites, simple yet effective and can be made in any colour combination. Everything is made by hand on these ones, the glitter strip, the actual card and the flowers. 

I used the standard coil technique for the flowers and leaves. A tighter coil for the inner part of the flower and leaves, and a looser coil for the petals. 

My inspiration for this design came from a photo I had seen on Facebook 3 years ago. My first one was a little rough I remember making it in my little flat where I got my first job after I graduated from university, on my little table with hardly no room to make anything with just a table lamp to give me enough light to see what I was doing. Now, things have improved since then for sure. But I do love the design a firm favourite of mine. 

Simple and effective "You are the apple of my eye" such a cute little design and message, so this card is intended to give to loved ones, not necessarily couples can be to family members too. The phrase is hand written using Gold gel pen, Lord knows how many times I rewrote this short phrase until I got this consistent writing style, many hours and lots of frustration too. 

In Sha Allah more posts on my cards, and quilling to follow soon. 

Jazakallah khier for reading. Please do let me know what you think of the cards. I love to read what you guys think, and appreciate feedback, especially as this is something I love to do. Feel free to share my post, just please remember to post a link to my blog.

Wasalam -x- (Happy Quilling!)