quilling for beginners with the Cricut

Quilling or paper filigree is a form of paper art that is perfect for the Cricut crafter looking to expand their repertoire. I will show you how to cut quilling strips with the Cricut and make a simple beginners quilling patterned card.

I’ve been making rolled paper flowers for some time which is a form of quilling in some ways but tur quilling involves mostly uniform strips of paper rather than a spiral of petals.

I’m not quite ready myself for the super swirled advanced quilling projects myself so this card was more for me to practice basic shapes and being consistent in my quilling sizing.

This heart pattern was the perfect beginner’s project since I could use various shapes but because each quilled piece was next to each other, it was rather forgiving if I didn’t size it perfectly.

Even if you are an advanced quiller, I have something that might be useful for you. It’s a quill strips SVG file to make your own quilling strips. Cutting your own strips allows you to make them in whatever color and size you feel like. I left my the graphics elements in my template file ungroup so you can resize easily. Just be sure to attached everything before making it with the Cricut.

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Recommended Cricut quilling tools

Cardstock – I would not use anything beyond 80lb cardstock. It becomes too stiff and hards to curl at that point. The only other recommendation I have here is to make sure the core of the paper is colored. The side of the paper trip is exposed in these quilling projects and it doesn’t look good with white core cardstock. Here are some of my favorite brands:

Assorted Starter Pack – Basic assorted colors, great starter pack, perfect weight for most papercraft projects
Cricut Joy Insert Card Packs – You don’t have to use these with the Cricut Joy, they are nice material kids for cardmaking.
Cardstock Warehouse Brand on Amazon – I love the quality of all the matte-colored cardstock with Cardstock Warehouse. It is my go-to brand for individual matte colors that I might need
Poptone Assorted Variety Pack – This is the perfect peppy assortment of colors of heavy cardstock. It’s a heavy cardstock assortment with colors I actually use frequently for cardmaking.
Seasonal Assorted Variety Pack – This is a slight variation on the Poptone assortment and has a quite few neutrals that complement almost any accent color.
Stardream Metallics Line – For paper crafts, the Stardream line is the go-to for a metallic shimmer finish. It is the perfect sheen to make any project pop. The core is also colored is which hard to find for metallic paper.

Glue – I would use a non-toxic polymer-based glue here because you will need to handle it with your fingertips quite a bit. I used art glitter glue and thought it worked perfectly for this project. It was the right consistency. The tip was thin enough for maximum control. It didn’t dry too fast or too slow.

Quilling Tools – I just got this super simple basic set from Amazon.

Cutting Machine – I use a Cricut. Check out my recommendations for Cricut machines and accessories for beginners for more info.

Quilling Strip Templates – My quilling strips SVG files are available in my free resource library. I’ve also included a shapes stencil template to practice making various shapes.

How to cut quilling strips

If you plan on cutting this on standard letter sized paper, you can just use the file as is. Be sure to attach all the cutting lines.

If you have smaller scraps of paper or want to make the strips shorter, ungroup the strips file cut lines and delete the excess lines and shorten them lengthwise as need.

Be sure to attach before making it.

I cut my strips using the light grip blue mat and that was sufficient in stickiness.

Beginners Tutorial for Cricut Quilling

The first step is create the template. This can be done in many ways. You can always just print it. You could also use the pen function on the Cricut and draw it. I chose to cut it out of cardstock to make a base for my card.

Another optional step here is to use a paper strip to outline the part we are going to fill with paper rolls. That seemed like too much for me so I saved that option for another project.

Slide one end of the strip and slide it into the slot of the quilling tool. Start rolling.

After I rolled it up all the way, I let it unravel a bit just to see what kind of natural spiral this cardstock weight and strip length would produce.

I then added a tiny do of glue at the end to glue the end tab to the roll.

I then placed that initial roll down on my pattern template to see where it would fit. Given this reference point, I started working at the base. I varied both the strip length and the tightness of the roll to create the shape I wanted to fill in the heart outline space.

Once the shaped was rolled and secured, I smeared a little glue on the card and placed the rolled piece on top and pressed down with a little pressure.

It took the glue a couple of minutes to dry so even if I messed up, I could pick up the rolled an reposition it as needed.