Quilled Autumn Art

I have always been fascinated with the art of quilling or paper filigree and have had the tools for a while, but I could never find the right project to inspire me. I have either found lots of intricate flowers, or cartoon-like animals; but when I saw THIS, I had to try my hand at quilling something! It turned out to be time-consuming, but much easier than expected.
To try it at home, you will need quilling paper and a slotted tool, although, you could probably make do with a bamboo skewer and paper from a paper shredder. It is also very helpful to have fine tweezers, scissors and clear-drying glue.All you do to form a coil is wrap it around the tool and release until the coil is the size you want it, then glue the end. I found that using a toothpick to apply glue to be the easiest. Then you pinch to form the shape you want. Here is how the pumpkin was formed:And the leaves:To do the letters- I printed out the word in the size and font I wanted and used that as a template. Then I just bent and tweaked the letters into the right shapes. I'll be honest- this part was difficult and time-consuming, but once I got the hang of how the paper behaved, it became a little easier... a little.I decided to fill the letters with leaves for more autumnal goodness and color-Finally, I fit and glued all the elements together, added a few "wind" and "grass" swooshes with some blowing leaves and that was it! It was really worth the time and labor, I think- worth breaking my own "time spent on a project" rule- but I wouldn't go and ask my husband or something crazy like that.