A few weeks ago it was my friend's daughter's birthday, she was going to be 2 years old. Even though children can't read and don't even care about birthday cards, I couldn't give her a present without a card, right?
So in this case I had 2 options: writing happy birthday on a simple piece of paper, or making something cute that children (hopefully) like.
I decided to consider the second option and this is the card I made!
It's a tiny box with a little birthday cake inside and her name on the cover. All of them are paper quilled.

This would be a nice idea for Valentine's Day too...instead of the cake, you could put a quilled heart inside the box!
I hope you like it :)

Step 1: What You Need

colored quilling paper strips (or colored paper that you can cut into thin strips, like I did here)
black cardstock
white glue
quilling tool
pink thread
scotch tape
scissors/cutter
ruler

Step 2: The Cake

Let's start creating the quilled cake.

You need to make 3 different coils using 3 strips of beige/cream paper.
Roll the first strip around the quilling tool until you reach the other end. This is a tight coil...to create a loose coil, remove the coil from the tool and, keeping it in shape with your fingers, let it open up a little so that it becomes loose.

The 3 coils need to be one bigger than the other so one will be looser, the next one a little tighter and the last one even tighter. Make sure that the last one won't be too tight.

Put some glue on the tip of the strip to fix the coils.

Now that all of your coils are ready, press each of them a little with your fingers, as if you had to create a "D" shape.
These will be the layers of the cake.

Glue the middle size coil on the biggest one, making sure not to place it in the middle of it. The straight sides need to be joined together. You can see how I did it in the pictures above.
Finally, glue the smallest coil the same way on the middle one.

Step 3: The Candles

The candles need 2 different parts: the body of the candle and the flame.

For the body, roll a very short strip of white paper using the quilling tool. It must be a tight coil and very tiny. Make about 2 or 3 rounds and secure it with glue.
Don't forget about the proportions: always look at the cake to make sure that the candles you are making are not too big for it.
Make 2 identical candles and glue them on the first layer of the cake.

To make the flame of the candle you need an orange strip of paper. It needs to be short, but not as short as the one for the body. I can't tell for sure how long it is, all I did is rolling the paper and cutting the strip when I thought that the coil was big enough.
Make a loose coil with it and finally press it with your thumb and index finger to create a teardrop shape.
If you made 2 bodies before, you'll need 2 of these flames.
Glue them on the top of the candles' bodies always using white glue.

Step 4: The Box Structure

Now that your cake is all done, it's time to make the box.

The first thing you have to do is drawing the structure of the flat box on a piece of black cardstock.
You can see what the shape is in the pictures: it has 2 identical squares that are 5cm (1.96 inches) big with a rectangle in the middle and 3 other identical ones on the sides of one of the squares. The rectangles are 1,5cm (0.59 inches) large.

Cut the structure from the cardstock and fold the first square following the line you traced.
That square will be the front of the box.

Step 5: The Letters - Part 1

Like I said, I "wrote" the name of the little girl on the front of the box (the part you have just folded) always using strips of paper, pink this time.

To make the "M" I rolled some of the strip into an open loose coil. Open means that I didn't fix it with glue at the end, I simply left the straight strip free.
I kept about 1cm (0.39 inches) straight then I folded the strip down to create the first angle of the M.
I left some other free strip, folded up, left some other and folded down again.
I finally left some other space free like I did for the first part of the letter and ended with another loose coil.

I bet you know how to make the M, it's much harder to explain than to do :D
I'm sure you can understand how I made it looking at the pictures.

When you are done, glue it on the top of the box cover using a little bit of white glue.

Step 6: The Letters - Part 2

The other 2 letters are the "I" and the "A".

To make the "I" I simply cut a short piece of paper strip, curved it a little as a semicircle and glued it near the "M".
For the dot on the "I" I created a very little tight coil, about as big as the one I made for the candle's body.

To make the final "A" I created a bigger loose coil and fixed it without cutting the strip.
Instead of cutting it I left about 1cm (0.39 inches) of free strip and curved it a little to create the foot of the "A".
I glued that letter next to the "I".

Step 7: Final Touches

You need to close the box now.
Following the lines you traced on the box structure, fold all the pieces as you can see in the first picture.
Keep them folded in a box shape putting some little pieces of scotch tape on the inside angles.
Since I wasn't sure that the scotch tape was enough to keep it firm, I decided to glue a white strip of paper all around the thin sides of the box, as if it was a ribbon.

Finally I glued the cake inside the box (on the bottom part) and wrote a note right above it.
This way it looks as if the cake was standing on the bottom side of the box.

Step 8: Close the Box

To keep the box closed (if the cover tends to open) I added a pink thread.

Make a little hole in the middle of the right side of the box and another hole in the middle of the right side of the cover.

Cut a piece of pink thread (it must be big enough for you to be able to make a bow with it), pass it through both holes and make a bow.

The card is done!! Other than staying closed now, it has a cute bow on the side :)