Easter Bunny treat bags

Would you believe I have never bought an Easter stamp set before? Easter Bunny, which features in the January to April Stampin’ Up!® catalogue is my very first Easter set.

This year I was determined to make some cute little gifts and with Easter just around the corner, I thought I’d better get cracking! (See what I did there?)

Window Box Thinlits Easter Basket

How cute is this project? It’s made with the Window Box Thinlits – just slice off the top of the hexagon and move to the opposite side, as shown below. Yes, exactly the same method as for this project except this time you only need one die-cut piece instead of the usual two. 

I CASEd the idea from Libbystamps, improvising with the flower dies I already head, Botanical Builder Framelits. You don’t have to have the exact supplies to CASE a project; just use what you have. Although I have to say, these Window Box Thinlits dies are extremely versatile, as you’ll see over the coming days...

Grown-up mini egg carton project

I do love these egg boxes, they’re so cute... even more so if you take the time to colour them. How? With a small amount of ISO Propanol (rubbing alcohol) mixed with reinker. Here I’ve used Sweet Sugarplum to match this fabulous Glimmer Paper (SAB item only available while stocks last or until 31st March!).

The panel beneath the dragonfly (Detailed Dragonfly Thinlits) was created by scribbling with watercolour pencils with a few colours onto watercolour paper, then swishing it around with a wet paintbrush. You could use an aqua painter, but I’m a purist and prefer a paintbrush.

And it’s all tied together with some gorgeous metallic ribbon, another SAB item which is only available until 31st March, or while supplies last.

We’re on the Sale-a-Bration countdown now, and yesterday a new group of items were added. These are catalogue items which you can earn FREE between now and the end of March with a £45 order. There are some gorgeous products on this list, so do take a look.

Oh, and inside are four hollow chocolate eggs, wrapped in Sweet Sugarplum foil. Sainsbury’s do a pack of 25 which just happen to be wrapped in Sweet Sugarplum, Bermuda Bay and Crushed Curry. Wish I’d found those before my all-day event!

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Easter pull-out chocolate treats

When crafty friends get together, they can’t resist gifting each other with something fun and handmade, so for my crafty weekend in Matlock Bath, I made these. They are a variation on the Gästegoodies I made for my club members, but I adapted the template to allow for the bunnies, which are taller than Ferrero Rocher chocolates. Don’t ask me for measurements please, I don’t have them any more! But all you need to do is follow Alexandra Grape’s excellent tutorial (which is in German, but trust me, you’ll work it out) and make the longest strip longer, to create a taller tunnel. 

Oh My Goodies Clear-Mount Stamp Set [134090] £16.00	Botanical Blooms Photopolymer Stamp Set [140757] £15.00	Tin Of Cards Photopolymer Stamp Set [138946] £15.00	Large Oval Punch [119855] £14.50	Scallop Oval Punch [119856] £16.00	Itty Bitty Accents Punch Pack [133787] £15.50
1-3/4" Circle Punch [119850] £16.00	Banner Punch [133519] £11.50	Tangelo Twist A4 Cardstock [133684] £6.50	Botanical Gardens Designer Series Paper [140583] £10.00	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock [140490] £6.50	Mossy Meadow A4 Cardstock [133683] £6.50
Hello Honey A4 Cardstock [133685] £6.50	Old Olive A4 Card Stock [106576] £6.50	Brights Candy Dots [130931] £5.50	Cajun Craze Classic Stampin' Pad [126965] £6.00	Mossy Meadow Classic Stampin' Pad [133645] £6.00	Hello Honey Classic Stampin' Pad [133643] £6.00
Mint Macaron Classic Stampin' Pad [138326] £6.00	Gold Sequin Trim [132983] £4.50	Basic Black 3/8" Stitched Satin Ribbon [138430] £8.25	Gold 1/8" Ribbon [134583] £4.50	Gold Baker's Twine [132975] £3.25

Links by TheseAreMyStamps.com

Egg-cellent idea (sorry)

With all the wedding preparations, Easter has almost passed me by. So I thought I’d make some extra little favours for the children at the wedding. There were going to be six of them... but another one popped out at the weekend, so I now have to find an egg-sized gift for someone who cannot yet eat solids.

I love this little chick - but I'm a bit obsessed with birdlife at the mo, having become totally hooked on a live webcam in an barn owl's nest box in California. Her name is Molly and she currently has four owlets, with another one expected to hatch any time now. Don't watch if you don't like seeing rodents being dismembered... or if you want to get anything done around the house. Otherwise, click here. It's best in the evening (UK) as then it's daylight over there and full colour for us.

So, back to this punched chick - I saw a similar one out there in Blogland but unfortunately cannot remember who created it. If it was you – or if you know – please leave a comment and I’ll edit to give credit where it’s due. It was fun to make... and I’m coming round to the idea of a “Mum and me punch-up” in the summer, which sounds more violent than I hope it will be. It would involve creating fun animals from punches – who’s up for that? Leave me a comment or send me an email please.

ETA: It was Carol - thanks for spotting it, Carol.

So this chick... all you need is an oval punch and a circle punch. I made the beak from one of the flowers from Boho Blossoms but you could cut it freehand. And the flower is, of course, from Boho Blossoms but is an optional extra.

I stamped the egg with the speckles from Bird on a Branch, available from Thursday in the new Mini. And the pouch is the same one as this.

Stamps: Bird on a Branch
Cardstock: Elegant Eggplant, Pale Plum, Barely Banana textured and smooth (no special reason – just scraps), Very Vanilla
Paper: Patterns – Perfect Plum
Ink: Pale Plum
Accessories: Stampin’ Write Journaller, Boho Blossoms punch, large oval punch, 1 3/8” circle punch, large tag punch

All products by Stampin' Up! ®

A very late Easter card

This is soooo late – Easter seems like ages ago now. But I just haven’t had the chance to photograph this card and upload it until now. It was the Make & Take for a Stampin’ Up!® party I did just before I went away. It’s that cute little bunny again but I promise I’ll give him a rest for a while now. Well, probably. 

The rabbit is stamped in Almost Amethyst above the Easter Wishes stamp in Certainly Celery. The corners were cut using the ½” circle punch and the white piece is layered on to textured Almost Amethyst cardstock.

Stamps: Forest Friends, Seasonal Wishes
Cardstock: Certainly Celery, So Saffron, Whisper White, textured Almost Amethyst
Paper: Tea Party
Ink: Almost Amethyst, Certainly Celery
Accessories: Scallop Edge Punch, ¼” Grosgrain Ribbon - Whisper White, ½” circle punch, Stamp-a-ma-jig®

All products by Stampin' Up! Please email me to order a catalogue, or click the link on the right to view it online.

Chock full of chocs

Are you sick of this rabbit yet? Hope not because I think it’s really sweet and will be popping out the rabbit projects right up until Easter... and beyond!

Don’t tell but this is what I’ve made for the children for Easter. I bought these really cute mugs last spring in the Whittards Sale and have been hoarding them ever since.

I’ve filled them with goodies and wrapped them in cellophane. They don’t photograph well in cellophane, though, so here are some pix before I wrapped them.

This is the mug filled with mini Easter eggs (see? I told you I’d found a good use for all the non-blue ones!).

There’s a covered chocolate lollipop (Sainsbury’s) in there, too. I used the same method as used for these Valentine’s lollies.

And then the test tube full of mini Smarties. I think someone’s going to be feeling a little queasy!











Once wrapped with polka dotted cellophane (local florist’s), I made a little gift card to finish off. I only had a small scrap of Apricot Appeal cardstock so improvised by adding a Certainly Celery layer to show underneath. There’s always a way!

Here’s the same gift in a different colour scheme – just so that there’s no arguing about which set belongs to which child! You’ll notice the gift card is a simpler version – I’d like to say this was because I felt it was less girly and therefore more appropriate for a boy but really it was because I ran out of time.

Stamps: Forest Friends, Seasonal Wishes
Cardstock: Apricot Appeal, Certainly Celery, Bashful Blue, Whisper White, Almost Amethyst, So Saffron
Paper: Tea Party
Ink: Basic Gray, Bashful Blue, Certainly Celery, Apricot Appeal
Accessories: 1 ¼” circle punch, 1 3/8” circle punch, Scallop Circle Punch, Crop-A-Dile™, ¼” Grosgrain Ribbon - Whisper White, pale pink gingham ribbon, 3/8” Grosgrain Ribbon - Certainly Celery, Striped Grosgrain Ribbon – So Saffron, Scallop Edge Punch, Crafters’ Toolkit, Rich Regals brads, ½” circle punch

All products by Stampin' Up! Please email me to order a catalogue, or click the link on the right to view it online.

Easter basket

This basket is remarkably simple to make. I found some really great instructions by a UK Stampin’ Up!® demonstrator called Monica Gale – you can see the tutorial by clicking here.

You need:

• Four strips of Designer Series Paper cut to 3cm x 22cm. 
  
• The cardstock that goes around the top of the basket measures 4.5cm x 26cm.
• The handle is 3.5cm wide and the length of a sheet of A4, although I don’t think mine was. 
• Ribbon and scraps to decorate
• Two brads to hold on the handle (optional)
• You can’t see it but along the handle there’s a strip (about 1cm) of Designer Series Paper – I used the a piece of striped paper for this.
  

Apart from the colours and the stamps, the only thing I did differently to Monica was to use Sticky Strip to attach the Designer Series Paper to the top of the basket, because I thought it would be stronger and better suited to carrying a load of chocolate.

I stuffed some pale blue tissue paper in the bottom of the basket so that the little eggs (Home Bargains, of course!) wouldn't fall out. And yes I had to sort out the eggs so that they were all blue – but don’t worry, you’ll see what I did with the others soon enough!

Stamps: Forest Friends
Cardstock: Bashful Blue textured, Whisper White textured, Bashful Blue smooth, Whisper White smooth
Paper: Patterns Designer Series Paper - Bashful Blue
Ink: Bashful Blue
Accessories: Scallop Edge Punch, Crafters’ Toolkit, 1 ¼” circle punch, 1 3/8” circle punch, Scallop Circle Punch, blue gingham ribbon, Rich Regals brads

All products by Stampin' Up!® Please email me to order a catalogue, or click the link on the right to view it online.

These rabbit cards are breeding like...

My cousin in Canada is a Stampin’ Up! demonstrator, too (it’s in our genes!) and she also has a new Mini Catalogue to launch this month. Some of the sets are the same so we’re doing a swap of samples. She wanted the same card as this but without the greeting as they don’t have that stamp – she’ll add her own greeting when it arrives. But I’m not keen on making the same card twice so I just had to change the colour scheme.

I also had a go at making this card again but it turned out like this:

Stamps: Forest Friends
Cardstock: Almost Amethyst, So Saffron, Certainly Celery, Basic Gray, Pretty in Pink, Whisper White
Paper: Tea Party
Ink: Basic Grey
Accessories: 1 ¼” circle punch, 1 3/8” circle punch, Scallop Oval Punch, Scallop Edge punch, Crafters’ Toolkit, Boho Blossoms punch, Rich Regals brads, striped ribbon – So Saffron

All products by Stampin' Up!® Please email me to order a catalogue, or click the link on the right to view it online.

Hoppy about this card

This is kind of how I wanted the post-it holder to look. I’m really warming to this Tea Party paper and just can’t get enough of this rabbit!

This would make a cute little Easter card but I didn't want to limit it so left it blank. It's part of my Mum's gift set so, if she wants it to become an Easter card, I can always stamp for her later. 

Stamps: Forest Friends
Cardstock: Barely Banana, Basic Gray, Whisper White, Pretty in Pink
Paper: Tea Party
Ink: Basic Gray
Accessories: Scallop Circle Punch, Scallop Edge Punch, 1 ¼” circle punch, 1 3/8” circle punch, Striped Grosgrain Ribbon – So Saffron

All products by Stampin' Up! Please email me to order a catalogue, or click the picture of the catalogue on the right to view it online.

Little Grey Rabbit

There’s some very exciting Stampin’ Up!® news on the horizon... even more fabulous stamps and accessories!

There’s a brand new Mini Catalogue being launched on 1st April and demonstrators have the privilege of ordering early. Naturally, I couldn’t resist and this card showcases some of the exciting new products.

I love, love, LOVE this new stamp set. It’s called Forest Friends and there are four stamps; this cute little rabbit, an owl (hurrah!), a deer (think Bambi) and a funky tree.

The paper is new, too. It’s called Tea Party and features lots of lovely soft colours and florals; it will certainly please those who have been asking for Designer Series Papers in shades of lilac (not that you can tell from this card but there are papers featuring Almost Amethyst, too).

Have you spotted anything else that’s new? Next up is the striped Grosgrain Ribbon. This comes in three colours; Bashful Blue, Pretty in Pink and, shown here, So Saffron. It’s beautiful and ever so easy to tie.

The last new product featured on this card is the Scallop Oval Punch. Like the oh-so-popular Scallop Circle Punch, it also has a sister punch – the Large Oval (not shown). My Scallop Circle Punch had gone walkabout when I was making this card so I improvised with two scalloped ovals... and I quite like the result. Necessity is indeed the mother of invention.

So there you have it; four brand new products to whet your appetite. The Mini is a 24-page, A5 catalogue featuring lots more stamp sets, Designer Series Papers (there are two other sets) and accessories. You’ll be able to view it online from 1st April.

Stamps: Forest Friends, Seasonal Wishes
Cardstock: So Saffron, Certainly Celery, Whisper White, Basic Gray
Paper: Tea Party
Ink: Basic Gray
Accessories: Striped Grosgrain Ribbon – So Saffron, Scallop Oval Punch, 1 ¼” circle punch, 1 3/8” circle punch, ½” circle punch, Boho Blossoms punch, Rich Regals brads, Crafters’ Toolkit

All products by Stampin' Up! Please email me to order a catalogue, or click the picture of the catalogue on the right to view it online.