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

Around the World Blog Hop and Botanical Blooms Swing Easel card tutorial

Welcome to the Around the World Blog Hop, in which we’ll take you on a tour of 10 countries, without even leaving your seat!

Our task is to showcase some of the products from the new Spring/Summer catalogue (AKA the Occasions catalogue).  I was flattered and honoured to be included in this list of hugely talented demonstrators around the world, many of whose blogs I already followed and the rest I was delighted to discover, so jumped at the chance of joining this blog hop. 

You may have joined me from the blog of Marie-Josée Trudel, a French Canadian demonstrator who first set up this amazing group of ladies. Your next stop is with the amazing Julie Davison, whose work I know you’ll love. What am I saying? You’ll love all of the creations in this blog hop and I’ve included a list of all the participants at the end of this post, just in case you get lost! 

I have chosen to use the Botanical Blooms bundle, which is a fantastic set of products which are very much unlike my usual choices! I don’t normally go for the flower sets but the colours really drew me in and I couldn’t resist. I also love that if you purchase the bundle – which features a stamp set, dies and Designer Series Paper – you can choose a Sale-a-Bration item FREE, and there’s even one which co-ordinates with the bundle. 

Staying firmly outside of my comfort zone, I also decided to create a swing easel card, which is a really fun fold but, I have to admit, a little complicated for me! After reading a few tutorials, I decided to create my own, simplifying the method so that even I can understand it.  I have created the tutorial in metric and imperial and sized it so that the card can be created using either A4 cardstock or 8 1/2” x 11”. The finished card should fit in a 6”x6” envelope. 

To avoid creating a super-long post, I have uploaded the tutorial files (two PDFs, of instructions and a diagram) to Googledocs.

Download the tutorial here

I hope I have whetted your appetite for more new products. Thank you so much for taking a look at my contribution to the Around the World Blog Hop. Please now pay a visit to the following blogs and see what delights our world of talented demonstrators has in store! 

Kristine McNickle (New Zealand)

http://creativestamping.co.nz

Alisa Tilsner (Australia)

http://alisatilsner.com

 
Anke Hämsch (Germany)

http://leipzig-stempelt.blogspot.com

Cécile Ortiz (France)

https://lezardsdecilou.wordpress.com

 
Marie-Josée Trudel (Canada - French)

http://alapause.blogspot.com

 
Helen Read (UK)

http://allthingsstampy.blogspot.com

Julie Davison (USA)

http://juliedavison.com

Barbara Meyer (Austria)
http://barbaras-kreativ-studio.com

Miriam van Eyden (Netherlands)
http://miriam-cardsandscrapping.blogspot.com

Liz Goldhawk (Canada)

http://lgoldhawk.blogspot.co.nz

Edited to add: Some of the links were broken, but I’ve fixed them now!

Mix It Up Monday: Botanical Blooms bundle One-Sheet wonder

It’s Mix It Up Monday again and time for another colour combination from my In Color charts.

I bet you thought I’d done a runner, didn’t you? Apologies for the long absence, I’ve been a little busy with Christmas which, coupled with the husband and I still feeling quite under the weather, has meant stamping and blogging has been put on the backburner. 

But I hope you had a good Christmas and, if in the UK, are enjoying the extended break. 

I’ve just had a fun session playing with new products with the intention of creating one card for Mix It Up Monday… which rapidly turned into four projects! That’s because this stamp set, Botanical Blooms, lends itself perfectly to the one-sheet wonder technique and, once I got started, I realised (to my surprise) just how much I liked this particular colour combination. 

For the uninitiated, a one-sheet wonder is where you stamp randomly all over a sheet of cardstock, then cut it up to make multiple projects. You’ll find lots of one-sheet wonder ideas on the web but I’m sure you can also make up your own, just as I did for these projects.

I began by cutting down the cardstock to 11in x 6in and creating a gift bag using the Gift Bag Punch Board, which is rapidly becoming my new favourite toy. Instead of punching the holes in the top to tie it closed, I punched two “half-holes” in the sides, to act as notches for some jute twine. 

I finished off by embellishing with some of the gorgeous flowers you can create using the co-ordinating Botanical Builder Framelits Dies.  No more fussy-cutting - yay!

Now to use the leftover pieces… and I soon rustled up the simple project, shown next to the bag, based on the sample in the Sale-a-Bration brochure. 

Next came this clean and simple Thank You card. Well, it’s clean now but it was never simple as I had a bit of an accident when I creased my lovely white cardstock with a very dirty bone folder. So, instead of a lovely white card base, I ended up cutting it down and mounting it onto a Mint Macaron one instead… and covering up some stray ink smudges with not-so-random flowers. 

Finally I made this Blushing Bride number with my largest piece of stamped cardstock and a simple greeting. I even have a piece of stamped cardstock left over but I ran out of steam so will have to save that for another day. Hope you like the projects and are inspire to create your own one-sheet wonder! 

Gift Bag Punch Board [135862] £18.00	Botanical Blooms Photopolymer Bundle [140819] £46.75	Botanicals For You Clear-Mount Stamp Set [141237] £0.00	Deco Labels Framelits Die [130102] £22.00	One Big Meaning Clear-Mount Stamp Set [139420] £17.00
Mint Macaron A4 Cardstock [138344] £6.50	Watermelon Wonder A4 Cardstock [138341] £6.50	Card Stock A4 Blushing Bride [131287] £6.50	Whisper White A4 Thick Cardstock [140490] £6.50	Whisper White A4 Card Stock [106549] £7.25
Mint Macaron Classic Stampin' Pad [138326] £6.00	Watermelon Wonder Classic Stampin' Pad [138323] £6.00	Island Indigo Classic Stampin' Pad [126986] £6.00	Blushing Bride Classic Stampin' Pad [131172] £6.00	White 1-1/4" (3.2 Cm) Jute Ribbon [137904] £8.25
Pearl Basic Jewels Embellishments [119247] £4.50	Home For Christmas Enamel Dots [140536] £3.75

Links by TheseAreMyStamps.com