Papillon Potpourri Serene Spring

HAPPY EASTER! This morning I have an Easter card that I created for my grand daughter's 1st Easter. The adorable baby bunny in a basket image from the retired hostess set Serene Spring has long been a favorite of mine and I thought it was the perfect choice for a baby's first Easter card.

I stamped the image in Basic Black ink, but first masked off the little bird that sits on the basket handle because I wanted to use a butterfly from one of my favorite retiring sets instead. I've used the Papillon Potpourri set so often since it first came out. I just

love it! Especially for accents on cards. I'm sure you already have it...but if not, you need to add it to your collection before it retires!

I watercolored the image using my Aqua Painter and these inks: Blushing Bride, Rich Razzleberry, Sweet Sugarplum, Soft Sky, Mint Macaron & Tip Top Taupe. The last two inks listed are part of the In Color collection that is retiring this time around. Here's a closer look at the sweet bunny.

The flower and butterfly were both painted with Clear Wink of Stella for some sparkle. The DSP used here is from the Blooms & Bliss pack. The cute Lace Doily under the image and the Ruched Sweet Sugarplum Ribbon are also retiring...so be quick like a bunny and get yours before they're gone! Here are a few of my favorite past creations using the retiring Papillon Potpourri set where the beautiful butterflies were the main focus:

Easy Watercolor Background Papillon Potpourri Card

Hello In Colors Card

Butterfly Bookmark Pocket Card

Have a wonderful Easter Sunday!

Cheerful Critters Best Year Ever

I cannot believe that today is the last day of Sale-a-Bration already! I think if I had to chose just one item as a favorite it would be the Best Year Ever DSP. I love the cheerful colors and fun prints. Here is a set of cards we made at my All Occasions Card class yesterday using theses papers along with the adorable Cheerful Critters set.

I used the 2013-15 set of In Colors for the set. I will be sad to see these colors go in just two months. Here's a closer look at each card...

I used a different embossing folder for each card. The bunny card used the Spring Flowers EF, which is available in the Occasions Catalog.

Not sure why, but the color on this bear card changed after uploading here to my blog? To see true colors of Pistachio Pudding, Crisp Cantaloupe and Coastal Cabana, look above at first photo to see the set of 3 cards. This one used the Lucky Stars Embossing Folder.

The little chicks sign was stamped onto DSP, cut out and popped up for some extra detail. The embossing folder used here is the Lovely Lace Embossing Folder. All cards were watercolored using the Aqua Painter and Classic Inks.

If you were planning to place an order during Sale-a-Bration...hurry, you have until the end of the day! If you love the soon to be retiring In Colors, now is a good time to stock up on ink refills and card stock before the retiring list is announced and they possibly run out.

If you need further enabling...how about a good sale? There are some great items listed in this weeks Weekly Deals and the Clearance Rack has been updated recently as well.

Easter Milk Carton Totes

I love it!!! Again today we are blessed with a gorgeous, warm, sunny day! I can't wait to get outside and enjoy it! First, I had to finish up these projects so they would be ready for my Easter Brunch on Sunday. Before I run outside to work in my garden, I want to share them here with you because I think they turned out so cute. I just LOVE that Mini Milk Carton Die!

Each little tote holds four Mini Milk Cartons. I used my favorite wheel...Always in Bloom to decorate the milk cartons and the handle of the tote before assembling. I choose the pretty Spring colors - Pretty in Pink, Bashful Blue, Certainly Celery, So Saffron & Lavendar Lace, based on the candy that would be inside. Here's a closer look of the individual totes.

Isn't that little bunny just adorable? He is from the Level 2 Hostess set in the Occasions Mini called Picnic Parade. I used patterned paper from the Sweet Pea pack to wrap around the base of the totes. One of my other fav new dies for the Big Shot is the Beautiful Wings Embosslit Die, and I used that here to embellish the handle of the tote.

I swapped out the blue for pink on this set, and also embellished the handle a bit differently. I used a few different stamps sets - Boho Backgrounds, Always, and You Make Me Happy (retired) to create the flower and leaf embellishment. To close each of the cartons, I punched two holes using my Crop-A-Dile and ran White Grosgrain thru one way, criss-crossed it in the back and fed it back thru. This closes the top nicely but still allows the milk carton to open at one side to get to the treats inside. Here is another cute option to close the milk carton.

For this carton I punched a window using the 1-1/4" Circle Punch, and adhered a window sheet inside. I closed it with one of the adorable little Library Clips. I didn't put windows in the cartons inside the tote, because you only would see a small portion of the window once they are placed inside the tote. About now, you may now be wondering how to make this adorable tote...I found this wonderful tutorial on another blog I like to visit. Thanks Kathleen for sharing how to make this adorable project!

Besides the obvious changes I made to my milk carton tote (colors, stamps, etc...) I did make one structural change as well. Since I was loading it down with lots of candy and it would become quite heavy, I decided to double up on the handle layer to make it a little sturdier. I just cut two handles, punched and glued together.

Enjoy your day and have a wonderful Easter!

Happy Easter!

I'm sneaking in a quick post today to wish you all a Happy Easter and to show you these little baskets I whipped up yesterday for my Easter brunch guests.I used my Scalloped Envelope die and various punches to make these. The Eyelet border punch added some nice detail to the handles. I attached them to my baskets with Soft Subtle Eyelets. Here's a view from the side to see the handles better.These baskets actually hold quite a bit...after I took these photos I filled them with jellybeans and Reeses's PB Eggs...but they didn't match the SU! colors I used! LOL Please tell me I'm not the only one who buys candy to coordinate with SU! colors in mind.

Well I better run or the only thing my guests are going to have to eat are what's in these baskets! ENJOY YOUR DAY!

Easter Whimsy

I've been so busy with other things this past week I haven't had much time to stamp, post here or even browse other blogs. On my last post here I mentioned my Mother-in-law was in the hospital. Thank you to everyone who had well wishes for her. She is now out of the hospital and doing much better!

Last night my Hostess Club got together, so I'll share the projects I prepared for the group. Hope you don't mind another Garden Whimsy card! This set is just so perfect for Spring, and since I don't have any current Easter sets I thought these tulips would work great for our Easter themed projects. The Flowers For You designer papers just screams spring to me also, so I used the lavender sheet on this card. My favorite part of this card is the 3-D butterfly. It was stamped twice - one image was punched out using the 1-3/8" circle punch being careful to include the antenna, the second image was cut out - except for the antenna and then just the body was adhered in place using the 2-way glue pen so that the wings are free.

The other project we did was this cute little basket with Dove chocolates. I figured I couldn't go wrong if chocolate was involved! The basket was created using an 8-1/2 square of Mellow Moss card stock:

• score at 5-1/2 on each side
• cut each corner off - and you'll have a cross shape remaining
• score each side again at 1" to create the fold down flap
• use corner rounder punch to create scallop edge on flap
• wheel with the Whimsy jumbo wheel
• Stamp the flap section with Canvas background
• handle = 7" x 3/4" strip stamped with Trimtastic
• scalloped embellishment on front= So Many Scallops stamped on Lavender Lace + Seeing Spots stamped on Mellow Moss punched with 1 1/4" circle + Pretty In Pink DP punched with 3/4" circle with So Saffron brad in center.
  

My first attempt at a basket was this one shown at right using the cute little box shown on page 11 in the SAB catalog. I got the pattern from the SU! website which was basically a template for the tiny take out box with the top trimmed off. However, scoring and folding this was kind of tedious and in the end I had to really fool with it to get it assembled properly. The shape is really cute, but you do need a little patience for this one, that's why I opted for the easier version above for our March stamp club project. If you're up for the challenge, email me for the template. (I couldn't figure out how to post it here)

Just a reminder...only a few more days left for the Sale-A-Bration promo...last day for orders is March 17th.

Enjoy your weekend!

Easter Ramblings

I hope you had a nice Easter Sunday. We had a wonderful day! We had some of our family join us for what was originally going to be brunch until Mike had to work later than planned. So it turned into a late lunch/early dinner...or Linner as we called it. We had so much food that I felt like I do after Thanksgiving dinner...totally stuffed! I tried a new dish called Spring Brunch Frittata. It was sort of like a quiche, but not as heavy in consistency and without the crust. It has spinach, sauteed mushrooms and Parmesan cheese in it. We also had ham, cheesy potatoes and my Aunt's homemade Hot Cross Buns. YUM! I made up little goodie buckets for our guests, and they loved them.

The containers were fun to make! I was happy to find these little buckets that matched SU! colors, so I grabbed a bunch of them when I was at Target one day, not really sure what I would use them for. All I did was make a "label" for the front using Regal Rose & Whisper White card stock and the You Make Me Happy stamp set. I used the Ticket Corner punch to give the rectangle shape a little more interest and the Horizontal Slot punch to run the grosgrain ribbon through. Then I held it in place with lots of stick strip - that stuff holds anything, I swear! I also added a couple cute brads that are shaped like buttons to keep the ribbon in place. The front of the bucket had some satin ribbon running thru two holes and then tied into a big bow, but I removed that and added my own ribbon that I had in my stash. Since these were for Easter, I had to add the cute little Easter bunny tag from Tags So Much! I figured this can be easily removed and they can use the container for pencils or something after the candy is gone. I have several of these in my craft room to help me keep organized and they look really cute I think.

Another fun thing about yesterday was that our family got to see our newly remodeled bathroom and laundry room. I love the way it turned out! They all thought it looked great too. Maybe tomorrow I'll show you what we did in those rooms. Until then, I'll be sitting in front of the window (too cold to hang outside!) hoping to see my first robin of the year! I'm on a mission now since I have gotten several comments from people who read my entry here a few days ago about not seeing a robin yet. It seems everyone has seen one, but me! What's up with that?! I'm keeping my eyes peeled and hopefully I'll see one soon. Have a great day!

Happy Easter!

I got this retired set at a garage sale last summer because I fell in love with this bunny image and thought it would make a cute Easter card. (Plus it was only five bucks, and who could pass that up?!) The name of the set is Tender Toile and I think that maybe it was a hostess set at one time because the rubber is purple. Anyways, I'm glad I finally got a chance to play with it.

I wanted a soft, vintage look for this card, so I stamped each layer with the Linen background inked in brown. For the banana layer, I used the floral image from this set stamped all over randomly in basic brown and then sponged the edges. Originally I planned to stop there...but it seems I can never just stop! I wondered if it would look nicer if the floral design had some color added to it. I tried it first on scrap and liked the look so I quickly added a bit of color using reinkers and my aqua painter.

Stamps: Tender Toile, Linen background & Fancy Flexible Phrases

Card Stock: Mellow Moss, Barely Banana, & Water color paper

Ink: Black Stazon, Basic Brown and various to water color

Accessories: Ticket Corner punch, Rich Regal Brads, Ivory & Moss grosgrain ribbon & Pop Dots

Have a nice Easter!