Easter Bunny Mini Egg Carton

Another for the Kids and/or Young at Heart out there...

Where there is a Easter Chick... there is usually a Bunny closely following behind... well there is at The Craft Spa!

So here is my Ever-So-Softie Bunny to go with my Angry Chick!

And where there is an Easter Bunny.... mmmm!! Any guesses where I have gone next!!!?

Fancy making your own.... contact me here for a Create at Home Kit or to arrange a class before Easter (offers subject to Mini Egg Carton stocks... which are on limited availability in the world already)

And hopefully...there will also a tailor-made special one for a family member fit in before Easter too... fingers crossed....

Watercolor Pencils #1 - Inside the lines

This is one of the projects we created in my Watercolor Pencil Intro class I am running this month....

Just £20 for half day (£25 full day) including a pack of Watercolor Pencils (RRP £14.50) if you are interested in joining us... next session Wed 22nd March... and happy to arrange an alternative date for 3 or more..

The Sale A Bration Inside the Lines Speciality paper is perfect to try out your pencils and then have something lovely enough to cut up to make a card later. And you could make 9 of these from just one 12" Square piece of paper ... as the panel is a 4" Square... 

Though I couldn't bring myself to colour all the paper sheet in... and I don't think it is necessary...

And a few tips for you.... 

I don't use the Aqua Painter when I am colouring on paper... too much water means the paper will tear! But the Blender Pen works well... and the Wink of Stella pen works brilliantly. Adding that subtle touch of sheen as you blend the colour out....

Hard to see... but a very subtle shadow is added around the images using the Pacific Point watercolor pencil... but more on that technique another day...

After colouring  - and drying for a while!!! - the panel is cut down to 2" squares. ( It will tear if not dry!!! Which I was very good at demonstrating the other day!)

The big bee on the right is from Dragonfly Dreams... which is a great set for lots of Watercolor Pencil techniques!! Do remember to only add a very light touch of pencil on those wings though....

Remember that the Sale A  Bration exclusive Inside the Lines paper is free with a £45+ order until 31st March 

As indeed is this Glimmer Paper I used for the glittery Hello You hello... 

Right off now to make more Easter makes for my classes next week... too much fun!!

Mini Egg Carton Easter Chick

Well I had to give one a go... so something very bright and for the "young at heart" for you today...

Take one Stampin' Up! Mini Egg Carton... Spritz with a mixture of 70% Rubbing Alcohol & 15 drops Crushed Curry ink from a refill bottle...

Punch a few circles and flower parts in Daffodil Delight & Tangerine Tango... I used the 1" and 1/2" Circle Punches (eyes), the smallest Stitched Shape Square die (beak) and the Pansy (wings & feet) and Flower Medallion (punch 2 for comb on head) punches

And voila... an Easter Chick for your eggs... any 4 eggs will do... Real eggs? Cadburys Creme Eggs?... Lindt Lindor? Galaxy Caramel? Cadburys Dairy Milk Caramel? Kinder? This list is obviously UK biased... but please feel free to add your mini eggs in the comments below!! As I am sure that there are lots more around the world...

Looking for more Easter Treats inspiration etc... then please feel free to pop across to this round up post I posted previously... many of the projects with tutorials...

Big on Birthdays....

I needed a quick card to go... so I picked my current favourite birthday greetings set,  Big on Birthdays and my friends' favourite colour (Soft Sky)...

I stamped the greeting using Memento Black & coloured with markers (Soft Sky, Mint Macaron & Emerald Envy) ... and added TO YOU in Soft Sky...

The lovely flowery border stamp was perfect for stamping on the sides of the card blank in Soft Sky to add extra co-ordination and interest... And you can even fill in the centres of each side using the gift bow stamp if you want to... you may have to look very closely to see this!

And I finished off with a few sequins from the Cupcakes & Carousels embellishment pack... and it was ready to go...

And - most importantly - she loved it... 

Dragonfly Dreams on a Brick Wall....

A Tunnel Fold Card for you today.... CASEing myself... using Dragonfly Dreams dragonflies instead of the Watercolor Wings butterflies used before....

And using my favourite Big on Birthdays for the BIG greeting

Dragonflies both embossed on vellum... left hand one with white embossing powder and right hand one with clear embossing powder. 

Then both just have Pool Party and Mint Macaron marker pens scribbled over to colour them up... remembering to wipe off the excess ink with a tissue! 

But wow do they look different... the right hand one takes on an ethereal (or jelly like!) appearance... 

Have to say that these dragonflies seriously look like they have just flown in and are hovering over the front of the card...

Stylish Stems Easter Card

Ah! This makes me so much happier! But my other one just had to match the trug basket!!

Those of you of you that visited yesterday will understand! And for those of you that didn't...please feel free to click and visit here to see the alternative and the details of what I used...  and hop around for some fabulous Sale A Bration glimmer paper pack colour inspiration from the Jems team....

Jems Monthly Blog Hop & Colour Challenge

Hello and welcome to The Craft Spa in the UK from Amanda Bates.

Time for the Team March Blog Hop today - so please join my lovely and very talented fellow team members and have an inspiring hop around... you won't be disappointed...

This month's blog hop theme is inspired by the gorgeous new Sale A Bration Glimmer Papers- you know the ones- the pack of 3 colours of shiny glimmery glittery gorgeousness that has virtually every demo (and customer) visibly drooling!

And available for free with a £45 order... what's not to love! Want to see more of the shine? Then click here to see them in video action

So the pack inspired a Colour Challenge for our theme... so I bring you Bermuda Bay, Mint Macaron and Sweet Sugarplum... oh what a shame... 3 of my current favourite colours!! Perfect for Easter makes... And I went with a glitter theme!

First up... the Easter Trug basket... I picked up these boxes when I dropped off an order yesterday!! Wonder if Heidi will now want them back!! We reckon they are from Hello Fresh or Gousto or takeaway deliveries - so please let me know if you recognise them...as I would like some more!!

So a bit of up-cycling! Stamped a few Kraft card panels with the Hardwood stamp, cut to size and voila! Perfect...

Die cut a few Stylish Stems flowers and leaves using all 3 colours of the Glimmer paper and white or same colour cardstock.

Stamped the plant labels for the greeting using Thoughtful Banners (HAPPY) and Circle of Spring (easter) stamps - and then punched with the Classic Label punch ...

And a quick card to go with the basket... this HAPPY being from Perfectly Wrapped (this is the stamp I cut up into HAPPY and DAY!) and the stamped mat is a Stitched Shapes die cut square...

So that is it from me for today...

Time to pass you onto Karen Watt's Krafting K blog ...

OR Katy Harrison's The Stamping Shed blog if you are going in reverse  - or have missed one!

And as just requested - here is a list of all our participants and all their links...

1. Sharon Glynn 

2. Sarah Lavelle 

3. Gill Arnold 

4. Karyn Davies

5. Katy Harrison 

6. Amanda Bates (You are here!)

7. Karen Watts 

8. Linda Ellis 

9. Julie Wade 

10. Allie Jolliffe 

Cupcakes & Carousels Pop & Twist Card for Fancy Fold Friday

Gosh I thought I had shared these Cupcakes and Carousels makes ages ago... apologies girls!

This card fold will seem familiar as I re-made the card for classes using Cupcakes & Carousels as some of my ladies did not want to make a Valentine card  using the Sending in Love papers- so this was an easy alternative as just a different 6x6 paper stack...

And for those of you thinking out loud.... yes I re-made this one before I worked out the 6 panel version... tutorial for that one here ... a remake now would definitely have more panels...

Love the simplicity of the front of this card.... so easy care of the fantastic Cupcakes & Carousels embellishment pack- of which I used the beautiful greeting frame, the bow, the bakers twines and the sequins here... along with the Balloon Bouquet Punch for my balloons

Other Stampin' Up! Products Used

Balloon Adventures

Sale A Bration Any Occasion (Yours for free with a £45 order)

Really great card ready to pop someone's name and/or age on when I need to quickly send a birthday card... 

Cupcakes & Carousels White Gift Box Gift Card Holder

Another quick easy make using the Large White Gift Boxes.... making up the box as described here

But this time I have turned the box into a Gift Card Holder by adding a simple insert... using the method described here (in points 13-20) but with a 10.5 x 6cm (4 1/8" x 2 3/8") piece of card onto a 7.4cm (2 7/8") square base piece

Using the lovely Cupcakes & Carousels 6x6 Paper Stack... and a few bits from the Cupcakes & Carousels embellishment pack. Both of which I highly recommend. This was a paper stack that grew on me very quickly as I used it as the colours are lovely, bright & fresh .... and the embellishments make life (and decoration) easy! In fact I have just bought some more.....

 

And the Sale A Bration promotional stamps Any Occasion (Yours for free with a £45 order) came in very useful for decorating my banners on the back and insert.... 

I just needed to "straighten" my stamps slightly to make them work as I wanted... easiest way to do that being to lay them on the paper as required and then quickly stick the clear block on top

Also used... 

Layered Circles dies

Stitched Shapes dies

Perfectly Wrapped

2" Circle Punch

Falling in Love with So Detailed dies

Simple little card with a beautiful So Detailed wrap ... 

Die cut... wrap edges round sides of card to form tabs around the back...  stick a piece of same size Very Vanilla cardstock onto the tabs at the back to hold it all in place...

Recognisable!? Well, I CASED this Make & Take made at the Stampin' Up! On Stage event back in November...

Funny how a difference in paper  makes me SO much more happy!

Stampin Up products used

Falling in Love papers

So Detailed dies

So in Love stamps

Falling in Love embellishments

1/4" Satin Ribbon

Gold Thread

Very Vanilla A4 Cardstock

Inks - Pool Party, Sahara Sand