Woven basket Easter cards...

My sister has been very busy getting her Easter cards ready to send to family and friends. I always ask her to send me pictures of her cards so that I can share them on Paper Panacea. Well, she sent me a nice bunch of photos of her Easter cards, and I'm so happy to be able to show them to you today.

Here's one of the cards she made with a little woven Easter basket on it. She actually cut the strips of paper, embossed them (using, I think, a wood grain embossing folder) and wove them together to form this sweet little basket. After forming the basket, she added a little ink to the "high" spots for some added dimension.

She attached the handle with a small brad. The trim around the top of the basket is the same ribbon that you see at the bottom of the card.

The lace at the bottom of her card was made with a lifestyle crafts border die.




She made a few of these little basket cards, and here are a couple more:

Don't you love the little flowers she put in this one? The cute little brad framed in a pink diamond on the right is an Easter egg tied up in a ribbon.

I hope you enjoyed my sister's woven basket cards. I think I'll have to give this technique a try soon! I'll be sharing more of my sister's Easter cards in a couple of future blog posts.

Thanks for stopping by, and remember to laugh--a little or a lot--every day.
Cheryl

Super easy Easter gift tags...

These little bunny gift tags took about 5 minutes to make. This photo shows the front and the back, and I think they turned out so cute.

The front of the tag is a bunny image cut at 3 inches from the Doodlecharms cartridge.  The back is a round "charm" cut from the same cartridge and sized to match the bunny head as closely as possible. I used the layers feature on my Gypsy, putting the bunny on one layer and the charm on the other layer so I could see them both at the same time, while sizing just the charm. I also used "hide contours" to remove all the cuts for the bunny face.

Once both pieces were cut out, I adhered the charm to the back side of the bunny (making sure the eyelet was between the ears) and then trimmed it to exactly match the size of the bunny face, which is not an exact circle. Once that was done I used my Peachy Keen Cute and Cuddly stamps, using the largest one to stamp the face with Memento Rich Cocal ink.  I also stamped the "to" and "from" on the back side of the tag.

I used a pastel pink Promarker to color in the nose and mouth, added a few pink "freckles" and also added some pink to the bunny ears.

I doubt there's ever been a real bunny with pink freckles, but I sure think they look so cute!

The finishing touch was a piece of spring green and white baker's twine.






I'm going to make a ton more of these for my Easter gifts. I may add a tiny flower or a little bow by one of the ears for those that will go on gifts for girls.

Give this quick and easy tag a try. You'll have fun, I guarantee it!

Thanks for stopping by, and remember to laugh--a little or a lot--every day!
Cheryl

In your Easter bonnet, with all the frills upon it...

Kate's ABCs cartridge has the cutest little hats in it. I couldn't resist using them to make an Easter card.

I did not cut all the layers for the hat on the left. This did mean that I had to use the "hide contours" feature on my Gypsy to eliminate some of the cut lines, however.  I also reversed the direction of the dark purple hat on the right so that all three hats were facing the same way.

I didn't cut any of the flowers that were included with each hat image. Instead, I used some tiny Petaloo flowers that I had on hand. I think they worked perfectly.  When you're cutting images this small, it can be difficult to cut the layers for tiny flowers and glue them together without getting glue everywhere. At least it's difficult for ME!

 

The sentiment was stamped with Versamark and heat embossed with deep purple embossing powder.  I added a double-sided punched border (Martha Stewart Doily Lace) with some purple patterned ribbon across the center.  The bottom patterned paper is actually a light lilac color with white dots. It looks very blue in the photo but not IRL! This paper was printed from my computer and generously provided by Jak Heath on her blog jakheath.com. She has a number of papers that she designs and offers to her readers to download. Check her out - she's a fantastic artist and paper crafter.

 

 This card contains some of my favorite colors - any and all shades of purple and a nice rich yellow. I only wish I had even more of those colors in my own wardrobe!

The hats were popped up on foam tape for a little added dimension. This photo gives just a peek of the inside which was fairly plain, set off by only a yellow mat just like the one on the front of the card. I also added some Easter wishes printed with the help of my computer.

 

 I am entering this card in the following challenges:

* Paper Playtime - Challenge #5 Anything Goes

* Celebrate the Occasion - Challenge #103 Spring is in the Air

* Cardz TV - Challenge #26 It's So You!

 

I hope you enjoyed today's card. Thanks so much for stopping by, and remember to laugh--a little or a lot--every day!

Cheryl

Heat embossed bunnies...

Today's card is another one for Easter that was quick and fun to make. Gray isn't the usual Easter color, but I think it works nicely with a soft pink and white.

First I embossed the top half of the card with a Lifestyle Crafts embossing folder and my Cuttlebug. 

Then I added those sweet little pink bunnies on a strip of white cardstock. They were heat embossed using a dollar stamp from Michael's, VersaMark ink and some lovely pale pink embossing powder. I did have to stamp the bunnies twice in a straight line to get enough to go across the front of the card. Since the stamp was one of the wooden ones, and I wanted to easily see where I was stamping, I simply peeled it off the wood block and stuck it onto my Fiskars stamp press. I've gotten so used to using the stamp press that I don't seem to stamp straight without it anymore!  When I was done, I simply stuck the stamp back onto its wooden block.

The lace is self-adhesive trim from the Reflections line, also from Michael's.  I cut the sentiment label and pink frame from the Art Philosphy cartridge.  To get the gray to appear in each corner of the frame, I simply used a gray ProMarker to color the white card beneath the petal-like openings in the frame.

I kept the inside simple with nothing more than a pink mat and an Easter sentiment that I printed from my computer.

 

I'm entering this card in the Make My Monday Challenge - Heat Embossing.

I'm slowly getting my Easter cards completed. I've also finished most of my shopping for our TEN grandchildren. I like to get them each a little something for Easter to celebrate spring and to let them know they are loved beyond description.  I hope to find some time to make some cute Easter tags for those little gifts.  We'll see if I actually accomplish that!

Have you seen all the buzz on the internet about the new We R Memory Keepers Envelope Punch Board?  I've heard good things about it but have never tried it. If you're interested in it, I wanted to alert you to the best price that I found on the internet. Pumpkin Spice has it for $12.59! I've seen it for as high as $25.00 on other sites. I don't plan on investing in it any time soon--I'm trying to keep a handle on my craft spending--but if I was going to buy it, I'd give Pumpkin Spice a try.

Thanks for stopping by today, and remember to laugh--a little or a lot--every day.
Cheryl

A special gatefold Easter card...

Today's card is a special gatefold card in that the two halves of the "gate" don't just meet in the middle, they overlap.

Here you can see the two overlapping halves. When the card is closed, it is held in place by one wing of the blue butterfly on the right. The butterflies were made with a Martha Stewart butterfly punch. I doubled the butterfly on the right to make it stronger - punched two butterflies, ran one through the Xyron sticker maker and adhered them together.

The three pearls down the center of each butterfly were made with Liquid Pearls.

I scored the left side of the card and punched the edge with the Doily Lace Martha Stewart punch.  I also ran the right side through my Cuttlebug with the Swiss Dots folder.




The image was colored with ProMarkers. I absolutely love coloring with these alcohol markers. I have purchased most of mine from www.carpediemstore.com. They have very affordable prices and great service. To get all the detailed information about these markers and others made by the Letraset company, visit www.letraset.com.

As you can see the colors can be soft and muted, or vibrant.  When I color an image like this, I like to use a soft color to outline the image, creating a muted shadow. As I am still an alcohol marker novice, I decided to try two different colors for the shadow to see which I liked better. Here are the results:

This first image was outlined with a soft beige-tone marker. It could have been ivory or satin. I honestly don't recall.

BTW, I have no idea who made this stamp--it's an old one that I bought at our local crafts "second-hand" store called ArtScraps.

This second image was outlined with a pastel green, which is very much like a very light aqua color.  I think I like this outline color better than the beige color. It adds a brightness to the image and a nice contrast to all the yellow. 

I only used two different colors for each kind of flower and greenery. I used three different markers on each of the baskets--again, experimenting with what I thought might work and trying to learn from that. I wanted the baskets to be different in tone to better distinguish each one.

If you haven't yet tried coloring with alcohol markers, I highly recommend trying ProMarkers. They are affordable and great fun!

 

The inside of the card is a bit of a surprise when you open it. I like to think it's like opening a closet door and seeing that the inside of the closet has been nicely wall-papered.

Another doily and butterfly made a nice spot for a sentiment and for adding a personal note and signature. I lined this doily up exactly with the one on the front of the card.

 

I was able to line up the doilies by adding adhesive to the back of the inside doily, matching the front of it to the backside of the front doily and then closing just that half of the card to adhere the doily to the inside. Does that make sense?

I hope you enjoyed today's Easter card. It was great fun to make, and I hope the recipient enjoys it, too.

 

I am entering this card in the I ♥ ProMarkers challenge "Anything but square."

 

Thanks for stopping by, and remember to laugh--a little or a lot--every day!

Cheryl

Happy birthday card...

I have a granddaughter who turns 17 this month. I was going to use some sort of "fashion" theme for her birthday card, but then decided I'd do something completely different. She's a softy when it comes to animals, and I had stamped this cute image from Penny Black's Critter Party stamp set. It was begging to be colored, so I decided to use it for her card.

I had some pretty plaid paper that I think I had printed from either a cd I have of assorted papers or from an online site. I've had it so long, I just can't remember. Anyway, I used this paper for the background on the front of my card.

I made the little banner by carefully gluing some twine onto the front of the card and then adhering the hand cut flags with pop dots. The flagss were also run through my Cuttlebug in my Swiss Dots folder.

I cut the 17 with my Cricut - once from green cardstock and once from the magenta cardstock. I offset the magenta numbers just slightly to add a bit of a shadow. 

The Card Candi dots on either side were white, so I colored them to match with my ProMarkers. I love being able to do this - it means I've already got Card Candi to match all my papers. I have purchased most of my ProMarkers from carpediemstore.com. I think they have good prices and their service is great.



I kept the inside of the card simple, using a Fiskars sentiment stamp from their "Make a Wish" set. I added a little pink cupcake in the corner for some added interest.

 

Well, we had 10" of snow today. I got to help shovel our walks and driveway twice! It's good exercise, but my arms are a little sore right now. The snow seemed to get heavier and heavier with each shovelful. Oh, the joys of living in the upper Midwest!

 

I am entering this card in the Ladybug Crafts TLT Challenge for this week:  Add a number

 

Thanks for stopping by, and remember to laugh--a little or a lot--every day. Even if it snows 10" where you are!

Cheryl 

 



Easter card #2 (and #3)...

I'm on a little bit of a roll with Easter cards now and I'll be posting several more in the weeks leading up to Easter. I love making Easter cards - they're bright, cheery and give me hope that spring really will arrive.

We still have piles of snow here in Minnesota and more on the way, so it's a little hard to actually "feel" the spring air moving in, but I'm pretty sure it'll come eventually. Mother Nature hasn't let us down yet!

I had fun making the following two cards. I used a deep-edge Martha Stewart punch to get the lattice detail on either side of the front.  I practiced on a couple sheets of used copy paper (I save all my used copy paper) to get just the right placement for the punch.

I started with a 6 1/4" by 9" piece of white cardstock, scored at 4 1/2" to form a 6 1/4" by 4 1/2" card.  The lattice punch reduced the width of the front of the card to 6".  I had to do some extra trimming (about 1/8") on each side of the back panel of the card, and I ended up with a 4 1/2" by 6" card, which includes that scalloped edge.  It really wasn't hard, and I think the lattice adds such wonderful detail to the front of the card.

The pink-striped mat was cut to fit between the two lattice sides and inked around the edges to help set it off against the white base card.

The pink cardstock behind the lattice is actually adhered to the inside of the card on the half where you usually add your sentiment.  Below, you can see the open lattice on the front of the card.

 The pretty tulip was cut from the Kate's ABCs cartridge. This is not a cartridge you would think of for an image like this, but it's perfect for an Easter card.

 

This photo of the inside shows the pink mat along with a white center mat for the sentiment. I printed a tiny tulip in the bottom right corner. It was just a clip art line image that I was able to color with my ProMarkers.

When I make my Easter cards, I like to make at least a couple of each design. Here's the second card of this design.

This pretty flower was cut from the Florals Embellished cartridge.  Besides using a different flower for this card, I also added 3 pale pink pearls instead of the flat-backed gems I used on the previous card.

 

Once again you can see the open lattice work on the front of the card.

I'm looking forward to cutting more images from Florals Embellished. Each image has quite a few layers and many of them are really lovely.

I hope you enjoyed these latest Easter cards.  Thanks so much for stopping by and remember to laugh--a little or a lot--every day.

Cheryl