Curvy Keepsake Easter Favours

On Easter we usually have family over for brunch and I like to decorate our table to match the occasion. Painted eggs are generally my centre piece (I have a white wire display in the shape of a rabbit that holds 1 dozen eggs). I also like to place a little favour on everyone's plate and the SU
Curvy Keepsake box is just the perfect size for this.

Here's the simple little design I came up with for this year.

As you can see each favour contains one little chocolate treat. I used little Lindt chicks and bunnies but I have seen other brands out there as well. Wal-Mart for example has some Belgium ones and even Doll-A-Ram had some last year that are imported from Germany.

I find the bunnies worked better in the actual Curvy Keepsake as the chick were a little taller. I therefore also made a "handles side" only version to accommodate a taller chocolate. I think either way these are just the cutest little things.

Supplies used:
Cardstock: Recollections 110 lbs white
Stamp: Sheltering Tree - SU
Ink: all SU, various colours for the blooms: Daffodil Delight, Rich Razzleberry, Perfect Plum, Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive, Pear Pizzazz
Die: Curvy Keepsake - SU
Punch: 1 3/8" circle
Misc.: 5/8" organza ribbon, 6" length of ribbon trim (I found this lovely green and yellow flower one at Doll-A-Ram for $1.50 for a 5 yard spool), a few strands of Easter grass, double sided tape (to secure the treat)

Notes: I punched the whole into the centre one of the "handled" sides of the box shape. Then I stamped my grass and little flowers. Note you may wish to mask the area of the opposite box side when stamping the grass as the image is rather long and will reach to the side. After assembling the box I added a little double sided tape to the inside of the base. I stuck my treat to the centre and then bunched up a few Easter grass strands and placed them in front/around the chocolate character.
Tie the bow at the top, add the trim and your are done/. If you like you can add a little tag with a name or sentiment as well.

The tall treat wrapper was made using only the two "handled" sides of the die. I also trimmed the base to approx. 1/2 - 3/4" width (just enough to accommodate the treat.

Thanks for stopping by! Hope to see you again soon.

Orchard in the Sky

I have one more card to share that was made using the Sheltering Tree set. It's a little different as I didn't actual stamp a tree. Instead I opted to use the top part of the stamp to create branches. Stamping all around the edge of the card gives it the illusion that the view is taken from beneath the trees looking up towards the sky.

 

I stuck with a spring cherry blossom theme, but you could do this with any of the seasons. I added several very tiny rhinestones for a little added glitz.

And here's a peek at the inside of my card.

Supplies used:
Cardstock: Recollections white, Bazzill coral
Stamp: Sheltering Tree - SU, Butterfly Basics - SU
Ink: All SU - Calypso Coral, Pear Pizzazz, Chocolate Chip, Blushing Bride, Basic Black
Misc.: tiny 1/16" and 3/16" clear rhinestones.

Thanks for stopping by! Hope to see you again soon.

Sheltering Tree

I wasn't sure which one of my new stamps sets to try out next until I came across a fun challenge at SCS entitled "Sheltering Friends". A that point I knew Sheltering Tree was the next set to get my attention.

I had so much fun playing with these stamps I made four cards to represent each of the seasons.
They look so pretty all in a row. Almost to nice to use.

 
Even though it's a little bare compared to the others, winter seems to be my favourite (funny considering I usually lean towards warm autumn colours). I added a bit of glitter to my snow with PSX sparkles for that extra special touch.

For the spring theme I decided on cherry blossoms just as they are finishing and falling from the trees. It not easy to spot but I added tiny little pearls coloured with alcohol markers to the blooming tree. The pearls at the top and bottom of the card were also coloured with markers.

Summer has very vibrant colours and pretty flowers. I do not currently have purple Blendabilities so I opted for little accent buttons instead of coloured pearls.  I also had this pretty gem butterfly in my stash that seemed to fit nicely.

Fall comes to life in pretty golds and brown, and a few coloured pearls.

I also made the insides of the cards to match. I didn't add a sentiment here though in order to leave room for a personal message.

Supplies used:
Cardstock: Recollections
Patterned paper: various old plaid scraps
Stamp: Sheltering Tree - SU, Festival of Trees (bird) - SU
Ink: all SU
       Winter: Soft Sky, Chocolate Chip, Cherry Cobbler, Basic Black
       Spring: Pear Pizzazz, Blushing Bride, Chocolate Chip, Basic Black, Crushed Curry
       Summer: Garden Green, Pear Pizzazz, Daffodil Delight, Pumpkin Pie, Rich Razzleberry,
                       Chocolate Chip, Basic Black
       Fall: Old Olive, Cajun Craze, Crushed Curry, Always Artichoke, Chocolate Chip, Basic Black
Blendabilities Alcohol Markers, to colour my rhinestones and pearls: Soft Sky (rhinestones), Skin
                      Tone, Daffodil Delight
Misc.: Rich Razzleberry stitched Ribbon, light blue organza ribbon, pearls, clear rhinestones, rhinestone/gem butterfly, tiny 3/16" purple buttons, foam mounting squares

Thanks for stopping by! Hope to see you again soon.

Blendabilities Take Two

I needed to play a little more to see if I could get a better feel for colouring or if I'm a lost cause.

So I tried the same Indescribable Gift blossom image with different colours.

This time I choose deep red tones and I think this works better. I liked working with the darker hues much more than the lighter colours.

 

I'm undoubtedly not done learning this colouring technique but I think this one turned out better already.  Here's a view of the inside of the card, which I made to match.

Again, I had to improvise and use green chalk with the colour lifter/blender pen to colour my leaves. Hopefully SU will solve the Blendadbilities issues ASAP ND I can get my Hands on some green markers.

Supplies used:
Cardstock: Recollections and SU
Ink: Basic Black - SU
Stamp: Indescribable Gift - SU
Alcohol markers: All SU Blendabilities- Cherry Cobbler, Skin Tone and Soft Sky
Misc.: pearls

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see you again soon.

Playing with Blendabilities, Take one

With my last SU order I received several packages of their new Blendabilities. I have never worked with alcohol markers before and the thought as a little daunting at first so I checked out several how to videos and dove in. I chose the blossom image form Indescribable Gift, courtesy of my lovely SU rep who provided me with a few stamped images (thank you Doris!).

My first try was not as successful as I had hoped (I'm a perfectionist), but I guess it still turned out better than  most would expect for a first attempt. I did use the finished coloured image on a card and it is rather pretty even with some imperfections in the shading.

I opted for light pink/peach shades for my blossoms and thought using the marker caps as a colour guide would be sufficient. I was wrong. Don't use the caps as an accurate indication of the colours. test them on a white piece of cardstock instead. As you can see my blossoms now have a mix of pink and peach instead off 3 shades of peach.

My Old Olive markers are on back order and I do not have any other shades of green. So to colour the leaves I used my blender/colour lifter and chalks (saw this technique somewhere on the web a few months back). It works well but the tip of the pen does absorb a lot of the chalk colour and is now stained.

I finished the inside of the card to match the front using only a partial blossom image. I left my card blank so that I can choose the appropriate sentiment once I decide to use it.

Supplies used:
Cardstock: SU and Reflections
Ink: assume this was SU Basic Black as the image did smudge a little during colouring.
Markers: SU Blendabilities: Skin Tone set, Soft Sky set and Smokey Slate set
Stamp: Indescribable Gift - SU
Die: Oval Framelits - SU
Misc.: pearls, foam mounting squares

Thanks for stopping by! Hope to see you again soon.