Catching up on Easter

As usual, time has been flying by faster than fur at a cat fight, so I'm running behind with a couple of posts.  

In fact, the first one I'm sharing with you features the Easter cards I sent out to friends and family.  Even though it's late, I think you'll like seeing these fun and festive cards.

EGGstra Spectacular:  
I hemmed and hawed about ordering the EGGstra Spectacular, 4-piece stamp set from Stampin' Up!s Occasion's catalogue.  After seeing a card posted by Robin Messenheimer from Pahoa, Hawai'i I just couldn't resist the sweet line-art images and funny sentiments and made one in a similar style.  

Eggstra Spectacular available in Wood Mount #133068 Price: $19.95 or Clear Mount #133071 for $14.95.  Available in English and French, however the French version is only available in clear mount. This limited-time stamp is only available from January 3 through May 31, 2014, so order yours today!

HERE IS MY CARD:

Isn't it adorable?  I love those cute little bunny tails (non-Stampin' Up! product).  They are teeniest little pom poms I've ever seen and just perfect for this card.  I found them at the local dollar store. They came in pink and white. Here are the rest of the supplies:

SUPPLIES: 

Cardstock and DSP:  

• First Layer Pistachio Pudding 5 4/8 x 4 1/8" and a strip measuring 5 1/4 x 4" for the layer beneath the bunnies.  Also you need a scrap for the Large Oval under the sentiment. Save a 1/8" x 5 1/4" strip for inside card.
• Second Layer -cut a piece of 5 4/8 x 4 1/8" piece of Watercolour Wonder DSP.
• Third Layer and card base - cut a 1 1/4" x 4 5/8" piece of Crisp Cantaloupe for the third layer and a 5 1/2 x 8 1/2"for the card base.  You'll also need a 1/8" x 5 1/4" strip for inside the card.
• Cut a 1 1/8" x 4 1/2" piece of Whisper White cardstock for the bunny layer.  You'll also need a scrap for the Happy Easter sentiment and a piece measuring 3 1/2 x 5 1/4" for the inside of the card. 

Ink:  Pistachio Pudding Classic Ink and Marker , Crisp Cantaloupe Classic Ink and Marker, So Saffron Marker, Basic Black Marker and Staz On Black Ink

Accessories:  Trimmer, Adhesive Sticky Strips, Dimensionals, Perfect Polka Dots Embossing Folder, Crisp Cantaloupe Ruffled Stretch Ribbon, Stamp-a-ma-jig, Oval Punches, 5 White Pompoms

These little bunnies are all perfectly aligned on the Whisper White strip.  See the instructions below for some tips.  I sponged around the edges of the layers with the corresponding inks.  You might notice the center bunny looks a bit different from the others.  It's not just a white bunny.  If you look really close you can see dots of colour below it's ears and bum.  To achieve this effect, I stamped a bunny on the DSP, fussy cut it out with scissors and then glued it to the center image.  You can just see a wee bit of the coloured dots on this one and it varied from card to card.

View of the inside of the card.  I stamped the EGGstra Spectacular sentiment with Staz On Ink and then coloured the eggs with the coloured markers.  The two 1/8" x 5 1/4" strips of card stock are lined up on the Whisper White cardstock with just an 1/8" space in between them. 

In this view you get a glimpse of all the cards I made.  They just kept multiplying. 

Getting the Bunnies all in a Row
I'm not good at just diving in and eyeballing where a stamp should be placed so I have to rely on doing some prep work before beginning to stamp.  Believe me the 5 minutes this prep takes is more than worth it.

My trick for getting the bunnies all stamped in a row with equal spacing is to use your Stamp-a-ma-jig and grid paper together. 

First I drew an outline of the Whisper White card stock piece on the grid paper.  This rectangle outline serves as a placement marker and each time I stamped a bunny, I made sure before starting to stamp that the cardstock was back in the same place. 

To make it even easier, I stamped all the bunny images I needed for the center bunnies onto DSP and then fussy cut-out these little rabbits.  This gave me some more templates.

I used five of the cutouts to line up with the downward lines of the grid paper.  Above each of the template bunnies I drew a small box on the grid line they were centered on. When I lined up my image from the Stamp-a-ma-jig below each of these boxes, it was easy to get the bunnies perfectly spaced and in a neat row.  

Because I didn't want the rest of the stamped image, only the bunny, I used my black marker to outline the image I wanted to stamp.  Make sure you don't get any ink on the other parts of the image or it will show up when you stamp.  Also make sure that you stamp down into the Stamp-a-ma-jig hold for a second to set the image and then lift the stamp directly out of the slot.  You'll obtain a clearer image and less likelihood of rocking the stamp.  

 

Well I hope you enjoyed this post.  Leave me a comment if you did, I'd love to hear from you.  Tomorrow I'll be posting my second Easter card and some fun cards I made at a Stampin' Up! Demo card evening, so be sure to come back again.

Penny