Spring is in the Air

Today's blog post was featured on Stampin' Up!s corporate blog a few days ago

Hello there, with the first day of spring only a few days away I thought I would create a couple of simple cute projects using the adorable new stamp set Basket bunch 143186 along with the coordinating Basket builder framelits 143228. This set is so perfect for Easter but I wanted to show you that this set is great for other occasions too. I love a stamp set that you can adapt, it makes it even better value for money!

For my first card ‘ Happiest birthday’ I turned the Easter eggs into balloons!

To create the ‘balloons’ I placed the eggs the wrong side up on my block, inked and stamped to get a solid colour, the colours I used are So saffron, Soft sky, Pink pirouette and Crumb cake. I then turned the stamp the correct way around and inked with memento black ink to stamp over with the egg outline and detail.

The bunny and the bow I coloured in with a Blender pen using the same coloured inks as the balloons. The Blender pens are one of my favourite tools and a great way for you to get the most out of your ink pads.

The sentiment I used for this card is from the Cool treats stamp set 142982. I love mixed font sentiments and ‘Happiest birthday was a perfect fit for this card.

Here is a close up, even though this card is simple there is lots of dimension.

My second card, For somebunny sweet, I created using post it notes as a mask so I could overlap the bunnies.

First I stamped the central bunny on to my whisper white cardstock matt.

I then stamped the same bunny on to a post it note, making sure that part of the bunny was stamped on to where the adhesive strip would be on the reverse, and then I fussy cut the image out. I placed the ‘post it note’ bunny over the top of the first bunny to create a mask so that when I stamped the bunny again either side no ink would touch the central bunny. I coloured them in using the Blender pens again with Crumb cake, Pink pirouette and So saffron ink pads

For the sentiment I used another trick with a post it note. I only wanted to use part of the sentiment so my card would be suitable for a birthday, a thank you note or a simple Hello. You can see below how I achieved this.

The tiny hearts are from another favourite stamp set of mine Made with Love 138662. I also used these to create a subtle background on the crumb cake matt along with the tiny dots from this set.

My final project, ‘Thanks a bunch’ is a little envelope that I made using The envelope punch board, another of my favourite ‘must have’ tools. Not only is it so easy for making lots of different sized envelopes but it’s handy for making boxes too!

Once I had made the envelope using Crumb cake card stock I stamped the little carrot randomly using Crumb cake ink all over the front of the envelope. Then I wrapped a strip of DSP from the Subtles Designer series paper stack 138437 in Daffodil delight around the envelope and then wrapped a thinner piece of crumb cake cardstock over the top. This creates a belly band which will keep the envelope closed.

I stamped the sentiment ‘Thanks a bunch’ to the right and placed the stamped and die cut carrots to the left. I coloured the carrots in with a Blender pen using Peekaboo peach and pear pizzaz. To finish I die cut the grass using Pear pizzaz cardstock

Inside is a little packet of carrot seeds

Both my Aunty and I are growing our own vegetables for the first time this year, she has an allotment and I have a small plot in my garden. I wish I was as ‘green fingered’ as she is, I have a tendency to kill plants with kindness so I think I will need lots of help and advice from her over the coming months and this envelope of carrot seeds will be a perfect way of saying a little thank you.