I was shopping for Easter punches and rubber stamps when I was told that I was getting a late start. It wasn't until I got home and looked at a calendar that I realized that Easter is on April 4
th this year! Oh my, I guess all my traveling made me lose track of the date. I suppose I'll have to save some of my Easter craft supplies for next year.
LOL These two cards were made using Studio G blank cut out cards. I love how the bunny one turned out because it reminds me of a cake I ate as a child......it was pink with a creamy center and covered with coconut.....called, 'snowball'? Anyway, I ran the pink bunny card through the
Xyron machine and then stuck on a blue metallic dewdrop (could be a button) for an eye. Then I covered the bunny with white Flower Soft, the new embellishment sold at Ben Franklin Crafts. A fancy satin ribbon finishes the look of a yummy bunny cake card. I started the egg card by applying different widths of
Merikan tape and covering the sticky surface with various Flower Soft colors. Next I added lines of MS glitter glue and sprinkled them with the new Martha Stewart iridescent tinsel glitter. Finally, I punched out strips of grass with rabbits and grass with tulips using the MS border punches. I added a bit of glitter to the rabbit and tulips and glued the strips to the egg. The gaps on the egg were filled in with green Flower Soft. Even though the egg card is really gaudy, (
LOL) I like the texture, especially the punched strips because they pop out. I think I'll try making one with more glitter and using softer colors. Children would really love making or receiving this card. Probably the Studio G card blanks are sold out by now, but you could easily construct them yourself or make other shapes. A chick covered in yellow Flower Soft might be really cute. I think I'll go make one now. An e-mail blast will be sent out on March 31st to craft club members informing them of an upcoming contest. Check this blog for more information about our Easter contest.
These first five jewelry making books are my latest favorites. Jewelry with chains is very popular now, especially several strands of mixed metals. I really get inspired by looking at and reading these cleverly artistic books. While some of them have actual project instructions many of them serve to get my creative juices flowing. The most unique book in this bunch is Enchanted Adornments, a whimsical book with attractive jewelry designs and stories to go with them.
I read dozens of magazines at a time, some useful and some just full of advertisements. These two will appeal to card crafters and scrapbookers. Card Maker is not new but it never fails to provide new, clever card creations. You can learn a lot by just looking at the photos, but the magazine contains good information and tips as well. The other magazine is new to me and has a fascinating concept of providing sketches of card layouts along with sample projects. Once you start with a good sketch it is easy to coordinate colors, patterns and embellishments. 
The last four books I want to show you are rather eclectic. If you are a recycler, the bottom two books should appeal to you. The one about plastic is very clever and will amuse both children and adults. The other recycling book has projects of a more useful nature, like tote bags made from potato chip bags or old sweaters. I love to receive pretty mail and the Good Mail book is a teaching tool which helps me create pretty mail to send to others. Finally, Collage Journals is an artistic book designed for those who want to put their journaling in a museum quality setting. For the moment this book is giving me good ideas but I haven't become a journal artist yet. Anyway, I hope this deviation from my usual posts will get you to check out the craft magazine and book racks.
