Chicks-in-Eggs Easter Gift Bag

I purchased a set of three dotted bags from HM Ben Franklin Crafts and I thought I could turn one of them into a cute Easter gift bag.  At first I was going to just decorate the bag with large die cut eggs and maybe make the eggs confetti shakers.  Then I had the great idea to just put one chick in each egg like it was going to hatch.  Using Spellbinder egg and circle dies I cut out three eggs from printed cardstock.  Before running the dies through my Big Shot machine I layered two of the same colored papers right side up.  Next I glued a piece of cellophane behind the holes so that the cellophane will be inside the eggs.  I cut the foam tape into thinner pieces before applying them inside the eggs to form a cavity for the puffy chick stickers (apply cornstarch to them to make them un-sticky).  I applied additional foam sticker pieces to the top the inside of the paper eggs.  Insert the un-sticky chick stickers into the eggs before gluing the eggs to the bag.  Finally put a strip of foam adhesive under the Doodlebug Designs airplane banner die cut and attach it to the bag above the eggs.  Although the eggs were a little complicated, they turned out very well and the puffy chicks really do shake around....do real chicks get shaken around in the eggs???

I hope this post has given you some ideas for what you can make with a plain handled paper bag.  Being creative is fun and satisfying. I'm sure that you will get a crafting high from using your mind and hands to assemble something original, pretty and useful. Give it a try!

Decorated Easter Recycled Box

 This project began as a test to see if I could impress the Simon Says Stamp 'Playful Bunnies' embossing folder design onto Crafters Companion (ombre glitter) paper.  It worked! The little bunnies look super cute on the glittery multi-colored paper. (Sorry my camera didn't capture the raised design very well.) At first I decided to use the embossed paper to make an Easter card but then I spied an empty gold candy box. (Who ate all the chocolates?) It was easy-peasy to adhere the embossed bunny paper to the box and add on wired floral ribbon and some Recollections flowers. I am very happy with how this Easter box turned out and how simple it was to put together.  It is very satisfying to turn an almost discarded empty box into an attractive gift box.  I think I'll fill this box with homemade goodies.  Bunny Shortbread Cookies anyone?

Confetti Resin Earrings

In an effort to use some of my hoarded stash of confetti, I had a light-bulb moment and decided to use them in resin molded earrings.  Since I've been thinking about what to do with a Sierra Pacific Resin Earring Kit, this seemed like the perfect project.  The kit comes with many silicon mold sheets to make a great quantity and variety of resin earrings.  It was easy to put a little Padico UV-LED resin in one of the cavities and add some confetti,  I used a small pick to spread out the confetti before adding more resin. Next I turned on the UV light and put it over the filled mold.  The UV light (from HM Ben Franklin Crafts) turns off in one minute resulting in a hard resin surface.  Before popping out the resin piece, turn over the silicon mold and light up the underside. This should harden up the backside of the earring but if not, you can light up the piece outside of the mold.  Each mold cavity has a piece to form a hole in the resin earring piece for stringing onto the earring wires.  The earring kit also comes with a generous amount of silver and gold earring parts. With simple jewelry pliers you should be able to put together dozens of earrings very quickly. As a finishing touch I applied a bit of GS-Hypo glue on the tiny decorative wire coil that is on each ear wire finding. Doing this keeps the coil and bead from sliding off the earring wire. Making earrings with confetti can be addictive (so many choices) but I'm sure you can invent your own filling for your resin earrings....candy sprinkles?  Give it a try!    

Bunnies and Shaker Egg Spring Card

 As you may know if you are a frequent visitor to this blog site, I 'collect' (hoard) confetti.  Recently, I discovered and purchased some great spring confetti at HM Ben Franklin Crafts.  Using one of the Spellbinders egg dies, I cut one out from plain white card stock.  Next, I cut apart a Heiko cello bag (from HM BC) and trimmed it so that it was about 1/2" larger than the die cut egg.  I used double stick tape (narrow width) along the edge of the egg.  I folded the edge of the trimmed cello egg so that it formed a 'bag' around the egg with a small opening. Through this opening I filled the egg with confetti being careful not to overfill (or the egg won't have the shaker effect).  The open edge was folded over the egg to form a closed shaker egg.  The green grassy frame was cut with a Lawn Fawn die.  I made a turquoise card blank and used Fabri-Tac glue to adhere the green frame to it.  Using my Misti stamp alignment tool I stamped the words on the card. I also used the Misti so to stamp the bunnies in dark brown permanent ink on white paper. The tool allows me to repeatedly re-stamp the images if they are not perfect.  The Hero Arts stamp set came as a bundle with the matching dies which is a real time saver if you are making multiple cards...no fussy cutting!  The bunnies were sparingly colored with Copic pens and attached to the card with adhesive foam dots. Because the grassy die cut frame had cut out grass, it as easy to tuck in and glue the large confetti shaker Easter egg.  I am very happy with the way this card evolved especially because I was able to use confetti again but in a new way.  I hope this post has given you some new ideas and you will be inspired to make an Easter card too!

Floral Rabbits Easter Card

I'm not a big fan of Easter, but I do love bunnies and decorating eggs.  As I dug through my boxes of Easter stuff, I found a barely used Avery Elle bunny stamp and die set.  It was easy-peasy to stamp and die cut the bunnies from Simple Stories floral print paper (old paper pad).  The inner ears were die cut from pink scrap paper and white cotton pom poms were glued on for tails. I purchased the package of pom poms from Daiso for only $1.75.  The lavender legal size envelope was also from Daiso (many other colors available). The EASTER word was from a Doodlebug Designs package of die cuts. The pearl studded pink flowers were from my stash of artificial flowers...origin unknown.  For the final touch, I clipped the card corners with my corner chomper tool. Making this card made me happy so I'm going to make more bunny and egg themed cards/crafts. Please visit my blog site again to see what new egg-citing Easter projects I create! 

Rikkuma Bear Felt Ornament

 Rikkuma is the Japanese bear character that I am very fond of so when I saw a kit to make a felt Rikkuma at HM Ben Franklin Crafts (Mapunapuna), it quickly went into my cart (along with a Sumigurashi felt kit). The Rikkuma kit had all the felt parts, thread, stuffing, instructions, and a plastic needle for sewing. It took me about an hour to sew and stuff the bear.  I am pleased and proud of the way my Rikkuma turned out.  Even though this felt Rikkuma was way larger than I had expected, I think it makes a great hanging ornament. Japanese girls must really like extra large key ring decorations because this felt Rikkuma kit came with a metal key ring. I think this felt Rikkuma could also be stuffed with dried potpourri (lavender) to make a sweet sachet.  The instructions for this kit were written in Japanese (which I can't read) but I could easily follow the step-by-step illustrations.  HM Ben Franklin Crafts in Mapunapuna (and maybe other BFCs as well) has a large assortment of Japanese craft kits.  Like me I'm sure you'll want to get several and then go back for more....so addictive!

Unicorn with Star Shaker Card

Since I still had the second half of the pink sprayed background paper, I decided to make another card.  This time I chose a unicorn image by Avery Elle.  The image was stamped and then sparingly colored in.  A Sizzix star die was used to cut out the opening in the speckled pink paper. A small Heiko cellophane bag (from HM BFC) was cut to size and filled with assorted confetti (silver stars, pink stars and unicorns) before taping off the opening. The confetti filled bag was taped behind the star opening before the card was attached to the card blank with double stick tape. The unicorn image was attached to the card with foam adhesive dots. Finally, the words, 'May all your Dreams come true.' were stamped on the card with black ink.  This card took very little time to create and I think it made good use of the sprayed background paper.  My mind is now busy thinking of other cards I can create using the other background papers I made recently. (See previous post.)  I am also eager to use the copious amount of confetti I've purchased.  Did you know that confetti collecting is addictive? LOL!