A few Easter Bunny Cards

 I had done some other Easter cards and I did not blog them as some were in the mail and such so, here are a few more that I did this year.

 I used a Sizzix Layered spring die to do that bunny scene ( it has a couple of top layers that do the flowers and sprigs) and I am not sure what order they are supposed to go in but, I am also guessing it does not really matter. Those tiny pom poms are some old Christmas thing and I do not know the size of them. I wish I did because, when I order pom poms online I end up with ones much larger than this size. 

 This one ended up going to June & Dale this year, the Happy Easter sentiment is from probably SU but, not sure about that anymore. The Hole was cut into the Basic Grey print for the framing with an Whimsy Stamps A2 Antique Frame die. I used Distress Oxide inks to add color to the die cuts so, this was actually a pretty quick and simple card to put together as there was not a lot of hurry up and wait for it to dry. 

 

I did spend time cutting a lot of the Bunny dies I have collected over the years and or inking them as well. pushing them around with Basket dies to see what would work scale wise.

This one that Bunny is from Tim Holtz, the eggs are from an The Greetery set and that basket is from Marianne Designs Pansy basket die, the folded satin ribbon is from Stampin' Up. the Sentiment here is from the Clearly Besotted set called Message me. Those rectangle mats were cut with a Spellbinders Perfect touch die and I like the subtle detailing they have. This one went to Gma Mary.

Some how the table really shrinks doing this so, I did keep going however and did play with the Memory Box Easel Basket die set. 

 And it does not really cut a shaped card. not a complete card, It cuts one side of the card and then a third of the back half. So, I cut it twice ( the full die) and then used bits and pieces to build up the under the matting on the inside to make it Flat for writing a message on. This used a lot of paper to create a shaped card with this die set. I don't get the easel part in my brain so, I totally skipped that. The bunny here is from The Greetery. I did see they came out with a new chocolate bunny die this year but, it sold out while I was at work so, its one of those things on the mental wish list and the reality is I have a nice assortment of scales and bunnies to play with. I don't remember which set that bow die came out of and the eye on the bunny here is a fingernail head gem thing. ( its like a really flat pearl) I did send this one to James & Bri. 

 

 One of the things I started doing was taking dies that had not been cut out of their packaging and at least trying them. So, this is a Tim Holtz shadowbox die and I did use some bunnies from the Sizzix Spring layers set in it. The grass I have no clue what set that came out of anymore and the Sign die & stamp are from Penny Black. I did give this one to Hubs. Its not really a card but, it is 3-D and interesting to see the way it goes together but, I am no so sure I would do much with this right now. I do like miniature things and the depth this has but, I have to overthink this die some more I guess. That's about it from me, I hope you and yours are having a really nice Easter. Thanks for stopping by. 

Inspired by {Elephant Stock}

 Hello & Happy Spring This last weekend of March this year Amy has chosen the Elephant Stock site for inspiration at Splitcoaststampers and I seen so many cute things that I finally had to stop looking it was such a deep well of eye candy. I decided to use this Joy sign with a bunny and flowers as my jump start.

 

 I knew I had this Penny Black Immense Joy die and I decided to cut it from some thin 90# watercolor paper by Artist loft. ( I grabbed this pad because it was on sale and did not notice the weight.) flimsy for painting on but, works OK for die cutting and stacking. The Joy was cut 3 times and glued together. After some debate and running out of time I decided to leave that as it was and focused on bunny dies. This particular one is called Rabbit from Gummiapan and I did cut it twice from the same watercolor paper and then added just a smidge of Daniel Smith watercolor to it, to bring out the details the die has. Wanting to add some soft flowers I pulled this page off of a pad from Hobby Lobby I picked up last weekend called Distressed Florals. I did trim it down to be slightly smaller than A2 in real life and just inked the cut edges with some speckled egg DOX ink. The base here is a pre made 49 & Market cardbase that is probably a Christmas one but, the colors worked so, all that is left to do to this is line the inside of the card where the note gets written as this cardbase is on the thin side to my fingers. That's about it from me, if you'd like to play along with us you can find this challenge here at SCS. Thanks for stopping by. 

Inspired by {Barn & Bunkie}

 This week Kia is sharing the Barn & Bunkie site and I knew before I opened the site I wanted to do something Easter and so, when it opened I started looking for Green/Blue ideas as that is something that appeals to me at the moment and I came across this vase. And what I seen when I went back to the link is it is blurry as all heck so? you get the idea I guess. 

 So the background here is blues and greens ( Broken China & Cracked Pistachio Inks smooshed over the Embossed with Ranger Verdigris powder. The stamp is an old background from Stampin' Up! called Fine Lace. I think it has a blurry almost gritty texture to it and I think the colors are brighter than the vase but, I just kept going. I have a stack of these backgrounds because, when I make them I do a few at a time when I am making a mess. 

And I have been die cutting a bunch of Bunnies and baskets the last week or so and this particular basket is from the Lawn Fawn Build an Easter basket die set and so is the grass. The bunny here is the tiny one from the Sizzix set from Tim Holtz called SideKick Spring set and it has like a little chick and a butterfly and some tiny embossing folder in the set. So, this bunny is smaller than the one from the old magnetic Movers and Shapers Sizzix die. ( I cut some of those as well) 

 The bow was cut from some turquoise shinny paper and the Happy Easter sentiment here is from Personal Stamp Exchange It's number is D2504 Stamped with some Versafine Pinecone ink on some Neenah earthstone cardstock. I cut this with an Nellie Snellen tags 3 die and inked the edges with some Speckled Egg DOX ink. I did use some of that ink along the distressed edges of the green mat paper. This card finished out at A6 in real life. The lace here is vintage. That's about it from me, if you'd like to play along with us you can find this challenge here at SCS. Thanks for stopping by. 

 

Easter Ideas

 I dug out some Tim Holtz dies this last weekend that I had not played with as of yet and cut the bunnies from Arches cold press watercolor paper. 

 And it came to me as I was adding paint to those first two ( they are I think Bunny Hop dies maybe Vault dies) not sure, off hand the vault dies Have two dies and the Bunny Hop set has 3. The tiny Chocolate bunny is also a TH die from a set called "Springtime". I just started adding paint to them and it The places where I thought the faces should be it seemed odd where the whiskers are for these to be front facing Bunnies ( I have never played with these and I don't remember seeing them used on projects anymore) And after asking online about it, most people seem to be using these dies as back view bunnies so, I went over the first ( very faint ) layer of pink I had added to the center of the ears and where I originally thought were cheeks of the backs of the heads. 

 I did add some brown paints to those tiny bunnies and then I started looking at other dies I have not used and cut out this Lawn Fawn basket set to see if it would work Scale wise. ( it does ) and then I had this Easter sentiment stamp on the table (Taylored Expressions Filled with Joy set) This was stamped with some Pinecone ink on the drop piece of that Basic Grey printed paper and all the edges were inked with DOX scorched timber here. That tag die is from the Gina K set called Decorative Tags. The mats here are both old Basic Grey prints cut from the same Spellbinders Linear Touch dies. I don't know who makes the mini brad anymore but, that aqua sheer ribbon is from Stampin' Up. This one is A6 in real life. I realized as I was tucking things into the basket that "chocolate" bunnies do not need white space for a tail but, such is life, I did leave the paint off that area and I did consider tucking it into the basket slit but, I left it out and then added some flicks of black paint to do whiskers and a slight nose spot. That's about it from me, I hope you're doing well. Thanks for stopping by. 

 

Odds and Ends

 A while back one of the Clean and simple challenge was to do spring and I happened to start adding more watercolor paints over the top of the (marker?) color to this previously started and set aside Penny Black snail and then when it was finished I decided it was not really all that Clean looking with that printed paper. So, I never linked it up.

I fished that sentiment out of one of the envelopes in the drawer so, I am not sure who makes it off hand.but it was die cut with a spellbinders labels trio die. The snail panel was probably cut with a Simon Says Stamp wonky stitched rectangle but, I do have similar stitches from one of the UK companies that has a set in A6 size so, one of those your guess is as good as mine now as to which one it was. That textured printed paper I think is Die cuts with a view. 

 

This is a little bitty gift sack that has an Tag for J for Easter this year. The butterfly is a sticker that she gave me, the tiny tag I sprayed with some shimmery paint spray a long time ago, That gold ribbon is probably Offray and the black hemp string is maybe lawn fawn? ( once you take the wrapper off its hard to say anymore) The tiny J tag was done a long time ago I have a little plastic envelope of letters I use frequently die cut in it and this was fished out of there the color of the tag was a nearly perfect match to the purple flowers on the tissue paper. That's about it from me, Hope you are doing well & thanks for stopping by.

Watercoloring a Flower Basket

 This week Linda is sharing this video by Shelly Cluff Art called Easy flower Baskets seen here on YouTube for the watercoloring tutorial challenge at SCS. I Did watch it and then immediately painted one so, I had more memory of what I had seen then when there is a few days gap ha ha. 

 This is first layers of paint on Arches cold press cotton paper with Daniel Smith watercolors.

 I added a few more sprigs and some detailing with lavender paint to the centers of the purple blooms and white gouache to the centers of the blue flowers. 

I ended up adding more to the centers of those purple flowers. ( it kept fading away to nothing) at this point I do not know that the centers look all that light purple but, I did  end up with 3 layers of paint there. 

This is 5" square in real life, the base is some soft seafoam and the aqua dot is a scrap, ( unknown) the Happy Easter is a Penny Black stamp. I did even sign this one. That's about it from me, If you'd like to play along with us you can find this challenge here. Thanks for stopping by.

Inspired by {BonTon}

 This week Kia is sharing the Bon Ton site where nearly right off the bat I found this girl Easter Bunny. And I just decided to roll with that as I had started adding color to a Missy Bunny last weekend. 

She was stamped with some Versafine Clair Morning Mist ink on Arches cold press 100% cotton watercolor paper and I was glancing at the index sticker on the stamp block when I started painting this, So the hat and clothing got a little brighter than I think I would normally pick as color combos from me personally. I guess in my head Easter is Bright. 

After I had added a few more layers of paint I decided to cut her panel down with an Stiched Simon Says Stamp square die. The gingham print here is from Graphic 45 and the textured paper under that on the left is some Woven Paper from Diecuts with a view. The base here is some Sundance Felt Natural (textured) cardstock. The base on this is 5 1/2" square and that salmon velvet is unknown. The Happy Easter is from the Clearly Besotted Message me set on an Scrap cut with a Spellbinders Justrite die. The salmon brad is unknown. the two larger flowers are the Hobby Lobby or Micheals brand as I am certain June gave them to me and the smaller one might be a Prima flower but, I really don't know for sure anymore. ( I have all my mulberry flowers in clear vintage canning jars on the shelf and I toss the packaging when I get them) 

That's about it from me, If you'd like to play along with us you can find this challenge here. Thanks for stopping by.

Watercoloring a Loose Bunny

 Please join us in welcoming Suz and her first challenge she is issuing for the watercoloring tutorials challenge at Splitcoastampers This week which you can find here. She has chosen this video seen here on YouTube by Emma Jane Lefebvre called Easy Watercolour Bunny. I did watch the whole video before I started the painting and I could not remember every detail but, I think I ended up close.

 I knew there was loose grass while it was damp but, I forgot the legs/feet. so I did let this dry here knowing I needed it dry to add the face.

 I did add some details to his face with Brown paint and let that dry trying to decide what to do with the gaps between the bottom and the body bottom and the grass.

 I finally decided he needed some folded knees or something at the bottom so, I did get that whole grassy area re-wet, added some greyish knees and then did more grass over the top of the bottom again. This is Arches cold press watercolor paper and Daniel Smith paints.

Sometime last week I had seen there was a Burlap challenge and I spent a ton of time looking for mine, I know I have some but, it is well hidden. While I was searching for that I came across this Hessian embossing folder from Lisa Horton, ran it through the big shot with some Kraft cardstock and slightly inked it with some DOX vintage photo ink and decided it was not really "burlap-y enough" to pass so, it was sitting on the table when I was ready to finish this card. The background texture was pretty neutral and close in color/texture hints as the painting and the kraft panel so, I just tucked the bunny panel under the embossed strip and used this Taylored Expressions tag your gift sentiment on a scrap piece of studio loft watercolor paper that had been previously diecut in a tag shape. I have a little milk glass tray on the table that has blank things I have cut from scraps and a few Christmas sentiments already stamped and diecut in it and I fish things out of that tray most of the time when I am putting something together. The ink color here is Versafine pinecone. That sheer cream ribbon is an scrap and unknown. this is 5 1/2" square in real life. That's about it from me, I hope you are doing well & thanks for stopping by.
 

Bunny Basket

 This week Pam has asked for Easter Bunnies for the clean and simple challenge and I have the Stampassions Missy Bunny being painted on the table but, I know I want her to become a little bit frilly in the end as that's what I did with Mr. Daper bunny a week or two ago so... I started looking through bunny stamps I have collected and not stamped and this Whipper Snapper Designs Basket bunny trio won. I stamped it with some versafine on Arches cold press watercolor paper.

 And added some pale washes of Daniel Smith paints to it, I did add some white gouache straight from the tube after the watercolors dried. I wanted to add some kind of a stitched pattern to the panel but, I had cut it in a fairly rectangular shape so, my circle dies were not working ( they were already on the table haha) and then I decided to use this Penny Black zig zag stitched die and I wanted it cut more to the image than having so much white space, so I cut it twice lining it up in the cut lines of the vertical sides so that I could get the zig zag pattern across the bottom of the image. 

I spent some time poking around in my printed papers I almost thought about making the whole card front a pattern to be simple but, I kind of really like this soft seafoam colored cardstock ( a lot like A Lot haha) so, I trimmed down this piece of Bo Bunny plaid to be a "ribbon" haha. I added the clearly besotted (message me) sentiment directly on the cardfront with some pinecone ink as I had inked the edges of the painted panel with some DOX vin. photo ink. ( I hardly ever put that pad away) And that's about it from me, if you'd like to participate in this challenge you can find the details here. thanks for stopping by.

Easter Tulips

 I've been wanting to color some things for spring and or Easter and I opened up one of the drawers of Flower stamps a couple of days ago and started out with this old one from Stamps Happen.

 I decided to do the background in shades of browns as when I bought this stamp ( used on eBay years ago) the scripty "tulip" words were not visible in the photo of the index art to my eye. I can see them now but, they were a surprise to me when the stamp arrived so, this is the first time this stamp has seen ink in my space.

 So I seriously added more browns to that background every time it dried for a couple of days.

I ended up finishing this with some coral-ish crocheted looking lace and tied on a Stampin' up sentiment on a justrite tag die with some aqua lawn fawn hemp string. the Stripe printed paper is very vintage and from My Minds Eye. That has some foam tape under it from the base which is A7 in real life. It just struck me funny how forward the tulip print is for my eye on this and I really don't care for it all that much. I did have fun adding shadows to the leaves and stems though. The tulips themselves were hard to decide where the shadows should be and or the colors. That's about it from me, thanks for stopping by.
 

Mr. Dapper Bunny

 Angie is hosting the Free for all this week at Splitcoaststampers and when I was working on uploading my Snowman Friends card I seen that she was asking for Bunnies, Chicks and maybe one other spring critter you could do and I thought I have not colored this bunny in a long time. So I dug him out. This is Mr. Dapper Bunny from Stampassions Designed by Dianna Marcum. I do have the clear sets that came out from Adornit not too long ago but, When I have a stamp on a wood block that I love the art of I tend to use those and then glance at the colors ideas on the index sticker. (less stress I think) 

I started with stamping him on some Arches cold press cotton watercolor paper with Morning mist versafine ink and adding pale washes of color to his fur. I did drop in some very watered down coral/salmon colored pinks into the ears and cheeks but, I did not want it to be real obvious so, I did it while the tans were wet. (this is a wet cell phone shot)

When I started adding paints to the clothes is when I looked at the block and Thought OK you can do pink and blue. I did change the tones of the shades and mostly left the Daisy white paper with some grey shadows along the edges and a yellowish center. I did think at this point the shadow under him was too wide and I should have stopped it before the edge of the paper and then just decided to trim the panel down.

 When the 2 house mouse stamp sets came in the mail this week this pretty paper from Simple Stories was also in the envelope. (it's called Simple Vintage Flower shoppe) and since it's new my guess is you could still find it out there somewhere. I had found it at Simon Says Stamp. The papers are double sided and as much as I love the colors in that floral its a little busy for my actual taste so, I knew I wanted some layers in there to distract from that as well. The pink plaid is the drop piece from cutting the floral ( its the flip side of it) that yellow & white scalloped ribbon is Vintage. The Happy Easter is from Impression Obsession and was stamped and diecut a while back. The mini brad came out of a baggie labeled Joann's CK so it's very old. The white shimmery textured paper came in one of the Hero Arts kits of the month and was diecut with a Waffle flower lacy square die. That pale purple cardstock is something old from Stampin' Up! ( I hardly buy purple so, I am sure they don't make that color anymore) and This one is 5 1/2" square in real life. If you'd like to play along with us you can find this challenge here at SCS. Thanks for stopping by.

 

Inspired by {Ballard Designs}

 This week Denise has chosen the Ballard Designs store as the inspiration site and I have actually ordered from this one. ( that's a rare thing I think) most of our tag lines in the site say no one has bought from some place its just an eye candy thing. But, I have a bench a table and a copper colored boot tray that I bought years ago from them that still look and work just fine. So there is that. At any rate I was curious to see what they had now a days and I started in the mirrors and art section and came across this cute Hare. 

And I thought oh, he doesn't look that complicated for painting one with watercolors. 

 Sometime last week I used this um Reverse Confetti triple stitched square die for the last week's Inspiration card and while I had it out I cut one of the drop pieces of the studio loft watercolor paper with it also and so this had been sitting on the table when I started. So I sketched a kind of triangle face/neck shape and added to loopy ovals out the top for ears. and side eyes near the base of the ears. I had in my head I think I have seen over the years people do these cartoon style bunnies with this kind of a shape and they make me smile so, already changes were going on.

 First round of paint layers ( Daniel Smith here) 

filled in some more color while it was still wet.

 when I came back to it, I decided those original eye lines were more like bug eyes and I erased them and made smaller ones. sketched on a nose/mouth lines. 

This morning before Work I added in some eyes and nose/mouth lines and a few eye lashes and whiskers. which then lead to adding some stray fluffs of hair to be sticking out as I remembered that original art painting as being a fluffy type of a bunny. And so, it is heavy on the inspired by side. I did make him shades of browns. 

This is 5 1/2" square in real life, the base is some Kraft cardstock and that brown printed paper is from the BoBunny Serenity Pad. The kraft gingham ribbon is from May Arts and that's about it from me. If you'd like to play along with us you can find this challenge here. Thanks for stopping by.

 

A few Bunny Cards

 So, I finished what I started last week and finally got around to shooting the cards. 

This is the Penny Black Bunny friends done with Daniel Smith watercolors on some Studio Loft watercolor paper. That sentiment is from Stampa Rosa and this is A6 in real life. That gold foiled plaid is from a Memory Box pad. 

This is the Whipper Snapper Designs chick magnet also same papers the Sentiment on this one is from the Stampin' Up! set called Well scripted and it was cut with one of those MFT pierced tag dies. the purple lace is vintage. And this one is 5 1/2" square in real life. I am planning to give it to hubs. 

I this strip of watercolor paper on the table yesterday and I had seen the color challenge this week is kinda green,purple, blue and I thought this bunny would fit but, he'd need cut out after so, I did that but, my colors are not really even close to the challenge so, I did not link this one up to that. The Sentiment is from the Newton's Nook Cottontail Cuties set and it was heat embossed on that scrap. the shimmery heart stickers are from Hobby Lobby. I did add some stickles glitter glue to the dots on his Feet and ears here. This one is 5" square in real life. That's about it from me, thanks for stopping by.

Painting Bunnies

 I had it in the back of my mind to maybe watercolor some bunny images, thinking maybe I would use them for Easter ( or not) but, I used to have a stash of colored images and I really have not added to that in a long time so, either way it was something to do that didn't require thought like when you are trying to fit the perimeters of a challenge prompt. 

I'm pretty sure I have never colored these guys but the chick magnet is from Whipper Snapper designs and that row of bunnies in pots is from Penny Black. so, I stamped them with some Versafine Morning mist on some Studio Loft watercolor paper and started adding some Daniel smith paints to them.

 Another layer, the colors are being inspired by the index sticker art. so that makes it kind of mindless to do. although I am going to have to add some detailing to the little snail on the rim of the center pot, it didn't quite stamp all the way on the texture. 

Then I decided to give the sky a slight blue wash and these are propped up on the edge of the palette to let the water/color flow up into the sky rather then pool along the edges of the images. 

And then I got side tracked because, I seen the Clean and Simple challenge was to do Squares on monday and I like to do square cards but, I decided that the bunnies under construction were too big and too busy to be CAS cards so, I knew I wanted to do some kind of embossed texture square frame so I started by cutting a piece of studio loft watercolor paper with the scalloped edge die in the Waffle Flower lots of squares die set and then I cut that smaller scalloped die out of the center of that piece, and then I used the Stiched circle detailing die in the center of that. ( all these pieces are taped together again on the back side with scotch tape) and the outside frame was run through the big shot in an Stampin' Up! quilt top folder. So, that tiny drop piece in the center I stamped a tiny PSX bunny on that with the morning mist ink and added just a bit of greys to him. The sentiment here is from Lili of the Valley's hex tags set and the tiny brad came from Recollections ( years and years ago) This is 5 1/2" square in real life. And that's about it from me, thanks for stopping by.

Watercoloring Tulips

 This looks deceptively simple. I found it to be fairly hard to make myself make the petals in that leafy shape. ( I have no idea why) but, my hand just curled them at the bottoms and rounded them off each time.

Linda has chosen this video from Sandy Allnock seen here on YouTube for this week's watercoloring challenge at Splitcoaststampers. 

I think that part of where I went wrong with this was I started out with a smaller sized scrap of paper cut into a square shape and assumed I would need a smaller brush to fit the size of the paper and the idea of the challenge was to use a huge brush and get transparent petals. ( oops ) :) it's OK I do like how this turned out even it is not exactly what was expected.

The sentiment here is from Annette Allen Watkins stamped with some Versafine shady lane ink. The base is Cordinations and finished out at 5" square in real life.

Watercoloring Simple Bunnies

 This week we are taking a look at this video on YouTube from Harriet DeWinton on a trio of simple bunnies. 

So, I decided to give the first bunny a shot.

These are round one layer of Daniel Smith paints on Arches cold press cotton wc paper.

Added the eye, nose and whiskers here. 

So, I decided I would try a different batch of colors and ended up painting the same shape of a bunny but, this one went a little slim and I actually prefer the bunny from the first version best.

But, that did not stop me from using both of them for simple Easter cards. The one on the left is bunny number two. The sentiment under him is from Annette Allen Watkins line and the lace is vintage. The watercolor panel was diecut with a Memory box stitched rectangle die and that plaid is from the Memory box Madras plaid blue & violet pad ( as is the second card on the right) these are both 6" square in real life on textured Bazzill. The sentiment on the card on the right is from Penny Black, this version was diecut with a spellbinders hemstitched rectangle die and the lace is also vintage. I really enjoyed doing these and can see my self doing the other styles some time soon. If you'd like to play along with us you can find this challenge here at Splitcoaststampers. Thanks for stopping by.