More Easter Ideas!

Hey there folks!

 

Are you getting "eggscited" about Easter yet?! Hehe. Personally, I am looking forward to a lovely long sunny bank holiday weekend - or at least I'm looking forward to scoffing all that yummy guilt-free chocolate on Sunday, rain or shine!!

 

I've got a few more ideas for you, that I have made for Easter.... come and have a look:

 

Here are a couple of punch art Easter cards which were inspired by my mini Easter egg holders I designed and made for the recent Stampin' Up! UK Stampissimo Easter Treats youtube video. Do you recognise the little daffodils?!

 

 

 

I used Stampin' Up!'s fantastic Note cards & Envelopes as the base of these cards. (Yey, no cutting and scoring, makes for a quicker project and I like the size of them too - they are smaller than A6 cards.) The background piece is Soft Sky cardstock. As you probably know from my previous posts, the daffodils were made using the Petite Petals Punch and the flower shape from the Itty Bitty Punch Pack, with Daffodil Delight and Pumpkin Pie cardstock. The leaves were hand cut using my trusty Paper Snips (what would I do without those essential wonders?!) and the grass was cut using the fabulous Fringe Scissors (both are cut from Gumball Green cardstock).

 

 

The clutch of Easter eggs were punched out of the really pretty Gingham Garden designer series paper (dsp) using the Small Oval Punch and then tucked behind the grass and under the Daffodil Delight Stitched Grosgrain Ribbon. Here is a close up to show you the three-dimensional effect and texture of the card's design:

 



 

 

Here is a closer view of the eggs:

 

 

 

Actually, I must confess that the idea for tucking the eggs behind the ribbon came from a little mistake I made when punching out one of the egg shapes - I wasn't concentrating and the dsp didn't go all the way into the punch properly (oops! "More haste, less speed" as my darling Nan used to say to me when I was little!). So, I ended up with an egg with a missing slice off it. I love this paper so much, I didn't want to waste it, plus, I liked the way the pink daisy was positioned on it - so following my ethos of "it's not a mistake, it's an opportunity for embellishment!" I decided to place the egg so it looked like it wasn't really missing a bit, but was a whole egg tucked behind the ribbon! Another example of a "happy accident" in Lucy's craft room! hehe ;O)

 

I often say that to be a good crafter, you don't have to be perfect, it's more important to know what to do when things go a bit wrong and be able to rectify these little mistakes and accidents to rescue your project - otherwise you can end up wasting a lot of time and effort as well as materials! A smudged finger print on your card, or, a dot of ink? Don't worry, "it's not a mistake it's an opportunity for embellishment..."  - so, think on your feet and hey presto, you can decide that actually where that finger print or ink spot was, is really a perfect place for a flower, a butterfly, a rhinestone jewel or even a ribbon bow!

 

I also had fun recently making a couple more designs of little Easter egg holders using the Scallop Tag Topper Punch - these are slightly larger than the Mini Daffodil Easter Egg Holders I have already showed you, but hold the same-sized egg. I made a yellow Easter Chick and an Easter Bunny - they were inspired by some I'd seen on a facebook crafting forum, but I'm afraid, I can't remember exactly where I saw them or who had made them now (I must start paying more attention to these things!) Sorry, if they were yours, thank you and please let me know who you are so that I can credit you by name! Anyway, here they are:

 

 

 

 

 I was really chuffed with my idea of using the Mosaic Punch for the chick's open beak! I think he looks like he's squawking rather loudly, don't you?! And possibly tapping his foot with impatience here maybe? hehe

 

We made these two egg holders in the last class that  I taught and all the ladies said that they had great fun making them and that they wanted to make more of them at home. Hope that they have! I know that my nieces and nephew would love making these...not sure the chocolate eggs would last until Easter Sunday though!!

 

Anyway, Happy Easter everybody, hope you all have a lovely long weekend, preferably a sunny one with lots of chocolate and plenty of time for crafting! I seem to have used a lot of punches recently but not done much stamping... Need to rectify that, I think...

 

Until next time, happy crafting!

 

Lucy x

 

 







Stampin' Up! UK's "Easter Treats" Youtube video filming day...a behind-the-scenes-account!

A few weeks ago, I received a 'phone call from the lovely Paula Gorry at Stampin' Up! UK's HQ asking me if I'd like take part in filming a Stampissimo "how to" video later in the year... erm... YES PLEASE!!!! What an honour to be asked!! Wow! How exciting...I love a challenge! Great, I thought, it's a few months away, plenty of time to design some fabulous projects... and go on a diet, lose a couple of stones, get my hair done, lose the winter pallor etc etc...well, you know, us girls are never happy about what we look like, are we?! LOL!!

 

Well, to cut a long story short, I had another 'phone call a little while later asking me would I mind coming to the rescue, at short notice, as the lady they'd booked for the 19th on March couldn't make it as she was really poorly and would it be OK if I swapped filming dates with her... I immediately said yes, of course! (eek no time for the diet...but yey, less time to get nervous about it!!) and only 10 days later, I found myself on a train to the UK head office in High Wycombe!

Paula kindly met me off the train and after a quick en route visit to a well-known home and garden store, to get some plants for the brand new film set in the office, we arrived, with me being rather too nervous but very excited to see the head office for the first time!

The film set had only arrived and been set up a couple of days before the filming day - not that you would be able to tell - Kelly had done an amazing job of making it all look awesome!

Here is the lovely Paula on the fabulous set:

Doesn't it look swish?! The lovely "Ben and Jerry" as they are fondly known, (it's Ben and James, really!)  were our camera crew for the day and their calm professionalism and expertise really helped calm my nerves no end! I was still shaking with nerves though when we started filming! I was convinced that I'd say something completely stupid, trip over something, or, that my bad cough would hamper it all... thank heavens for their amazing editing skills is all I can say!! (Thank you guys!)

 

Here are a couple of photos of the set up of the filming equipment...

Those lights were very bright! There were three cameras, one in front, one to the side and one directly above the desk, looking down on where I was to make the projects... and here is my view from behind the desk... how scary is that?!!

No, not the sight of Ben and "Jerry", nor the lovely Kelly, but, to be in front of so many cameras...all pointing at me, I mean!! Waaaaay out of my comfort zone!! I much prefer to be behind a camera... Eek! Shudder!

 

Here are a couple of photos that were taken before filming started, whilst the guys were still setting up all their amazing cameras and recording equipment, I think you'll agree that I'm only just managing to mask my "scared bunny in headlights" feelings of panic in the photos of me with Paula and with Kelly!! LOL! I was so nervous...

 

 

 

Here are a few more pictures of the set throughout the day:

 

 

Oh dear -one day I will learn how to craft tidily!! And the left-over bowl of choccy eggs & veggie jellybean eggs (in the top left of the picture above) was considerably more depleted by the end of the morning than this - well, it is important to do a "quality control test" of all treats and after all, an army marches on it's stomach, so they say!! hehe ;O)

 

I love the Celebration Banner across the front of the desk that Kelly made - especially the dangly strings of circles between the letters... which reminds me, I've still not got around to making my banner up yet - oops!

 

Here is a group photo, taken by Kelly with my camera, after all the filming had been done - phew, relief! hehe:

 

 

And another:

 

"But who is the handsome chappy on the right?", I hear you ask! "Nooo, not the one in the DroogMedia t-shirt , [sorry, James!!], the handsome, furry chappy, sporting the dapper red bow tie": Ahh, well, that's Mr Manoo, of course.... the Head Office mascot, who is very well-known in demo circles!! In fact I was completely star struck when I met him that day... but I managed to get a 'selfie' of the two of us and I think it is actually my favourite photo of the whole day:

 

 

 

:O) Hope you've enjoyed this behind-the-scenes account of my exciting day at head office? I had a fantastic day - despite all my nerves and terrible cough! A HUGE thank you to Stampin' Up! UK, Paula Gorry, Kelly Francis, the lovely Ben and James Wolstenholme from DroogMedia and Mr Manoo, who all helped make the day so enjoyable and fun - thank you!

 

 

And finally, click here to see the video - I hope you enjoy it and like all the projects which I designed and make on it - and please come back again soon, as I shall hopefully be  posting a tutorial for the Easter Bunny Gift Bag on here in the next few days!

 

If you are in the UK, France, Germany, The Netherlands or Austria, then you can buy any of the products used to make these projects, from my online shop here and get them shipped straight to your door!

 

Thank you and happy crafting everyone!

 

Lucy x