A little bit of EASTER!

 

Hello there!  It is still March, but Easter is pulling a fast one this month and will be here on the 31st.  I am ready!  Are you?

 

 

 

My Workshop for this month was an Easter Basket with Bunnies and Chicks.  I decided to do a re-make of the baskets for Easter dinner favors and made them much smaller than my original basket that is shown above.

 

I found some embellishments by K & Company (I love their products), and put them on the top of the bow of my basket handle.  They added the perfect touch.  The embellishments are about an inch in diameter, so you can see how big the baskets are, relative to that.  CTMH also has some Chantilly button embellishments that would be perfect for this project.

 

I used my Close To My Heart Cricut cartridge.  There are two, (Art Philosophy & Artiste) and the patterns here are found on the "Artiste" cartridge.  I have not even touched my other cartridges since I got these.  I highly recommend "Artiste" and if you would happen to want one, you can take a look at them from the CTMH widget on the side of this blog.  I guarantee, you will love it!  (These cartridges come with chipboard punch-outs and rubber stamps too!)

 

I will be happy to share the dimensions of the Cricut cuts used here if you would like.  Just drop me a line and let me know!

 

Following are some pics of the mini baskets.  I will be heading to the store soon to find some cute and delicious little chocolates to put in them.  I am thinking some cute wrapped bunnies, lambs and chicks and some eggs.  Belgium chocolate would be great!

 

 

 

So there are several different views.  I am making enough to give one to everyone at dinner.  I made some little 1" chicks to go with them.  Each one will be holding an Easter greeting attached to its' wing.  I am looking forward to sharing these with our family and friends.  If you don't get some done by Easter, they will be perfect for May Day!

 

Hope you are enjoying the first days of Spring.  I always look forward to this time of year when everything is rich with color and a fresh outlook.

 

 



 

 

Happy Easter &

Happy Crafting!

 

Marilyn

 



 

 

A FAVORITE CRAFT TECHNIQUE

Today is the first Monday of the month, and the posting day for the Designer Craft Connection!  If you are not familiar, this is a group of designers that belong to the Craft & Hobby Association and we post a project pertaining to a different theme each month.  Look for the blue DCC widget to the right of my post and click on it to go forward or backward to view the work of our other contributing designers.

 

The theme for this month is "A Favorite Craft Technique".  I have lots of favorites, but decided to post pictures of some cards that I created a little more than few years ago (2006!).  This was my one and only iris folding binge, but I would like to work on some designs again when I get time.  I was unaware of this technique until my little sister introduced me to it and she doesn't even consider herself a crafter!  What is it, you ask?

It is a technique that I think has been around for quite a while, called "Iris Folding". Instruction for this technique can be searched and found online, but here are a few examples of my creations.

 

I got a little carried away once I learned the technique and came up with different patterns to experiment with.  Once I was done playing, I had a pretty good collection of artsy cards.

Once the pattern is cut out of the card stock, it is filled up with folded paper strips filling up the image until there is just a little opening in the middle of the image.  That is called the "iris", as in the iris of an eye.  I placed a pretty piece of paper behind the iris on most if not all of my cards.  If the "iris" is left open enough, it can also frame a photograph.  I tried this out with geometric shapes and it worked well.  This technique can also be applied to scrapbook lay-outs for a special touch.

 

Here is an example of a geometric shape, and the opening was the "iris", large enough for a photo.

Well, this is about all I have to share for today.  I hope you are inspired to go and create, maybe trying something new!

 

Happy Crafting!

 

Marilyn

 

P.S.   When you see highlighted words in my Blog, no need to click on them!  Blogger has seen fit to slip pop-ups into my text box and I do not know how to get them out!  They are just ads that do not apply to anything else on this blog.   Thanks!