Cross of Hope... Happy Easter

This card could be for Easter or any special occasion.  I am using it today to wish you a blessed Easter Day.  

Have a wonderful Easter as we celebrate in its meaning, its hope and its joy.

Up next:
More wreaths, fabric ideas (including no-sew ideas) and a ton of fun.  Come back soon.

Decorated Pails for Easter

I found these cute little pails on sale at the fabric store and knew I should take them home and decorate them.  I think they turned out pretty cute.  Each one has a tag for Easter.

Here's the pink one.

For the tags, I 'painted' in parts of each image with white craft ink, using the Aqua Painter and then went back and painted in the colors I wanted, using various colors of inks.  I went back and highlighted a few areas with Stampin' Write Markers.  It all makes for a really nice subtle, pastel look to the images.

Here's a close-up of the pink one:

Here's a pale blue one.

Here's a lavender one.

...and here they all are together:

As with my Easter baskets in my last 3 posts (pink, blue, and wicker), I hot glued the flower trim around the top edge of the pail.  I added ribbons one each side of the handle.  I used the same filler material as I used in the blue basket.

I had a tax glitch in preparing the inventory from my booth and neglected to figure it for beginning and end of 2012 so I spent 12 hours yesterday learning more about using the Excel program, everything and then getting the needed totals.  I am sooooooo happy to have that done!!!  Now... I can get back to stamping and sewing and scrapbooking and cleaning and laundry and playing with my grandbabies and celebrating Easter at church tomorrow and... just enjoying doing anything BUT taxes.

I hope you're having a wonderful weekend and I wish you a blessed Easter tomorrow.  Surely Spring will find us soon.

- Thanks for stopping by my little corner of the blogging world. 

- Click on the tab at the top of the page to see my class schedules and registration policies or click on the left for sneak peeks. 

- Come back soon and come back often for more creative inspiration.

A Blue Basket with Bunny

As I promised yesterday, here is the round blue basket that I decorated.  I think it maybe turned out to be my favorite, even though I love the pink one a lot.  As I did with the pink basket, I placed a decorative egg photo holder into the basket to hold the card.

This bunny is sporting a little ribbon bow tie.  The roses are hot glued onto the ear.  (It only hurt him for a little while.)  Instead of using tulle (I only had pink.) I used a material of some sort (can't remember what it's called) from the floral department for the basket filler.  I think it looks nice with this color story.  I hot glued roses all across the handle and tied a ribbon bow onto each side of the basket handle.

I will share with you how a lucky accident helped me to figure out the best way to attach the skirt to the basket.  After I fitted the skirt over the basket, it slipped off.  When I went to pull it up, it turned wrong side out and slipped up to the handle.  That is when I realized that this would be the best and easiest way to attach the skirt.  You see, up to this point, I hadn't really known for sure how I was going to do it:)  I just knew that I wanted to hide the rows of stitching.  So here are the directions, step by step.

To make the skirt for the basket:

• Measure out and cut 2 long strips of fabric, depending on the size of your basket.
• Make a seam to attach the 2 fabric pieces into 1 long piece.
• Make a second seam, so that you now have a fabric tube.
• Sew 2 rows of long stitches, for gathering, along 1 edge.
• Gather up the fabric until it looks close to the size you'll need for your basket.  This is trial and error, but pretty easy. 
• Slip the fabric tube over the basket, with the wrong side out and the gathered edge closest to the top of the basket.  This means the edge that will become the bottom edge of the skirt is now up at the top.  The fabric tube is now on the basket upside down and wrong side out.
• Run a bead of hot glue along the top edge of the basket, doing a small area at a time.
• Be careful because this is hot glue.  I did get burned a bit.  It's all in the price of being an artist.
• Gently press the gathered edge into the bead of glue.
• Continue, a little space at a time, until all the fabric tube is attached to the basket.  You will need to adjust your gathers before you start and continue adjusting them as you go along.
• Once the hot glue has cooled, allow the fabric tube to gently fall down over the basket and... you have your skirt.  It's just that easy.

As with all projects like this if you think it through before you begin, it's pretty easy and a ton of fun.  Don't forget:  Our fabric is on sale at half price right now.  I got this More Amore fabric on sale!  Stock up while supplies last.

Come back tomorrow and see my Easter pails.  I have a cute little trio of pails that I decorated for Easter.  They are all ready to add treats.

- Thanks for stopping by my little corner of the blogging world. 

- Click on the tab at the top of the page to see my class schedules and registration policies or click on the left for sneak peeks. 

- Come back soon and come back often for more creative inspiration.

A Pink Basket with Bunny

Today's post is all about the pink -- for Easter, that is.  When I was at the fabric store a while back, I found a couple of round baskets on sale.  I couldn't wait to get home and decorate them!  They were just the size I wanted and I loved that they were round.  I'll show you the pink one today and then you can come back tomorrow to see the blue one.

I added an Easter egg photo holder to the basket to hold the tag.

I tucked in a bunny, also in pink.  If you missed my post about the bunny, check here.

I tied a big ribbon bow onto each side of the basket, using our gorgeous 2-Tone ribbon.  The flower trim and the skirt on the basket are attached using a hot glue gun.  I have the scars to prove it:)  A hot glue gun seems to be the easiest and best way to do a project like this, but it is not for the feint of heart.  You do get burned a bit.

I attached some of our flower trim across the top of the handle.  It adds a lot to the look of the basket.  I tucked in more of the tulle and even attached a tiny sprig of it to the tag.  There is still room to add some Easter treats to the basket.  

I made this for my Prairie Treasures booth (Root Cellar, Wildflour) but I had a hard time letting it go.  I think it turned out quite pretty.  I'm sure it will go to a good home:)

I hope you like it and will come back tomorrow to see my blue one.  Have a great day.  My day will be better after we get our tax appointment over and then I can get back to creating.

We had a good time at my first Walk-In Wednesday last night.  I had several people forget to come, because it was new to my schedule.  Next time, they'll remember and join us.

- Thanks for stopping by my little corner of the blogging world. 

- Click on the tab at the top of the page to see my class schedules and registration policies or click on the left for sneak peeks. 

- Come back soon and come back often for more creative inspiration.

A Decorated Basket for Spring

Today I have a basket for you that I decorated with more of our wonderful fabric.  The fabric I used for this one is from our Twitterpated collection.  It's a really good fabric for Spring projects.  Yes, I'm just going to keep making Spring projects until our Spring actually decides to show up for us.

The basket started out without a bunny, but I just knew that it wouldn't be complete without it.

I came across a super find at the fabric store for the pink tulle.  It is sold in the wedding/bridal section and it comes in a package of 25 (10" circles).  You can just gather them up in the middle and poke them down into the basket.  It makes a super nice filler and there's no mess.

The ribbon just makes it into a gorgeous little basket.  Our 2-Tone ribbons are gorgeous!
I made a tag for my basket using tags and flowers from our Pop-Up Posies kit.

The fabric insert for the basket was super simple.  I pressed 1 complete piece of the fabric (similar size to a fat quarter) and then folded it in half with wrong sides together.  I stitched it together leaving just enough opening to turn it once I'd finished stitching.  After turning it to right-side out, I sewed up the opening and then pressed it again.  The size just fits this basket and is big enough to make a liner and a 'skirt' all in one piece.

I tied a big ribbon bow on each side of the basket.

It does look best with a bunny though.  Right?

In case you missed it, check out yesterday's post to learn more about the bunny.  

Thanks for stopping by.  Have a creative day and don't forget to stock up on our fabric while it's 50% off.  I just ordered several packages --- all on sale!

Oh, I almost forgot to tell you --- I finished my taxes today!!!  Yay!  What a relief.  Now I can play more with my stamping goodies!!!  Again, Yay!

- Thanks for stopping by my little corner of the blogging world. 

- Click on the tab at the top of the page to see my class schedules and registration policies or click on the left for sneak peeks. 

- Come back soon and come back often for more creative inspiration.

Stuffed Bunnies to Make You Smile

It's bunny time!  I made these bunnies for my Prairie Treasures Booth (Root Cellar at the Wildflour).  I was inspired by some treat holders I saw on Pinterest and made my own version --- as stuffed bunnies.  I really enjoyed making them.  The boys liked them so much that now they want me to make one for each of them.  I might have to start hiding my projects from them.

 I used our buttons and ribbons to 'embellish' my bunnies.

I used some of our Twitterpated fabric to line the basket.

The bunnies are made from felt and stuffed with a very soft fiber fill stuffing.

I really wanted to keep them all, but thought they might like a good home with a special someone.  This basket is actually an old one that I've had around since I was a little girl.  I think it was possibly one of my old Easter baskets.

- Thanks for stopping by my little corner of the blogging world. 

- Click on the tab at the top of the page to see my class schedules and registration policies or click on the left for sneak peeks. 

- Come back soon and come back often for more creative inspiration.

My Sweet Olive Jane... A Funny Story with Pictures

We're officially snowed in today, so I thought I'd do a for fun post.  Enjoy!

These photos were taken when we had some Spring.  It lasted a few hours, at least.  Now, we seem to be back to Winter.  If pictures tell a story, what about this story?

Hi, I'm Olive Jane.  

I lead a very busy life!
I get up early and log in to plan my day.

My daddy keeps a close watch on me to see if I gather enough wood for the day.

Oh, I work sooooo hard!

We have a big fireplace.  I have to choose the right pieces of wood...

I do a dance to the trees...

I try a little hide and seek...

But then, it's back to work...

What?  You don't work this hard?

OK, more wood...

I'm thinking hard... What shall I plan for dinner?  OK, I know!

There, now that's decided.  How about a little more stick fun?

 Although I work very hard, I still try to plan a little fun into each and every day.

Oh, and I have to let the dogs out.  

While I'm here, I'd better gather some more wood.   Thank goodness, the wheel barrow is almost full!

Even the dog gets a rest time.

Now, I'm off to start the cleaning...

Maybe I can take a break and catch up on my reading...

But not for long... I have a call coming in... Yes, they expect me to take their calls, too!

Hello, Nanna?  Can you come and get me?  I have to work too hard here!


Well, I think I'm finished with my chores now.  It makes me feel like I'm sitting on top of the world!

I'd better get going now.  I suppose they'll expect me to do the laundry, make my own clothes and who know what all else.  Like I said, I lead a very busy life.
 
Now, shouldn't Nanna go and scrapbook these photos for me?