Hello! It’s almost Easter so I decided to give you some inspiration for the season, creating a cute scene featuring Kitty Bee Designs’ Sleeping Mushroom Rabbit, available from Kitty Bee Designs’ Etsy Store.

I started by printing Kitty Bee Designs’ Sleeping Mushroom Rabbit onto XPress-it blending card and coloring it all with my Chameleon Pens and Color Tops. Blending the colors in the nibs makes real short work of coloring these images, I must say! Once I’d finished, I cut around the rabbit, leaving a small white edge for definition.

Next, I set to task making the background scene. I wanted the context of the scene to be that the rabbit was exhausted after lugging all the huge eggs around, ready for the Easter egg hunt. I die cut some eggs and their white overlays from Neenah Classic Crest Solar White cardstock. I used several colors of Distress Inks and a foam blender to color the solid layers of each egg. I forgot to add double sided adhesive to the back of the white cardstock before die cutting (something I won’t forget next time!) so I glued each white overlay onto each egg, using Ranger Multi Medium Matte Adhesive. I set them aside to dry and started work on the background setting.

I thought it would be nice to use a patterned paper to make my backdrop and chose a set of papers called Micro Dots, Designed by Lozzy. I chose two green and two blue papers to use. I also slightly adjusted the lightness of one of each green and blue in my photo editing software to give me a third of each color. I printed all six patterned papers in my free Avery Design and Print Software, making sure each image was the same size to keep the pattern consistent. Using this software, I was also able to print just the right sized piece of each paper for what I wanted for just this project. Using this program, I was actually able to successfully print all six pieces of perfectly sized patterned paper on two sheets of card. This program is a real printer ink and cardstock saver!

I trimmed down each colored piece to separate them from each other and partially die cut each portion with Sue Wilson’s Noble Pierced Rectangle Dies, to get the pierced border on each colored piece. Doing this at this point meant I didn’t have to try and force multiple layers through my die cutting machine after I had glued them together and, because this border style is so repetitive, it was easy to assemble while keeping the border pattern correct.

Once I had added the edge to all six pieces, I then die cut the upper edges of the grass, using My Favorite Things Grassy Fields dies and My Favorite Things Grassy Hills dies. I cut the two darker pieces of blue with Lawn Fawn Puffy Cloud Border dies. I glued the lightest blue to the top of the card and added liquid PVA glue to each of the darker blue pieces so I could “slip” them into perfect position, directly onto the 5″×7″ card base.

I decided to cut one final layer of the darkest green, using a generic grass die, to put at the very bottom of the scene so I could place the largest egg in behind a little grass as I planned to do with all the other eggs. Using my card as a placement guide, I glued all three of the green pieces together and added them to the bottom half of the card, again using liquid PVA glue that allowed me to make slight adjustments before it set. Once finished all this gluing, I was left with six gradations of matching colored card, all with the same edging border design but with different top edgings to help set the scene. I also didn’t add glue to any of the top edges of the panels. This allowed me to slip the eggs and the rabbit into place beneath each layer while the strong bond of PVA held firmly around the rest of the panel.

I arranged all the eggs and used a little more PVA to secure them into place and added the sleeping rabbit last, using both liquid PVA and some foam tape to keep the rabbit image from bending when glued over all the other layers.

I also decided to add a few die cut clouds, again cut using generic dies, to the upper areas of the sky. I thought these clouds gave a little more balance to the overall look of the card design.

Finally, I decided to add a black sentiment strip, die cut using one of My Favorite Things Stitched Sentiment Strips. I stamped a greeting from Pink and Main’s Hoppy Easter Stamp Set and heat embossed it with white Wow Embossing Powder. I finished the card off by adhering it into place with some more foam tape.

There was a lot of mental planning of this card as I worked to create it but I think the overall look when finished was well worth it. I hope my explanation of how I compiled this card saves you some planning time should you try to make this card for yourself. While there’s a lot of detail, it wasn’t too difficult to make because most of the elements were die cut.

I hope you have a very happy Easter holiday period! Thanks so much for spending time with me today. I look forward to next time…😊

Published by Anne

I have been practicing this craft since 2004 and am self taught, only learning from published lessons. I have found this has stopped me learning others' bad habits and I often find economical ways to achieve my results. I've found that primarily making cards gives me a constant supply of projects to complete and giving them as part of a gift is always well received. The only downside to it all? I dare not buy a card for anyone now, they would be devistated and, quite possibly insulted. But I take that as a compliment.

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