Bunny jumping through a wreath

When I saw this on Maymay Made It's site, I argued with myself for a week before buying it. I have no idea where I am going to store it after Easter but I love it and will figure out storage later. Heck, I haven't even figured out where to hang it yet! MayMay's website is here: Maymay Made It  The link to her YouTube directions is here: Maymay's tutorial on how to make this

For a general overview, here are my photos taken during the process of creating this wreath.

The kit (currently on waitlist) included the bunny butt and ears, both wired for assembling onto the wire frame; three rolls of mesh; 24 chenille stems; and a 16" wire wreath form.

You begin by rolling out the netting, stacking the three colors for easier cutting.

Per Maymay's directions, I cut them at 11". Precision is not necessary, I took a rough measure and cut with scissors.

 You will need 24 sets of cut mesh. They look like old fashion hair curlers, don't they?

Roll one of each color into a cylinder from cut edge to cut edge. The top and bottom edges are the selvages of the ribbon. Wire these units together with a chenille stem.

Doesn't look like much of anything yet, right?

Here is the pile of 24 units, ready to be tied onto the wreath form.

 Four units are wired onto each section of the form.

This is 12 of the units in place. They fill in the form quite nicely.

Here is the form with all 24 in place.  Time to get the bunny butt and ears!

The bunny body has four pairs of wires to attach to the frame. This is the underside of the wreath. The bunny is designed for this purpose and finished off flat with the wires embedded.

This view against the carpeted stairs shows the colors clearly. 

This is the wreath on my craft room door. That glow around the left side of the door is sunshine. Or maybe it is the awesomeness of my craft room glowing away. 😊 Either reason for the glow makes me happy.

And temporarily, on my inside back door. The mesh ribbon would hold up to weather but not the plush bunny so he will stay inside. I have one more place to try but I need to a ribbon for hanging this on a wall and I'm not convinced that is what I want to do.

Total time, start to finish was 75 minutes.

Easter Egg Hunt

Yesterday was Easter. Because weather can be iffy in SE Michigan, my family (including myself as a child) has never hunted for eggs outside. The Easter Bunny likes to enter homes to warm up and has always hidden eggs and baskets indoors.

My grandson is 8, his sister is almost 3. The Bunny hides dyed eggs at their house and filled plastic ones here. The hunt here includes a list for each of them with clues to follow. His are written clues that he needs to think about, such as "If I had to wash the bow tie that I like to wear, where would I go to dry it?"  His sister's clues were all photos (sorry for the graininess of this image) that didn't show the hidden eggs but led her to where she would find them.

I should have gotten a video of that sweet little girl on the hunt. She is going to be a force to be reckoned with at Black Friday sales as an adult! She ran to a recognized spot, yelled "Got it!", grabbed the egg, looked at the next picture and zoom!....was running to the next location.

Their parents and their uncle (my other son) got boxes of  Nostalgic Candy and cupcakes with bunny toppers.

I used punches and dies to cut out the components of the bunny faces and ears. The brown boy bunnies got bow ties, the girl bunnies for my granddaughter and her mommy got a flower for their hair (or would that me 'hare'? 😉)

'Twas the day after Easter...

'Twas the day after Easter
and isn't it funny
my deadline is gone
for making a bunny

The Easter decor is packed
in boxes and a bin
Now what to put out?
Let creating begin!

(apologies to Clement Clarke Moore)

Here is a view of my Easter table. That's a lot of candy for someone on Weight Watchers!

Sweeter than the chocolates are these guys, each made from Stampin' Up's Owl Builder Punch

The color above is a little off, this next view is truer. I attached each bunny to a piece of white cardstock and added the message before placing them on the dinner plates.

Here's a pile of jelly beans that are completely calorie free. The image was drawn by Amy of Vanilla Arts and colored with Copic markers and Prismacolor pencils.  

When I began this blog, I wasn't going to post photos of my grandchildren. I can't seem to resist though. I'm avoiding mentioning names so that they can't be found on search engines. Here is my 6 year old Prince of Sweetness and his 10 month sister, the Princess of Sparkle.

Cadbury Egg holder for Easter

I really enjoy Connie Stewart's Stampin' Up blog and videos. Her blog is Simply Simple Stamping  This link takes her to her home page, not the specific project I am sharing here. Connie often reminds her readers and viewers to work with what they have on hand, and she isn't afraid to show her uh-ohs. I am about to show you mine.

Here is the Easter Egg Throne Box that Connie featured last year. I am already picturing more versions of this with frames around the oval opening or some bling added, depending on who the the recipient will be.

This project begins with a strip cut at 11" x 2", scored at 4.5" and 6.5"; and what will become the egg holder, cut at 3.5" x 3.5" and scored at .75" on all four sides.

Stampin' Up's 1.25" Scallop Circle Punch was used to make the hole for the Cadbury egg placement. I drew light pencil lines so that I could eyeball the center after placing the punch over this area.

One side of the box/egg holder will need to be folded under so that the punch can reach the center of the square. Yes, it will take a bite out of the side, but it won't matter.

A tip I learned from Connie's various tutorials is to trim down the flaps that will be glued when forming boxes. The cuts were made straight on the creases and cut on angles to make the tabs narrow on one end. If it helps, think of those shapes as cups, like Solo drink cups.

 Adhesive is added to the tabs, then they are turned in and glued behind the side panels.

This looks like an inverted box, a box lid, or in the case, a nesting spot for the Cadbury egg to sit.

We're getting to my Uh-Oh moment.  I added tape runner to the 11" strip along the scored lines. Make them on the larger areas, not inside the 2" x 2" center square. Place the side of the egg holder that has the bite out of it against one of panels on the 11" strip so that it doesn't show on the finished item.

With the sides folded up, the egg holder is securely in place. Oops! See those nice straight sides? They weren't cut on top with the Scallop Tag Topper Punch.

I gently pulled the sides away from the egg holder insert and cut the tops with the tag topper punch. 

Ahhh, that's better!  These tops could have been done with a simple hole punch and maybe a corner rounder but I had the tag topper punch out and ready to use. 

Oh sugar beets! Another Oops! It would have been easier to cut the oval viewing window before this was assembled. Oh well. This wasn't impossible to handle, just awkward to photograph while holding it all in place. This is the Extra Wide Oval Punch being used.

The 1.25" Scallop Circle Punch  is used again, this time on yellow to make the components of the chick. Two circles are cut out of yellow and then a corner of yellow paper is placed as shown to make the chick's feathers on the top of her head.

The same oval punch is used again to cut the egg that goes on the front of this project.

I added some dots with a pink Tombow marker on the pink egg, cut it in half and then cut a jagged edge into each straight edge of the newly hatched egg. I used an orange stamp (origin and color unknown) to tinge the edges of the chick's yellow pieces.

I didn't have a small square punch, so I randomly cut a small square of orange paper and scored it to form a beak.

After gluing the feathers behind the chick's head, I cut down into the shape and bent the strips back and forth to make them a bit more feathery. I used a tape runner to attach the beak and a marker for the eyes. After gluing the chick in place, I put the other yellow circle on the back to neaten things up

I used Stampin' Up's Teeny Tiny Wishes to stamp Happy Easter, then cut it out using Window Word and Modern Label Punches. I thought I was going to use the Note Tag Punch as shown, but it seemed too large.

After gluing the layered greeting onto the white tag, I cut the edges off and used a corner rounder to make the tag. A hole punch was used so that the tag could hang from twine.  The chick and egg shell were attached with pop dots.

  

Now if I can just leave that Cadbury egg alone, I can continue preparing for a Happy Easter. I happen to love Cadbury eggs but one of them is 4 Weight Watcher points. When your total point allotment for the day is 26, four points for one candy is a lot. I'm not saying one or two won't be eaten, but I hope NOT to eat them mindlessly!