Hoppy Easter! Next Year... {Gail}

I love these cotton webbing
Happy Easter embellishments!

Happy Easter wishes and blessings. I love this  sign that spring has arrived. Even here in Western WA where the rains and gloomy weather hang on, we usually have something flowery blooming by Easter. It just raises your spirits so much!  


Today we had a gloriously warm, dry, sunny, everything's-blooming kind of day. I am still smiling from the sheer beauty of spring here.


Let's do some crafting!


I always am most inspired, not before an event or holiday, but inconveniently DURING or setting up for an event or holiday. 

The bag of Jelly Beans contains
loose paper jelly beans
that move around!

So today, when I decided not to crawl into the attic for my 19 year old son's Easter basket in order to throw some candy at him (figuratively speaking, but not ruling out the literal;) ) I spent 40 of the 60 minutes I was supposed to be getting ready for dinner making an Easter treat bag with my "electronic die cutting machine."  

I made another one after dinner to show you the steps I took, since I think it turned out pretty cute! 

They're a little different because I am incapable of doing the exact thing twice, but you are going to make the project your own anyway, right? Of course!

Add YOUR Easter sentiment
to the bunny side of the bag,
along with eggs.

Choose paper: bag, bunny and basket, grass, eggs.

I have a favorite cartridge that came with my machine, and it cuts a variety of bags and borders. Since Samantha has a bigger fancier version of mine, we've accumulated many more cartridges (!) but for this project I only used two old but popular ones. 

Cut out the bag; the orange bag has the top serrations trimmed off.

Cut out the grass.

For pink 4 1/2" bag, I used exactly two 1 1/2" grasses to go around the base  
...plus another to line the basket with "Easter grass" if you want
Orange bag is 5 1/2", with one 2" grass.  

Cut the bunny and basket:
measure the finished height of the bag, and cut 1/2" or so smaller.

Pink 4 1/2" bag uses 3" bunny/basket.


Cut egg shapes by hand -- start with half a heart. Start with a large one the first time. They sometimes keep shrinking ;)

Hold the large curved end and trim the pointy part off to form the small curve. Use small scissors. You don't have to even out all the jags as much as you think!

Tools, supplies, and pieces. 

Prep the grass by inking, distressing, whatever you prefer. Prep the basket and bunny by highlighting, distressing, etc. On the orange bag's grass, I used a Distress Ink pad; on the rest I used Tsukineko Brilliance and Chalk Dew Drops. I love Dew Drops. I have a LOT of Dew Drops :)  

Score and assemble the bag.

I grabbed a Marvy Le Plume and scribbled some basket texture with the brush end. 

Tuck the basket into the grass with no adhesive. Use a drop of glue or a glue pen to anchor the top of handle only.

Use the grass off-cut  to make the Easter grass.

Create your Easter basket grass.

Tear two pieces of the off-cut that will fit inside the basket; taper the bases. 
Score and curl the tips of one piece. 

Fill your Easter basket!

Tuck grass behind basket with adhesive on the UNDER side; position and press into place.

Tuck shaped piece of grass into basket with adhesive on UPPER side; position and press into place.

Use glue or glue pen and the help of a tool (toothpick, etc) to put eggs in place.

Add glue under the edges of the basket if you wish.

Since I was making this orange candy bag for my son, I only added this small, no-pink puffy butterfly. :) 

This Easter basket could use a fun bow, or a bit glitzy butterfly perched on the handle, don't you think?