The Sweet Life...

Hello everyone and welcome to the brand new Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge where this week our theme is ~ Food & Drink! Whether you celebrate your love for food and drink or whether you choose to make something for Easter, whatever you decide, we can't wait to see what you create and hope you'll play along with our challenge!

For my project, I wanted to create some fun little Easter gifts ~ mini mason jars, filled with chocolate Easter eggs and decorated with the help of some of my crazy feathered friends, dressed as Easter Bunnies!

 I also made a matching Easter card, that can be given alongside the gift!

As my starting point I used some of Tim Holtz's Mini Mason jars, together with a larger jar. These tiny jars are perfect for gifts but because I was adding food products to the jars, I decided to keep them as they were and not use paints or inks. But of course, they did need decorating and I chose to create small tags in fresh spring colours and include the stars of the show...the dressed up crazy birds!

I began by cutting two small tag shapes from kraft card, each one approx 8 x 5cm. I then inked up the Dots stamp with clear embossing powder and stamped directly onto the tag. Sprinkle the ink with white embossing powder and heat emboss. At this stage, I also cut a panel of kraft card and using the Dot Stamp, I stamped and white embossed the card, which I will use later for my card and for my tag messages.

I inked around the edge of the tag with Walnut Stain Distress Ink and then added a bow, made from crinkle ribbon dyed with Tumbled Glass for the first tag and Shaded Lilac for the second tag. Attach the bow using a second piece of ribbon attached around the rim of the lid.

For the little birdies on the tags, I used the Mini Bird Crazy set, which is the perfect size for these and stamped them onto watercolour card before watercoloring each bird with Distress Marker Pens and then die cutting with the corresponding dies. Of course, if you don't have the die, these are quite easy to cut out but using the die just makes things that little bit quicker! Layer all your bird pieces up and then using the bunny ears from the Crazy Things stamp set...stamp, colour and die cut before adding to each of the birds!

When creating the gorgeous little flowers, I used pinks, lilacs, blues and yellows from the Core'Dinations Paper Pad and die cut each of my flowers using the Tiny Tattered Florals die. I then assembled all 17 of my flowers and once the flowers are all made, I then laid them out on a craft sheet and spritzed them with various colours of Distress Stain ~ I used Picked Raspberry, Mustard Seed and Spiced Marmalade. Carefully heat dry the flowers and once thoroughly dry, dip a paint brush into gesso and gently dab the tips of each flower. Heat dry once more and if you need more gesso, just add some more, gently building up the colour!

I stamped the "Happy Easter" message in Jet Black Archival Ink onto some more of the white embossed dot kraft card, cut the card into little banner shapes and attached these to my tags, together with a bird and a couple of the tiny florals. 

On the purple bow, I also added a small flower to the centre of the bow.

To complete the jars, I added a circle of paper from the Wallflower paper Stash, a wooden Kaisercraft embellishment which I altered with a co-ordinating colour of Distress Paints and a touch of Treasure Gold Gilding Wax and as a finishing touch, attached a Curio Knob.

Once I started these little gifts, there was no stopping me and I went on to create a larger jar, which features one of the bigger, regular crazy birds. I attached the die cut bird to the top of the lid, together with a crinkle ribbon dyed bow, floristry fibres, a flower and an enamelled tag with the words, "Sweet Life"...taken from the Words Remnant Rubs set.

...and what could be nicer than using one of the larger Bird Crazy stamps to create a matching card! For this, I used my favourite bird and added him onto the dotted background and some corrugated card matts. I attached more of the tiny tattered florals for a wonderful touch of Spring and added an Easter message and some twine to complete it!

I love the fact that Tim has created the smaller birds to be used on tags, etc and that they will compliment the larger birds which can be used on cards...it just creates such a wonderful set and gift, which I hope you love, as much as I loved creating it!

 

As always, if you need any further inspiration for this challenge, then you need look no further than our blog to see all the wonderful creations from all the very talented Design Team members and every week, one lucky random participant has the chance to win a $50 gift voucher from Simon Says Stamp. You have until Monday 8am Ohio time. 1pm UK time, 2 pm CET to join in and good luck....

Thank you so much for all your visits today and hope you all have a great week ahead

See you again soon...love Emma xx

Products used:

Tim Holtz/Sizzix Dies: Bird Crazy Stamp and Die Set, Mini Bird Crazy Stamp and Die Set, Tiny Tattered Florals, Crazy Things Stamp and Die Set, Postage Stamp

Tim Holtz Stamps: Dots and Floral Stamp Set, Crazy Talk

Distress Ink: Walnut Stain

Distress Paint: Picket Fence

Distress Spray Stains: Tumbled Glass, Shaded Lilac, Picked Raspberry, Mustard Seed and Spiced Marmalade

Distress Marker Pens

Mediums: Gesso, Ranger White Embossing Powder, Versamark Ink Pad, White Fire Treasure Gold Wax, Jet Black Archival Ink

Idea-ology: Crinkle Ribbon, Curio Knobs, Mini Mason Jars, Enamel Tags, Remnant Rubs

Surfaces: Watercolour Card, Kraft Card, Distress Core'Dinations Card Stock, Wallflower Paper Stash

Embellishments: Twine, Kaisercraft Wooden Flower Shapes

Ranger Craft Sheet

Blending Tool

Heat Gun

Big Shot

Foam Squares

Palette Knife

Larger mason jar, burlap flower and floristry fibres all from my own stash