Mr Rabbit Springs Into Action...

Happy Monday friends... 

Hope you've all had a wonderful weekend and ready for a brand new week and the new challenge that is starting today, over on the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog!

This week, our theme is all about Spring and Easter and we hope you'll join us, and share all your beautiful creations!

For my project, I couldn't resist using another Tim Holtz die from the 2021 Sizzix Chapter 1 release and would like to introduce you to Mr Rabbit, a very handsome bunny with those gorgeous long ears and big feet, who is looking for Eater treats and getting his little habitat ready for Easter.

So, let's get started and here's how I created this project!

With spring in the air, I wanted to keep this card looking fresh but still have that shabby chic vintage vibe to the overall piece ~ so I kept the background white, just adding a touch of ink to take away the starkness and then added all my layers over the top.

So after cutting a panel of Distress watercolour card, I spritzed it with a light misting of water. I then placed the floral background stamp from the Vines and Roses Stampers Anonymous set onto my stamp platform, and used different coloured Mini Distress Inks to ink up the various detail of the stamp.

Flowers: Broken China and Kitsch Flamingo

Leaves: Bundled Sage and Iced Spruce

I then spritzed the stamp with water and stamped directly onto the card panel. To cover the entire panel, I moved the stamp down slightly and then repeated the previous step.

After heat drying the stamped panel, I then inked the edges with Frayed Burlap and also added a few splashes of the ink over the background, creating little inky pools. 

Once the background was thoroughly dry, I added some stamped imagery, some script using the stamp from the Poinsettia stamp set and stamped onto various areas of the panel, a postmark and receipt no. which is from the Field Notes Stamp set.

After machine stitching a border around the edge...

...I matted it onto some paper from the Etcetera Paper stash and then matted theses panels onto a piece of thick media board from Sizzix that I cut slightly larger than the previous matted panels. Around the outside edge of the mount board, I applied some Design Tape.

Before moving on, I created a ledge for Mr Rabbit to stand on and this is just two Etcetera Pinked Trims, one slightly narrower than the other and overlaid. I then applied some Crackle Paste over the surface, allowed for this to dry before applying some Walnut Stain Distress Crayon over the top to accentuate the crackles. I attached the ledge across my background, allowing it to slightly overhang the edges.

I now have my background ready to embellish...and now I can formally introduce you to Mr Rabbit who is placed amongst a backdrop of Spring greens, which are all die cut from Mixed Media Heavystock card, coloured with Rustic Wilderness, Peeled Paint and Shabby Shutters Distress Inks and using the foliage from Funky Nature Thinlits Die Set.

With the foliage cut, I formed and arranged it into an arch, attaching it to sit on the ledge.

I cut the image three times from Kraft Heavystock card and layered the card using Matte Collage Medium to form one rabbit that resembles the thickness of chipboard.

I then added some detail to the rabbit using Polychromos pencils from Faber Castell. I also added some white pen details to add those few extra highlights.

Once I had Mr Rabbit ready, I moved onto the toadstool and used one of the dies from the Funky Toadstools set. As with Mr Rabbit, I wanted quite substantial pieces as I wanted to create dimension, so I cut two of each of the image pieces from Mixed Media Heavystock card and then layered them with Matte Collage Medium before painting the cap with Candied Apple Distress Paint, and a touch of Black Soot mixed in and the stalk was coloured with Gathered Twigs Distress Ink. I then added some small white dots onto the cap using Tonic Nuvo Drops in White.

The carrot was cut using the smaller of the two carrot dies in the Carrot Bunny Thinlits Die set and once again, layered to create a thicker die cut and coloured with Spiced Marmalade, Carved Pumpkin and a touch of Vintage Photo Distress Paints. The leaves are cut from some leftover card that I coloured for the foliage.

Using foam pads, I attached the toadstool, the rabbit and the carrot in amongst the foliage, placing clumps of moss in and around the base.

To complete the scene, I added some dried flowers that I had in my stash and also some Bouquet Findings. These are all coloured with Spun Sugar Distress Spray Stain and have Platinum Stickles applied to the little stamen centres and hidden amongst the foliage, I placed one lucky Bauble finding. I coloured this with Limeade and Mushroom Alcohol Inks and attached it to nestle into the greenery.

Now for all the finishing touches, and I added some rusted Index Clips, complete with Hardware Heads and clipped these to either side of the panel. I also placed a Field Notes Ephemera piece onto the right hand side.

In the top left hand corner, I placed a Stitched Scrap, and attached the Mini Pin.

I attached a Prima Marketing Rusty Metal clip at the top of the panel...

...and finally, I added the Theories Quote Chip, "never stop exploring" and placed this beneath the ledge, adding a Hardware Head to either side of the chip.

My spring themed project is now ready to display and I hope you've enjoyed the walk through the process of how I made it and how Mr Rabbit was bought to life.

Don't forget that every week, one lucky random participant has the chance to win a $25 gift voucher from Simon Says Stamp and you can join in up to 5 times, which means you could have 5 chances to win. You have until Monday 8am Ohio time. 1pm UK time, 2 pm CET to join in and good luck....

Thank you so much for taking the time to stop by today ~ stay safe and keep well.

Love Emma xxx

Recipe for project:

Tim Holtz/Sizzix: Mr Rabbit, Funky Nature, Funky Toadstools, Carrot Bunny

Stampers Anonymous: The Poinsettia, Field Notes, Vines and Roses, Pinked Etcetera Trims

Mini Distress Inks: Broken China, Kitsch Flamingo Iced Spruce, Bundled Sage

Distress Inks: Frayed Burlap, Rustic Wilderness, Peeled Paint and Shabby Shutters 

Distress Paint: Spiced Marmalade, Carved Pumpkin, Vintage Photo, Candied Apple and Black Soot

Distress Crayon: Walnut Stain

Distress Spray Stain: Spun Sugar

Tim Holtz Idea-ology: Hardware Heads, Field Notes Ephemera, Index Clips, Clippings Sticker Book, Remnants Design Tape, Bouquet Findings, Baubles, Theories Quote Chips, Stitched Scraps 2

Mediums: Matte Collage Medium, Platinum Stickles Glitter Glue, Crackle Paste, Chalk White Nuvo Drops

Alcohol Inks: Limeade, Mushroom

Surfaces: Mixed Media Heavystock, Kraft Heavystock Card, Sizzix Media Board, Etcetera Paper Stash

Glass Media Mat

Rusty Metal Clip

Heat Gun

Polychromos Pencils

Big Shot Die Cutting Machine

Dried flowers and moss from my own stash