Monday, April 25, 2011

Celebrating Easter vicariously

This year Easter completely snuck up on me! There were no crafts or cards (gasp!) and we had B's friend in town for the weekend, so we ended up not celebrating the holiday. The most festive our weekend got was a bag of Starburst Jelly Beans (hands down, best jelly beans ever) and running into these spray painted bunnies on the beach in Bolinas. 


I was happy to know that most friends and family we're celebrating Easter in full force. I wanted to share their creativity and holiday cheer in an effort to celebrate the holiday vicariously! 



Just because you don't have a cotton tail, doesn't mean you can't be a bunny on Easter! Pippin and Ulla are no strangers to dressing up for holidays. Their moms (the twins: layna and janelle)  love to put their pets in costumes and take pictures. I wonder if their mom did the same to them as youngsters? 


Check out this  lil' flock of sheep cake pops made by Kaci! They almost seem too cute to eat, although their sugary goodness would be hard to resist. Read the full how-to here.


Rachel hosted another fabulous holiday craft party: Candy, Wine and Easter Egg Dyin. 
{see Rachel's other holiday craft parties here: monster mash, gingerbread village, valentines}
Sadly I had to miss the party, but I wanted to share this bunny egg made by Surime. She applied scotch tape, in the shape of a rabbit, dipped half the egg in blue, and the other half in green. Peeled away the tape and drew on the details with a marker. Isn't that awesome?



And finally, my motivation to share all this Easter creativity, Jessica's DIY Easter name cards and napkin rings! 

Jessica sent me photos of these cute, and easy, Easter projects yesterday. We sent messages back and forth, while I was dreaming about the delicious food they were eating, she offered to share how she made these cute and easy Easter decorations. Her photos and directions are good practice for when she starts a blog ;)




Cute Critter Name Cards 



For the name cards, I used plain white card stock (approx 4x6 inch sheets on sale a Hobby Lobby).  I used the Create a Critter cartridge for the Cricut to make the bunnies and chicks.  Each are 3 layers (plus the "shadow") so you just follow the instructions/pictures to make each layer.

For the bunny I chose winter white, a light pink i had on hand for the background which showed up in the ears, nose and cheeks, then a little cream/darker white for the tummy part.  Then I used black card stock for the shadow which turns out to be the whiskers and the little bit around the edges.

For the chick, I got a textured classic yellow for the body and an orange for the beak.  There is a tummy part for that one too, but I forgot when i was buying paper, so i didn't put one on   Again, black cardstock for the shadow which makes the legs and the edges.

I used a glue stick to glue each layer on top of the next and let dry.  Then I just used a glue pen to put a little white and yellow glitter on their tummies and voila! a cute critter! I folded the white cardstock in half and glued them to the top corner, bunnies on one side, chicks on the other, just to switch it up.

For the lettering, i used the Wall Art and More cartridge. The first letter of each name I did a "monogram letter" and then just chose the font I liked best for the rest of the letters. I had several different brightly colored card stocks on hand from other projects, so that worked out perfectly to make them springy and Eastery! 


Glitter Egg Napkin Rings


I purchased styrofoam eggs and put them on bamboo skewers. I poked the skewers through a shoebox to hold them up.  Then I took each one off and held it by the skewer while I sprayed with the spray adhesive.  Then I sprinkled the glitter on and then put it back into the hole in the shoe box to dry.  I let them dry overnight in hopes that the glitter would stay on better. 


For the napkin rings, I wrapped floral wire around a condiment bottle that was the same size as the napkins about 6 times I wrapped the ends around the rings to hold them all together.  Then I put a dab of hot glue on the back of the egg and put the wire on it with the ends side in the glue so no one would get poked.  When that was holding a little bit, I put another drop of hot glue on top of the wire in the same place so that it would hold it on better.

Luckily for drying time (not so nice for me...) it was really cold outside so it dried pretty quickly, but you'll have to hold each ring in place until the glue hardens or it jut falls over, which sucks.  



Once the rings are dry, place them on napkins and voila - adorable glitter egg napkin rings! And here's the final product, minus the amazing food, of course. 

I hope you had a wonderful Easter! Thank you all for letting me spend my holiday by living vicariously through you. Extra special thanks to Jess for sharing her how-to. 
I have lots of inspiration for a egg-cellect celebration next year!

2 comments:

Unknown said...

what fun, crafty friends you have! I LOVE ALL THESE IDEAS! It was like you had guest bloggers, I looooooved it! YAY!

Anonymous said...

Aww I just saw your post.. I feel honored to be on your blog again! -Surime