Cadbury Miniature Bunny Chocolates

These chocolates are just a daft idea made for fun, perhaps a case of over egging (or bunnyising) a Cadbury miniature!!!!

All I’ve done is cover a few Cadbury miniatures to make them look a bit more Eastery ….

…… using a wrapper as a template,  I have cut new ones using scraps from Boofle  6 x 6 papers.

There’s a bit of an art to unwrapping the chocolates without damaging the foil …. but I got there in the end. I then “rolled” the chocolate in a new wrapper, sealing it with double sided tape at the end.

The final touch is a little doodled grass before adding the Easter bunny, done and dusted!

Elizabeth Shaw Bunny Mint Favours

Come on, with Easter next on our crafting calendars did you really think I wouldn’t do something with my crafty confectionary staple Elizabeth Shaw mints?!!!!!!

I try to stock up on the mints whenever see them in Home Bargains or B M Bargains at around £1.99 a box, especially as they always seem to have the milk chocolate ones, which are my personal favourite, dark chocolate is an acquired taste for me I am afraid. I know one day this source will more than likely dry up and then I will have to try and find them in the supermarkets for close on double the price, so I always check the “use by date” and then buy enough for a couple or three projects.

So, once more, I have got my old faithful, umpteen years old Stampin’ Up scalloped and plain circle out and got punching, in pink and yellow pastels for the outside, and Boofle 6” x 6” papers for the middle.

I am a fairly patient person ….. but after a while doing all the dots and faux stitching on both sides of the mints does begin to rankle and I just want to get them done!

Then comes the writing bit, when I start just pray that I can get it pretty well centred first time, and not have to chuck too many in the bin to get them just right.

Then,  all I have to do is sandwich them altogether, using double-sided tape ….. I am not sure how I am going to package them up to give as presents at Easter ….. but I do have a few organza bags from way back when (…somewhere …..) that need using up!

Nine Square Easter Bunny Card

This card measures 5ins x 5ins and is made using a hand cut blank using a white linen effect card.

How long has it been since I last made a nine square card???  Blinking years!!! However, the Paperchase wooden. confetti rabbits I found at a greatly reduced price a few weeks ago just screamed to be put on one!!

I matched them up with papers from a Boofle 6” x 6” paper pack, which are just perfect for Easter and spring cards.

The squares measure 1in x 1ins and I have edged them and the main square with tiny faux stitching.

That’s it ….. all done and bunny hopping dusted!

Happy Easter And A Huge Thank You To A Special New Friend

OMG I have a real life Michaels bag of my very own!

In my two years or so blogging I have made some truly lovely friends, and recently I have got to know Dianne who lives in Florida  through the comments she leaves on my other blog “Mums Monkey” – one day I just had a spooky feeling that I should send her a monkey of her own (Christopher)….. that spooky feeling was “right” …. and since then we have e-mailed on a regular basis …. but this Easter she has totally overwhelmed me with her kindness.

As we have been getting to know each other I have told Dianne how I dream of one day going to the USA, taking with me the most  mahooosive empty suitcase I can get through,  so I can shop till I drop, and then some in Michaels ……. !!!

And this week Dianne has overwhelmed me again with the most wonderful parcel of embellishments from Michaels, I was so overcome, that when I opened up her box I just looked at them, in silence, stroking each and every packet in turn.

What do you say to such kindness and thought?

I can’t believe the Urban Chic and Bead Landing charms and will be wearing them very very soon.  And as for the glittered blossom branches, I don’t think I will ever be able to use them, they are so lovely, BUT I know I MUST!

These Martha Stewart labels and tags are something different for me …. I have a few ideas already as to what to do with them and see a slight change in style ahead.

And as for these monkeys …… what can I say, gorgeous!!

But best of all I LOVE my bag, I will use it carefully and then after a while put it away ready for the day when I actually walk into a Michaels, bag akimbo  telling anyone who will listen how I got it. Thank you Dianne you are a VERY SPECIAL lady and it’s people like you and Marc, Jan The Fan, Di and Mr D who keep my brain whirring, thinking up more mischief and mayhem for “The Boys” to incur - xxx THANK YOU xxx

http://www.michaels.com/

Oh .... and I almost forgot …….

I used some of the papers, ribbons, stickers etc. from Dianne’s  Easter parcel for “The Boys” to make this page in my Smashbook – unwrapping each and every small parcel this morning was such a magical experience for  them (and me)!!!!!

Easter Egg/Lunch Bag

As I am being very careful with money this year I begrudge paying more than a pound for a bag just to put an Easter Egg or small present in, no matter how lovely.

So these are two I have made using paper sandwich/lunch bags from Home Bargains. They only cost £1 for a pack of 10, bargaintastic! I’ve just added die cut flowers with a flat backed pearl centre and a bit of doodling. Each bag has probably cost me no more than 35p, which means I have more money to spend on Easter goodies.

It would also be a cute bag for a child to take their last packed lunch in before they break up for the Easter holidays. The Poundshops have some lovely large puffy Easter sticker at the moment which could easily be used instead of the flowers.

Easter Ladybird Favour Box

My obsession with ladybirds continues …..

I’ve made a matchbox using my Stampin’Up/Sizzix Die my son ordered me from the USA a couple of years ago, using black and red card.

I then filled it with ten of the Tesco chocolate love bugs that I stockpiled during their Valentines Day promotion, knowing that I wouldn’t be able to find them in the shops after for other projects.

Easter Penny Bags

My “Penny Bags” usually go down well, so I have made a few for Easter.

They are nothing really special but with money being tight for a lot of people at the moment I think they offer reasonable value for money and the person who gives them knows that they are giving something a bit different as I will only be making about 20 of them.

I’ve punched the tags from a small blue gingham print card, added a wooden bunny embellishment, a bit of doodling and a handwritten “Happy Easter”

This is the first time I have used gusseted bags for my sweets which measure 7” x 3” x 1.5” which I found on e-bay from  http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Wrappings-and-Bows?_trksid=p4340.l2563 and I am quite impressed.

I put an assortment of 12 chocolate ladybirds (Tesco) 8 small easter eggs (The Range) and two chocolate bunnies from the Aldi pack above (£1.79) in each bag, tied with a pastel coloured ribbon.

Easter Egg Cups

Now I am being extra careful about what crafty bits and pieces I spend my money on, a bargain is only a bargain when I think that I will be able to use everything up in a project and then be able to take the completed idea into work almost straight away.

So when I saw these eggcups with feet on reduced to 50p a box in The Range it was hard to resist, but I realised that any project using them would hinge on the eggs I could find to fit them. My immediate thought was to use cream eggs ….. but trying them in the shop they were just too small and were lost in a cup! But I decided to risk buying four packs of egg cups anyway ….. and for several weeks carried one around in my bag to measure up any eggs I might chance upon!!

I finally found what I was looking for in the form of Marks and Spencer Hide and Seek Chocolate Eggs costing me £2 for 8.

I was thrilled ….. and when I got home I set about putting them together. First I just glued on the eyes …… then I remembered a pack of clip on bonnets I have had for years and honestly thought I never find a use for.

……. but they were perfect!

I only had ten hats and sixteen egg cups, but I reckoned that the unhatted eggs would be more suitable for boys ….. so that would be OK, no need to over egg the pudding!!  Eggcellent!

I have now found these egg cups in The Poundshop ..... £1 for a pack!!!!!!!!

Small Easter Bunny Wreath

This little wreath has been made using up lots of bits I have had for ages, like the Paper Bliss Bunny embellishments, paper flowers from Lakeland (when they had a craft section), a bracelet that I bought in a pack of six for 50p goodness knows when, and a few flat backed pearls.

I’ve also added a bits of punched foliage and flower centres.  It was a little fiddly to get them to balance on the bracelet at first but I got there in the end.

Mini Easter Jars

Well … I though I had used up all but six of my mini kilner jars that I had stashed away, BUT when searching for something completely different I found another two boxes, one of ten and the other of six …. what am I like?

But with Easter approaching it was quite a fortuitous find!

I set about making some double sided punched tags, with a bit of doodling and using some metal chicken embellishments Marc had sent me on one side and  some felt flowers from Michaels sent to me from Dianne in Florida.

They didn’t take long at all and I attached the to the jars through the metal fixings.

I got the Ashleys Mini Mini eggs from The Range and Poundshop.  In The Range they were 79p a bag …. I leave you to work out how much they were in the Poundshop!!  There were enough eggs in each bag to fill two jars.

Chocolate Ladybird Boxes for Easter

This is what I have been stockpiling Tesco Valentine Love Bugs for, I knew I wouldn’t see them again till next year, or if I did, they would be double the price. But after checking carefully I saw that they have a "use by date" of December 2012 so I knew I could use them for Easter and a bit beyond if I had any other suitable ideas, plus I also checked that you get far more laybirds in a net for your money than you do Easter eggs!

I’ve cover two tiny domino boxes measuring 12cm x 4cm x 2.5cm deep with assorted pastel gingham paper strips from Handy Hippo.

And then added some gorgeous flowery adhesive borders which were part of a present from a new found friend Dianne in Florida. They come from Michaels, a shop I have read so much about. especially their crafty stuff. and where I dream one day of going to partake in some retail therapy.

I am thrilled with the way the boxes have turned out, but now I am not so sure if I can let them go!