Easter Bunny Wreath Update

I posted my Easter Wreath a couple of weeks ago ……….

........ it was OK, but I think at the time I was in a complete a state of shock having put together a whole plethora of tiny plush bunnies, velvet carrots, painted wooden ladybirds and punched flowers on an old (2019) white, wicker Poundland Christmas wreath ……….

……… without a second thought of the diverse selection of materials used, not to mention the out of kilter dimensions of everything, something, you know, I have a huge "thing" about.

However, there must be something in the spring air, with all the the sunshine, birds tweeting, and seeing the blossom on the trees and daffodils coming up, because I’ve now gone even further out of my comfort zone by throwing a whole pack of foam speckled eggs at it, plus a handful of punched butterflies …………….. 

I think it works, perhaps, if I were making another one, I might just add another two carrots to it …… it’s just a bit of fun that I know Iris and Bertie will especially appreciate.  Looks like spring has sprung at No.55!

Scenic Easter Bunny Pin Badge/Brooch

My apologies, I am really into making pin badge/brooches at the moment, so I warn you, there might be a whole plethora of them coming along until I get them out of my system!

This is my second attempt at these scenic bunny pin badge/brooches.The first one I made (below) but when I went back to it the next day just seemed too brash, the jewels were more Christmas than Easter, it just wasn’t subtle enough, so I decided to start again.

Second time round I went for much paler patterned paper scraps for the background ……..

…… and likewise for the wooden wreath embellishments.

Instead of jewels I decided to use enamel nail art pens for a more natural (?) effect.

The tip is so fine I was able to create really tiny flowers which I did in three separate layers so they really stuck out.

I also used Ranger Enamel Accents on the wooden bunnies, which were originally natural or pink in colour, again adding to the subtle enameled effect I was looking for.

When everything was completely dry I was able to finally put the bunny in the middle of the scene and the pin fastening on the back, along with a little faux stitching around the edge.

I have to admit that I am really pleased with this idea, I have had the wreaths for ages, and hadn’t really known how to use them, however, as always is the way they have led me to an Idea for a Halloween pin badge ……. so watch this space tomorrow.

Little Pencil Pin Brooches

I am really chuffed with these little pin brooches, even though they were no great shakes to make …….

I have had the pencil beads from The Works for a little while but didn’t have a clue what to do with them for, then as I am really into badge/brooch making  at the moment, it finally twigged ……..

…… lining four different coloured beads up on a small craft stick (Hobbycraft pack of 50 assorted colours for £1) and then sticking everything together with E8000 glue for a really firm bond ……..

……….. and a small brooch fitting on the back…….

……. I’d got me a really cute badge, perhaps for Iris and Bertie on the first day back after a school holiday, a small, school themed fairing gift for a teachers lanyard or even a cracker gift.

Like I said, no great shakes, but a little more craft stash used up, but why 23 beads in a pack? It’s seems such a random number, another one and I could have made six badges!

Little Bear Wooden Pin Badge Brooch.

What to do with five wooden bear head embellishments, part of a pack of 15 also containing cats and lions bought from B & M Bargains for about £1 a while back? What about some badges ……. I think they work?

I took some 1in MDF squares, scraps of a spotty print paper and a (posh) brown silk fabric paper, googly eyes, black flat back gems, tiny bows pulled tight to make then even smaller plus five small brooch backs.

I’ll let the pictures do the talking ……..

I used E8000 glue as I wanted a really tight bond so there is no risk of eyes and noses being prised off by inquisitive fingers.

I think all the added embellishment on the faces really helped build the characters of the bears. 

The tiny faux stitching round the edges, using a black fine liner pen, helped draw the completed idea together.

To make them look more professional I thought I would put them on a small doodled presentation card to finish.

The lion heads in the pack of embellishments won’t work with this idea, they were more mane than face and the features were just too small, however, I think the cat faces might, so watch this space …………

Easter Bunny Pin Badges

I feel like I have been working really hard on Easter, but my box of ancient wooden Easter embellishments doesn’t look as if I have made a single dent in it, in fact I think they are be breeding.

However, today at least seven large bob-tailed bunnies are on the hop in the form of very simple pin badges, probably destined for the staff at Iris and Bertie’s school as fairing gifts with a few sweets if they are open by then.

They are no great shakes, I have just covered one side of a 3cm MDF square with scraps of paper to create a basic landscape, added a few clusters of three dots and faux stitching round the edges using a black fine liner pen …….

…… and then plonked a bunny right in the middle.

On the back I have then stuck a small 1.5cm brooch back using extra strong glue and again edged the back with faux stitching.  Simples!

Little Bird Easter Tags –Twig Tree Decorations

Following on from last week, another set of Easter tags or twig tree decorations in an effort to finally use up all my ancient, wooden, Easter embellishments.

As you can see I experimented with a green Dymo label sentiment, they look OK, but I have to admit to much preferring the black version if I’m honest.

The front of the tags were covered with scraps of patterned paper to create a basic background scene.  I have so many paper pads, but I also have a HUGE soft spot for gingham, which really does lend itself to Easter, so I confess to ordering a couple of new gingham paper pads from eBay, as these scraps were the very last I had and I know I will use the gingham more than any of the other papers I have whatever the theme or season.

I faux stitched the edges on the front and back of the tags using a fine liner pen, before adding the Dymo sentiments, which were trimmed down to fit and then the birds.

I love the fact that the birds are painted on both sides which means that they can face both directions.  It’s always been such a frustration to me that most embellishments can only be used facing the one way!

The tiny weeny, plastic, nail art flowers came from China (eBay), they really are tiny and look like nothing from a far, so I was chuffed with their detail when pictured really close up.

I added a little wooden ladybird to the back of the tags, because they might be used as decorations on an Easter twig tree and if so it’s always best to have something of interest to show on the back as well.  I have added a silver coloured, spring bail finding over the tag holes for a thread or narrow ribbon once I decide what I am going to do with them.

Little Bird Easter Decoration

Sometimes things just don’t come together, which is why “the bones” (below) of this decoration lingered in my unfinished pot for a couple of months.

I started it when I was in the middle of doing all my Christmas and Halloween house tranklements using small, coloured craft sticks (Hobbycraft £1 pack of 50) and was wondering what to do the colours I had left over……. once started I soon realised it didn’t look right, the green shelf served no purpose with the one bird stuck up against the wall, but I couldn’t for the life of me think how to fix it, so I left it, going back to it whenever I saw it alone and forlorn in the drawer.

I know I have a real thing about proportion and nothing sat well with the two birds and house and I never really considered adding another bird as I thought it would look too much, but as I became more and more desperate I tried it and low and behold because they were all on different levels and layers it worked, doh ……..

But then …… what to do with all that “empty space”? It still needed something else, I thought flowers, but resisted paper as I thought it might be too easily torn, sometimes I think I over think things! However in the absence of anything else, I again tried it. I think they work OK with a tiny 4mm button in the middle.  A 3mm button might be a little better, so I have a few on order from eBay for the decorations I now plan to make.

The final touch were the four, tiny yellow, nail art roses stuck around the side of the shelf.  Finally happy, I now plan to put together another ten or so which, fingers crossed, will be given as fairing gifts to Iris and Bertie’s teaching staff at Easter, if the schools are back by then!

Fine Tip Glue Applicators – Similar, If Not The Same As The Original Anne Peak Bottles.

I had an e-mail out of the blue from a gentlemen, formerly from Manchester, now living in Arizona, USA, who had found me through a post I had written in way back in 2012 http://itsallfiddlefart.blogspot.com/2010/12/fine-tip-glue-applicators-by-anne-peak.html praising Anne Peak’s Fine Tip Glue Applicator. He too was a fan but sadly they are no longer available and was asking if I had found/used anything that could compare.

Sadly, at first, I was unable to help him, I too am clinging on to my last four bottles for grim death as nothing I have tried comes anywhere close to the originals. All my treated pins that came with them are all bent and misshapen, but I can’t let them go, in fact in the good old days Anne even sold the spare pins as well, of which I bought many.

However, my curiosity piqued I decided to do a bit of Googling myself, just in case and that’s when I found these …………

…….. http://www.worldofmyownminiatures.co.uk/finetipglueapplicator.html, apart from the design on the bottles they look identical, even down to the distinctive pin.  They have the same capacity 30mls and cost £3.35 each plus P & P.

I got in contact and subsequently ordered four for me and four to send to Ernie in the USA.  I will let you know how I get on with them when they arrive, but I thought it might be worth a heads up to others who might feel the same about these bottles.  World of Miniatures tell me that they don’t have an endless supply and when they are gone, they are gone and that they can supply small orders but not large numbers.  I think with care, my four new bottles will last for as long as I craft and the pins, in particular, will be soooooooo carefully looked after.

NB: Ernie had a copy of the original instructions, the bottles should be kept upside down, so that’s something else I will seriously take to heart.  Happy days!

Easter Bunny Tags –Tree Decorations

I don’t know why, but Easter with all it’s bunnies, chicks, eggs and the odd carrot or two, plus the generally pastel palette of colours doesn’t inspire me that much ………

…… however, with a tub of assorted wooden shapes that I seem to have had forever I really need to get them all used up, so perhaps this will be the year that they are finally off my hands!

I started off with the wooden 5.5 x 3.5 x 0.2cm tags (below) from The Works……

….. which I covered with scraps of blue and green patterned paper, adding faux stitching round the edges of the front and back using a black, fine liner pen.

I’m sorry I don’t have a clue where I got the painted wooden rabbits with their cute fluffy tails from, I’ve had them for that long, perhaps Paperchase, a shop now sadly gone from our High Streets, but I could be wrong …..

….. I stuck a large and small one to the front of each tag, with a punched yellow sun to fill the empty space and add colour.

Because I couldn’t really access the tag hole any more I stuck a silver, spring bail over the hole for a thin ribbon to be added at a later stage.

I am not sure yet whether what I have made will actually be used as gift tags, I always like the idea of an Easter tree made from twigs with little Eastery fairings hanging from them, so for good measure I’ve added a little wooden ladybird (The Works 30 for £1, I think) on the back for a bit of added interest and colour should I decide to hang them instead.