Easter Shadow Box Card

Hello again!  I’ve got a shadow box style card to share with you today that features one of the new Paper Panda dies from Creative Expressions.  I think these bunnies are trying to hide the eggs for an Easter egg hunt! :)

Start with an 8 x 8” piece of watercolour cardstock and create a soft meadow scene with watercolour paints.  Cut one Paper Panda Shooting Star diecut from regular cardstock and paint the left and right trees to add to the scene. Save the rabbit from this diecut also. 

Trim the panel down to 6 1/4” x 4 1/4”, saving the bottom pieces to use as the inside steps.  With the panel in landscape orientation, crease it at 3/4” ,1 1/2”, 4 3/4” and 5 1/2”.  Fold the first crease from the left hand edge, back towards the back of the watercolour. The second crease folds in the opposite direction, in towards the watercolour. Repeat this on the right hand side. 

From the watercolour scraps, cut two pieces 1 1/4” tall by 3 3/4” long. The tops of these can be cut into hilly shapes or grass.  Crease these at the 1/4” mark from both of the long ends. These will become the steps in the shadow box. Fold the creased ends under so the tabs are along the back of the watercoloured side. Cut hilly shapes out of the top edge to add interest. 

Trim down the painted trees and glue them to the background ( I changed my mind and added in the second tree later).  Place double sided tape along all the tabs on the step pieces. Starting with the step that will be closest to the back, remove the backing tape on the left tab and position the step along the second crease line from the left. See photo. 

Next, position the frontmost step tab so that it aligns with the the edge of the first tab.

Once the left side tabs are in place, flatten out the right tabs on both steps and remove the backing paper on the adhesive strips. Keeping the tabs and left hand side of the background flat, fold up the right side edge of the background to attach to the exposed adhesive strips. You should now have both steps  aligned and a shadow box base. 

Make 2 or 3 egg shaped templates and cut eggs from cardstock, or patterned paper.  I added some Cosmic Shimmer Ultra Sparkle Paste to some of the eggs to give them sparkle and shine.  I also used copic markers to add in some details.  Glue the eggs to the background along the bottom edge and to each of the steps.  Add in a few extra diecut rabbits from the Paper Panda die. 

Diecut the Shooting Star die twice from white cardstock and glue these together to give a little more strength to the diecut.  Place glue on the back of the outermost branches on the left side and adhere the diecut to the left edge of the card base so it will be centered over the middle section.  Place glue on the back of the outermost branches on the right.  While folding down the left side of the card towards the center, flatten out the right side and adhere the diecut to the right edge. This will ensure its position is correct to allow the card to be folded down for mailing. 

Stamp and heat emboss the “Just for You” sentiment from the Creative Expressions Sweet Wishes CEC813 stamp set. Ink blend around the edges to coordinate with the background, and glue it to the right side of the card. 

Cut a strip of white cardstock 3 1/2” x 8 1/2”.  Crease it at 4 1/4” and fold in half. Attach this to the back of the card for a place to write a message. 

Thank you for joining me and I hope you have a happy, creative day!

Hoppiness Bunnies

Hi and welcome! It’s starting to feel like an early spring here in my part of Canada and since it’s almost Easter, I couldn’t resist making a card with cute bunnies and Easter eggs. And of course, it needed to have a little surprise factor so I’ve made it a Z fold card. 

I started with a piece of cardstock that measured 4 1/4 x 11” long. I created a mask of hills which I first drew on some computer paper and then traced onto contact paper for masking. I made it so when the card is closed, it looks like one hill in the background. After masking off the sky, I ink blended the hills with Distress Oxide inks in Twisted Citron, Crushed Olive, Mowed Lawn and Rustic Wilderness.  Then I masked off the hills and used a stencil to create a cloudy sky with Cosmic Shimmer Clear Day Colour Cloud ink.  After the ink was dry, I creased this background at 2 3/4” and 5 1/2”.  The card folds over like a regular card at the 5 1/2” mark (a valley fold), but then folds back on itself at the 2 3/4” mark (a mountain fold) so the ink blended side is to the front. 

Next, I die cut grass from green cardstock (three layers for each half of the card).  On the left side, if you crease the grass layers at the 2 3/4” mark, it will help prevent the paper from tearing when the card is folded.  I diecut the tree using coloured cardstock, with a die from MFT Stamps.

I used Copic markers to colour all the images from the “Hoppiness” stamp set from Gerda Steiner Designs but couldn’t fit one of the bunnies on in the end. I also stamped and coloured two fence sections and two butterflies.

The eggs were made from some scrap pieces of Nuvo Shimmer Powder painted cardstock, and I added some Cosmic Shimmer Ultra Sparkle Paste in Gold and Frosty to a few of them before cutting them out.  I created my own egg shaped templates for the eggs. 

To assemble the card, I placed a small piece of masking tape where the left front of the card folded over to on the right side.  The hidden area of the card is to the left of this mark and over to the first fold on the left. Next, I stamped and heat embossed the sentiment with clear embossing powder on the right side so it would be visible when the card is closed.  To begin assembling, I first glued the tree on the left side.  Next, I glued the fence sections on either side of the card.  Then I started layering the grass rows, and added in eggs and bunnies until I was satisfied with the arrangement.  I kept all the eggs and bunnies in the hidden area, with the exception of the one bunny on the left front. I used glue to attach all the images as I didn’t want any excess bulk from foam tape.  The bunny on the left front is the only one I attached with foam tape.    

Finally, in order to have somewhere to write a message, I attached another A2 card base to the back of the card. Thanks so much for stopping by and I hope you have a happy, creative day!