Sunday, March 10, 2013

Papertrey March Blog Hop - Easter Egg Balloon with Bunnies


Who is this cute bunny and what is he waiting to do?

If you want to find out, grab a cup of coffee or tea. This is a bit longer than my usual post. (More pictures; not more text. Whew!)

He's the new die cut bunny (with extra details) from 'Papertrey Ink', and he will be riding in an Easter egg hot-air-balloon with this friend!

 
Papertrey's February release was a blast, and when Easter goodies came in the mail, they just begged to be put to use - immediately! The biggest thrill was the Shaker-like basket die. The basket is a breeze to make, and Nichole Heady has designed the die to make two different sizes.

I've always loved the vintage Easter postcards, with decorated eggs playing the part of a hot air balloon. With dies for a basket, bunny, clouds, and butterflies (all from Papertrey), and a 4&3/4" Styrofoam egg, I decided to whip up a ride for the darling rabbits.

I started by covering the large egg in blue felt.

The felt was trimmed to the circumference of the egg, divided into four equal sections, and pined around the center and pinned together at the 'poles'.

The excess felt was cut away,

and the seams sewn together with a whip stitch. (You can even just pin the seams in place if you cover them with ribbon afterwards.)

Now for the fun part, decorating. I chose to pin on the clouds and butterflies.

The butterflies were a bit plain so I added sequins. (Cartwright Sequins is bling heaven. If you can't find your sequins there, you probably can't find them.) Thick black button thread forms the antennas.

Now on to the basket; the small version of Papertrey's new 'favor die' basket. All the parts were cut from felt, and a heavy weight paper basket bottom, made stitching the sides to the base much easier. A strip of felt (on the inside where the brads are inserted) added reinforcement and structural support for that side.

Next, the passengers. Papertrey's new bunny die, slays me, but it needed a front as well as the cute back. The eyes are just leftovers from die cutting felt, the nose is a little brad, and the arms (drum roll please) are from a large snowman die. (If your bunny's going to ride, it needs to be able to hang on, right?)  Attach the tail to the back side, eyes and nose to the front and button hole stitch them together.

The arms are actually attached to the inside of the basket with the toes hanging over. When you sew the bunny body to the basket, it will hide the sewn on arms.

This side has a scared bunny holding on with both paws. A length of bakers twine is sewn on to the two long sides of the basket (and topped with four small Mokuba ribbon flowers),

and hung over two small buttons pinned to the balloon sides.


Now to fly it and enjoy an Easter ride.

Bye for now, and thanks for going along for the ride.
Please leave a comment if you liked this post, so I know if I should do more.

Papertrey Ink Supplies: Shape Up Series: Snowman Die Collection, Polka Dot Parade #1 Die, Favor It Box 9 Die Collection, Beautiful Butterflies Die Collection, Heart-2-Heart #6 Die Collection (clouds), Lovely Layers Die Collection, Felt - Harvest Gold

Other supplies: Rayon/wool felt, small brads, Mokuba ribbon flowers, turquoise baker's twine, white trim, sequin pins, Plasteel 'Dylite' large egg, and all sequins from Cartwright Sequins

26 comments:

  1. Oh my Gosh Marcie this is INCREDIBLE!!!
    So much detail and so much work has really paid off....
    Thanks for sharing!!! It just delightful.

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  2. I am just amazed at your cute little rabbit ride. How you managed to get the felt around that Styrofoam piece so neatly just amazes me!

    Linda

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  3. WOW!!! That is a lot of work! Very creative!

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  4. This is the cutest Easter Bunnies I've seen - ever! I love how you made them with the clever face and hands! And that air balloon... It's just beyond perfect!
    I'm so glad I'm following your blog, I wouldn't have wanted to miss this!

    You're awesome!

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  5. Oh, gosh, this is so clever and adorable!

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  6. OMG! What an adorable project!

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  7. This little guy is adorable, would love to be in there with him!

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  8. What, this is just an amazing project!!! LOVE the texture of the felt, and all the layers and stitching you have on this makes it sooo luxurious. What a great heirloom to pass down!! The limitless layers pieces are perfect for the egg ends!

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  9. This is one of the absolute cutest things I have seen in a while! What a lot of work! It turned out precious!! I'm totally inspired!

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  10. Your project is just incredible! And those bunnies are the cutest things ever - especially the little guy holding on for dear life!

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  11. Please do more! My goodness. This has to be one of the most bestest cross-over crafty projects I've ever seen. Such a creative use of PTI's dies. I can't begin to tell you how fabulous this is!

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  12. This is utterly amazingly creative! Those cute bunnies make my heart happy!

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  13. Ah.MAZE.ing!!!!! Such talent - I wish I had your patience. Love this so bad!

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  14. What a work of art...I love it! :0)

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  15. TREMENDOUS amount of work, but oh so adorable! Love it.

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  16. NO WAY! Oh my gosh! This is so darn adorable! I love this Marcie ! You worked magic with the felt and the dies. This is just so darn adorable. Can you tell how much I love this.

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  17. Get out! Good for you, Marcie, making the cutest centerpiece ever! Love every detail! And thank you for the heads up on finding sequins. Had no luck locally.

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  18. Amazing and super cute project.

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  19. Make more! What a fun Easter project - love those bunnies (I am the one hanging on for dear life)!

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  20. SERIOUSLY just fell off of my chair! First the wreath card and now THIS?! It's the sweetest Easter decor I have ever seen! That is some serious creativity right there! The bunny has quite the surprised look on his face as he floats away in his Easter Egg Balloon, hee! So awesome, Marcie!!

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  21. This is just about the cutest thing I've ever seen! So much work and thought must have gone into it! I love the animated bunnies - that adds such character! And the hot air balloon - amazing! You really hit it out of the park with this one!

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  22. I guess I'm not alone here, but I think this is sooooo adorable! The bunnies are tooo cute!

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