All Things Spring (And Introducing Etched Easter Eggs!)

Good morning, everyone! We're on Day 5 of Papertrey Ink's 8th Anniversary Countdown and it's all about Spring today. I am very excited to be introducing the Etched Easter Eggs stamp set and die collection today. This stamp set was inspired by the beautifully detailed eggs commonly found in Eastern Europe. I grew up with these boldly colored eggs and I always loved them. They sat in a corner cabinet right inside the front door of my childhood home. I used to play with them very carefully, lest they break. Ahhh...memories. How about we get to some projects, eh?

Often, when folks see detailed images like these they get intimidated because they "don't color." I wanted to show that you can still use and enjoy these images even if you aren't a Copic master.

I began by stamping and clear embossing the eggs onto a piece of white cardstock. I mounted three eggs to the same lined block to make the stamping easier and quicker. Then, I sponged the cardstock with Lemon Tart, Harvest Gold, and Summer Sunrise inks. Next, I mounted the sponged panel to a white card base with foam tape.

Then I die cut one of the new Keep It Simple Frames shapes from Aqua Mist cardstock and the Tag Sale #5 die from white cardstock. I trimmed them down, stamped the tag shape with a sentiment, and layered them on the card front. I curled them upward a tiny bit and added a pearl to the Aqua Mist layer as a finishing touch. No coloring needed!

The egg on the next card was watercolored with the bold colors I remember from the eggs of my childhood.

I began by stamping and clear embossing the egg. I watercolored it using Gansai Tambi watercolors and a very fine-tipped water brush. The embossing helped me stay inside the lines and it really allows the beautiful details to shine. I trimmed that out (the eggs coordinating with the egg die, but mine is in transit, so I just cut it by hand) and then die cut the In The Meadow hills from Xyroned New Leaf cardstock. I sprinkled them with fake grass I found in the modeling section of Michaels and I set all of that aside.

Next, I lightly painted a pale blue swatch onto a piece of white cardstock. I dried it with my heat gun (there really wasn't much moisture) and stamped my sentiment. I adhered that to a True Black card base and then added my grassy hills and egg. It's clean and simple, but the unusual color scheme really makes it feel like something special.

My final project today uses the new Etched Easter Egg Die Collection to create some treat packaging.

I began by Xyroning pieces of Limeade Ice, Winter Wisteria, Aqua Mist, and Sweet Blush cardstocks. Then I die cut three of the eggs from the set from all of those colors (Xyron side face up) plus white. Next, I stuck the white outlines onto the adhesive side of a piece of self-adhesive (label) paper. I filled in the negative areas using the pieces from the colorful die cuts while keeping the adhesive backing on the tiny bits in place. This is very time consuming, but the end results are beautiful. Once all of the bits were in place, I brushed corn starch over the adhesive paper (to de-stickify the exposed adhesive) and then applied glitter (just peel off the backing to expose one color at a time). I trimmed the eggs out from the self-adhesive paper after the glittering was complete and set them aside for a moment. Next I die cut and assembled three gable boxes and die cut three tags using the inside frame of the Tag Sale #8 die. I stamped the tags with my sentiment, punched holes with my Crop-a-dile, and added the eggs with foam tape. Baker's twine tied the tags to the boxes for seasonally sparkly gift giving. These really are so pretty in person.

That's all for me today! Make sure to check in with Nichole and Heather as they share more of Etched Easter Eggs and the Etched Easter Eggs Die Collection. Thank you so much for visiting and I'll see you again soon!

Recipes:
Celebrate Easter Card
Stamps: Etched Easter Eggs (available February 15th) - Papertrey Ink
Cardstock: Aqua Mist - Papertrey Ink; white
Ink: Lemon Tart, Harvest Gold, Summer Sunrise, Tropical Teal - Papertrey Ink; Versamark - Tsukineko
Other: Keep It Simple Frames Dies, Tag Sale #5 - Papertrey Ink; Clear Embossing Powder - Filigree; Foam Tape - Scotch; self-adhesive Pearl - Mark Richards

Easter Blessings Card
Stamps: Etched Easter Eggs (available February 15th) - Papertrey Ink
Cardstock: True Black, New Leaf - Papertrey Ink; white
Ink: True Black - Papertrey Ink; Versamark - Tsukineko
Other: In The Meadow Die - Papertrey Ink; Clear Embossing Powder - Filigree; Foam Tape - Scotch; Gansai Tambi Watercolors; Xyron; Modeling Grass

Easter Treats Boxes
Stamps: Etched Easter Eggs (available February 15th) - Papertrey Ink
Cardstock: Limeade Ice, Winter Wisteria, Aqua Mist, Sweet Blush, Winter Wisteria/Aqua Mist/Sweet Blush Pattern Pack, White Adhesive Sheets - Papertrey Ink; white
Ink: Winter Wisteria, Aqua Mist - Papertrey Ink
Other: Etched Easter Eggs Die Collection (available February 15th), Gable Box Die, Tag Sale #8 - Papertrey Ink; Fine Golden Beryl, Purple Sapphire, Aquamarine Crystal, Kunzite Glitter - Martha Stewart Crafts; Foam Tape - Scotch; Cotton Candy, Teal Baker's Twine - Divine Twine