Circular Side Step Easter Penny Black card

Hi blogging friends

Happy Easter!  It is the beginning of school holidays here in Victoria and it will be wonderful to spend time together as a family.   My garden is also desperately needing some work having not had much done other than the basics such as trimming edges, mowing the lawn and the occasional bit of pruning over the past year due to the ongoing care of my loved one.   I love bulbs and being autumn here, it is time to plant them so I had better grab some from my nearest nursery and pop them in the ground before it is too late!  Great rewards for such little effort and I like something that I don't have to worry about watering because I forget to water things all the time......oops.....anyway, I am digressing as usual.......

Each year, I make an Easter card for my daughter and this year, I thought I would try and make a different shaped card.  I have seen a lot of various styles of Stepper Cards around blogland and looked for a tutorial for a Circular Side Step card.  I found a fantastic tutorial from a blog "From my Craft Room" by Norma - and thankfully, Norma had a step-by-step detailed photo tutorial and I was able to make the card after a few false starts trying to get the base right.  No mean feat for someone like me who is pretty useless at understanding how to make anything other than a basic shaped card!  You can check out Norma's tutorial HERE.  Thanks Norma!

I used my Big Shot and largest circle die from my Lifestyle (formerly Quickutz) Nesting Circle Die Set to cut the buttercream circle base.  From there, I followed Norma's tutorial but cut the slit 2.5cm (or 1 inch if you are imperial) from the circle centre and used my Scor Pal for the scoring.  I then used my 2nd largest die and diecut the Doodlebug designer paper (which has been in my stash forever) and then proceeded as per the buttercream circle base and attached it to the circle base. 

I stamped the adorable Penny Black Bunny Kiss image onto watercolour paper with Versafine Vintage Sepia ink and coloured the image with Derwent Watercolour pencils and a small round #2 paintbrush.  I chalked around the sky with blue chalk and the ground with a mix of brown, grey and green chalk.  Here is a close-up of the image:

I added some Kindyglitz Crystalina glitter glue to the orange flowers as well as the bunny's and chick's cheek.  I punched some tiny hearts using my EK Success Arrows border punch (they are the leftover punchies that look like tiny hearts to me) using green, orange and buttercream cardstock and glued them on with Tombow glue.

Probably the hardest thing I found with the card was how to embellish it to make it all look 'balanced' because it was so different to my regular cards and out of my comfort zone.  In the end, I settled for something simple and just added the organza ribbon and the 3 coloured buttons.  The buttons have had matching sewing thread sewn through and then glued them onto the card with Crafter's Pick Incredibly Tacky glue.  The ribbon was attached in 2 separate elements and the bow itself was made with my Bow Easy.  I added some Fray Stop to the cut ribbon edges.

The sentiment is by Lili of the Valley (UK) and was stamped with Versafine Vintage Sepia ink.  The tiny flower on each side of the sentiment panel was coloured with watercolour pencils and then had some Kindyglitz added.  This sentiment panel was diecut using my Spellbinder Circle and Scalloped Circle Nestabilities.  Here is photo at a different angle of my card:

Here is a photo of the inside:

The sentiment on the card inside is by Pink Gem Designs and was stamped with Vintage Sepia Ink.  I used my Martha Stewart Looped Hearts edge punch to punch hearts in the same colour cardstock as the tiny hearts on the card front and then added some Kindyglitz.

The white sentiment panel was diecut and scored as per the card front but using a smaller circle die, but I trimmed off a section on the far right-hand side because when you closed the card front, that part of the white cardstock was visible and it didn't look very nice:  I thought it looked a lot better by just having the buttercream cardstock visible.

Here is a photo of the back of the card:

The 'Handmade by Jocelyn' stamp I had made by Jemac Rubber Stamps who are located in Sydney, Australia.

Challenges:

I am entering my card in the following challenges -

The Squirrel and the Fox Challenge #40 - Easter or Passover

Simon Says Stamp Challenge - Anything Goes

Splitcoaststampers Technique Lovers Challenge TLC418 - Gotta Love Circles

Splitcoaststampers March Fan Club challenge - Central Theme of 'Just Hatched' and 'Word Play' (sorry I can't give you any more details on the Fan Club challenge as you have to be a member of the Fan Club)

Thanks for stopping by!  Wishing you a very Happy Easter!

Jocelyn


Card Recipe:

Stamps:   Penny Black Bunny Kiss! 2563H wood mount, round sentiment by LOTV from their Set 7 - Circular Sentiments (card front), Easter Wishes (card inside) Pink Gem Designs, Custom-made stamp on back of card by Jemac Rubber Stamps Australia

Ink:  Versafine Vintage Sepia

Designer Paper:  Doodlebug Design Inc 1706 citrus squeeze polka dots

Accessories:    Big Shot, Lifestyle Nesting Circles + Nesting Scalloped Circles, Spellbinder Circle + Scalloped Circle Nestabilities, lemon organza ribbon with white dots, Bow Easy, Fray Stop, Scor-Pal, 140lb watercolour paper, #2 round paintbrush, Derwent watercolour pencils, Kaisercolour chalks, Kindyglitz Crystalina glitter glue, 3 x buttons from stash with matching sewing thread, Crafter's Pick Incredibly Tacky glue, Tombow glue, cardstock - buttercream, pale green, pale orange, white

Punches:  EK Success Arrows border, Martha Stewart Looped Hearts edge