Easter Basket Tags (MFTWSC/JAI)

Hi there! Did you miss me??? ;) Haha, bet you didn't even know I was gone! I'm kind of a sneaky one that way.... not that I mind sharing with you, my lovely blog friends, that we took a little mini-vacation. More that you never know what creepizoids could be lurking around, reading your blog, and then knowing you're not home for a few days.... **shudder** We went to Glenwood Springs for a few days, a city that's normally about 3 hours from the Denver area. They have a huge Hot Springs there, some beautiful caverns, and lots to do. Since hubby and I went to Cancun last summer, we hadn't taken a family trip  since we went to WDW in October 2010. Except for the reunion, but it was very close, so I almost forgot to "count" it!! It was time for some R&R, and the boys absolutely LOVED it. We stayed in this cool hotel with a mini-waterpark inside, perfect for when we had nothing else to do. Ate at the "famous" Italian Underground restaurant, and of course spent a whole day at the Hot Springs Pool. Got Ian and Collin all day slide passes, and then hardly saw them after that. It's so nice they are getting big enough to go off on their own a bit! The weather was perfect, too. And my Mom, stepdad Motty, stepsister Amy and her 4 kids went, too, so it was some big family fun! :) Oh, we had a few mishaps... seems like we always have a few.... the 3 hour drive took 7 hours going up because the Interstate was closed in 2 places, due to accidents. And Collin wasn't feeling so hot (poor kid, I think he was sicker than I thought, waiting for Strep test results on him now, ugh!!) And, a wildfire broke out near our hometown, so that was a bit worrisome, our dogs were here, even though they were being played with and let out by a friend, I was still worried about my "furbabies!" There started to be all this talk on facebook about evacuation, and that's just a wee bit disconcerting when you are several hours away! Here's a couple pics :)

My guys in the Hot Springs!

I know, it's really hard to tell from all these that Evan is a TOTAL ham.... he's so "shy and retiring" in pictures! LOL!! 

Not the greatest pic of me :( really of any of us! But there was only a few to choose from since I am the photographer.... "Momarazzi" at it's finest! ;) Mr. Ev chose the "youngest brother pout" for this one, little stinker.... 

These are Easter Basket Tags for the boys Easter baskets. I used the sketch at My Favorite Things Wednesday Stamp Club, and the JAI challenge Just Add Easter!

I got some new stamps and dies! They all arrived while I was gone, yea! There are a few more sets you'll see soon! You can see I paper pieced the bunnies, I cut out the center where the faces were, the carrots, and the centers of the ears with an exacto knife. So, even though not a ton of coloring, a bit time-consuming!  I cut eggs on my die cut machine and replaced the center stripe with a die cut rick rack piece.

I am bummed you can't see it better here; but the background paper was made by lightly taping die cut clouds to white cardstock, and spraying my very own spray ink "blend" over the clouds and then removing the die cut clouds, to reveal the white clouds that had been masked off. The ink was easy, just added some pearl powder (in this case a bluish shade), some pale blue drops of ink refill, one drop of bright blue ink refill, and some water into a tiny mister type bottle. SO much cheaper than buying spray ink, and I could make it just the color I wanted. 

Ev came in while I was working, INSISTED that his tag be the "yellow guy" and also got hooked on this one carrot brad I had left from ages ago, so his tag is a teeny bit different:

Well, that is all for me! Hosting Easter here next weekend and I am waaaaay behind! Haven't even pulled out my Easter decorations yet, not to mention a menu and cleaning! I'll pop in at least a couple times before that, though! :) Hope you are having a wonderful week.

xoxox, Noelle

supply list: stamps/dies: MFT; Cricut with SCAL; papers: DCWV, MME, SU!; October Afternoon; assorted ribbons; Copics; Exacto knife; sticker letters: Cosmo Cricket, October Afternoon, Authentique; glitter tape: American Crafts; rivets: Tim Holtz; gems

DUST IT OFF!: Some of the ribbons, most of the papers and that darn carrot brad are so old! All work well together with a cute new stamp for some fresh new tags:)