Tools on Thursdays: Hippity Hoppity, Easter's on it's way!

Are you ready for Easter?

I'm not!

But I'm getting closer :)

I picked up a few little surprises for my nieces for Easter this year, but didn't want to go the expense of doing full-fledged Easter baskets (that's their parents' problem). But I did want to do something fun with the gift packaging.

My oldest niece is totally and completely obsessed with all things princesses right now. (And for the sake of her future husband, lets hope that she outgrows the phase eventually.) When I sent a text message to her mom to ask which princess was her favorite, her only response was, "I'm a princess!" And when I asked her dad which was her favorite he said she liked them all. And that answer + a Jolee's Boutique sticker were the jumping off point for creating her Easter bag.

I pulled out my trusty Silhouette Cameo and embarked on creating the best darn fairy tale Easter egg she'd ever seen. (Well best-darn fairy tale egg that can be created quickly anyway.) Using a few simple shapes from the Silhouette online store and a free font off of the internet, I created the Easter egg background to add the ensemble of Disney princesses to. Seriously, could that font be any more perfect?

Supplies:

• Silhouette Cameo
• Cutting Files: Easter Egg Stitched Candy Pouch; Moroccan Background (I don't see that exact one in the online store, but you could pick something similar)
• Cardstock - Bazzill in True Teal, Lily White, Purple
• Adhesives: Xyron Cheetah and Tape Runner; EK Success.
• Font: "Christmas Card" (free internet download)

Dimensions:

• Larger egg
• Egg = 8.665" high x 6.995" wide
• Happy Easter = 1.915" high x 6.005" wide
• Smaller egg
• Egg = 5.565" high x 6.885" wide
• Happy Easter = 1.520" high x 4.780" wide
• Tips:
• Use heavy weight cardstock (80# or more) since the lattice is delicate and prone to tear if using lighter weight paper.
• I wouldn't recommend cutting it much smaller than the smallest egg.
• Make sure to use a new/fresh blade so that your lattice work cuts nice and crisp.
• If you have a 9" Xyron Creative Station, that would make life much easier!

 To create the egg:

1. Open the "Easter Egg Stitched Candy Pouch and ungroup the objects.
2. Using the pointer tool and the "delete point" option to edit the egg to remove the stitching holes.
3. Use the offset option to create a shadow for the remaining egg and move aside.
4. Open the "Moroccan Background" and lay it on top of the smaller egg piece (make sure the background is the top layer). 
5. Select both the egg and the background. Then under Modify > select the Subtract option. 
6. Type the words "Happy Easter" in a font of your choice. Use the offset option to create a background shadow around the words. (I think I used a 0.125" offset.) 
7. Arrange the words offset over the egg so the beginning and end of the phrase overlaps with the lattice and the egg edge. Select both the word background and the lattice background and then use the weld option to add it to the lattice overlay that we're creating.
8. Separate your "parts" onto separate files. 
1. Happy Easter words (cut in purple)
2. Egg background (cut in teal)
3. Egg overlay (cut in white)
9. Cut and assemble your egg.
10. Add to bag. (I used a combination of the Xyron Cheetah and Tape Runner to glue the egg to the bag. I used a glue pen to adhere the lattice to the background egg, but this would have been soooo much easier if I would have had a 9" Xyron Creative Station so I could have just run it through and stuck it down.)
11. Done! :)