Spots and stripes - as nature intended

After our glimpse of spring last week, Buckingham has been plunged back into winter with snow forecast for the weekend! I'm thinking of Easter nevertheless - it'll be here at the end of this month. The challenge at Less is More this week is One Layer Spots and Stripes and I've combined it with the fabulous Inspired by Nature challenge at Make My Mondays to create an Easter card with a difference. Come and see:

Not everyone wants to see Easter cards with cute images of bunnies, chicks and pastel colours, or religious themes, and this card is for them! Stampin' Up has a variety of beautifully detailed nature-inspired stamps and I've taken images from two of my favourite sets, Nature Walk and Fine Feathers, to make this card.

I started by stamping the striped pheasant feather onto my card front. It was stamped again on a sticky note and cut out to make a mask. (TIP: these masks are reusable, so it's a good idea to store them in the stamp case for another day.) With the mask in place, I stamped the other feather and then added the eggs using a stamp-a-majig to get them where I wanted them. Watercolour Wonder crayons gave extra spots to my eggs and I gave them a quick wash with an aquapainter. Watercolour crayons are also the best way of adding shadows to images - they give a lovely subtle finish and you need no artistic skills at all!

I always like to show you my sentiments... this one is from Everybunny and I inked it up with a marker so I could use just the section I wanted - LOVE my markers!

I'm also going to link this card up with the lovely ladies over at Addicted to Stamps and More where the challenge is to go CAS!

Here's what you'll need to make this card
Stamps: Nature Walk, Fine Feathers, Everybunny (sentiment)
Ink: Baja Breeze, Cajun Craze, Soft Suede
Card stock: Naturals Ivory
Other: Watercolour Wonder crayons, markers, stamp-a-majig
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I'll be settling down to make more Easter cards when I have a minute, and thinking about eggy things, so do pop back this week if you're looking for a bit of inspiration. And talking of eggy things, my husband insists on calling the boys' games consoles 'egg boxes' despite the frosty looks he receives when he does!

 See you soon,