It started with a swing .......

...... and just grew from there:

I used:

- 5.5" x 4.25" tent style card blank, cut from 'Syntegro White Linen Silkweave' textured card

- assorted sizes of snippets of the same white card for the image panel and all the little die cuts

- the image panel was die cut from a snippet using a Penny Black set of dies called 'zig-zag stackers', then set aside

- out came my 'recently set up' dedicated storage folder for teeny dies and then the fun began!

- I cut, all from white card snippets, the following die cuts: Memory Box 'Woodland Branch' and a standard hanging swing from 'Set of Swings', unbranded sitting bunny (he also came with a stool). Plus the following Gummiapan dies: one bird from 'Seagulls', crocuses from 'Spring Flowers' and the biggest pot from 'Set with Pots' 

- so, there I was with a lot of little die cuts to colour in - and out came the Distress Oxide ink pads and water brush

- spend a lovely, relaxing time just rubbing a little of each colour in turn onto my glass mat and picking it up from there with the waterbrush to colour the die cut. For my own reference, I used: 'Walnut Stain' for the branch, 'Vintage Photo' for the swing, 'Tea Dye' for the bunny, 'Lost Shadow' for the bird, 'Villainous Poison' for the crocus flowers, 'Peeled Paint' for the crocus leaves and stems - and a mixture of 'Fired Brick' and 'Spiced Marmalade' to get a terracotta for the pot

- then used a large ball ended embossing tool to slightly round/shape the bunny, along with the pot and the flowers, just to add some dimension

- rubbed some Ranger 'Micro Distress Glaze' onto each of the die cut and coloured pieces - just using a finger then buffing it with a clean tissue. It doesn't add a shine but it does 'lift' the 'matt' look - if that makes sense

- stamped the sentiment into the lower left corner of the panel using a stamp from the Clearly Besotted 'Say What?' set of stamps and a SU 'Perfect Plum' ink pad cube. Obviously, I'd checked and double checked the layout and positioning of the other little elements  

- then glued the front panel onto the card front, with a layer of thin foam sheet backing to raise it up a bit

- heart in mouth I then built up the little scene using a glue pen, tweezers, pokey tool and some teensy pieces of thin foam pad behind the pot and the bunny. The trickiest part was adding the swing and piece of tree branch to make sure they were in the right place and trimmed as I wanted them

- finally, using a pencil I added the eye and little nose to the bunny's face

Phew - bit of a marathon and I do need practice using Distress Oxides to colour with but it was huge fun! I think this card might go to Germany for the grand daughters and their Mum.

The swing die set that started it all off was a little gift from a friend a while ago - you know who you are - mwah! x

I send very few Easter cards but do have plans for two different designs for a couple of friends from my school days. More 'scene building', more Gummiapan -  and more of the sitting bunny I suspect.

So grateful to Chrissie Stokes for her YouTube videos, I've learned loads since finding found her channel round about Christmas time.

Out of interest, the micro glaze I used to finish off the coloured die cuts could just work on top of Zig pen colouring - I need to have a play. To be honest, I bet good old fashioned petroleum jelly might work in much the same way - at a fraction of the price?!

I'd like to enter this into Darnell's NBUS Challenge #48 - all of the dies, apart from the 'Woodland Branch' and the 'Zig zag' edging die , were having their first outing.

Dudley Pupdate: It's been an exciting week for the little guy, we've had four different lots of people here doing various things - and once he's been introduced, and is certain that stealing Honka Duck isn't the reason for their visit, he thinks it's great fun. A couple of times he thought it might be a nice change to go home with them when they were leaving!

EDIT: Bad me, I just realised five days later that I didn't tell you that our Sarn has a new Snippets Challenge up and running in the Snippets Playground! Do have a look at her lovely card and join in with the fun - HERE. She's got a super prize on offer as well.