Springtime crafting with some of my favorite things

I still cannot believe that this coming Sunday is Easter. Just wow! I kinda feel like Easter always pops up out of the blue, but this year feels even more sudden. Like, where did the month of March even go?! We had plans for bringing back our chocolate rabbit diecuts, and paper mache rabbit prints as plaques and possibly even an Easter cake diecut…but as it will sometimes, LIFE happened! 

And apparently the calendar got the last laugh. So this year there are no chocolate bunny diecuts, no Easter cake diecuts, etc, etc…and at first the idea of this really got me down, but I know we are doing our best and working as hard as we can right now. So I'm not gonna come down too hard on myself for not getting things done. 

And even though we didn't get to launch a new Easter collection, in the past couple weeks we still shipped off a handful of bunny pieces that we offer year round! Like our fave Bunny Baby diecut, and our Vintage Stuffed Bunny plaque. 

We worked all weekend…as always, and I think Aaron's hands are still vibrating from the amount of time he spent on the scroll saw. So many donuts are off to new homes, and a bunch more will be shipping tomorrow and Thursday. This makes us very very happy. A whole lot of time and care goes into these. Just cutting out those holes in the donuts takes an entire afternoon. 

By now we've developed a pretty good system. Aaron will close himself off in what we call "the cutting room", (which is a room we gutted after Hurricane Sandy and never had a chance to finish) so yeah,  the cutting room is super tiny and at present it's sole purpose is for cutting and sanding our diecuts and signs. Aaron will emerge (covered head to toe in a fine powder of sawdust) from the cutting room with a stack of freshly cut and sanded donut shapes, hand them off to me, and I'll do the gluing up while he cuts and sands another stack. Then, by the time he's through with the dirty work, he'll join me in the studio and together we'll do all of the finer finishing touches. It's repetitive work, but it never bores us because we love the items and we love the people who ordered them. It sounds corny, I know, but that is truly how we feel. Our ultimate motivation is just knowing where these pieces are headed once they leave our studio.

So while we were doing all that stuff I had a window of time where a bunch of things were drying and I had an idea for a fun little springtime project. And yes, the project features one of my favorite collections…my vintage stuffed bunnies!

We were lucky to have some great photo shoot worthy sunshine that day. So in the brightest part of the studio I set up my bunnies one by one and was able to get some clear and vibrant photos of each. Then I printed them out, adhered them to some cardstock with modpodge, brushed on a top coat, and cut them out. 

I just love seeing them as they are right here lying on my worktable. They would make really fun ornaments. 

But my plan was for this garland! I cut a length of this super cute pom pom trim and just taped the bunnies to it with washi tape.

I hung it on a cupboard in the studio. I really love how it turned out! So simple to do! And this could be done using photos of any favorite collection! Imagine pretty little vintage dolls, or even just the doll faces! I was talking to my mom about how easy this was…from concept to completion it took like an hour. I think I'll be making her one adorned with her favorite cabin themed things to hang in their log cabin. 

Here are some of my favorite things on display in the studio. I have been collecting paper mache rabbits for over 16 years, maybe longer! But man have the prices soared in recent years! I'm glad I got the bulk of my collection way back when they were affordable. Nowadays I literally cringe when I see the current prices. 

It's vital to surround yourself with the things you love…especially in the space where you create.

I don't know if I ever shared this here, but you can see it mixed in with all my paper mache rabbits and other candy colored bits in the photo above. It's a vintage Good & Plenty box that I found in a great antique shop here on the Jersey Shore a couple of years ago. Isn't it so much fun?

And lastly, I just needed to share this one again. If you are looking for a fun Easter/ Spring craft to do this week, check out this little how-to for these vintage inspired spun cotton bunny and chick toppers that we had shared last year! 

We loved making them…and seriously, they are so easy and you'll have them to brighten up your cupcakes or other sweet treats for many Easters to come.

Ok, thanks again for reading. We're still cold here in Jersey, but we're hoping hoping hoping for at least semi-tolerable weather for Easter Sunday so we can go out for a stroll and get some festive eats. That would be fantastic. What are your plans for Easter?!

xo, Jenny…and Aaron says hi!

Fast & Fun DIY vintage mini play food box garland…with FREE printable!

We are so so excited to share this free little do-it-yourself download with you guys!

 As you know, we are avid collectors of all things vintage kitchen/bakery. When we came across this collection of mini vintage Junior Chef mix boxes from the late 50s or early 60s, we swooned! First off, they're toy/play size! Little boxes made for kids who wanted to play kitchen. I LOVE stuff like this. When I look at these boxes I can clearly recall one of my all time favorite things from childhood. It was a cardboard "grocery store"…it had shelves stocked with groceries, and a checkout complete with cash register. On the shelves were faux food items and stuff like that…tooth paste, laundry detergent, cereal, and cake mixes, very much like these mini boxes. And the fact that the set was merely cardboard made it even more magical. Me and my sister absolutely loved playing "grocery store". I swear, just the act of filling our little play cart, and checking out at the register, provided hours and hours of fun.

So, when me and Aaron got our hands on this collection we couldn't believe how perfectly the pastel tones and fun imagery fit our home. And the mini boxes looked so great when they were all together in a group. So we devised a cute, fun, and super easy way to display them together. A garland of mini boxes! We simply strung a length of classic bakers twine through all of the lids of the boxes, spaced them out evenly, and hung them like a bunting. No, not just a bunting…more like The Cutest Bunting of All Time! 

So, here's where the real fun comes in! When we posted the above pic on Instagram, we immediately got so many requests. Everyone asked if we were going to be making these and selling them in our shop. And then our friend Heidi took it a step further and said that she could help us make that idea into a reality. Heidi is an Uber Talent…she can do anything really. She's the gal behind MyPaperCrane. To list her accolades and fabulous lines of licensed products would take up way too much space. Let me just say that if you think you aren't familiar with her work…think again. I bet you've seen her stuff. Her plush pieces are amazing…her fabric patterns are incredible…and she's just all around crafty. 

So, Heidi wanted to make reproductions of the boxes for her own personal crafty fun. So I scanned my set of boxes and emailed her the images. Within a few days she sent me the below templates! They are totally ready to print, cut out, and turn into mini boxes. 

And here's the thing…me and Aaron have never really reproduced something and then made it for sale. We generally hand paint original artwork from scratch and then make prints of the paintings for use on signs, die cuts, etc. 

So…we figured...what the heck, let's just offer these adorable templates as a free printable download for all of you guys! 

We suggest that you load your printer with bright white card stock. The heavier weight of the card stock will make the boxes sturdier. You can find the pdf right here. Just print them out…they conveniently come two to a page...and then cut out.

You'll see that there are little flaps that you'll cut just partially, just like on real boxes. These will fold together to secure the ends shut. Once you've got your templates cut, then just fold and crease them along all of the thin black guide lines. Then fold to assemble into boxes, using a bit of glue to secure the tabs to one another. (we used Aleene's Quick Dry Tacky Glue) 

Then to make the garland all you have to do is thread a length of bakers twine along the top of each box, simply closing the lid to secure the twine.

That's it! Your adorable vintage mini mix boxes are ready to hang. We LOVE ours! And yes, now we have two hanging in our home…the original is on a cupboard, and the reproduction printed version is draped across a shelf front in our kitchen. We hope you guys love these! And we would love love love to see pics of how and where you displayed yours…or any other crafty ways that you used your boxes.   (tag us on Instagram! @jennyeveryday) And oh yeah…be sure to thank the wonderful Heidi…and shop 'til you drop at MyPaperCrane! Of course, feel free to share this post with your friends, or on Pinterest!

Happy Crafting!

xo Jenny & Aaron