April Calendar - Designed by Debbie Budge

Since Easter is in April and only a week away, I decided to do an Easter theme for my April Calendar. This was a lot of fun! I made some decorated eggs using jewels and stickles to add glitter and shine, and I created a 'peep' sticking out of a cracked egg and used orange stickles to add some dimension and shine to the pattern on the paper. I used a template from Spook Alley to give the feel of a picket fence. Then...and this is my very favorite.....I made a chocolate bunny peeking out from behind the photo mat - almost as if he is watching to make sure he doesn't get eaten! I left the photo mat bare for now, but I'll add a group shot of the grandkids from Easter Sunday. I left room for a 5x7 photo. The templates I used are: Spook Alley 1a, Scallops 2a, Mini Aspen 1b, Bracket 3, 5 1/2 x 7 1/2 Photo Matte, Tiny Shapes 3T, 4T and 8T, Tiny Nature 1T and 2T, Tiny Accents 1T and Strips.

To make the cracked egg, I cut out the oval from Tiny Shapes...the larger one - 8T....and then I just cut it apart in a jagged line. Then I cut the leaf from Tiny Nature (1T) and used my orange stickles to make a 'beak' and a jewel for the eye. I just cut the wing out by hand...a triangle shape with two rounded corners. The other two eggs are Tiny Shapes 4T and 8T.

I love my little chocolate bunny! I used a piece of core-ordinations cardstock so that I could give the bunny some texture and dimension. I sanded off the embossed part and the core color came through. I used the small oval and circle from the Tiny Shapes set for the face and ears and added googly eyes and an orange jewel nose. Maybe not a perfect bunny....but an adorable one!

For the lower part of the calendar with the month APRIL on it, I brought down the colors and patterns in the top and used some chipboard letters from My Mind's Eye for the title. It gave the calender just the right finishing touch!

It all came together beautifully...a whimsical Easter Calendar....and I can't wait to add a photo of my grandchildren on Easter Sunday!