In Progress Pics of my 2012 Vintage Easter Card project on CreatingtheHive.com

Its just about a month left for the Vintage Easter Card challenge, and I was hoping to see some progress pics for the various projects - and in that spirit, here is the first full round of progress pics for my entry.

This is of course, the card I chose. It is a companion card to the one I did last year, and I just adore this series.

Here is the kickoff - the paper mache is done (as seen in my previous post - that was as far as I had gotten there) - and here you see the blue flowers that I am getting ready to tear up to use for trim.

I've cut the window into the egg here, where the gnome will be.

Another view of the egg, with the window all nicely taped using masking tape. It's ready for a layer of powder paper mache now.

And here is the egg, all ready with it's shell intact. I know it looks lumpy, I do plan on working on getting those lovely finishes on the paper mache that Patrick Gill is so wonderful at - for now, this will do as I am going to be covering this egg with silk, jeweled flowers. Here also is the wire work on the tree that sits behind the egg where the bird house will be.

Another view - tree is all wired, with double wiring for strength, and is ready for floral tape, egg is ready for paint and then its flowers. I am still not sure how I will handle the bird cage over the window, but for now, this is coming along.

A hand comparision for size - its a large piece, in comlplete synch with the one I did last year. As you can see, I've taped up the tree and that is ready for clay now.

Here is a shot with a "dime fairy" given to me by KelbyCarie, an artist who I admire - the tool caddy you see on my workbench is also made by KelbyCarie and was a birthday gift to myself two years ago. Carie added the dime fairy just cause she is that awesome. Also, the steps up to the egg have been cut from balsa wood and fitted together - it will be covered with green flowers, just as in the picture.

Here is the first stages of the flowers that will be used to cover the egg. Three colors on this one, white for the egg, green for the steps and blue for the window/door trim. Each one has to be plucked from the silks, and a crystal added to the center. A bit tedious but I love how it looks.

Another pic of the flowers - glue them crystals, girl!!

More flowers - these won't be enough but it's a start

Here I've started the bird cage that is going to hang above the window. I opted to glue the frame first, and then fit the bars in so I could use the pressure to my advantage, otherwise I would have had to bore holes into the frame to fit the bars and at this size, balsa wood is MUCH too soft for that kind of work, the wood would just split. This worked fine, wedged the bars in tight, and then glued them in. Looking ok.

Here is the bird for the cage, made from paper clay. I used a bit of wood from the bars of the cage for a beak, cutting it at a sharp angle, and glass Czech seed beads for eyes. I will flock this tiny guy with yellow feathers after painting it yellow once it's dry.

Coming along....

The bird is all flocked, with the tiny tips of feathers cut down for wings, and is now being glued onto his perch. I still have NO clue how I will mount this cage onto the egg, but something will come to me, I'm sure.

I used feathers bought in AC Moore along with marabou that I cut into near dust to flock the bird with. Rather than throw it out, I used a piece of foil to work on, and then just wrapped it up and tucked it away for use later.

Here you can see I have constructed the wooden bird house that will hang in the tree. It went together very easily with scraps from the cage, and was all cut with an Xacto knife and a steady hand. I think it came out pretty good.

As you can see, I've applied Creative Paper clay over the wiring on the tree - it came out good, although I am going to need to smooth another layer over the trunk just to reinforce it a bit. It will be mounted directly into the common base, that small round secondary base it's sitting in is just a temporary one. It will be removeable for shipping purposes, or at least that is the plan so far. I have lots of pretty pink silk flowers to add to the branches later.

Take a look at the bird cage, you will see I've glued on runners,that I am hoping to use to mount this thing onto the egg with. I can already see that the scale is way off and the cage is just larger than it should be, but at this point, I have NO plans on reconstructing. We will see...

I've added the wire work for the fence for the daffodil garden. I am going to be making those daffodils out of polymer clay, and Ive watched several very good online tutorials on YouTube about making sugar and gum paste daffodils and took away some good techniques I will be using. I am pretty excited about this little garden, and think it will look lovely when it's done.

The egg is good and dry, and so with my heart in my throat and my Dremmel in my hand (which I am STILL not comfortable working with) I've drilled holes into the egg that the cage can sit in. I think it came out just fine and so here is a shot of all the work done so far. I have lots more to do - I think I have decided to try the bunnies in creative paper clay rather than polymer clay, with the clothes all part of the sculpt and painted. I am planning on doing the gnome and the daffodils in polymer. Hopefull I will get lots done this weekend.

And thats it so far! Thank you so much for checking in, and see you in about a week with more progress pics!