You're Sweet! Red andPink Challenge

It's time for a new monthly challenge over at Scrappy Frog's Challenge Blog, and this month's challenge is to make something with pink & red.  Of course, you can use other colors as well, and I added a healthy dose of green to my project.

Since the groundhog told us we'll be greeting Spring early this year, I'm already looking forward to my favorite part - when the strawberry patch starts coming back to life!

These cute little berries can each hold a candy or two (if you care to allow someone to rip into them), or you can make one larger berry to hold a small gift.  I am more likely to put this in my kitchen and threaten my kids with bodily harm if they mess with it!

It's all pretty easy to make; both items are cut with the Artiste Cricut cartridge.  My berry basket is actually part of an Easter basket on page 73 of the handbook; I just left the handle off.  I cut it using "Fit to Page", which the Cricut tells me is 2.25".  If you want a larger basket, you can find 12"x24" cardstock, which I'm guessing would allow a basket up to 4.5".  It's an easy fold & glue assembly.

The berries were only slightly trickier, but that's because I knowingly cut them far smaller than the recommended size in the book. (I am NOT good at following instructions, LOL.)  The berries and leaves are on page 72 in the handbook, and I cut them at 3" (recommended size is 6").  The smaller size made them a little more difficult to assemble, but I have seen people tie them shut which would probably be an easier option, especially for the smaller size.  I used some corduroy brads I had on hand and put it through the hole in the leaves first, then each flap of the berry.  I left the side seam open until the end so I could wiggle my fingers in there and open the brad.  I then used Liquid Glass to seal that seam.

The pink berries are made with paper from the Chantilly paper pack from Close To My Heart.  The red ones are made with Ruby cardstock (also CTMH), which I embossed with a Cuttlebug Swiss Dots folder.  After embossing, I sanded off the raised dots (why I LOVE the white core CS) and sponged over them with Sweet Leaf ink.  I love the combination of both playful and realistic patterns.

Thanks for stopping by today! I'd love to hear your comments on today's project.