Ahoy Bunnies! Easter's a comin'!

Well, everyone; it's official!  My little guy is really no longer a "little" guy!  I'm sure that many of you have known this (as have I), but I've FINALLY decided to recognize and remember this fact about my brown-eyed baby ~ my first-born cutie patootie.

Fortunately, for this poor mama, he's caught in a kind-of 'between the stages' phase.  He wants to do more big boy things, like ride his dirtbike on two wheels (which he is doing) and watch Phineas & Ferb and Jimmy Neutron, but he still loves the younger, more familiar things too, like playing with our Fisher Price Little People and watching Caillou, Dora, and Diego.  Basically, he's a super sweet youngster in a rapidly growing body, who has a heart of gold that is really, really big!  And, I absolutely adore his gentle, independent spirit!

This month, many adorable 'Peeps' projects are peeping popping up all over link party land, including some cute, Easter t-shirts.  Well, my laddy needed an Easter shirt, but I think the "bigga" boy side of him wouldn't fully appreciate a precious, 'peepified' one.  Thus, a craft dilemma was born.  How do I create a cute-but-tough Easter shirt to appease both sides of my complicated little man?  Hmmmm...I'll use a mash-up of just those types of things: cute & tough!  So, I'm pleased to introduce you to the 'pirate bunny'.  He'll steal your Easter basket and bury it!  Your treasured candy is especially vulnerable if it includes those chocolates wrapped like gold coins....so, watch out!

This Easter, I'm in love with the 'chocolate bunny'.  Because of  Lent & my diet, I will not eat any of these little friends.  Instead, I'm using their likeness to decorate the house and this t-shirt.  That's the inspiration behind this bunny's ears.  You'll also notice the yellow bunny teeth; either rotten from eating too much candy, or whittled from wood -- you decide.  And, I know that this guy is lacking whiskers, but....it's a skull, and hair will not grow out of bone!  See, I'm a thinker....most of the time!  wink, wink  Here are a few more views:

I'm thrilled to say that this design met with the wearer's approval!  And, I'm really pleased with it too!

The process:  I laundered and ironed the shirt and the fabrics.  Then, ironed Heat-n-Bond to the wrong side of the fabrics, pre-cut to the sizes I needed.  I created pattern pieces from a cereal box, drawing them and erasing them, drawing and erasing, until they were just right and cut them out.  Next, I traced the pattern pieces onto the paper backing of the Heat-n-Bond and cut them again.  I peeled the paper backing, placed the pieces on the shirt, and ironed.  (FYI:  As I tried adhering the smaller pieces to the skull, the skull started pulling away from the shirt.  May have happened from being overheated.  I suggest sewing the bottom layer fabrics before using your iron to add the eyes, nose, and teeth.)  I'm not too experienced with machine applique, so I let the stitches kind of go where they wanted to go, but with a little direction from me for turning corners and curves.  I also double-stitched each piece, except for the eye, nose, and eye patch cord.  (Those elements were small, so I hand-stitched them, using a matching embroidery floss.)  I really like that doubling the stitches made the application look 'less than perfect'.  After all, this is a pirate shirt, and everything about a pirate is old, dirty, tattered, and patched.  Well, everything about a pirate is like that, except for his treasure and maybe his ship.

I was thinking to add a PDF file of the pattern, but I need my AH (Adorable Husband) to school me in hooking up and using the scanner.  Please comment and leave an email address if you're interested in having my pattern.  If there's any interest, I'll do it.  However, the pieces are really easy to make. It's definitely an 'if I can draw it, you can draw it' kind of thing.  In fact, I know that many of you would actually draw it/make it even better than I did!  I've seen a ton of talent out there!  If you do make one, please share it with me!  I'd love to see your design!

So, my happy lad asked, "Can I wear that on Easter?"  Of course!  But, as we visit the local egg hunts, I'll make sure that he doesn't act as a pirate would.  He won't be taking others' treasures!  In fact, knowing his giving spirit, he'll be the kiddo who finds candy and gives it to the other kids, especially if they're younger!  If he were a pirate, he'd be NO good at following the pirate code!  What a love!

So, in honor of him and Him, I wish all of you a Supremely blessed day!

p.s.  With the creation of this project, I stuck with this month's endeavor and used supplies from my craft stash.  Just in case you were wondering....and Mom, I know that you were wondering!  Love you!


Linking to these parties:
Blue Cricket design
Fireflies and Jellybeans
House of Hepworths
Iron Violet Designs
lolly jane boutique
Momma's Kinda Crafty
Sew Much Ado
Someday Crafts
Sugar and Dots
Tatertots and Jello
Tea Rose Home