Holidays

He Is Risen!

This week, our design theme has centered on the Holy Week holiday and we’ve been using the Online Exclusive bundle called Faith Collection by Stampin’ Up! to create our designs. Today is the culmination of the Holy Week series with the Easter card that pairs the Faith Collection set with the Enduring Beauty bundle to create this design celebrating Christ’s victory over death.

We get started with a base of white cardstock. The backdrop of our focal panel is a quarter sheet of white cardstock that is cut with the Pattern of Friendship die. This panel is cut down to size and then matted in a sheet of Petunia Pop glimmer paper. Our focal panel has the cross in the center that is cut from a sheet of white woodgrain paper from the Country Woods paper pack using the extension method so that the cross is a little taller. Our cross sits atop a floral spray created with the Enduring Beauty bundle. I kept the color scheme very simple and stamped the main floral image in Smoky Slate and used a combination of Shy Shamrock and Petunia Pop to add color to the leaves and floral centers and then cut out the image using the coordinating die. We’re matting the floral spray in gold mercury vellum and use the die extension method to cut the mat for our florals a little larger than the original. I’ve cut an assortment of leaves from Shy Shamrock cardstock using the individual leaves in the Enduring Beauty die set and then tucked them behind the florals. I added some Easter lilies around the cross. They’re stamped on white in Smoky Slate and have Petunia Pop centers, as well. The sentiment from the Faith Collection stamp set is stamped in Blackberry Bliss and then cut with the smallest banner die from the Countryside Corners die collection. The sentiment is mounted in the center of the cross over a sash of iridescent striped ribbon. I used some gold thread to help the sash keep its shape, making it easier to adhere to the cross underneath the sentiment. I finished things off with a gold butterfly cut from textured paper using the Beautiful Butterflies dies and also added a few purple sequins on either side of our focal image.

We’ll be closing out our Holy Week design theme with an update to the family prayer that we keep on our dinner table. I hope you’ll pop in later to see where our post-Easter scripture will lead us as we make our way to Christ’s ascension.

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Holidays

Love Never Gives Up

Happy Good Friday! While that may seem like a strange thing to say, given the historical significance of this day in the Christian faith, this day is indeed good when all is said and done. Today is necessary for the ultimate victory over sin and death and our full reconciliation to God in eternity. Thank goodness “Love never gives up!”

This week, we’re using the Faith Collection bundle to create designs to honor this Holy Week holiday. And today we pair the dies with several patterned paper packs, including Everyday Skies and Country Woods, and the Unbounded Love stamps. I used fellow demo Jackie Bolhuis’ easy step fun fold to create this Good Friday scene.

We get started with a base of Blackberry Bliss cardstock. I used a sheet of moody skies from the Everyday Skies paper pack as the backdrop for our scene. The illusion of hills is created with Thoughtful Journey papers and both of the Grove die collections. I cut three crosses from two different woodgrain patterns from the Country Woods papers using the Faith Collection dies. For Christ’s cross in the center, I used the extension method to make this cross taller than the rest. The hills are adhered to the backdrop with differing levels of dimensionals. The two darker crosses are tucked behind the grass on either side of Christ’s cross in the center. The center cross is adhered to the center panel with dimensionals so it stands above the others. The sentiment from Unbounded Love is heat embossed in black on a lighter woodgrain sheet and then diecut with the smaller banner from the Autumn Leaves dies. A few two tone sparkle gems around the crosses draw the eye across the scene and the twist of gold thread behind the panel draws the eye down to the sentiment.

We’ll be rounding out Holy Week with a design honor Resurrection Day. I hope you’ll stop in to check it out.

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Holidays

Believing in a Brighter Tomorrow

We are midway through Holy Week. For me, this is the point where things get a little hectic as my musical obligations for this special week pick up between rehearsals and services. While it may be busy, I really do cherish this special season and am always blessed to be able to share musical settings that celebrate God’s ultimate sacrifice to reconcile us to Him for eternity.

This week’s design theme centers squarely on the Holy Week celebrations and, in particular, is focusing on the new Online Exclusive bundle by Stampin’ Up! called Faith Collection. Today we are pairing it with the Thoughtful Journey designer series paper and the Unbounded Love stamps and dies bundle in a double easel fun fold design.

I tried several different layouts with this double easel design before settling on the one you see here. In my mind’s eye, I originally saw the cross on the smaller easel in the front, but visually it just didn’t accomplish the look I was hoping for. But when I moved the cross to the back, on what is essentially the card front, it completed the illusion of walking up the hill to the lone cross. And I just love how this ultimately gives the feeling of a contemplative walk to the cross at Calvary.

We get started with a base of Mossy Meadow cardstock, which is cut to standard A2 size. A sheet of the Thoughtful Journey patterned paper is the backdrop for our fun fold sunset scene. A sheet of Pretty Peacock cardstock serves as the mat for the patterned papers and the second easel section. Using the Faith Journey dies, a cross is cut from an Early Espresso woodgrain patterned sheet from the Country Woods paper pack and then adhered in the center of the card front panel with dimensionals so that the base of the cross is just below the front easel fold when the card is closed. A strip of Thoughtful Journey also covers the front easel panel. The sentiment from Unbounded Love is stamped in Early Espresso ink on Thoughtful Journey paper and then diecut with the decorative banner die from the Unbounded Love die set. Two greenery bunches, which to me look like palm branches, are cut from Mossy Meadow cardstock using the Winterly Treetops dies and are then adhered with glue dots behind the sentiment panel. Linen thread is wrapped around the small easel panel before the sentiment is adhered with dimensionals. A few In Color shimmer gems on either side of the sentiment panel add a little glimmer of color to draw the eye to the center focal section.

I’ll be taking a little break tomorrow but plan to be back with a Good Friday fun fold.

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Holidays

Sure of What We Can’t See

Welcome to the start of a brand new week. I hope you enjoyed a restful weekend. We had gorgeous weather in our area for the Palm Sunday weekend and spent a fair amount of time outside enjoying it. Any my allergies would certainly concur!

As we embark on Holy Week this week, we’ll be using our crafty stash to make cards appropriate for the occasion. And today’s card aptly pays tribute to Palm Sunday as the entirety of Easter season reminds us that we have an everlasting hope in what we cannot see!

We get started on today’s card with a base of Pecan Pie cardstock. The focal panel background consists of two panels cut using the Textured Notes dies. The main panel is a quarter sheet of Smoky Slate that is machine embossed with the Distressed Tiles embossing folder and then the mat is a sheet of the gold mercury vellum. Our focal image is a two-parter. The cross is cut from Early Espresso using the Faith Collection dies and that’s mounted on top of the coordinating palm branches that are stamped tone-on-tone onto Mossy Meadow before being diecut with the coordinating die. A twist of gold thread behind ties our gold elements together nicely. The sentiment from Unbounded Love is stamped in Early Espresso on white cardstock and then diecut with the Autumn Leaves sentiment banner. A few low profile dots around the focal section draw the eye in.

I hope you’ll follow along this week as create Easter designs.

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