Easter is Coming!

Hi friends!  With Mardi Gras now behind us it is time to get serious about Spring and Easter!  Memories of Easter always include lots of ruffly pink, pretty lace, white lacy gloves and something sparkly! Mom always wore a corsage (usually an orchid) and all the ladies wore hats to church on Easter Sunday!  The sanctuary was always filled with lilies.  

Of course, the kids were always much more concerned with whether or not the Easter bunny had made an appearance the night before and what candies and chocolates were in their Easter baskets when they woke up.  And usually there was an Easter egg hunt!   

As an adult I've attended lots of sunrise services, but in childhood we typically went for 930 Sunday school and then 1100 services. Then we'd go home and have a big Easter lunch with ham, potato salad, Spring vegetables and deviled eggs, with chocolate candy for dessert!   

All these happy memories are what I tried to capture on today's project!   

Here's the inside.  I wanted this simple, rustic cross to take center stage so I used beautiful sunrise colors alongside a quatrefoil-style print that makes me think of stained glass.  

The tab needed to be quite narrow to remain invisible.  I die cut two layers of heavier card stock and glued them together for the cross to make it nice and sturdy.  

Supplies:

• Stamp Simply Clear Stamps - Easter is for Jesus Bundle
• Spellbinders - Labels 59
• Craft Consortium Watercolors 6x6
• Craft Consortium Grunge Light 6x6
• Kaisercraft Mini Paper Blooms - Dusty Pink
• Variegated Silk Ribbon
  
• May Arts 1.5" Pleated Satin - 15 yard spool - White
• May Arts 1/2" Scallop Loop Trim - 3 yards - Pink
• Melissa Frances Self-Adhesive Round Pearls - Cream
• white tulle
• Copic markers

Don't forget to check out our product of the week!

Stamp Simply

Happy Birthday!

Hello again!  I hope you're having a great week!  We have been enjoying watching the Olympics and pulling for Team USA.  

I even knitted Patrick the opening ceremonies hat that he requested! I was really excited that I finished it in time for him to wear it during our recent cold snap!

I remember sitting and watching the Winter Olympics "nap-trapped" with Matthew when he was a brand new baby!  I thought that was a sweet memory to capture in his birthday card for this year since once again it is time for the Winter games.  

I used Spellbinders circle dies to cut a window into the card front, then built a scene with our tree line and slopes dies that are part of the Church die set.  There's only a small peek through the front but the full scene is visible once the card is opened.  

I love this pretty designer paper for a wintry blue sky.  It's so much fun to fully personalize a card this way.  

Supplies:

• Stamp Simply Clear Stamps - Happy Day Iris
• Stamp Simply Steel Dies - Country Church
• Stamp Simply Steel Dies - Christmas Stockings & Mittens
• Sizzix Thinlits Dies by Tim Holtz - Holiday Greens Mini
• Spellbinders Nestabilities - Standard Circles LG
• Carta Bella Winter Time 6x6
• Craft Consortium Over the Rainbow 6x6

There is still (at the time of this post publishing) a little time left for our Valentine's Day sale!  I hope you have a lovely Valentine's Day and a wonderful week!

Stamp Simply

Farmhouse Mercies

Hello friends!  I hope you are doing well!  We are gradually returning to normal after having each had the flu for a couple of weeks.  It has been rampant in our area so I suppose it was really only a matter of time.  So thankful to be feeling better.  

For us, the flu has been such a small thing on the comparative scale of things that some of our friends are currently dealing with.  One of those friends is in the hospital after having had a neurological event. Thankfully her condition is gradually improving.  She is a farmer/shepherdess so I thought a card using our Farmhouse Series might cheer her up.  I had a lot of fun choosing papers, stamping and die-cutting farm animals and finding the perfect sentiments to go with it all.  

Since she is a shepherdess (I have purchased a gorgeous fleece from her!) I thought I should include a paper sheep on her card!  I used a combination of punches and dies to come up with this little cutie!  

Here's a closer look.  The body is a scalloped circle, the face and ears are small and larger ovals cut in half.  The "topknot" is several clouds and a tiny flower topped by a silk ribbon.  The legs and hooves are fishtail banner dies.  All super easy to die cut and layer together.  For eyes, I used a stylus to dot a couple of white acrylic paint dots.  I opted not to add ink dot pupils but it would not be hard to do.

You might prefer not to have a sheep inside your version, and it looks perfectly fine without it!  

Supplies:

• Stamp Simply Clear Stamps - Farmhouse Signage Bundle
• Stamp Simply Clear Stamps - Farmhouse Sentiments QUAD Bundle
• Craft Consortium Retro Summer 6x6
• Craft Consortium Test of Time 6x6
• Seam Binding Sampler - Rich Pastels - 40 yards
• May Arts 1/4" Variegated Silk - 54 yard spools - Blue/White

For the sheep:

• Stamp Simply Steel Dies - Fishtail Sentiment Banners (legs and hooves)
• Stamp Simply Steel Dies - Country Church (clouds for sheep's topknot)
• Stamp Simply Steel Dies - Welcome Baby Basics (flowers also for topknot)
• scalloped circle die (body)
• ovals dies (cut in half for face, ears)
• white acrylic paint for eyes

Y'all know that I love to mix and match paper pads!  Now is a good time to stock up!

Stamp Simply