God is Love

Hello, Crafters.

I hope you’ve enjoyed
your weekend. If you’re in the UK and have had more snow, or are
anywhere that has snow, I hope you’ve  been able to stay safe and
warm.

Here the snow has settled on the pavements, gardens, and rooves, but
the roads are clear, so I was able to get to Church yesterday morning
without any problems!

Last
week, a customer who buys my cards, asked if I had ten Easter cards she
could buy. I was so embarrassed when I had to tell her I haven’t made
any this year! 
 
Yesterday I decided to do something about it, and make an
Easter card. I’m very pleased with today’s card, but it isn’t really an
Easter card, as it stands. The inside is blank, so I could make it one
with the right sentiment. 

As I was playing with the Hold on to Hope
Stamp Set, and the co-ordinating dies Cross of Hope Framelits, I
finished up with some stamped and/or die cut crosses, and flowers that I
didn’t use. I put them all into a cello bag and popped the bag in the
stamp DVD box. 

This was an idea I had the other day, rather than putting
the images in the appropriate colour bags. With this new method, if I
decide I want to use this stamp set, I’ll have all the unused images
in the stamp box ready and waiting!

I don’t know how long I’ll stick with this; time will
tell if it’s as practical in practice as the theory sounds! 

The
products I’ve used for today’s card are Whisper White Cardstock (CS) for the card  base
and the heat embossing; Soft Suede CS for the first layer on the inside
and outside of the card, and also for the cross; and two sheets from the
Wood Texture Designer Series Paper (DSP) Stack. 

As the DSP is a fairly plain
design and light coloured, I’ve used it for the top layer inside
the card as well, because it’s light enough to write and/or stamp on. 

I
heat embossed the sentiment GOD IS LOVE and banner, two flourishes, two
individual flowers – these didn’t get used! – and three butterflies
using Copper Embossing Powder on Whisper White CS. I stamped the cross
using Soft Suede Ink on Soft Suede CS. 

Next I die cut all the stamped
and heat-embossed images, as well as the tall slim cross that comes with
the die set. For this I used our Copper Foil – I love the look of this
cross on the plain solid cross.

To
adhere the two flourishes under the cross, I found the centre point on
the top layer of DSP, and added Tombow to the first flourish. I put
the end of the stem on the centre point I’d marked, and made sure the
outer-most leaf on the flourish was as close to the right-hand edge as possible.

I
repeated this process for the second flourish, but in the opposite corner, and adhered it with the
outer-most leaf towards the left-hand edge. I adhered the Copper Foil
cross to the Soft Suede stamped Cross, and added Dimensionals on the
back.

I played around with the arrangement of the Cross and the banner,
which I’d also added Dimensionals to, and when I was happy, adhered them
to the card front. I did extremely well by resisting the temptation to
add the little corner stamp in all four corners! LOL!

Instead, I added one butterfly to each flourish, and one on the sentiment banner, all on Dimensionals. I will keep this card with a blank interior
and finish it when I know what occasion I want to use it for. 

Maybe
tomorrow I’ll make a proper Easter card!

Next
Saturday, I’m running a class for a friend who lives in Peacehaven –
you may remember, I did one for her last year.  Pat has booked the Church Hall,
and have spaces for another three or four attendees!

If you’re in the area
and would like to join us, please email me at janb@janbcards.com 

I
thrilled that I have 110 members in my Happy Crafting Facebook group! There’s plenty
of room for lots, lots more to join us. This is the link if you’d like to
share your projects with other like-minded crafters. https://www.facebook.com/groups/158859591479669/

Until tomorrow, happy crafting.

JanB.