Sunday, April 3, 2011

Flourish Embossed Cross Easter Card and Waterfowl Dreams Come True

Picture of a section of the Easter card front
It's finally beginning to look like spring around here and we only have a few piles of snow remaining.  Yippee!  Since spring appears to be coming, I thought I would share another Easter card with you.  It is similar to my Dove and Cross Easter Card that I shared earlier.  My Flourish Embossed Cross Easter Card features a cross entwined with black branches and embossed with black flourishes.  It is both simple and elegant, yet has layers of dimensional elements on the outside and inside of the card.  Like my previous Easter card, this flourish embossed cross Easter card is predominately created through the use of dies and punches.  I derived the colors of my Easter card from the colors in the background paper that I created for another project.

Before sharing the details of my card I want to show you some pictures of what I consider to be a waterfowls dream.  After the flood waters in our area receded, we took a drive down by the river.  If you remember, I previously showed you a picture of a cornfield along the river that had a flock of wild turkeys rummaging through it.  Well, this is what it looked like on our drive.

Picture of a flooded cornfield with a variety of waterfowl swimming in it

The river came up over the road and flooded the cornfield.  As we watched all of the waterfowl swimming amongst the cornstalks, I thought to myself that they must be thinking that they are in a wonderful dream.  The whole picture was pretty surreal.  Here are several other pictures of the waterfowl enjoying their swim in the cornfield.

Picture of a flooded cornfield with a variety of waterfowl swimming in it

Picture of a flooded cornfield with a variety of waterfowl swimming in it

Picture of a flooded cornfield with a variety of waterfowl swimming in it



Picture of a flooded cornfield with a variety of waterfowl swimming in it

It always amazes me how things can change so quickly in a 24 hour period.

Now, on to the card.


The Making of My "Flourish Embossed Cross Easter Card"


Card Statistics 


Card Front

Picture of the front of the Easter card

The first thing I did was create my background paper.  To do this I crumpled up a piece of plastic wrap and pounced black, brown, and sky blue ink on it.  Next I took the inked plastic wrap and used it as a stipple brush and pounced color on a cream sheet of cardstock.  I repeated this process until I got the look I liked.  I've found that SCS calls this the crinkled chalk technique.  Once my background paper dried, I used it to determine the color palette for my remaining elements.  My primary colors are sky blue and black.

I scored sky blue cardstock for my card base and set it aside because I decided to create the card topper and inside insert as separate panels that were adhered to the card base after they were completed.  I started with the topper and layered black cardstock and my pounced cream cardstock.  To add interest to the layers I punched each of the lower edges with different border punches.

For the focal point of the card I cut a cross out of sky blue cardstock and decorated it with black heat embossed flourishes.  I attached several branches that I punched from black cardstock and then lightly sponged on some black ink to add depth.  As a backdrop for the cross I used a Nestabilities labels 4 die on my pounced cream cardstock and edged it with black ink.  I attached the cross to this backdrop using foam dimensionals and then attached this element to my topper panel.  To add more interest to the topper I layered on a strip of sky blue organdy ribbon across the lower portion of the panel just below the cross.

The sentiment was the next element that I created.  I used a strip of my pounced cream cardstock and stamped on the sentiment "Blessed Day" that I heat embossed in black.  Using my Nestabilities label 4 die, I cut a decorative edge on each end of the sentiment strip.  I attached the sentiment strip to the topper by piercing a hole at each end of the strip, positioning it where I wanted it on the topper, and then piercing holes through the topper panel.  I used two mini black brads that I pushed through the holes to attach the sentiment strip to the topper.  

The final elements I added to the topper were a sky blue organdy ribbon bow and another branch punched from black cardstock.  When completed I affixed the topper panel to the sky blue card base.


Angle Views of Card Front to Show Dimension


Picture of card set at an angle to the right to show dimension of its elements

Close up picture of cross element on card set at an angle

From the pictures above you can see the various levels of dimension I have incorporated into the card front.  I quite like the way it looks.


Inside Card

Picture of the inside of the card

For the inside panel I printed "Happy Easter" in black ink on cream cardstock and punched the lower border to reflect the front panel of the card.  I matted the cream panel with black cardstock.  Again I punched the lower edge to reflect the front of the card.  I affixed a strip of the pounced cream cardstock along the lower edge and popped a cross cut from black cardstock off the surface with foam dimensionals.  I affixed the completed panel on the inside of the card base and this completed my card.

I constructed a coordinating envelope from heavy cover stock and decorated the lower left corner.  I sponged a background using blue, brown, and black ink and affixed 2 branches punched from black cardstock and a small cross cut from sky blue cardstock.  The embellishments were sprayed with sealer to protect them in the mail.


Final Card and Envelope Combo

Picture of the card and its coordinating envelope
   
Here's a picture of the completed ensemble.  I like the color combination and the dimensional elements on this card.

You can purchase this card in my Polished Moxie Etsy Shop: Flourish Embossed Cross Easter Card


Card Recipe Specifics 

 
Thank you for visiting my blog and I hope you come back soon!

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1 comment:

  1. Beautiful card! I love how you created the background with plastic wrap. You also have quite a bit of wildlife around your area. You always share such wonderful pictures.

    ReplyDelete

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