Flourish Embossed Cross Easter Card and Waterfowl Dreams Come True

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.

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.

 

 

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 

• Final Card Size: 5.5" tall x 4.25" wide 
• Tools: Nestabilities labels 4, Martha Stewart branch punch, Martha Stewart double scallop border punch, EK Success fleur-de-lis border punch, EK Success corner rounder punch, Making Memories paper cutter, Studio G flourish and sentiment stamps, Darice heat gun, sponge pieces, scissors, Rebecca Sandidge piercing needle tool, Cuttlebug Machine, Mini Scor It board, Martha Stewart scoring board
• Materials: cardstock, cover stock, ribbon, adhesive, foam dimensionals, glue dots, mini black brads, Colorbox fluid chalks, Delta embossing ink, Stampendous Midnight Black embossing powder, spray sealer, plastic wrap
• You can purchase this card in my Polished Moxie Etsy Shop: Flourish Embossed Cross Easter Card 

Card Front

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

 

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

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

   

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 

• Cardstock: The Paper Company, Embassy
• Cover Stock: Staples
• Ribbon: Michaels
• Ink: Colorbox fluid chalks, Delta embossing ink
• Embossing Powder: Stampendous Midnight Black
• Punches and Dies: Nestabilities labels 4, Martha Stewart branch punch, Martha Stewart double scallop border punch, EK Success fleur-de-lis border punch, EK Success corner rounder punch
• Stamps: Studio G
• Tools: Darice heat gun, Rebecca Sandidge piercing needle tool, Cuttlebug machine, Mini Scor It, Martha Stewart scoring board, Making Memories paper cutter, scissors, sponge pieces
• Misc: adhesive, foam dimensionals, glue dots, plastic wrap, mini black brads, spray sealer

 

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