Easter Cards

I hope you all had a wonderful, blessed Easter.  We went to church in the morning, which was a fantastic service, and then Phil, the big boys and I took a two hour bike ride in the afternoon before dinner.  Now that its nice out (hopefully winter is REALLY over) and we can go on family bike rides, I am hoping it will help me drop some of the weight that crept on too easily while I sit at a desk all day long at work.  Unfortunately, reading, quilting and cross stitching don't count as aerobic exercise.

To help celebrate Easter, I wanted to send cards to family and a few friends.  My card making process starts with perusing the cardstock in the Oasis to see what would work.  I found half a pack of a beautiful yellow and an assortment of pink and green scraps.  Perfect.

I looked through my stamp sets trying to find something that would work for Easter.  Nothing really stuck my fancy, so I headed to JoAnn's and Michael's.  (They are right down the street from each other, which makes it convenient when on a crafty run)  I couldn't find any stamps or stickers that would work, but I did come home with 15 yards of fabric!   (More on that in another post)

Back to my stamp sets I went, and selected one I got years ago from Stampin' Up. While not typical Easter fare like a bunny, basket, or eggs, there two good possibilities in the set.

So here are all of the paper materials, a set of markers, an eyelet border punch, and an oval shape maker from Creative Memories with two different blades.




First, I cut the yellow paper in half to make two cards per sheet.  Then I used the eyelet punch on the right side of just the front of the card.

Next, I cut the pink scraps to fit the length of the card and using the matching ink (I think they were both Perfect Pink) I stamped the flower shape. so that it gave the pink paper a subtle pattern.  Then I cut a white oval with the blue blade and the green paper with the green blade, so that the green would make a nice frame for the white. 

For the stamp, I tested both the butterfly and the flower.  The flower filled the oval space better and gave more of an opportunity for color.  I used the thick end of the markers to color the stamp and then stamped each white oval. It seemed a little blank still, so I made a border of dots with the fine side of the pink marker. 

Here's how it all came together:

For the sentiment inside, I printed out the first and fourth verses of my favorite hymn, "Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee":

Joyful Joyful we adore thee,

God of glory, Lord of love,

Hearts unfold like flowers before thee, 

Opening to the sun above.

Melt the clouds of sin and sadness;

Drive the dark of doubt away.

Giver of immortal gladness,

Fill us with the light of day!

Mortals join the happy chorus

Which the morning stars began;

Love divine is reigning o'er us,

Binding all within its span.

Ever singing, march we onward,

Victors in the midst of strife;

Joyful music leads us sunward,

In the triumph song of life!

I have loved this hymn since I was a child, partly because you can't help but sing it at the top of your lungs.  I think that singing Henry J. van Dyke's words and Beethoven's beautiful music are the perfect way we can celebrate Easter every day and shout the Good News: 

He is Risen!

He is Risen Indeed!

Happy Easter, my friends.