Marvelous Possibilities

One of my projects this last week was to make religious cards for the craft sale we had.  We always get a request for them at this time of year, especially for communions and confirmations, but they are used for baptism and for sympathy cards, too.  This one is pretty generic, and could be used for a number of occasions.  I used some retired paper that I had in my stash that has such wonderful texture and colors (the background is beige, not yellow).  It is simple, and homespun looking, and I wish my photo did it better justice.  The Crosses of Hope stamp set is so nice because the crosses are each their own simple work of art, and the styles are versitle.  I used a sketch from Freshly Made Sketches challenge 80 , but by the time I finished the card, I had flipped the layout, and made it my own style.  We had a great craft sale yesterday, and met lots of fun new friends, that we hope to see again, really soon.  The cards sold very well, and...

Keeping it clean and simple is kind of a problem for me.  I just enjoy blinging it up so much that even when I attempt simple it ends up more elaborate than I intended.  This card is a great example of that.  I was making cards for a craft sale, and I knew that I wanted some religious cards that could be used for any occasion, and so I took out my Crosses of Hope stamp set.  I have not used the set much, because I am always trying to improve on the beautiful simplicity of the crosses in this set, and make them a little more special with added embellishments.  In this case, I added butterflies from my new stamp set Papillion Potpourri.  I used a butterfly inside as well as a sentiment from God's Blessings (retired).  I also tried a new technique that I found here on using the Framelits to add embossing to the card.  This worked great for framing the cross. I added a few beads and rhinestones to the cross and butterflies for the challenge a...