Crosses of Hope CAS

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 at Less is More to use beads.  The Pink Elephant Challenge wanted Clean and Simple cards this week, and  I guess that this is about as clean and simple as I can do. 

You can see here that I just could not leave the simple card alone.  For the next card I added an embossed layer for the background, and some floral butterflies.  I framed up the salutation, and gave the whole card a stepped up, but still simple look.   I took the embossed ovals that I made with my Oval Framelits, and trimmed them and added a Midnight Muse backing for a framed look.  Did you notice the saphire rhinestones, I did those by coloring my SU rhinestones with a blue Sharpee permanent marker.  I can match rhinestones to any project that way.   Hope you enjoyed the cards today.  You could adapt these cards to an Easter card by adding a different greeting.  Have a nice Good Friday, and a Happy Easter, too.       Mary Alice