Easter Cards and a Challenge CPC-CM42/CPC-ST41

This morning I finished off some more Easter cards using Cathy's template. I love this look... they're very quick and easy and they make the patterned paper go a very long way. The hardest part is deciding how to arrange the squares and what embellishments to put on them! Apologies for the blurry scan - the buttons and some of the stickers are 3D and my scanner gets blurry around the lumps. :( Just click on the picture to see a larger version. The 'Just for you' stamp is from my favourite Heidi Grace line, and the 'Celebrate' stamp is from Joanns. I just LOVE those Heidi Grace stamps - the images are so sharp and clear you'd never guess they were done with an acrylic stamp.

And now for the challenge. This morning I tackled two challenges from the Christian Papercrafts board. Actually I combined them! Monday's Colour Challenge was to use chocolate brown, two shades of pink, orange, and cream or white... and Tuesday's Sketch incorporated a large bloom/circular feature with a swirly line. I started with the sketch.

It looked like it would be perfect for a spirelli... but while I was digging in my diecuts box to find a suitable circle, I came across a pair of pink diecuts to nest on the card instead. I mounted the smaller one on popdots and hung them over the edge of the card since they were so large. Add a basic swirl with yet another Heidi Grace stamp that was perfect for the job... the sweet sentiment is from Stampin' Up, and it looked like it just needed a touch more colour, so I gently rubbed the edges with a small pink inkpad and it was done. It's so simple it felt like I was cheating, but I'm pleased with the design.

I still wanted to tackle a spirelli card... so I kept the sketch and moved on to Monday's Colour Challenge. Orange is NOT a colour I use very often except for Halloween cards! But I had a spool of nice bright ribbon and some embroidery thread that nearly matched. I inked up a white spirelli shape with two shades of pink ink (Joanns Essentials) and added a touch of Stamp It Circus orange to the center. The papers were RAKed to me a few weeks ago so I cut narrow strips and nested them... and lastly I added a little heart to the center of the spirelli and stamped a sentiment. I don't do a lot of Missing You cards, but they're a popular subject for Operation Write Home and it gave me a chance to use my new Stampin' Up sentiment from Ebay.