The Reason For The Easter Season Blog Hop!

Welcome! In light of the true meaning of Easter, we friends of faith have gathered together to celebrate and share the Good News of this Easter season, and we're so glad you've stopped by!

This is indeed a blessed time of year, as we remember Christ's sacrifice on the cross at Calvary and celebrate his triumphant victory over death! Our purpose these 3 days is to draw the attention back to Jesus Christ during this Easter season, just as we did with our Christmas version of "Jesus Is The Reason" hop.

If your first stop was here at my blog, you'll want to start at the beginning over at Heather's blog so you don't miss a thing!

In the United States especially, Easter has become about the bunnies and candy and hunting for colored eggs. And while they are cute and amuse us, they can also distract us from the real cause for celebration: the most amazing event in history - the resurrection of our Lord, Jesus Christ.

My Easter celebration card features the beautiful cross and sentiment from the Gina K Designs Easter Blessings set, which I clear embossed in Perfect Plum and colored with Copics. The Swiss Dots embossed background panel is sponged with some white craft ink, and a few beautiful paper roses are added for a finishing touch. Cardstock is all Stampin Up! in a spring combo of Certainly Celery and the retired colors Apricot Appeal and Orchid Opulence. (I am still sad that almost all of the SU Soft Subtles are gone.)

While we cannot even begin to reciprocate the Lord's gift to us, there is "blog candy" on some of the hop stops as a token of appreciation for your comments and encouragement!

We also invite you to celebrate the real "Reason for the Season" by posting your own creation celebrating Christ's Resurrection. There is a place to link at the last stop on Catherine's blog, and a prize is up for grabs for one randomly selected card or project.

Your next stop is Karen's delightful blog!

Enjoy the hop and God bless!

Susan :-)

Here is the complete Reason For The Easter Season hop order:
Heather http://joemamainks.blogspot.com/
Kelly http://sandcastlestamper.blogspot.com/
Maria http://joyfulstamper.blogspot.com/
Sammi http://stuffbysammi.blogspot.com/
Lorie http://thethinkinspot.blogspot.com/
Stacy http://impressionsofaribbonaddict.blogspot.com/
Kadie http://mymindseyecreations.blogspot.com/
Carolyn http://utsukushiikami.blogspot.com/
Paola http://paola-sama.blogspot.com/
Linda http://stamperstouch.blogspot.com/
Susan http://pinkflannelpajamas.blogspot.com/ - You are here!
Karen http://krbskorner.blogspot.com/
Catherine http://paperaddictcatherine.blogspot.com/

Bashful Baptism

It's a beautiful Sunday morning here in southwestern PA, the kind for taking the coffee outside and sitting on the patio. But first . . .

Stephanie is attending the baptism of a wee baby boy today and asked me to make a quick card. I haven't mastered "quick" and "card" in the same sentence yet, so a little panic set in because my stamps collection is sorely lacking some nice inspirational sets and sentiments. Fortunately, I won the gorgeous Easter Blessings set at the Gina K Designs March release party on SCS, which features a beautiful cross among its images.

I stamped the cross in Bashful Blue on WW, then ran it through the Bug with an oval Nestie. I layered that over a BB scalloped oval Nestie, then applied these teeny tiny flat-back pearls using Crystal Effects, a toothpick, and tweezers.

(patience is a virtue)

I was going to emboss a WW panel with Swiss Dots to layer over the BB base, but then remembered I purchased a few sheets of beautiful printed vellum by Colorbok, just because it was pretty. I used a piece of sticky tape in the middle and added flat-back pearls to hide the CE that I used to anchor each corner. I wanted to raise the image panel, but my dimensionals were a little bit too thick, so a small piece of chipboard mounted under the oval was perfect.

A plain and simple card? Yes, but sometimes less is more. And The Daughter likes it, so that's *all* that matters. LOL!

Someday, *hopefully*, I'll learn the art of taking pictures indoors that will turn out "just right", in the early morning light, using my Ott light craft light (thanks Suzanne Dean for the tip!).

Well, it's time to take my coffee, along with the furry felines, outside to enjoy this glorious gift of a morning. Hope you all find time to relax and enjoy the little things today, too!

Happy Creating!

Susan