Whoo's Having a Birthday!

Hello crafting friends! Today I'm sharing a birthday card I made a few weeks ago but hadn't gotten posted with all the holiday stuff going on. Don't you think it's hard to make cards for guys sometimes? This was made for a fella and I think it shows that you can always use a little bling - even for the men in your life (note the brown rhinestones on the sentiment). This is a 4.25" x 5.5" card using my Cricut Explore to cut the owl and branch as well as the sentiment shapes. I didn't have stamps for what I wanted to say so I printed the sentiments and then cut them out in the shapes shown. 

Warm Winter Wishes!

Merry Christmas everyone! I'm sharing with you the card we mailed out to our friends and family this year. I was going for a frosty, snowy feeling and I do feel like I achieved it by using embossed vellum as the mat and white sequins to resemble snowflakes.



Aye Chihuahua Birthday!

Hello! Today I'm showing you a card I recently sent to a co-worker for her birthday. She lives in Florida and heck, compared to where I live and most of the rest of the country, it's tropical. After all those snow related Christmas projects, a little warmth was a nice change of pace! 

Basketball Fever!

Hello! Although I've been doing a lot of Christmas crafts this month, there's been a few birthdays and I also do a little scrapbooking on a regular basis in order to keep up - or stay just a couple years behind as I am now.



Three Tags Are We!

Hello! I've been making lots of Christmas things lately.So many other crafters have inspired me by creating beautiful Christmas cards, tags and gifts! I hope I can provide some inspiration in return. Today's project is three small gift tags that I had a ball making. 

Berries and Trees - Christmas Card

Hello! I hope you enjoyed a long Thanksgiving weekend. My family and I had a very nice time visiting with friends and decorating for Christmas. I've worked up a few different projects I'll share with you this week. Today I'm sharing a card that incorporates embossing, chalking, stamping, alcohol marker coloring, glitter and sequins.

Glass Block - Oh Holy Night

Happy Black Friday! Hope Thanksgiving was a wonderful day spent with friends and family! Today I'm showing you a home decor item that I've always wanted to try but was intimidated by - a lighted glass block.
Now you might be saying to yourself, what does this have to do with paper crafting?

Ornament-Snowman Shaker

Hi everyone! Today I'm showing you a snowman shaker ornament.

Fall Crow Wobble Card

Hi everyone! Thanksgiving is almost here but there's still time to show you one more fall-themed card before Christmas comes to steal the show. Today's card features an adorable bobble crow from PPbN Designs. I just love him! Who can resist a smile when the crow wobbles and his googly eyes go rolling around. I mean really! If you haven't used wobbles before, I highly recommend it. They will definitely make your recipient's day.



Scene Card - Reindeer Christmas Gift Card

Hello! I have a great holiday gift card project for you today. It's been a little chilly here in North Carolina so it's been easy to get in the holiday spirit. I grew up in North Dakota so I know that when it gets really cold outside, the snow glitters at night like, well, glitter! This was my inspiration for today’s gift card. This project came together really nicely and I think this one might go to a teacher this year! If you like it, be sure to become one of my followers so you can see future projects.

Card Front

Welcome to Sugar Shine Designs!

I'm excited to launch my first blog to talk all about crafting with paper. I have had a love affair with paper, ink and markers since I was a small child and as an adult I can finally indulge my imagination with all things paper! Do you remember the thrill of brand new markers or a new stamp when you were a kid? I do and that thrill never followed me right into adulthood. Now I have a whole area dedicated to my crafting addiction that's full of all the things I love playing with.

So why did I pick the name Sugar Shine Designs? Well, like many of you, I find crafting to be a fun and "sweet" hobby. Like a good piece of candy or dessert, it makes me very happy; hence the Sugar part of the name. The Shine reference is homage to the fact that everything I make has a bit of shine somewhere. I love all things shiny whether it's from glitter, papers, markers, glues or any other medium. If it doesn't have something bling, it's not made by me! It often is a lot but there's ALWAYS something. 

I hope you will enjoy my little blog and tell your friends and family about it. I invite you to follow me as I post projects and discuss techniques, products and supplies.

So welcome to Sugar Shine Designs. I hope this will be the start of something yummy! 

SO ON TO MY FIRST PROJECT.....
My first project is a simple thank you card with a feminine touch. Notice that there are several bits of shine on this project. ;)


This is an A2 sized (4.25" x 5.5") card. It was created with the new Artfully Sent cartridge from Close to My Heart. After cutting the base with my Cricut Explore machine, I enhanced the center of the roses with large iridescent sequins and then placed small hot pink sequins in the center. I like the effect this created. I sprayed the card with Copper Tsukineko sheer shimmer spritz. I still felt it needed a little something, so I added the ribbon at the bottom.

The interior of the card has a pop-up feature. Isn't that boot full of flowers fun? 


The boot is also from the Artfully Sent cartridge. I cut it out of white cardstock and used my Spectrum Noir alcohol ink markers and white Gelly Roll pen to color and highlight the boot and flowers. I used Tulip Beads in a Bottle for the flower centers and applied Glossy Accents to the entire boot to make it look more like a shiny rain boot. Although you can't see it in the photo, the boot is very shiny and looks a lot like the bright plastic rain boots that children wear. Finally I topped it off with a looped bow of embroidery thread and a background splash of shimmer spritz. I love how this turned out. It could be used for many different occasions such as a birthday, get well or thinking of you. In this case, I cut out the word Thanks in front of the boot but unfortunately I didn't get a good photo of that.

Thanks for checking out my project today. I'll be back soon with another one. 

~Janet