Color Layer Stamping Without Tears - Valentine's Day Card

I'm continuing with the Valentine's Day theme this week with a rose inspired Valentine's Day card. This project demonstrates how to use the uber popular color layering stamps. They create stunning images but are tricky to get right. That's why I call this project, Color Layer Stamping Without Tears. You'll find some good tips on getting great results every time. 

Watch the full tutorial and get the supplies list on the video link below:

I've entered this card into the following card challenges:
Just For Fun Rubber Stamps January Challenge
DL Art January Linky Party-Anything Goes
Hiding In My Craft Room - Any Holiday
Little Scrap Pieces-Show It Off Saturday Linky Party
Word Art Wednesday-Anything Goes

Mass Producing Hand-Stamped and Colored Valentines For Kids

Hello and happy Sunday! It’s going to be a rainy day here in the Charlotte area. Here’s hoping you have mild and sunny weather where ever you are!

So it’s been a super long time since I last posted. Although I have always kept crafting, I gave up blogging a couple of times. I let myself fall into a pity trap after putting in the work to share and getting little response back. After some contemplation, I’ve decided to rededicate myself to it and not worry if anyone subscribes or “likes” my projects. I have to be honest that this is for me. It’s a kind of a online journal and as long as the work helps me relax, let go of stress and release creativity to use in other parts of my life, it’s worth it.

With that in mind, I have taken it a step further and opened a YouTube Channel under SugarShine Designs. This provides another way to share my projects and I’m excited about it! I always felt limited by using a few photographs. My first post is linked below. Yes, it’s WAY too long at 18 minutes. My goal is to stay under 15 and find a balance between enough and too much information. Practice makes perfect.

I’ll be posting projects for the seasons and attempting to provide as much practical how to information I can so if someone watching is inspired to try something similar, they’ll be able to follow along. There’s a part of me that enjoys teaching others and it's my second motivation for doing this.

So without further ado, I officially kick off my channel today! Here goes nothing!  

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to everyone out there on this beautiful Sunday! I've had a great day so far. My family has treated me very well and I'm looking forward to a family walk in a nature area nearby and dinner out before the day is over. I hope you're day is going equally as well.

Today I'm sharing a Mother's Day card of course! This is one I sent to my own Mom. I wanted to try a card where a cut is only partial and it allows the card to have a 3D effect without a lot of complicated work.

After searching a bit, this dragonfly caught my eye in the Cricut Dimensional Paper cartridge which is part of the Cricut Access subscription for the Cricut Explore. For some reason, I've always been drawn to dragonflies and this one was no exception.  Here's an angled view of the card so you can see the 3D aspect a little more.

And here's the interior of the card where some of the leftover paper from the front is used to create a border on the top and bottom of the card. The Happy Mother's Day message is stamped in the card with Tuxedo Black Memento ink.

I've been seeing a lot of heat embossed sentiments on cards from various manufacturer's and crafters. I like it and have been trying my hand at it. So far, I'm not that thrilled with the results. First, it was really hard to get the ink pad I needed which everyone says is the best - VersaMark. I tried Michael's and JoAnn's numerous times and it was always sold out. I did finally find one but for this card, I made due with some regular ink. Unfortunately, regular ink is not as sticky as VersaMark so the embossing powder didn't stick evenly on the Love Ya Mom stamped message. The result was a little spotty but it worked ok. I'm going to continue trying this technique until I get it down! Practice makes perfect right? Anyway, the sentiment shape was another nested shape in the Cricut Access subscription. I believe it was in the Elegant Edges cartridge.

Well that's it from me today. Have a wonderful Mother's Day and see you soon! There will be several posts coming this week in honor of National Scrapbooking week.

Janet