Enamored with Paper,-- My Crafty Endeavors: Thinking of You Layered Flower Cards

I had a good friend lose her home in a fire the other day. It was a huge tragedy but at least, no one (human or animal) was hurt. I thought I'd like to make a couple of cards to lift her spirits.
I have some Unbranded 3 step Layering Flower Stamps. you can buy them from AliExpress or from Amazon too( under the Seller Decora). These are very nice but one thing is you must have a clear stamping block or better yet, a stamp positioner to use as they do not line up easily otherwise.

The first thing was to emboss the card fronts so I dugout my very old PaperTrey Ink In Bloom Embossing plates.. I'm glad to tell you they still sell these! Sorry about the lighting glare seen on some of these shots.

The next step should have happened first, oh well! I decided to cut out a viewing window using more of my large stash of Oval Unbranded Cutting dies

I have many of these Intricate Unbranded Cutting dies . It's always better to use what I have and not buy more! I wanted a place for the sentiment to show through.But unfortunately, putting it through the Big Shot caused the embossing to diminish to almost nothing! Rats!

the next step is to do the 3 step inking of images in various colors. I used my Momento Inks for this job. It worked out so nicely.

Next, it was onto cutting them out! Thank goodness for the matching dies that most stamp companies are now providing! If I have to fuzzy cut out images, it makes me crazy!

The sentiments I pulled from a Thoughtful greetings Stamp Set. It is the best set of diverse sayings for any occasion. I stamped these with StazOn ink in Jet Black onto the vellum to place behind the cards front windows. I've heard that Brilliance Inks also work well on vellum, but my Graphite Black ink pad was all dried out and I don't have it's re-inker.

I hate how StazOn inks stain the clear photo-polymer stamps but oh, well! Now to finish up the cards. I want to enter the CTD #497, o I've got to use those colors for this weeks challenges. I do like all of the chosen colors, so it will be easy. How lucky am I? I also by happenstance, did end up using some orange ink hues to color one set of the flowers!

I sprayed the front of the other card front to incorporate some of the Aqua color in CTD#497 as it was the only way to get it in there! I know that was a total CHEAT! Don't tell anyone, k? And, guess what that spraying qualifies it for yet another challenge, ATSM#296- Anything Goes. Plus, it fits the bill for a project over at Just Add Ink #412. The trick was to spray and splatter on the front which I just did by chance! Yeah! Not too bad, eh?

While I was pursuing the various talented ladies blogs who have already submitted entries, I found yet another challenge I can get one of the cards into, CAS-- Colour and Sketches #275

The idea of CAS "Clean & Simple" is always harder for me than it ought to be. I never know when I'm done with a card or SB page. There could always be more added to dress it up further, know what I mean??! I decided to add the green in back of the cut window so it'll barely show through the vellum,

I needed to get that pumpkin color in there and so I went with the die cut of the word "Hello" from my stash. It may not look very pumpkin colored in this picture, but it is!