Have a Stellar Birthday!

The current Lawn Fawnatics challenge theme is "Spectacular Skies." I thought, how much more spectacular is a star-filled galaxy sky? I combined 2 Lawn Fawn stamp sets - "Super Star" & "Bubbles of Joy" - with a few Lawn Fawn die sets to create my card.

For the sky/background, I first die cut a panel from Strathmore Mixed Media paper with the largest of the "Large Stitched Rectangle" dies. Rather than using watercolor or ink blending to create my galaxy background, I decided to try ink smooshing combined with sprays. First, I applied Fossilized Amber, Picked Raspberry, & Chipped Sapphire Distress inks onto my non-stick craft mat. I spritzed them with water, & plopped my panel face-down in the ink. I quickly learned that the Fossilized Amber doesn't seem to play well with Chipped Sapphire, at least if you want a bright green, & ended up with a slightly muddy green instead. Fortunately, that was only my first layer! I dried that with my heat gun, & smooshed my panel back into the watery ink. I daubed up the muddy color spots with a dry cloth, dried it again with my heat gun, & then moved on to sprays. I spritzed first with London Blue & After Midnight Dylusions sprays. I did just a couple of light sprays at first, since I didn't want to cover my ink smooshing completely. I dried that with my heat gun, and spritzed on some Black Marble Dylusions spray. After I dried that, I added more of the London Blue & After Midnight, then a little more Black Marble. I dried all that, and splattered on the White Gold & Blue Gold Gansai Tambi Starry Colors watercolors for good measure. The watercolors did pick up the blue from the spray ink, but I still think the effect was worth it. I LOVE how this background came out!!! I will definitely have to do this more in the future! 😊

I die cut another piece of mixed media paper with the same stitched rectangle die, & die cut the upper border with a "Stitched Hillside Borders" die. I used Fresh Lime & Cut Grass Dylusions sprays to add color to my grassy hill. This gave it the same speckled look as the sky, creating cohesion.

I let my panels dry overnight, so I could be sure they were completely dry, since I wanted to heat emboss on both pieces. I used a few of the star/constellation stamps in "Super Star" & Ranger White Super Fine Detail embossing powder to "decorate" my sky. I also used a greeting from "Super Star," & heat embossed that in white on the grass layer. I didn't trust myself to emboss the exclamation point in the stamp set well, since it is so tiny. So I added one with a white gel pen. The gel ink, however, picked up the green from the sprays, so I decided to go over it again with the pen, then immediately apply white embossing powder & see if that would heat emboss. And it did - perfectly!

I stamped my images onto Strathmore Vellum Bristol paper with Memento Tuxedo Black ink. I colored them with my Prismacolor pencils, and cut them out with the coordinating dies. I also die cut a balloon & string from "Party Balloons" for the mouse from "Bubbles of Joy" to "ride" on. I added a bit of shading to the balloon with a colored pencil, though I'm not sure it made much of a difference in the end.

Because I used liquid glue to add my images, I first added a coat of Distress Micro Glaze to my sky & grass, hoping to keep the glue from reactivating the ink. Unfortunately, it didn't work, but I was very careful, & managed to keep the Dylusions & Distress inks from smearing all over the place. I glued the balloon & string first, then added my mice & telescope. I glued the speech bubble near the flying mouse, & stamped the "Make a wish" from "Super Star" in Versafine Onyx Black ink. Then I adhered my finished card front to a white A2-size card base.

I'm also entering this card in the following challenges:

613 Avenue Create's October Challenge: "Anything Goes"

Repeat Impressions Theme Challenge O1321: "Feature A Creature"

Creative Knockouts Challenge #423: "Embossing Delight"