Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge- Starry Night

********************UPDATE**************************

I am sooo loving this.....I made the designer spotlight again :-) It never gets old either. You can read all about it here. Do have a look and think about joining in the fun!

Starry Night and NOT Christmas or Halloween (I have put myself on a ban for this make at least!).

Challenge time again at Simon Says Stamp and this time Starry Night is the order of the day! I really wanted to avoid the elephant in the room with this one which is the steadily looming Christmas season.

I love to get the TH sayings and words and then just move them around until they say things to me.

I have gone instead for friendship and unlikely pairings (some of the best friends that I have are not people who are obvious matches). I also wanted to use  older dies and mix them with new. I love the Crazy Cats and Crazy Dogs and this was also a good time to test them without the stamps.

The trick of the eye here is that both of these are actually facing forward (as fits with the stamps) but when you just cut them as a silhouette, you can fool yourself into thinking that you are looking at them from the back! Cool huh!

I began with a blank card base (as you do) and cut some card stock to match the size of it. I also cut a slightly smaller piece. This smaller one needed to become the night sky so Oxide time!

Nothing makes a backgrounds like Oxides!

I started with some lighter blue and grey (antique linen and broken china). Then went back in with darker (faded jeans and black soot).

Allow the lighter colours that you use first to remain visible.

I inked the edges with pure black soot (Distress Ink) to close the sky in and give it a frame.

This step gives a great frame to your work.

Adding drops of water from the Distress Sprayer and then blotting with paper towel adds more texture.

I splattered the background with white acrylic paint and a toothbrush too (you can see that in the next steps).

Just testing....

I did want the dog and cat buddies to stand out so I tested the background to make sure that it wasn't too dark where they were to sit. And I added in a highlight with a white gel pen at this point to give more definition.

On the larger one, I inked it with Oxide in faded jeans,stormy sky and black soot and splashed and sprayed it a bit with water. 

When you apply the ink, don't be too worried about the blender marks. They will disappear when you spray with water and then dab with a paper towel.

Then I finished that bit with some toothbrush sprays of white acrylic paint.

A toothbrush must be one of the cheapest and most used items in your kit.

While this dried, I cut two black silhouettes - one dog and one cat.
and then painted them with a DecoArt Americana product called Glamour Dust Ultra Fine Glitter Paint in black ice.....

Love this product for giving the finest glittery effect!

Time for stars! I love the Sizzix Swirling Stars die and I found a lovely 3D Sizzix die from last year' Christmas haul too. 

I wasn't sure which large star to use so i made the two - look out for the larger one in the Christmas makes!

I adore sanded things (sanded and stitched appears in everything!). So I sanded some gold Kraft core card stock and then cut the stars from it. I only needed part of the big swirl one because I was actually after individual stars.

I am afraid that the camera has not done the colour justice at all!

The next step was to glue the two layers of background together and stitch them on my sewing machine, going twice round and not being too neat.

There is a nebulous quality to the background.

Then I curled up the edges of the smaller panel here and there to increase the distressed effect. You can make this easier by spritzing them with water and waiting a while. Curl and they will dry in place.

In real life, the glitter makes the cat and dog stand out nicely.

The dog and cat went on next and I stuck them down with some foam tape to give some dimension.

Adore that star!

Next up the large gold focus star. More dimension! Then some words. I love the Label Letters which always rescue me when I cannot find the right word.

Always look at your dies from two perspectives - the positive and the negative space. My stars are positive but  I might just as well have cut the stars out of the background and matted it against silver or gold.

And then showers of stars! A wax pencil (like the ones used in a nail salon) is a great way to pick up tiny components.

Sometimes a concept just happens!

I stuck the stars on individually where they would do most good.

But I wasn't finished yet - a bow really finished the card off and I was lucky enough to have a honey coloured twine in my stash.

Finally, I added a twine bow to the side and stuck a few leftover stars onto it.

Well that's it! I had to call time before I spent the whole week adding stuff!

Ready to go in!

Finished and ready to send in!

I do like the bow with stars on!

Thank you so much for dropping by! I hope that this inspired you a bit and maybe you would like to join in the challenge too! You can do that here.



Hugs
Debbie
xx