In a galaxy... not so far away!

Hi :)

I'm guessing lots of people look around the internet for ideas to use... otherwise Pinterest would never have been invented... and one of the things I've seen lately is galaxy backgrounds.  There's so many awesome video tutorials out there that I'm not going to do another one... but I will show you the step by step photos of my first attempt.

I started off with some watercolour paper and Twisted Citron Distress Ink:

Then I added Carved Pumpkin:

Followed by Picked Raspberry:

Then I covered over all of that with Wilted Violet:

Next I added some Chipped Sapphire:

And finally some Black Soot around the edges:

Then I sprayed some Glimmer Mist over the top... it gives a gorgeous sparkle and also helped the inks blend in a really cool way:

Finally I added some white spatters with watery paint to give the effect of stars and light:

While all this was going on, my mind was whirling with ideas for how to use this background and then I realised it would be perfect to turn into a birthday card for one of my nephews.  I recently bought Gerda Steiner's Alien Invasion stamp set and I had ideas forming about using the cool little spaceship.

I stamped a few of the images onto watercolour paper and then heat embossed them.

Then I coloured all the images using my Zig Clean Color Markers and cut them out.  I wanted to make the top of the spaceship shiny but I knew if I used Glossy Accents the colours underneath would run... and then I realised the perfect option was to heat emboss clear on top and do several layers so that the top really looked like glass.

After getting the images ready I decided to create a base using some glitter cardstock which I die cut to size.  I also cut the background with my Lawn Fawn stitched rectangles die.

At this point I got so into creating my card that I forgot to take any more photos but here is the finished card:

Since I had everything out I actually made two of these cards... so much fun! Click on the images to get a more detailed view.

I usually leave the inside of my cards blank but since this was a special one for my nephew I added a little something inside:

I'd coloured over the wee alien with my Wink of Stella pen but it didn't show up very well in this photo so I went back indoors and got a better one.... you've gotta love that sparkle!

The card with the orange alien was for my nephew's birthday and I knew he wanted a gift card so I thought I'd make him one to match his card:

Here's the set together... totally loved them and my nephew was very happy with them... although in truth, he was probably happier with the gift card itself rather than the card and gift holder!

I'm happy to report that Gerda Steiner have started making more dies for their stamp sets and this Alien Invasion one now comes with a die which I immediately ordered and it might just arrive here today!  I have to admit that having the dies makes it FAR more likely that I will actually use the stamps.

Thanks for visiting my blog today... wishing you all a fab weekend xx