ngHey everyone,

I needed to get a birthday made for a special friend from my childhood and was trying to get my mind wrapped around what I wanted to do.  I checked out Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and the topic this week is It’s Written in the Stars.  As things go, one thing led to another, and I ended up with the card you see here.  My friend is a cat lady.  She and her husband have two cats.  I try to make cards for her that have two cats on them to represent her and her husband.  They both enjoy the cards.  I don’t know the husband since they live far away, and I’ve never met him, so I don’t send cards to him.  I’m considering it, though.

 

Here’s what I did to create this card:

• Zig Kuretake Gansai Tambi Watercolor Set (Use any watercolors you have).
• 8″ round paint brush
• cup of water
• rag
• Jack Richeson 9×12 inch hardboard panel
• 3M Scotch Safe Release Masking Painter’s Tape
• Ranger Watercolor Paper (Use any watercolor paper you have).
• heat gun

Cover with black watercolor, then dry it.  I put too much black, so use less black paint than I did.

To remove some of the black, I threw water on the painting with my paint brush, then dabbed it up with the rag.

• Zig Kuretake Gansai Tambi Watercolor, Pearly White 
• Copic Opaque White (liquid in a bottle) 

I wish I had taken off more of the black watercolor, because I love the colored specks underneath.  In the watercolor set, there is a block of white and a block of pearly white.  I used the pearly white to tap sprinkles onto the night sky with another paint brush.  These sprinkles look faded out and far away. 

Next I mixed a dab of Copic Opaque White on an acrylic block and thinned it a little with water.  This was splattered onto the night sky.  Because the white is opaque, it is more vivid than the pearly white watercolor. 

When dry, I used a paper trimmer to make the night sky paper 3.75 x 5 inches.

• Cricut Paper Trimmer
• Memento Tuxedo Black Marker – Go around the edge of the night sky paper.
• dark piece of fun foam – I was out of black so I used the closest color I had.  Cut this to 1/8 inch less than 3.75 x 5 inches.
• Scrapbook Adhesives E-Z Runner Tape – Tape the foam piece to the back of the night sky paper.

To get the background and card base out of the way, I went ahead and cut my cardstock and adhered the layers together.

• 100# Simon Says Stamp Cardstock, Fog – 5.5 x 8.5 inches, folded in half making a 4.25 x 5.5 inch A2 size card
• 80# Neenah Crest Solar White Cardstock – 4 x 5.25 inches 

Tape the white cardstock to the front of the fog colored card base.  Then tape the watercolor paper and fun foam layers to the front of the white cardstock.  Set this aside.

At first I was only going to put one cat on the card, since the area was small and I wanted to add stars.  I don’t have too many cats in my stamp collection, so I looked for a cat that had its arm raised.  The stamp I chose had two cats with their arms raised, but I only stamped one.  Later, I felt bad about leaving the second cat behind (the husband – ha!), so I added him later.  

• Ranger Craft Sheet
• Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers
• Tim Holtz Detailer Water Brush Ranger Water Coloring Tip
• Tweezers
• Strathmore Bristol Paper
• Penny Black What’s Cooking Stamp Set

After every application of color, dry with the heat gun.  Use Light Pink on the cheeks and Pale Pink inside the ears.

To add a little more shadowing on the cat, I went over the darker orange parts.  Then I traced all of the black lines with a black pen.

• Faber-Castell PITT Artist Pen, Sanguine
• Pilot Precise V5 Extra Fine, Black

My motto is “Use what you have.  Try it and see if it works.”

Cut out the cat and edge it with a black marker.

• EK Success Cutter Bee Scissors
• Memento Tuxedo Black Marker

Next, I made the space helmet for the cat.

Use any circle cutter you have.  Find the size that fits over the cat’s head.  Cut one (1) acetate circle and two (2) gray rings the same size .  Save one (1) of the gray centers.

• Creative Memories Cutting System, Circles
• Self-healing Cutting Pad
• Hot Off the Press Heat Resistant Acetate
• 100# Simon Says Stamp Cardstock, Fog

I adhered the two rings, one on top of the other.  Then I adhered the acetate piece behind the rings.  I didn’t use liquid glue because I usually smear it onto the acetate, and I cannot get the smudge off.

• Scotch PermanentAdhesive Dot Roller

Next I adhered the acetate to the front of the cat’s head and the gray circle to the back of the cat’s head.  The cat was laid aside while I worked on the stars.

Three (3) large sketch stars were die cut on silver paper; several sets of holiday stars on silver and gold paper. 

• Provocraft Cuttlebug Die Cut and Emboss Machine
• DCWV The Cardstock Stack 6 x 6 inch Paper Pad, Glitzy Glitter
• Simon Says Stamp Sketch Star Die
• Simon Says Stamp Large Holiday Shapes Dies

I stacked the sketch star outlines and glued them together.  Then I colored around the edges with a silver pen.

• Ranger Multi Medium Matt Glue
• Sanford Uni-ball Gel Impact Pen, Silver

Besides cutting stars out on gold paper, I also cut Happy Birthday from the gold glitzy glitter paper.  I then went around the edges of the words with a gold pen.

• Simon Says Stamp Happy Birthday Die Set
• Sanford Uni-ball Gel Impact Pen, Gold

By this time, I had decided to add a boy astronaut cat with a space helmet.  So I followed the same process with him as I did with the girl cat.  After positioning my components on the card front, I cut a right angle at the bottom of the boy cat’s shirt, so he would fit in the bottom right corner of the card front.

I started gluing everything on the card front with the Ranger Multi Medium Matt Glue.  I laid acrylic blocks on the pieces while they dried.

What I did next was what I wish I had not done!  Don’t do this.  I used a white gel pen to try to accentuate the cats.  I put lines of white on their clothing.  This looked okay.  I couldn’t leave well enough alone <slap my hands> so I outlined the cats and large stars with the white gel pen.  I didn’t like it so I tried to smudge it off.  A lot came off, but traces remained.  It did leave a hazy look, which might not be too bad.  I sure didn’t want to start all over.  I couldn’t! 

After that, everything looked dull to me.  So to brighten up the background, I went over places with a clear gel pen.  This helped, but things still looked dull for cats going into space for Happy Birthday.  So I went over the words and a few stars with gold Stickles and over the silver stars with silver Stickles.  I put Glossy Accents on the helmet rings.  I finished with gluing down sequins.

• Uni-ball Signo White Gel Pen
• Glaze Gelly Roll Pen, Clear
• Ranger Stickles, Gold
• Ranger Stickles, Silver
• Glossy Accents -on the helmet rings
• Neat and Tangled Starry Night Sequin Mix

There sure was a lot to do with this card, but I wanted to make a card with many elements and techniques for my friend who had a couple of years at an art academy during her college days.  I got it in the mail, and away Mr. and Mrs. Astronaut Cats floated into the unknown, hanging on to Happy Birthday wishes!  

Safe travel!

Tricia

CHALLENGES ENTERED

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge It’s Written in the Stars   http://www.simonsaysstampblog.com/mondaychallenge/

Word Art Wednesday Challenge #300-#301 Anything Goes  http://wordartwednesday.blogspot.com/

Simon Says Stamp Work It Wednesday Stamp It   http://www.simonsaysstampblog.com/blog/work-wednesday-august-2017/