Wish List

Tuesday, February 19, 2019

Stars, stars and more stars...

Today I have a couple of star-studded cards that I am entering in the latest challenge on the Twofer Card Challenge blog.



These are my fun cards featuring an NBUS and unbranded star background stamp. I think you can see in the photo that my starry background has been heat-embossed with silver embossing powder. It really looks quite impressive IRL!


This card was my first idea, when thinking about the "stars" theme of the challenge. My stash is completely empty of graduation cards, so I needed to do a little replenishing.

The first thing I did was use some Brushos color crystals (thank you again, Darnell!) to make the background. I love them and definitely need to use them more often. They make such vividly colored backgrounds in seconds! Once completely dry, I cut the size I wanted and heat embossed it with my background stamp.

I love the graduation die-cut (unbranded) that I used. Doesn't it look exactly like those students you see at the end of a graduation ceremony?

My sentiment rectangle was cut with a Spellbinders die. It was a layering die from the "Simply Tags" set. I would have rather heat embossed the sentiment onto the black cardstock, but sadly, I had no stamp for it so I had to use my computer.

Here's another look at the shades of blue in my background and the pretty silver embossing.











On the inside of my card, I combined a couple different stamp sets. The "congratulations" is heat-embossed with silver EP.














I wasn't so thrilled with how my Christmas card turned out, but I did like the heat-embossed ornaments. They were cut with a really, really old die--one of the first I ever had. I think it was made by Quickutz (Lifestyle Crafts). My pine branches were cut with an unbranded die and my sentiment is by Penny Black.


The embossing on the ornaments really does have a snice shimmer to it.








To add a little something to the inside of this card, I used a small accessory stamp that I found in one of my stamp sets. You know how they fill out a stamp set with some little add-on stamps? Well the string of stars was one of those. I heat embossed them, and then added the stamped sentiment from Recollections.

Now I hope you'll scoot on over to the Twofer Card Challenge blog and enter your starry creations. It's such a fun challenge and helps fill up those empty slots in our card stashes.







Stamping all these stars on my cards reminded me of a story my parents told me about myself. When I was very young (about 2 1/2 or 3), we lived across the street from the church we attended and where my dad sang in the choir. He sang and played his guitar a lot in those days and taught me to sing along with  him. One of the songs he taught me was "Don't let the stars get in your eyes, don't let the moon break your heart..." Well, one Sunday, my dad was singing in the choir at church and my mother stayed home to get my older brothers and sister ready for Sunday School. I cried and fussed and wanted to go to Sunday School, too, even though I was too young. She finally relented and sent me across the street with my siblings, knowing that I would come right home again with my dad. Well, church was a little late in getting out and my dad was still seated at the front of the sanctuary with the rest of the choir. When I saw him, I started down the aisle singing at the top of my lungs with the bells on my shoes playing the accompaniment. The song I was singing so loudly was, "Don't let the stars get in your eyes, don't let the moon break your heart...!" My poor dad was quite embarrassed, saying he wanted to crawl underneath his pew!!

I continued to sing (for fun) with my dad as he played his guitar until I left home for college. I miss him and his guitar playing a lot.

Thanks so much for stopping by, and remember to laugh--a little or a lot--every day.
Cheryl


8 comments:

Lynette said...

Oh, I like them both, Cheryl! Embossing always adds such a nice touch. Cute story about you singing your dad's song in church, too:)

designbydonna said...

Beautiful embossing. I love the blue and silver. Your grad silhouette looks great on that background. The paper worked will for the Christmas ornaments too. Touching story about singing with your Dad. 2 and 3 year olds are so spontaneous and uninhibited. I bet the church members are still talking about that.

Darnell said...

I loved your sweet and funny story, Cheryl. Thank you for sharing! You gotta love that self-confident little singer marching down the aisle, lol!

I love your beautiful star-embossed designs, too! The blue Brusho backgrounds are so pretty (you're welcome!) and just perfect with silver! That row of happy graduates silhouette is fantastic for a graduation card! And there's no reason not to love your Christmas card outside and inside with that cute starry element! The ornaments are the stars of the card, but I also love the pine branches and sediment! Thank you so much for playing in Twofer Card Challenge #13! Hugs, Darnell

Happy Dance said...

What a great story, Cheryl!! I'll bet your dad treasured that story in his heart all the days of his life! Reminds me of when we three older kids were in the front of our church for Christmas Eve service, and my 2yo sister was mad because she was too little. At the end of the service she escaped my dad and stood in the middle of the aisle giving the benediction to the whole church at the top of her lungs. Still laughing about that! That graduation card is amazing. I love the brusho background you've created and the silvery embossed stars. Great silhouettes, too. Those ornaments look so sweet! I do like them; they make a lovely Christmas card. Thank you for joining us at the Twofer Challenge. Bev

craftieodmae said...

Both are Gorgeous!!

craftieodmae said...

Gorgeous!!

Lynne in NI said...

LOL I'm sure your Mum and Dad laughed for years about your 'performance'! Hope you still get joy from your singing - I'm a sing-in-the-shower type person, no one else needs or would want to hear me haha
Fab cards, your starry background is so pretty and I LOVE your row of grads :)

Glittered Paws said...

Such pretty two-fers - all the embossing and shimmer. Love the graduation card - (maybe I'm just not ready for Christmas cards "yet"). I loved your story about you singing with your dad, what happy memories - memories are one thing that no one can take away from us. Thanks for sharing both your cards and your story.