Hello … bonjour! Our new challenge at Twofer has just started … this time around our theme is positively heavenly … it’s …
… here are my celestial designs …
One of the things I discovered when coming up with ideas for my cards was that there are very, very few starry stamps in my stash … what a serious omission! What I was delighted to come across was a stencil from Winnie and Walter (my common image) … double delight actually … not only the stars … but a chance to play with stencilling too, something I’ve rarely done. Here’s a closer look at my first design …
… a star covered birthday gift. Here I stencilled the stars in three Distress Ink colours onto a mixed media panel, moving the stencil’s orientation with each change of ink so that there was no overlapping. The panel was trimmed to size, I sponged the edges to add definition, did some gentle silver splattering over it and silver heat embossed the Papertrey strings. The WPlus9 tiny tag was die cut and sponged round the edges … and silver heat embossed with a smidge of the tied string (where it’s threaded through the hole) and with the Uniko birthday sentiment. The miniscule stars around the sentiment are from Winnie and Walter. The tag was popped up on foam tape on the package … and the package was popped up on the card base.
My twofer stars …
… a starry Christmas card. Here, I used the stencil just the once, sponging over gold Delicata ink, stamped tiny silver dots (Winnie and Walter) between the stars and edged the panel with gold washi tape. The sentiment is from Papertrey, stamped in gold and mounted over silver washi. This isn’t how this design started out … it was originally one layer … the stars and dots weren’t coralled by the washi but were spilling out across the middle of the card in a playful, unstructured sort of a way. However … when washi tape that was destined for the bottom edge of the card stuck where it shouldn’t have been and I pulled it off too quickly, my finished OLC was left with an ugly torn surface. Oh dear (bet you can just hear me saying that!) … what to do … start from scratch or do a rescue job? I rescued … by trimming out the unstructured spilling out stars and dots and edging them with the washi. The first version was fun … this one is clean and crisp … and in the end I’d have been happy with either (which is p’raps as well really!).
What comes into your creative mind when you think of stars? We’d love to see! All the details about how to play along are over at the Twofer blog … together with with heaps of splendid starry inspiration from the DT. We’re delighted to have two Guest Designers with us this month … Barb from Barb’s Studio Creations and Cat from Cat Luvs Paper … welcome ladies! If you’re not familiar with Barb’s and Cat’s fabulous work, you’ll really want to go and have a visit with them both … there’s so much delicious inspiration to enjoy and absorb! Even if you are familiar, pop along anyway … you can always say hello while you’re there!
My birthday gift is heading to …
Happy Little Stampers Dies – Anything Goes
Seize The Birthday – Anything Goes … without the black and white topping
Uniko – 7th Birthday Party … many congratulations, Bev and all the team past and present!
Watercooler Wednesday – Feminine Anything Goes
… and my celestial sky is joining in at …
CAS Christmas – Peace
Happy Little Stampers Christmas – With Star Option
Thanks so much for coming by, your visits and comments are always a joy! Anita 🙂
My Papercraft World 
A starry delight! Looks like we both have had a go at stencilling recently. These are amazing and love the little pressie all wrapped up x
Yes I was never one that was big for ‘stars’ and made the brave decision to buy a set of nesting star dies, luckily they were discounted because I may have used them once….. lol. Maybe I need to join the fun and break out those stars. Love your sweet little starry scenes and great use of the stencil too!
Just think, Therese … play along at Twofer and you’ll double the return on that investment … tee hee! Hugs, Anita 🙂
These both have me starry eyed! Love the use of the stencil! I have plenty of stencils, even one or two with stars, but I rarely use them as the look I manage looks less than stellar. LOL I adore your starry present, so clever with the thread and your not really accidental starry strip looks amazing all corralled as you have shown. Fantastic work, Anita!
Two FABULOUS cards Anita!! I love the soft colors of your birthday present card…and amazed at all that silver embossing that really does look like string!! And great save on your Christmas card…it turned out perfectly elegant with the gold and silver…LOVE it!! Thanks for the wonderful inspiration my friend!! :0)
Both these cards are twinkilicious…I may just CASE you and use a stencil, as well. I think that tiny tag amongst all those stars is just too adorable for word. As for your twofer, if all you said is,”oh dear”, I nominate you as genteel lady of the year. I can assure you that wouldn’t be what came out of my mouth if I tore my cardstock. My craft space would turn as blue as the stars on your birthday card. Personally,
I believe the extra layer adds a lot of pizzazz to it, though. Lovely and elegant…just like you.
Two beautiful cards! Love the colours and the fab silver strings for the gorgeous present card and the Christmas card is heavenly! Well saved! I love stars so these cards to me are just perfection. xxx
These are my kind of cards. I love them both xx
You have me singing Vincent’s song, Anita! Oh I do love both of your GOLD STAR creations, my friend … and I have a few sets that would work a charm! Hope to have a little extra star-studded crafty time! [I’ll stop now! lol] xx
=]
This was such a tough challenge for me Anita! Your cards are rocking! Love the blue starry wrapping paper and your gold version is perfect for the holidays. Superb challenge cards.
You took to stenciling like you’ve been at it for years, Anita! Your multi-hued HDSP for wrapping the present is STARific! You remind me that I haven’t used my PTI ribbons in a million years and I love how it looks with that sweetie-pie tag sediment! And WOW I’m crazy about your golden starry and dotty Christmas card! Your first idea sounded like fun, but excuse me, it wasn’t its day! THIS was the card design for today! I’m constantly amazed at how pushy Mr. Mojo can be at times, but you have to admit, he was right as usual! This one is a QACAS work of art, easy to batch make, and easy to mail!! LYAMYMA! Hugs, Darnell xxoo
The thing is, I really can hear you saying, “Oh dear!” in my mind! Inflection, tone, facial expression, body language – the works! Makes me miss you even more! Gorgeous twofer, Anita! Your tri-tone starry wrapping paper is delightful with the tag and silver strings. I love your little details on the tag! That gold washi decided it needed to contain those stars, and so it does – beautifully!
Star light, star bright!! I like the linked edges and faux bow you added to the first one. These are terrific Anita!
Same for me, Anita — I’m lacking in the star department, but I will say that you pulled it off beautifully with your stencil. So nice that you were prompted to play with it. I love the pretty present all wrapped in stars and tied up with silver cord. Your stars are also very pretty as a CAS Christmas card. Sorry about the Washi tape accident. We’ve all had that sort of stamping catastrophe, but we don’t always manage to save it as nicely as you did.
Two gorgeous, starry cards, Anita! I love the birthday package! The starry present is perfect for a gal or a guy and that ribbon is fantastic! What beautiful gold stars and silver dots on the Christmas card! Thanks so much for sharing with us at CAS Christmas!
I’d never have thought to use stars on a Christmas card Anita – what a perfect, CAS design to make a whole heap of cards quickly. I love the combo of blue hues you’ve used on the first as well. I could see that on a baby boy card!
Such elegance – with both cards! You probably could have made a quadrofer with those pretty stars! So versatile. My cards are the total opposite of yours, LOL! I’ll show them tomorrow…
Your starry designs are simply fabulous, Anita! The perfect example of how to create clean and simple designs with stencils!
two wonderful CAS cards Anita. I love that little present with the stencilled stars, and your gold peace star banner is wonderful. thanks for joining us at CAS Christmas 🙂
Think you have to use stencils more often; both cards look stunning! Like how you made one into a present; such a simple and super effective way with the twine… (tha’s one to remember) Wish you a good start and a good week!
You have the patience of a saint, my friend, to line up the stencil with no overlapping, and also with the little dotted stamp because I have that one and it isn’t easy unless you used the individual dots which also takes patience. The package looks fabulous, Anita, with the embossed strings and the inking around the edges. I too almost ruined a card when tape stuck. Luckily it was just a small tear that could be covered with a sequin.
Perfect pair of star cards, Anita!! Just love both designs!
Two beautiful cards, Anita. Your peace card is fabulous with the starry background. Thanks for joining us at CAS Christmas.
Both of your super CAS cards are classy and elegant. Love the colour combination on the first Birthday card and the glorious gold on the second. Maybe you will become addicted to stencils!!!! x
Love the look of a star-wrapped gift on a card! Very fun design. Thanks for joining us at Watercooler Wednesday.
Wonderful star cards Anita! Love how you’ve added stenciled stars with different colours of blue to create a pretty “gift” card with the ribbon. I love the idea of layering the stars … so clever to give a completely different look to your Christmas card. Great save with that, btw … love the gold starts and silver dots. Very elegant and festive. xx
Lovely star cards! I especially like the blue one with the cute little sentiment tag. Thanks for joining us at Watercooler Wednesday.
Since I bought new brushes I may do a bit more stenciling, especially considering your cards. These turned out magnificently! And I like this stencil; most others have such large images, and these stars are perfectly sized. Ingenious to create a gift! And the embossed bow ‘tops’ it off most sweetly. So glad you didn’t bin your Christmas card; it turned out quite lovely in the end! The gold and silver together work beautifully. Sending hugs and missing you like crazy! xoxoxoxo
Great cards Anita. I love the simplicity of the cards but also you used two materials I like using washi tape and stencils. My first Introduction to Stamping class began this month and the first class is always using washi tape which is great for beginners because it can hide a multitude of mistakes. Did you know in the US we celebrate George Washington’s birthday on February 18?
My best, Barb
Simples et belles ! J’aime beaucoup tes deux cartes, Anita. Je dois dire que quand le thème Étoiles sort dans un défi, j’ai toujours un peu de mal. J’aime beaucoup les regarder dans le ciel, mais j’ai du mal à les mettre en valeur sur une carte. C’est pourquoi je t’admire car avec deux designs différents tu as réussi à faire 2 magnifiques cartes et comme toujours superbement CAS ! Je n’aurai malheureusement pas le temps de jouer ce mois-ci mais je me rattraperai en mars ! Bises xx
Beautiful clean cards with great stenciling. I love how you saved the peace card. The washi looks great and filling in with the dots made a great design. I like the idea of a birthday gift on the card.
Loving your Twofers Anita! So fun they are! The first one looks like a gift all wrapped up in star paper-so festive, so fun. I love the second one too, that star is so important at Christmas, so a great way to give it “honor” on this card. What peace the star is! Hugs, Brenda
Two really beautiful cards. Anita! Such a great idea to use your stencils…I love how you created a lovely ‘package’ with silver embossed strings and darling tag! I also love the simplicity of your Christmas card…using gold for your stars is perfect for a holiday card, and I love how you saved the day with your Washi tape! A fabulous Twofer, my friend! Barb xx
The stencilled effect of those stars is so delicate Anita… just lovely!
Thanks so much for joining in the fun at HLS Christmas challenge!
Chrissie
Love both of your sweet cards…all those stars are simply magical!
Hi, Anita. I’m back to thank you for sharing your gold starry card with us at Happy Little Stampers Christmas.
Starry-eyed in seeing your sensational celestial twofer, Anita! Marvelous designs and, of course, I’m loving that you’ve used stencils to create the magic!
hugs~c
Hi Anita,
such very super creations fro the Twofer DT.
They are so inspiring.
Lots of crafty love. Jenny L.
Oh I am in love!! You totally ROCKED this!! I had such a hard time coming up with something so I didn’t play. GREAT design!
Lovely blend of silver and gold! I like the way you added the sentiment off to the side. Thanks so much for joining us at CAS Christmas!
Two amazing starry cards. Beautiful Christmas card, Anita. I love gold and white, it’s so elegant
Thank you for sharing this great card with us at HLS XMAS.
Bożena DT HLS
Thanks for sharing your fantastic project with us in the Happy Little Stampers February “Anything Goes With Dies” challenge and we hope to see you again next month!
Hugs,
Leslie, HLS Dies Team
Love To Scrap 2
Thanks for joining us at Happy Little Stampers! Beautiful set of cards..love all the stars!