Seeing Stars

My sister's birthday is July 4th. When I first started making cards, I always made her a red, white, and blue card that doubled as an Independence Day one.  A few years ago, I decided to go against that idea and make her birthday cards with no patriotic connection.  This year, because Blog Hops with Heart chose "Seeing Stars" as their theme, I decided to edge my way back toward a bit of patriotism without being overt.

Since I've got four writing deadlines in four months between July and October, I'm stealing inspiration wherever I can find it.  This card came from the second card shown in this blog post. I used three different CTMH Cricut cartridges to create the tag, star, "happy" and a stencil for the background:

• "happy" - Artbooking
• tag and silver star - Art Philosophy
• star background - Artistry

If you own all three of these cartridges, you can use my DS file which I've linked for you here.

Because I want to use the stencil over and over, I cut it from thin plastic.  Someone posted the suggestion to purchase cheap, plastic dividers for notebooks when school supplies went on sale. I don't remember who that person is, but she's a genius!!  And I think school supplies are either already on sale or about to be, so stock up. When you cut, set your pressure for "cardstock" and do a trial run. If it doesn't cut all the way through, dial up your pressure a bit and try again. I have an Explore machine and set my dial between "cardstock" and "fabric."

Here are the other CTMH supplies I used:

• Paper: "Zoe" paper pack, Sorbet cardstock (comes in "Zoe"), Black and Gray Glitter paper pack
• Ink: Black and Glacier
• Stamps: "Finding the Words" (Birthday)
• Accessories: Glacier Thick Twine, Grey Enamel Gems (includes black, white, and grey gems in three sizes), Round Sponge

All these products are currently available, but most of them retire on August 1.

The only non-CTMH thing is the ribbon.  I can't remember where it came from because, frankly, I buy ribbon and hoard it for years.

My sister loved the card. Either that or she loved that I asked her to be my "back up" in case my husband can't accompany me on the trip I won to New York City. I told her she only got the spot if she promised not to pray for any calamity to overtake hubby. Of course, she immediately started texting me with small, easily recovered from calamities: vertigo, minor ear infection, sprained ankle...

Yeah...not so sure she was a good choice!

You, however, can make a good choice by continuing along this hop. Your next stop is Stephanie's blog. If you get lost along the way, you can always go to Kelly's blog (the one directly before me and our host this month) for a complete list of all the participants.

Yes, friends, make good choices!

Until next time,
Becca