Make a Galaxy Background Card

Hello everyone,
Today I have my second GSL DT post for April and this time, I have a card featuring a galaxy background and some heat embossed elements that could be used as a birthday card or encouragement card.

Galaxy Background

Cut a piece of watercolour paper measuring 5.5 x 8.5 inches.  Start the design by drawing in some zodiac constellations.  You can find a chart of all zodiac constellations here.

For this card, I used Taurus, Gemini and Cancer and drew them in with a wax pencil.  You can also use a wax crayon instead.  If you don't want specific star signs, you could draw random patterns or you could draw one big one using the star sign of the card recipient.

For my galaxy background I started off with this lovely turquoise colour, but you could use blues, purples, greens etc.

Then I added in some purples and payne's grey around the outside.  Black could be used instead of payne's grey.

Keep adding paint and layers, drying in between until you are happy with how it looks.  For an extra pop of colour I added this bright green in the centre along with some magenta.  

Adding star details

Once the watercolour background is dry, I added some white acrylic paint splatters to represent stars of various sizes.

Use a stiff bristle brush and flick the paint to add a fine spray and then splatter some bigger drops.

For added interest add some gold metallic ink splatter to the background.  If your constellations aren't bright enough you can draw over them again with the same wax pencil/crayon.

 

Chipboard Embellishments

For the sentiment I used this Smile curly word chipboard but I cut it in half to fit on the card front, then gave it a coat of white gesso.

 

Once the gesso was dry, I used some white embossing powder to heat emboss the word and the curly tail.

I also used these gold stars that were already altered in this post and glued them into place using PVA glue.

To make the card base, use one piece of 8.5 x 11 inch card, fold it in half along the short side, and adhere the card front to it and that's the card completed.  If you want any further embellishments, draw some little star/asterisks on with white pen. as shown below.

Hope you enjoyed this post.  Till next time, 

Elle
Empire of the Cat

Project Recipe:

Smile curly word D147E
Deco Stars D88S
watercolour paper, watercolour paint, acrylic paint, acrylic ink, white wax pencil or crayon, card base, white embossing powder, embossing ink, white gesso

"Smile" -a Mixed Media Canvas With Colourarte by Lynne

Happy Monday fellow crafters! This afternoon I'll be heading to the post office to put this canvas in the mail for my Dad's 81st birthday on April 30th. He recently had to move into a nursing home and has lots of plain wall space to be personalized. Since we live so far away I thought it would be nice for him to have a picture of my family for his room. Although the photo is a few years old, it's the most recent one of the four of us together.

I had a lot of fun layering the colors here. Canvases like this are great because if you aren't happy with the color combination, you can keep adding more or paint over it and start again.  I started with a couple shades of brown acrylic paint to coordinate with the sepia tones in the photo and layered them with dry-brushing and sponge painting. I did the same to the chipboard pieces and other embellishments before attaching them. I then had the chance to add some touches of colour with some beautiful new products from ColourArte

Loved the Curly Word smile piece for my title!!

Steampunk hearts are so great when you don't want something to be too girly-girl!!

Even flowers are okay on a man's gift if you throw in some gears and lightbulbs-lol!

I am in love with these Skeleton clocks as frames. As you may know from previous posts, I'm crazy about clocks and time-themed items!

I used the Radiant Rain Color Concentrate daubers in Nutmeg  Coral Berry and Wine & Roses by dabbing the colours directly onto the canvas then blending them with my finger (yes I like to get inky and messy when I create!) and used the Shimmering Mist in Sour Lemon. I also added some orange mist from my stash to get the range of colour I wanted. I looked in the ColourArte store and saw a couple lovely oranges that I will have to add to my collection...and of course a lot of other fabulous colours! Check them out and I'm sure you'll want to collect a few (or a lot!) to use on your Gypsy Soul chipboard pieces.

Gypsy Soul Items Used
Curly Word: Smile
Steampunk Hearts
Skeleton Clocks

Other Items Used
Radiant Rain Shimmering Mist-sour lemon
Radiant Rain dauber-nutmeg
Radiant Rain Dauber-wine & roses
Radiant Rain Dauber-coral berry
Recollections Bohemian shimmer mist