SAS4Kids For the Boys

Hi, everyone! Happy Easter Eve! (That's a thing, right?!)

Things are pretty well under control for tomorrow's dinner with our dads. And, basketball is in full swing. And, I found a couple of unexpected bonus hours to spend in the menopause room.

So, I tried out a partial die technique shared by Jennifer McGuire in this video to make a card for the current SAS4Kids For the Boys Challenge.

Strathmore watercolor paper
Stampin' Up! Be the Star stamps (in StazOn jet black) and Stars framelits
Distress Inks: mustard seed, scattered straw, fired brick, chipped sapphire, dusty concord
inking tools: MISTI, Ranger blending tool and mini mister, toothbrush
ribbons: Really Reasonable  Ribbon (black); Celebrate It (orange)
SU small star punch; Uni-Ball gold gel pen
adhesives: Scotch ATG; Zig 2-way pen; Zots glue dots

shimmery stars and a
gold-inked flecked background

• Looking through my dies, the two best options for this partial die technique were scallops and stars. Since I wanted to make a card for a boy, I chose the stars... and decided to go with a gold star and bluish purple background.
• I then decided on the position for the three stamped stars and stamped each one in StazOn on watercolor paper with my MISTI.
• The background was masked off, and the stars were inked with a Ranger blender using a combination of DI mustard seed, scattered straw, and fired brick. In addition, the stars were spritzed with an MFT shimmer mist.
• I then lined up the scored fold to partially cut the large star using the technique shown in Jennifer's video.
• Next, I masked off the stars and back side of the card base to ink the background in DI chipped sapphire and dusty concord.
• The ribbon was added to hide an oops that occurred when removing the masking from the largest star. However, an all black ribbon treatment felt really overpowering. So, I snipped a piece of orange organza and paired that with the black to create my ribbon tie. I really liked the way this softened the ribbon's look and brought a little of the stars' color to the ribbon.
• Although I was liking the color combo, -- including the background color, the background still felt flat. So, I: 1) re-masked the stars, 2) stamped lots and  lots of mini stars, and 3) spattered flecks of gold all around the card's background. To spatter the flecks, I dabbed my gold pen against a mounting block, rubbed a toothbrush in the gold ink, spritzed the toothbrush with water, and flicked the ink about the card.
• The card was feeling pretty close to being done. My last steps to punch out a couple of stars; ink them up in DI mustard seed, scattered straw, and fired brick; and attach them to the card.
• It's also worth mentioning that the card height, including the partially cut star, is 4.25 inches. So, 0.75 inch was trimmed from the bottom.

My hospital contact has received requests for cards without any sentiments. Our guidelines at SAS4Kids is to keep card insides sentiment-free, allowing loved ones the opportunity to personalize cards in any way they wish. However, this special request is to not include any sentiments on the cards' fronts. So, this card is completely sentiment free. I had to totally fight the urge to add a, "U Rock" sentiment strip... but resist I did!

Parting Thoughts 

The She Began to Fly Challenge is still up and running at Words 2 Craft By -- with a chance to win SSS gift certificates. And a Just Purple Challenge started last Monday at Cards in Envy.

 Have a wonderful Easter celebration with family and loved ones.