The Squirrel Squad is at it again! Our monthly hops are all about using old supplies we’ve squirreled away and forgotten about. Each month we pick either a supply or technique, and a prompt to go with it. For October, we’re doing the Galaxy technique (typically for making backgrounds), and the prompt is Celebrations. Now, I’m not gonna lie… I was initially stumped and couldn’t figure out how I was going to use the galaxy backgrounds. Like, for weeks. But as usual, once I started playing the ideas just started flowing. That said, I made 3 nearly identical cards so you won’t get to see all those cool ideas that were bursting in my head! LOL ***BUT*** that’s the beauty of this being a HOP! I’m confident that my dear friends and fellow crafters came up with a bunch of creative ways to use the galaxy technique on their cards!!! Here is the full lineup, which is totally doable since its just 6 of us! I’m kicking it off this month so be sure to hop to the next stop which is amazing Anna Mahtani!

• Karen Page – YOU ARE HERE
• Anna Mahtani
• Marie Bingaman
• Boryana Yankova
• V Fairchild
• Lounon Riviere

First let’s talk about the technique. While there are several ways to do it, I chose to ink blend a rainbow of Distress Oxide colors on the cardstock, not making any attempt to blend or get smooth coverage. Then I used Black Soot Distress Oxide to smudge up the whole panel covering the places that I missed or that had blended into a muddy mess. Now at that point it still looks like a hot mess, but I pushed on knowing the final step will make that mess resemble space. I put a dab of bright white acrylic paint on my craft mat and watered it down just a wee bit. Then with a paintbrush I splattered it all over the panel… aaaaand most of my desk and maybe a little of the floor, too. Ha! And I even used a splatter box to try to contain the mess but I splattered with abandon until I was happy with the panels. I’m pretty sure there is paint on my overhead lamp too! But the more you splatter, the better it looks though… and with 3 panels, I splattered A LOT! Take a look at my set of cards:

See? Nearly identical with the use of vellum and white embossing powder, and yet each is a different celebration theme and uses different stamp sets and bling! Coincidentally all the stamp sets used were from My Favorite Things, but it was not intentional on my part… just happened to work out that way. And each set had only been used once and then left to collect dust so I’m happy to get more than 1 use out of them. OK, let’s take a closer look, shall we? First up is my favorite of the trio:

This birthday card will be going to my son’s friend who has been like an adopted child to me for the last 8 years. This space themed card is right up his alley as he plays several video games that are space related. The stamp set used is MFT’s Level Up, which is all video game related. While it has shiny elements, its not exactly “bling”. I used a couple sizes of silver stars purchased forever ago from Oriental Trading Company back in my scrapbooking days, and also a few Ice Rink sequins from Pink & Main (sadly no longer available on their website) that I hoped looked like planets. This card is my favorite because it has some areas where the colors blended to create another color, and while the card will be hand delivered I preferred the mostly flat embellishments for a masculine version of a galaxy card.

OK, next up is an Anniversary card:

This card uses MFT’s Stars Above stamp set and tiny diamonds from Queen & Co that I think are meant to be shaker elements but they became dimensional stars on this card! I stamped and embossed the star elements on vellum and fussy cut them out and I was able to use liquid glue to attach them by putting it where the embossing powder is the thickest at the points where the lines meet. Same on the sentiment, which worked better than I expected. This card is definitely *not* mail friendly but that’s OK since it will be hand delivered to my hubby! The photo above doesn’t show how sparkly the diamonds are in real life. Indulge me in another view that shows you just how dimensional these really are:

See? Tiny in diameter but totally 3D and pointy! I love how they pick up the color from underneath them!

And now for my 3rd card in the trio… for which I am cheating on the “Celebration” theme. *snicker* In celebration of Friendship Day (yes, I know it has already passed and no one celebrate it anyway) I made this card for my Bestie, but it also seemed fitting to share this here with some of the best crafty friends a girl could ask for, the fellow card makers in this hop group! Y’all don’t know how much this little group of ours makes me happy!!! If it weren’t for my peeps I think I would have sealed up the craft room for a creative hiatus, and yet every month when I sit down to make the projects for this hop I am so thankful that I made the time for me to be creative. I wouldn’t have taken that time for myself had it not been for these ladies, and for that I am so grateful! OK, after that lengthy introduction, let me share card #3:

This card uses MFT’s Anything But Basic Friendship stamp set. I don’t have the coordinating “friend” die so after stamping and embossing I fussy cut the word out. The dark, iridescent sequins are a mix from Walmart and like all shiny things, they don’t photograph well but they are a translucent gray with an iridescent, shimmery sheen that is gorgeous in real life!

All through this creative process I was feeling a strong sense of deja vu. Then in uploading the pics into this post I realized I’ve made a similar yet different card like this before… and not so long along. Guess I am losing my mind that I didn’t realize it sooner! If you would like yet another MFT galaxy card idea, click here to see my shaker card version using the Stars Above set 😁 Honestly, the only other galaxy card I remembered making was this one using a set from Jane’s Doodles using the To The Moon set. I’m so glad this wasn’t an identical copy of a previous card!!! I’m thinking I better see my doctor for a dementia screening! 😆 Had I not been unintentionally CASE’ing myself (LOL) I might have maybe been able to experiment with some of the other ideas I had!!! 🤦‍♀️ I came up with a Halloween idea and a Christmas idea, and a way to use cute cartoony space themed stamps. Someone please remind me of those ideas for the next time we have a galaxy challenge!!! Because *I’m* clearly not likely to remember them! HA!

OK, I know I rambled on there quite a bit (like usual), but don’t forget this is a hop and there are 5 other stops with much more talented crafters than myself for you to be inspired by!!! Next on the hop is Anna Mahtani who will likely have an amazing tutorial for you and a creative spin on the galaxy technique!!! I always love her take on our monthly prompts!

Be sure to hop along and either leave some love in the comments and/or click to subscribe to these incredible ladies so you don’t miss any of their creative goodness!!! Thanks for stopping by today! Mwah!