Folks, I have to tell you I have been in a crafty funk for almost a month now. I misplaced my mojo yet again and this time I had a really hard time finding it. But just in the nick of time my mojo returned from wherever it had been to bail me out so I had a card to share today! This month the prompt for the Squirrels Gone Nutz hop is Friendship and Shakers! I am sandwiched between 2 very talented ladies!!! You should have arrived here from Boryana Yankova, from Bory’s Crafting Place. And after me is Natasha Davies, from Handmade By Tasha, and I’ll give her link again at the end of this post!

Now, I don’t know where the mojo went while it was MIA, but while it was gone it got the crazy idea that I could do a galaxy background. (So, clearly it was hiding at another crafter’s house. Maybe it popped in an envelope when I mailed out a card?!? No, probably not, because I’m terrible at actually mailing my cards. Please tell me I’m not the only one!) Anyway, I figured if my mojo thought I could do it, I should at least give it a go. I’m sure it could have come out better but I’m pretty pleased with my first galaxy card! I just used my Gansai Tambi paints and pushed past the hot mess stage. Now the real inspiration for the space theme was the MFT Stars Above stamp set I had to have in 2016… and then never used, until now, 5 embarrassing years later. It has some of the best friendship sentiments in it! Not only that, I knew I had a couple star die sets that I thought I could use to make my shaker. (Spoiler alert: I was wrong. I didn’t use either one because the shape of the stars were different and it would have looked odd.) Instead of physical dies, I used my Silhouette and a watermarked photo of the stamp set to create a slightly larger die cut a matching star in the exact place I wanted on my card front in just the right size. Cool, huh? I don’t know what I’d do without my Silhouette!!! With that step done, I stamped my images and sentiment in Versamark and heat embossed in white embossing powder. Then I created masks with a slightly larger border for each to cover my stamping before splattering white paint over the background. The masks helped to keep the images and sentiment sharp enough to read despite all the surrounding splatter stars. Not that you can see it in photos, but I also sprayed the card front with Sparkle Shimmer Spray from Tsukineko for a lovely, starry look.

I wanted the cut out star to line up inside the shaker window, so I used the card front as a positioner to glue the star in the right place on the card base. Then I added acetate and a ludicrous amount of foam tape on the back of the galaxy scene card front and got to the real fun… picking shaker bits! I had to include these silver star confetti I have had since before I started cardmaking, but I auditioned quite a few sequins, confetti, microbeads and embellishments before settling on this combo… colored iridescent sequins from Walmart, the star confetti from my stash, and clear diamonds from Queen & Co. I added a few of the little stars and sequins to the card front as well. And ta-da!!! All done! I’m rather stoked with how this turned out as I was certain I would screw it up somehow along the way. Now please don’t forget that this is a hop and Tasha will be so sad if you don’t continue on and see her project!!! Here is the full line up so you don’t get lost:

• Lounon Riviere
• V Fairchild
• Bory Yankova
• Karen Page —- YOU ARE HERE 😊
• Natasha Davies —- YOUR NEXT STOP!
• Marie Bingaman
• Anna Mahtani

I so wish this card was faster to make in multiples because I’d send one to each of the incredible ladies in that list! I’m so thankful for my Squirrel Squad! So appreciative for you guys!!! You definitely make my life brighter! ✨💖✨ And I’m so appreciative for the folks who visit me here and on IG @misplacedmojo too, otherwise I’m just talking to myself here (which really isn’t all that unusual, just ask my husband 😉). Enjoy the rest of the Squirrels Gone Nutz hop, my crafty friends!!!