I’m rather behind in posting the cards I’ve been making. I posted this Aliens card IN AUGUST, got the street number wrong, it took about 6 weeks to return to me then I posted it again… This is a well-travelled card!
Andrew Levins wrote Nelson: Pumpkins and Aliens, then appeared as a guest on our podcast in the funniest KidLit panel ever! He inspired this card but it took a while for me to figure out the details.
My card arrived today! Thank you so much! I love it pic.twitter.com/b39NWOe4bQ
— LEVINS (@levinsonline) October 2, 2020
Andrew Levins and his books
You can find Andrew Levins’s books at Penguin. His new book, Broccoli and Spies, is coming in January 2021!
And, according to Amazon, Puffin will publish Nelson: Pumpkins and Aliens in May 2021 in the United States.
Andrew’s website is aimed at adults, foodies and music lovers because he’s not *just* a children’s author!
The background
I originally wanted to make a card with a car loaded down with pumpkins, dropping pumpkins along the road, and the spaceship flying overhead. However, my crafting supplies and the card sizes I used were not compatible. If I was a cartoonist… I’m almost at the point of trying to sketch in images but I’m more likely to photoshop images to fit using Affinity Photo. But to do that effectively would take some time to refresh my memory. And probably work through some training classes because it’s been a while. So that is A PROJECT.
The process
So I gave up on my original idea. I’d still like to do it but perhaps as more of a scrapbooking page, something BIGGER. But not a 12 inch by 12 inch page because that’s some SERIOUS SPACE to fill. Also, square canvases are a bit tricky to design.
Over a period of months my little alien – that I had made, colored and used Glossy Accents to give the lights dimension – reminded me, repeatedly, that this card was a Work In Progress.
Finally I got my shit together, after buying (oops) another stamping set. This is a space stamping set with aliens, planets, the moon surface etc.
I stamped and colored the background images. I used masks to cover the stamped images but the masks – purchased – were really thick. When I ink-blended (Wilted Violet, Blueprint Sketch, Faded Jeans, Chipped Sapphire and Black Soot Distress Oxide Inks) over the masks, white lines surrounded the objects. I came in with Copic Markers to cover the white outlines because I am NOT a fan of white outlines usually.
Water droplets flicked over the background and soaked up with paper towel created some interest. And Perfect Pearls in the color Pearls created some shiny stars.
I heat-embossed the sentiment onto smooth black cardstock and cut it out in a rectangle. Then I decided I didn’t like the rectangle so I fussy cut the shape.
And glued everything together. Voila, an aliens card!
Thank you
Thank you Andrew Levins for being an awesome funny guest.
I enjoyed making this card. What do you enjoy doing for yourself as self-care?
Thank you, readers, for joining me today. Stay safe, wear a mask, and do something fun and/or relaxing for yourself.
