Hello crafters! We had a weekend with lovely warm autumn weather. Unfortunately, many leaves are falling, so the trees aren't quite as pretty any longer. I wish that most beautiful period of autumn would last a little longer, but I guess part of its beauty lies in the fact that it is so fleeting and short. This week at the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog we have a Starry Night theme. Stars are one of my favorite things to include in projects, and they work for so many different themes. Don't miss the last project of our October guest designer Tenia Nelson, aka Jazzy Paper Designs. This week, I created a dreamy galaxy in one of my art journals. The background was such fun to create and it is quick and easy. I found a little cut-out photo of Anton on my desk, from when he was smaller, and decided to let him fly on a cloud on the page. It looks like he is balancing, which worked extra well together with the quote by Vincent van Gogh. The background would work great for many different projects, such as scrapbooking layouts and Christmas cards. The larger spot at the bottom right was an accident, but I decided that it kind off looked like a far off planet or a moon. I used Tim Holtz new Sizzix Swirling Stars for the background. Start with a piece of watercolor paper and die cut the star designs. For the two very detailed dies, it is a good idea to use the Sizzix Chrome Precision Base Plate, since it works great to get a clean cut with detailed wafer-thin dies. Mist the background with Tim's Distress Resist Spray and let dry. I love resist techniques and this is such a cool product. I misted a larger piece of paper at the same time, for future projects. Mist the background with Distress Spray Stains, starting with the lighter shades. Instead of misting with water to blend, I used the Cracked Pistachio spray, to make sure I got as saturated colors as possible. It is fun to watch them blend and move around. There was leftover ink from the misting on my craft sheet, and I pressed a piece of watercolor paper into the ink, misting the ink with a little water first. This will form a cool background for future projects, and made sure I didn't waste all that ink. Stamp with the a dotted background stamp, just here and there, for a little more texture. The new Flurry 1 snowflake die has a star shape, and I thought it would work well to ground the photo to the background. Look at the fantastic fine detail of this die. Again, the Chrome Precision Base Plate works great when it comes to die cutting these detailed dies. I die cut it from Simon Says Stamp lovely White Diamond Glimmery Paper. The same glimmer paper was placed behind the galaxy panel, since I wanted the stars to be white, but also just a little bit shimmery. The quotes were printed and cut into strips. I loved the effect of the Resist Spray and almost wished I had added some more. It also gives a really cool textured feel to the paper. The swirly star designs and the swirly color complement each other to create a dynamic looking galaxy background. The cloud was made with a piece of cheese cloth - it is white in real life, but for some reason it is looking distressed here. I also added some Clipping Hearts which were leftovers from Friday's SSS Fun and Festive Blog Hop post. Here's another lovely quote about stars. It is hard to capture the shine of the white glimmer cardstock, but perhaps you can see it a little bit here. I rounded the outer corners and adhered it in my Small Creative Journal. My journals aren't chronological, but I date every page. Some pages work better as right hand or left-hand pages. When I work directly in my journals, I often choose the right-hand page, especially when the journal has started to become fuller, since that page usually lies flat, while the left-hand page doesn't. So these lose pages that are taped into the journal often end up on the left, but the galaxy worked better on the right. For more inspiration on the Starry Night theme, check out my Embossed Cityscape tag from last week. I hope you will join us this week in our Starry Night challenge. As always, you have a chance to win a $50 gift voucher to do some fun shopping at Simon Says Stamp. You have until next Monday 8am Ohio time. 1pm UK time, 2 pm CET to join in. Don't forget to follow Simon Says Stamp on Instagram, they post great stuff daily. Do you use Instagram? If so please add #sssmchallenge so we can see your entries there too. Thank you so much for taking the time to visit my blog today! Happy crafting! Anna-Karin Supplies: * Please note: the links are affiliate links, for which I receive a small percentage of sales generated by the link, at no extra cost to you.