Out of This World by Dave Brethauer

Hello Memory Box fans!

I am thrilled to share some "out of this world" slider cards in today's video - simple sliders that reveal messages, turn cartwheels and blast off! All of these projects are easy to do - and make sliders seem like a piece of cake.

Watch this video in HD by clicking HERE

The centerpiece of two of the projects is the astronaut - so I used the 99973 Astro Suit to create this nifty little space explorer. When I designed the suit, I knew that I wanted the arms to be separate from the body, so that the astronaut could make different gestures or be holding something. After working out the details, I created the die so that you could position the head and arms as you wanted onto the body with ease - just by adding a piece of scrap paper to the back (more details in the video).

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I began with a sponged background of Distress Oxide inks - Broken China, Faded Jeans and Wilted Violet - and blended them a bit with Black Soot. The Black Soot tones things down a little - after all this is supposed to be outer space! - and then I sprayed everything with some water and bleach solution (1 tbsp bleach to 2 or 3 cups of water).

I cut the stars out of yellow cardstock using the 99971 Starry Sky Border and cut the moon using the 99974 Deep Space Planets.

Adding a little foam mounting tape gave them some dimension - and you can have a little fun with the astronaut by having him hold one of the stars too!

And look what happens when you pull the slider open - a message is revealed! The 99851 Straight Slider Grooves are used to create the slider across the bottom - and I stamped a sentiment ("you're out of this world") on black cardstock positioned just inside the groove. The sentiments fit just right - it was serendipity!

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I added the rocket ship from the 99976 Unbelievable UFOs to make it look like the rocket was cruising across the card as you pull the slider.

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Adding some little dots with a White Gel Pen - it makes the background come alive a little - and adds some bright texture.

And can you see all the fine details on the astronaut suit? When I designed the die, I added cuffs, and little seams all around the suit and helmet so that it looked interesting. I made the face portion of the helmet so that it would cut out separately - I envisioned it in white, then black, with some sort of reflective look to it - or you could even use clear plastic and add a stamped person inside!

I positioned the astronaut's arms so that it looked like the astronaut was giving a thumbs up!

For the next project - I wanted to incorporate a slider tip that I learned awhile back. I wanted the astronaut to do cartwheels as it went left to right! I had this idea that the astronaut was sort of jumping from hill to hill in low gravity - spinning through the air!

To start - I needed both arms to be in the same position - so I cut the astronaut twice - and just reversed one of the arms. This way the arms are both raised up!

I used the CL5221 Outta This World clear stamp set to make the sentiment - just stamp and emboss with white embossing powder to make it really show up on the dark background.

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Starting from the left side - you can see that the astronaut is in the ready position. And then when you tilt the card...

...it starts to spin! To see the original idea for this, take a look at my Zig Zag Slider video - I was able to capture the spinning in slow motion video and it's really fun to watch! You do have to use Foam Dots in order to make the astronaut spin - check out the details in the video!

I did some die cutting to spice up the background - 99970 Twinkle Breeze created a row of twinkling stars and I used the 99974 Deep Space Planets to create a fun planet!

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For the slider groove, I used the 99840 Slider Grooves to create an arched opening - this gave the idea that the astronaut was jumping a little in the air as it was spinning. It was easy to create the hills - I sponged white cardstock with Iced Spruce Distress Oxide ink, sprayed with the bleach and water solution (this lmakes it look like the ground is full of little moon rocks!) and then cut it using the 99842 Stitched Curves.

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For my last card, I was tired of using dark colors, so I decided to change things up. I wanted the colors of a fiery rocket blast off - and the card needed to have exciting colors since it could be used to wish someone a very happy celebration of their birthday!

The slider mechanism is simple - just an easy pull tab that helps the rocket achieve lift off! I used the 99851 Straight Slider Grooves die to create a path. The background is sponged and spritzed - I used Worn Lipstick, Fossilized Amber and Spiced Marmalade for color - keeping the lighter color in the middle and the darker colors towards the edges.

I put together the rocket from the 99975 Roaring Rocket die for an out of this world space craft. There are plenty of fun little details on this - little rivets, a window, embossed fins - and flame coming out of the bottom!

I knew that the 99969 Swirl Switch Clouds would be perfect - little clouds surrounding the blast off would add some excitement and dimension to the card, plus the stitched swirl is really, really cool in person!

Since all of the colors were so bright - I decided to cut out a black circle (my nod to an eclipse) using the 30087 Circle Basics Set and stamped/embossed the sentiment with white embossing powder. It looked a little simple, so I decided to surround the circle with stars - the 99972 Starry Ring made all the difference - and I even used one of the cut out stars as a little decorative star on the black circle!

Hope you are inspired to create some outer space cards of your own - these planets, rockets, UFO's, stars and astronaut can be used to create some amazing ideas! Have a blast!