Birthday and Anniversary Cards, Same Sketch and Inspiration

Hello again! I have a couple of cards to share today that were inspired by this challenge a few weeks ago at Fusion:

I thought the color scheme was perfect for a 4th of July anniversary and a birthday a few days after the 4th. I started by blending Chipped Sapphire and Salty Ocean Distress Inks onto pieces of white cardstock. I then took a background stamp and misted it with water. I stamped that onto my inked backgrounds and let the water and Distress Ink do their magic. For the star, I stamped it on watercolor paper and heat embossed it. I then pressed Barn Door Distress Ink onto a plastic plate, sprayed it with water and then pressed my paper into it. I let the ink dry and then repeated until I was happy with the color. Once it was totally dry, I fussy cut the star, colored in some of the spaces with markers and cut the star in half. I stamped the sentiments on white cardstock scraps and attached them to my card front. I then added the star with foam tape. I decided they needed a bit more, so I added a strip of red glitter paper. I finished off the card with some white sequins.