You're a star

Welcome to another What If? Wednesday challenge from The House That Stamps Built.  This week we have a really fun inspiration photo for you:

Don't you just love the dimension on those stars?  And that woodgrain background??  Those were the two things that really caught my eye in this picture (plus the obvious color choices).  And here is where that inspiration took me:

I started with a woodgrain embossing folder and then swiped my gray ink pad directly across the embossed lines; it really makes the background pop!  I wanted to try to capture the dimension of the stars in the photo, so I die cut a star and used my scor-pal to score from the tip of each arm (what DO you call those?) to the center and then carefully folded along the score lines to make the center of the star rise to a point.  I added a piece of foam tape underneath the center of the star to adhere it and help keep the center raised.  I hope you get a chance to play along with us.  You can be inspired by anything in the photo: the stars, the colors, the background, etc.  Can't wait to see what you come up with.

Supplies:
Stamps: Repeat Impressions "Birthday" and "Star Cluster"
Dies: MFT "Blueprints 13" stitched rectangle and "Star STAX"; Spellbinders "Classic Circles, large"
Darice wood grain embossing folder

Challenges:
Die Cuttin' Divas #275--anything 3D (my 3D star and the embossing)
Pixie's Craft Challenge #238--anything goes with snippets (all the red and blue card stock are scraps and the focal circle was cut from a scrap)
Sketch Saturday #421--sketch

A Bit More Time #24--anything goes
One Stitch At A Time #266--elements of nature (stars)
Open Minded Challenge #7--Patriotic/use your country colors (USA: red, white, and blue)
A Blog Named Hero--masculine (not sure if I was supposed to use Hero Arts products.  If so, please remove me and I'm so sorry)
Crafty Calendar--punches and/or dies