Stamp Review Crew: Awesomely Artistic Edition

Wow, is August really half over?! I feel like I have just gotten settled into summer and it will be over in just a few short weeks! But, I am happy that it is time for another edition of the Stamp Review Crew :)  This hop features Awesomely Artistic which is another of those little black dress kinds of sets, like Gorgeous Grunge. You can do some much with this set, and accent other sets so well with it.

If this is your first time hopping with us, then I should tell you that we are an international group of Stampin' Up! demonstrators that gets together every first and third Monday of the month to feature a single stamp set. We share lots of ideas for that set to get you excited and inspired :) You can check out the master blog roll on our home blog, and find all of our past hops, and all of the links will take you directly to the posts you are looking for!

If you are hopping along in order, then you just arrived from Mike Funke's wonderful blog!

My first card was actually one of my swaps for convention. Not a last minute project for the hop, but it was definitely a multi-tasking project, lol! This is meant to be a sympathy card, and it has some watercolor techniques going on. I started out with a 3¾" x 5" piece of watercolor paper, sponged Sahara Sand and Tip Top Taupe in a roughly triangular blob with the flat, wide end on the left and the point of the right- if that makes sense, lol. Then I spatter water onto the paper with a large wet watercolor paintbrush. Let the water sit for a few seconds, then absorb with a clean, dry clothe. Repeat as needed to get the look you want. I created a mask for the foliage stamp so I could stamp once, then mask that image, and stamp two more times, without re-inking, above and below the masked image. There are a whole bunch of tiny pearls on the foliage too. Ann Schach must be rubbing off on me, and who wouldn't love that?!

Inside was stamped with the foliage image again, in Sahara Sand on the Crumb Cake cardstock.

This was my first attempt at the swap card, but it just did not feel right for the picture in me head. I like it though. The ribbon is the Tip Top Taupe lace trim folded over and a piece of 1/8: Gold ribbon. There is sponging and water spattering on this one too, but it is less dramatic, and there is no masking of the foliage.

Inside is stamped with Mint Macaron on Mint Macaron paper.

That's all I did for this hop, hope it was inspiring!

Now it's time to head on over to Linda Callahan's blog where I am sure she will delight you with her creativity :)

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