One Set, Two Looks

Hello! It's me, Leslie, here today to share a little something for our Friday Focus. I thought it would be fun to choose a stamp set and take a look at it from two different creative points of view. I know that more than once I've looked at those black and white images and thought, "It's gorgeous, but it's just not me". Or perhaps whenever I use a particular stamp set I assign it the character it first imprints on my mind. Maybe my style or preference changes somewhere along the line and I think of purging a set from my collection. Over the years I've gotten a little better about visualizing how I might use a new stamp set, as well as tweaking the old sets to suit the new me. That I'm the world's worst at relinquishing old sets bears witness...


Today, however, I'm using a relatively new set, Gerbera Daisies, which I saw at first in one light -- a bright, summery, cheerful, fresh, I love it to pieces kind of light -- but just that one light. So, testing out its possibilities, I made two very different cards.

On the one hand, I have a cracked Victorian cameo, dressed in lace and pearls and pretty papers, tied with taffeta and expressing a heartfelt sentiment. This is not how I first imagined using this set but, gosh, it works! I started out with the image stamped on Classic White cardstock and colored with Copics from the Hollyhock collection. It was bright and pretty and good to go in any direction. Once I added a little caramel sponging around the edges and created the cracked glass finish with ultra-thick embossing powder, it began to move toward the romantic, vintage style of the finished card.




On the other hand I have pure clean and simple, with nothing but a splash of color in the center of all that white. This is how I orginally saw the set and, in fact, this style is working its way toward becoming my preference in stamping. The white may change with the season, as will the images, but so will my mood from time to time, and then I'll be right back around to layer upon layer of designer papers, trims, and color mixes. More than likely these same stamps will be there with me traveling the circuit of my mind's eye and my heart's desire.



These days if I gasp and sputter when I see a stamp set (as I do with most of Flourishes' stamps) I can rest assured I'll find a use for it and it will endure. A daisy is a daisy, a rose is a rose, a beautiful image is just that -- a beautiful image, however I'm inclined to portray it at the moment.

So... why not try a new look with an old set, or an old look with a new set? Clear your mind, experiment and, most of all, enjoy! I know you'll enjoy the samples the team has to offer today:

Christine
Cindy
Faith
Julie
Latisha
Laura
Stacy

Happy stamping!
-- Leslie