it's the little things

Stamping can be such a fun thing to do! And sometimes, not so much. Like when you've been staring at an image and know that it's not quite right, but can't, for the life of you, figure out what is making you uneasy. And so it was with this card. I needed a masculine, thank you card. I had finished stamping and coloring in the goose image from Wetlands. But it just looked flat and boring. Lifeless and bland. I couldn't figure out exactly why is wasn't sitting right with me. 

First, I tried walking away from the project for a bit. Sometimes that works wonders! But not this time. No new ideas were flooding my brain. Next I sat down with Pinterest, hoping for a little shot of creative inspiration. Even Pinterest failed me. Gasp! Unheard of! 

I was ready to ditch the silly goose and start from scratch. So I picked up my stamp binder. Every time I get a new stamp set, I grab my binder filled with copy paper, and I stamp all the images from the set into it. I add the stamp set's title, how many stamps are in the set, and what type of set it is; clear or wood mounted. I was flipping through the pages looking for a different, masculine focal point for the card. 

And they I saw Gorgeous Grunge! My new favorite stamp set! It is SO versatile! There is a simple little stamp that has lightly sketched parallel lines. And I instantly knew what my goose needed! He was just floating on a Whisper White page! He needed to be grounded. So I grabbed my Soft Sky ink pad and stamped a sky all around him in the background. Somehow, that tiny, subtle detail changed everything for me! I fell in love with the goose, slapped him to my card front, and smiled. 

Happy stamping!