Mediterranean Moments

Hi crafty friends!  I thought I would take a moment to share a card I made using the lovely Mediterranean Moments stamp set from Stampin' Up!  I've had this one for awhile, but hadn't decided what I wanted to do with it.  This was my 1st time cracking the box open and I absolutely love the images.  I only stamped one so far, but it stamped beautiful, detailed and crisp lines despite how fine they were.  Stamping' Up! really has impressive quality with their rubber stamps.

I decided to stamp the image in black ink and then do a watercolor wash of ink.  That was the fun part!  I loved blending the ink in layers to add deepness, shading and variations to the color.  It's so fun and easy.  I did take my time though, and let it dry in between layers so that when I added more ink it gave depth.  When I was finished I was wishing I could sit awhile on the bench and drink in all the atmosphere this image brings.

When it was time to figure out how I was going to make my painted images into cards...well, that was the tougher problem.  They were busy and colorful enough that using a patterned paper was going to be distracting, and yet, I thought the solid card stocks were a little too dull.  I compromised and did some light stamping on the background card and a layer of the new designer paper Color Theory.

What do you think?

I decided that a sentiment on the outside of the card wasn't necessary and may add one inside later, but even without that, it really does have a fun artsy look to it.  I am looking forward to playing with the other images in the set as well.