Wonderful, Part 1

In my early days of stamping, I hated buying sentiments. Not sure why. It doesn't really make sense. But then, despite trying so very hard, I'm not always sensible.

These days, sentiment sets are serving me well, and I particularly like Hero Arts stamp and cut sentiment sets, which include a die for a big word (blessings, wonderful, etc.), coordinating stamps of the big word, and a bunch of small word stamps to go with the big word. They also include a few small accent images, but nothing that could outshine the big word as focal point.

These sets are AMAZINGLY versatile.

For the next few days, we're going to explore the Wonderful Stamp & Cut set, which is simply wonderful.

First up, Wonderful You. Because of all the white space and the pastel colors, it was super tough to photograph. It's absolutely gorgeous in real life. The watercolor paper (thanks, Linda E.!) adds a lovely texture, and the watercolor itself reminds me of the Nature's Sketchbook cards by Marjolein Bastin at Hallmark.

To make the card, I embossed the outline stamp wonderful in white on the watercolor paper. The watercolor comes from Memento markers scribbled onto an acrylic block (so easy!). I filled a few letters with plain water, then added the color in drops that spread around through the water. Then I repeated the process across the word. The embossing held everything in.

After the watercolor dried, I die cut the word and then an extra for layering. By gluing the plain die cut word under the watercolor word, I got more dimension, which is so important with such a simple, simple card. Many thanks to those of you who shared that tip with me when Eva gave me the Cuttlebug!

The envelope is stamped with a Hero Arts watercolor flower stamp. I inked it with the markers, spritzed and stamped once on scrap paper, and then spritzed and stamped on the envelope. That softened the colors, which were quite strong straight from the marker.

Perhaps the most wonderful thing about this set is the variety of looks you can get with simple die cut words. You'll see how different with tomorrow's card!

These are well worth the money. I love that the font is classic...nothing showy or trendy or hard to read.

And that's all I have to say about that. For all in the path of the snowstorm about to hit us, keep warm and safe!

Mercy, grace, peace, and love,
Susan

Supplies
stamps: Hero Arts Wonderful
ink: Hero Arts charcoal
paper: Papertrey white cardstock, Jack Richieson 135# watercolor paper (which is really white!)
accessories: white embossing powder, tiny watercolor brush, Memento markers (Danube blue, Bahama blue, pear tart, bamboo leaves), acrylic block used as a palette