PATRIOTIC GRUNGE

This card came together fairly nicely, without just too much strain on the brain. 

I had planned that the end result would be a play on the American flag. 

Well?

Gorgeous Grunge was used in two spots on the card. Of course, the red stripes are quite apparent. Then, you may recognize the big ink blot from Gorgeous Grunge in the stars.

But, wait. What's that? That is NOT how the Gorgeous Grunge stamp is.

To achieve a bit of extra texture and interest in the stars, I did a technique Stampin' Up! refers to a REVERSE KISSING. 

I first inked up the ink blot stamp with Pacific Point. Then, before stamping, I took a DRY STAMP of polka dots left over from a previous Paper Pumpkin kit and stamped into the ink. That lifted a bit of the blue ink and gave it its interesting look. 

The dots were actually INVERTED rather than OUTVERTED(????). Uh huh. I just mean that the dots themselves were sunken into the stamp rather than protruding. Oh Linda, just go down to your Creation Station and grab the stamps so they know what you're talking about!

CLOMP CLOMP CLOMP

Puff puff. I'm back. Here are the stamps:

You can see the big ink blot from Gorgeous Grunge, covered with the leftover Pacific Point ink.

To give it the kiss of dots, I took the UNINKED circular photopolymer stamp from a Paper Pumpkin kit, and pressed it against the inked stamp. 

NOW, since the dots were sunken rather than protruding, it was the area around the dots that pressed against the inked stamp. Thus, you get a much different look than if the stamp was just the reverse, with the dots protruding and the area around them sunken. Do you know what I mean? 

Do you notice the ink residue solely on the surrounding areas? 

Oh man.

OK. Here is your assignment: Try this Reverse Kissing technique with two different dotted stamps: one with the sunken dots like I used, and another with protruding dots. Report back the difference you see.

Anyway, here is the close-up result you get with inverted dots: 

I do love the interesting, lively look the Reverse Kissing technique gave to these stars.

Grungy

Smiles.