Friday, December 30, 2016

It's a Smooshing Happy Day!

That's right - smooshing! It's the term for mixing watercolours using plastic wrap. And that is exactly what I did for the main part of this card. 

I had a lot of fun creating this card. The colours are bold and bright and the technique is tons of fun to do. It's so easy as well. This is what you do: 
Simply use a piece of watercolour paper (regular cardstock will get too wet and will bend and pill) and have your selected paint colours wet and ready. Cover the paper with water using a paintbrush. then drop two or three paint colour randomly on the paper in splotches wherever you wish. Don't mix them but they should barely touch at the edges only. DO THIS QUICKLY because the paint will dry fast. If needed, you can add a touch of water to the paint. Then cover the paint with a piece of plastic large enough to cover the entire piece of paper and more (I use plastic wrap). Scrunch it a bit before putting it down so you have some room to move it around. You don't want to move it around too much or the colours will all blend together into one muddy colour. Move it around slightly to blend the colours and create interesting patterns. Then LEAVE it on the paper to dry. Depending how wet your paper was to start with, it should take about 15 minutes or so. Once it is dry or almost dry, remove the plastic and let the paper finish drying. Then you can trim the paper and use it for your project. 

SO, this is what I came up with for my card. I used three shades of paint - pink, green and blue. Surprisingly, there was NO purple although the blending of colours resulted in some purple sections! You never know what you will get! 


I chose to create a 6x6 card as I wanted to use a 4x4 gold overlay. The photo below shows a better view of the "smooshed" part with the overlays. 


It is SO difficult to photograph anything gold and silver without getting shadows... 

Try out this technique for yourself - it is a lot of fun and there are so many combinations of colours that can lead to such interesting variations! The edges don't have to be cut, either. Just a smoosh on a scrapbook page or card in itself is awesome! 

Products used are all Close To My Heart

Paper: Emerald Cardstock, Pixie Cardstock, Watercolour Paper, Uptown Fundamentals
Stamps: none
Inks: none
Accessories: Life Overlays - Gold, Picture My Life Overlays - Gold and Silver, Pink Enamel Gems, Watercolour Paints, Paintbrush Set, White Shimmer Trim, Gold Foil Tape

Enjoy, 
Alyson






2 comments:

Denise Gifford said...

such a pretty card. thanks for sharing Alyson, and thank you for the detailed description of how to make this beautiful card.

Have a Happy New Year!

NJ Stamping Queen said...

This is really gorgeous! Your smooshed background reminds me of vividly colored Batik fabrics.
:) Marie