Time to 'smoosh' for Happy Little Stampers

Hello there,

Happy New Year!!!
With all the celebrations over .... hope you had a fabulous evening seeing in the start of 2016 ....... now it's time to get back to business.  Yes it's the first HLS CAS Challenge of 2016 ....... and we're starting the year with a real fun technique for you to use .....

'SMOOSHING'

What's 'smooshing' I hear you say?  Well ...... it's one of those really technical terms in the crafting world.  A really cool technique for colouring cardstock, to create fabulous backgrounds etc.  It basically involves applying ink or paint directly to a craft mat, spritz with some water then 'smoosh' your card through the ink to pick up the colour ..... simple!
You can use most types of ink ..... Distress Inks, Re-inkers, Alcohol ink, water-based markers, Inka Gold, Acrylic paints ..... and try it on different types of cardstock  too, to see what results you can get ...... just have a play.

If you're still not sure check out the HLS Blog ...... on there you'll find links to some fab videos and great tutorials.

For my challenge inspiration piece, I've used a 'smooshed' background, made using Distress Inks, applied directly from the ink pad onto a craft mat .......  I've also added in a little Inka Gold paint to add a touch of shimmer

This is a great way to colour pieces of card ..... a few whole sheets at a time to cut up and use on future projects or, I like to use up all the smaller pieces, left over bits ........ to use with die cuts or punches.

I used Picked Raspberry and Twisted Citron inks along with the Inka Gold, spritzed them with water then placed a piece of regular white card on the top, pressed it down a little, gave it a twist, then smooshed it through the colour and then left it to dry.

See how the mica in the Inka Gold gives that lovely shimmer .... so pretty

The daisies have been die cut from the same piece of cardstock ...... from the edges where there wasn't much colour ......

but this still gives a nice effect

I added my sentiment along the bottom ...... HLS Bold Birthday Sentiments

and carried on the greeting inside ........

You can see I've also added a little extra detail to the inside by using strips of my smooshed card along the bottom.

The challenge is sponsored by the Happy Little Stampers store .......

and the winner will receive one of the fabulous HLS stamp sets.

Go on ..... why not give smooshing a go .... it's fun!

Thanks for popping by .... enjoy the rest of your day.

Cheerio until next time

XX