Smooshed Beauty

Hello, my crafty friends! I have been a total slug the past week as far as blogging is concerned. Mike’s mom was, according to the doctors, at death’s door last Tuesday, so Mike and I were in the hospital with her until late Tuesday and I just didn’t feel like blogging when we got home. The doctor said she wouldn’t last the night, but, once again, this woman has surprised us. Not only did she last the night, she has “perked up” every day since. Crazy, right? Honestly, I think it’s because of her children’s decision to put her on “comfort care” only. They took her off the 19 drugs she had been receiving (seriously???), and not only did she not die, she got better. I’m thinking 19 might be too many drugs. Mike has been begging her caregivers and doctors to take her off some of them. I mean, they had her on one thing which caused something else, then they put her on something to fix that new problem…and on it went. She also was falling into severe dementia, which has lessened as the drugs were taken away. Makes one wonder…

Anyway, she was much better Thursday, so we felt comfortable going on our annual Independence Day Mountain Retreat. We’ve had such a lovely time together catching up on little things (school for Mike; craft projects for me) and resting. (…and, obviously, not blogging!) But I wanted to share a few things I created while I was gone.

When a new Stampin’ Up!® catalog comes out, I go crazy playing with new products. We all love new stamps, new ink, new embellishments, dies, and embossing folders, right? But when a product retires, I’m always sad that I didn’t get as much use from it as I could have. So–I decided to pull out one of my favorite sets from the Occasions Catalog that carried over to the 2019-2020 Stampin’ Up!® Annual Catalog.

Beauty Abounds is that set. There are so many fun ways to use it – Bokeh techniques, butterflies, flowers…it’s gorgeous. I also wanted to play with an older technique that my friend Deborah Smart reminded me of. I’m not sure what the exact name of the technique is, but I call it “Smooshing.”

This is a card we’re making in classes this month. I was going to change it a little, but Mike really liked it, so this is the card.

First, I used the “smoosh” technique. Basically, you take an ink pad, pat it over a non-porous surface (I used a Silicone Craft Sheet), and spritz with water until the ink runs. Then press card stock into the mix. I used Whisper White Cardstock, but Watercolor Paper or Shimmery White Cardstock will also work well.

When I used this technique in the past, I patted two to three colors onto the craft sheet, then spritzed. However, if you’re not careful, the colors bleed and combine to create a quite unusual (and sometimes ugly) color. So this time, I worked with one color at a time.

First, I patted Pear Pizzazz Classic Ink onto the Craft Sheet, then spritzed and smooshed my card stock into the color. I worked with smaller areas, so mostly the edges got the color.

After I cleaned off the craft sheet, I repeated the process with Rococo Rose Classic Ink, keeping most of the ink toward the center of the card stock. Honestly, I wasn’t super thrilled with the results, and I was tempted to stop and switch gears, but since I had already gone this far, why not continue, right?

I waited for the card stock to dry, then added some bokeh dots from the Beauty Abounds Stamp Set in Pear Pizzazz and Rococo Rose, then added the floral images in Tuxedo Black Memento Ink. Not too shabby! I added some color to the petals and leaves with Mossy Meadow and Petal Pink Stampin’ Blends. (Remember, I’m out of town with limited supplies.)

The last stamping step was to add the sentiment from Itty Bitty Birthdays in Tuxedo Black Memento Ink. The card base is Pear Pizzazz Cardstock.

This card reminds me of a day with Amelia last week. We made a bubble wand from a water bottle and Stampin’ Up!® ribbon, then made homemade bubble soap. It was fun, and it worked pretty well. Had I read the instructions first, it would have worked better, but we had fun.

Don’t forget about Bonus Days in July. For every $50 you spend (before tax and shipping) you’ll receive a$5.00  coupon code via email to use in August.

And if you join my team in July or August, you can select an extra $30 in product to add to your starter kit ($155 in product for only $99 plus tax) – AND you’ll receive a coupon code for $10 toward an order the next month. So fun!

Thanks for stopping by Stamping with Buffy. Have a lovely day!

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