Saturday, April 2, 2011

Ink, Spray, SmashTutorial

The Ink, Spray, Smash Technique not only has a memorable name, it also produces a unique, groovy background. I've tried the technique a couple of times, and now I'm ready to share it with you!

Here is the card I made this weekend. I decided to use a nice big piece of the smashed background to show off the colors. I followed the color combination for the SCS Color Challenge for this past week, using Certainly Celery and Baja Breeze. I had to sub Pacific Point ink for Marina Mist, but stuck with Marina Mist card stock.



The first step is to cut Glossy White card stock to a workable size. For this project, the pieces are 3 3/4" x 5"; I've used pieces as small as 3" x 3". I wanted to cover the card front with the pattern, but still leave room to mat or frame the panel if I wanted.

Use your Classic Ink Refills for this technique. Start with a light color, and put at least 4 drops right on one of the Glossy card stock pieces. Depending on the size of your panel, you may want more or less ink. Also take into consideration how many times you will want to "smash" another piece on top: the more times you "smash," the more diluted your ink will get, and the more subdued your design.



Add up to 3 drops of a lighter ink.



If you are using 3 ink colors, add 1 or 2 drops of the darkest ink. (Note: it is pretty easy to let the dark color overwhelm the lighter colors, so go heavy on the light colors and easy on the dark inks.)



Now comes the fun (messy) part! Use a small misting bottle to SPRAY BOTH your base piece (that you just inked up) AND another piece of Glossy card stock with water.


Then SMASH! the clean piece on top of the inked piece. The ink will seep out the edges, so this part is a bit messy (but fun).



Peel the top piece back, set aside to dry, and keep going as many times as you want. (Remember, the more ink you put on, the longer your color will last.)



I wanted to use my background for some Easter cards, so I added a butterfly image from the Time Well Spent stamp set (I got this set free a few years back, and it is fabulous), and included the Easter Wishes sentiment from my new clear-mount Hostess stamp set Something to Celebrate.



I dressed up the butterfly by adding tiny drops of Crystal Effects to his wings. CE is a fabulous adhesive, and if you are patient, it also gives you the cool "dew-drop" look you can see here. I'll be honest: I had to do this part right before I went to bed, so I wouldn't stick my finger in it while it dried. Then in the morning, with a little ribbon and the sentiment, my card is finished!



Thanks so much to the folks over at Splitcoaststampers for helping me learn this technique. I modeled my tutorial on theirs. Also, my favorite 10 year old, HF, helped me with the photos for this post.

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