Smooch?

A number of you asked questions about Smooch. It's an iridescent, opaque ink/paint that you can use like watercolor paint. It comes in a bottle with an applicator that (for me, at least) works primarily for making dots.

To make my wreath cards on yesterday's post, I simply stamped ALL the berries in a light color of Memento Ink, which is waterproof. Then, I used the Smooch applicator to add one color randomly onto roughly a third of the berries. Then, I used a different color of Smooch on another third of the berries. So on each card, there are plain ink berries and two shades of iridescent berries. But there are no more berries than were on the stamp, which never had Smooch on it at all.

I hope that makes sense.

Tips for using Smooch

1. Always use waterproof ink with it. If you add it over, say, StampinUp's classic ink, the ink will run unattractively. Ask me how I know....

2. You can use the applicator in a variety of ways, but I find I don't have enough artistic talent to do anything other than add dots with it. Just be careful with the applicator. Press too hard and you might damage the tip.

3. It makes a GREAT watercolor wash for backgrounds...so sparkly and pretty! Just squeeze a bit onto a palette, use water and a brush to thin it, and apply to paper with the brush.

4. It can be used directly on stamps. I found the easiest way to apply it to the stamp is with a make-up sponge, but if you have ink pad blanks, you could use those for more even coverage. If you lightly spritz the wet stamp with water, you'll get an awesome watercolor effect.

If you've never played with Smooch, get yourself a few bottles and mess around. It really is quite fun!