Puppy Dog Tails and Smooch

Hi Everyone.  Happy Tuesday.  The weekend is on its way.  However, I wish Spring would come on back!

Tonight I will be sharing a card using the Everything Nice (another one of those that I speculate may retire in a couple of weeks!)  It's a set I recently bought and have had fun using.  I'll also be sharing my thoughts on SmoochSpritz.  Finally!  I can hear Adelle say:-)

To the card first.  I used the theme challenge from crazy4challenges, which was to incorporate something from the nursery rhyme "What are Little Boys Made Of?" in honor of Frances soon to be grandson!  The color challenge from colourq  was to use Crushed Curry, Tempting Turquoise, Certainly Celery, Whisper White and Brilliant Blue – a combination I have never used before!  Two great challenges from two great sites and I couldn't wait to play along…. You know the drill :-)  pop along and see the great inspiration and submission cards… and why not think about playing along?

So…. the theme of little boys and snails and puppy dog tails was perfect.  Why?  Because one of the sayings in the set is "snips and snails and puppy dog tails"!  Perfect!  I also had just purchased the P is for Paw wheel and I thought it would be great to incorporate that.

I looked at the challenge colors and thought they would be perfect for a baby boy card.  So, that is exactly what I did.

Whilst we are on the topic of animals… Bailey had been in the photo tent whilst I was getting ready with my goodies… and.. thank you Bailey… had left a little clump of hair which is visible in the bottom right hand corner.  I swear that cat is just one big hairbaill!  And… there's a "ghost image" in the middle of the card at the bottom, too.  I need to clean my lens.  Looks like Bailey stuck his wet nose on the lens!  Cats…. they are into EVERYTHING!

I colored my wheel using markers and backed it with Crushed Curry.  I colored the sentiment with markers too, to tie them together.  A couple of Certainly Celery and Brilliant Blue buttons and we were done.  You can see that I did use the Polka Dot embossing folder for the background.  I thought the dots on the background helped tie into the horizontal strip, which also has dots on it!  I decided that Brilliant Blue is a color I am going to miss.  I don't use it often, but I will miss it.   I really enjoyed playing with the theme and the colors – such a happy card:-)

Now… onto Smooch Spritz.  Here's Jaydee's thoughts on using this and you don't want to know how I know all of these things.  Let's say… spraying yourself in the eye with Smooch isn't a particularly clever thing to do!  All the pics below should enlarge if you run your mouse pointer over them! 

BTW… I LOVE the Smooch Spritz, so don't be put off by my list of how to use it… I just wanted to try to let you have the insights that I have learned over the last couple of weeks…. but I love… love.. love using it.  In fact, I just ordered my second bottle of Very Vanilla!

1. Get yourself the Color Catcher… I didn't want to because I thought I had more than enough cardboard boxes and wouldn't need it.  Well, if you want to make one – ensure that it is at least 10 inches deep and 10 inches high.  I initially used a box from SU and kept spraying all over the desk. The color catcher certainly helps.
2. Shake VERY well before using.
3. Spray at least 6-10 inches away from the paper.
4. Ensure the nozzle is pointed directly at the paper when you spray.  I have placed a black dot on the opposite side of the nozzle using permanent marker to make sure that I don't spray in my face or to the side of the box.
5. Remember the bottles are glass and may roll if the surface isn't perfectly straight
6. Try not to pick the containers up by the top as they make come off and you can drop the container
7. When you want to spray on a small area – I'd suggest cutting the piece of paper a little bigger than you need.  That way, you can cut the area you want to have on the card.
8. You DO NOT need to push the nozzle all the way down like you would hair spray, cleaning liquid, etc.  The harder you spray the more liquid you get and I find the gloopier it is.
9. Mind you… if you don't spray hard enough – this is what happens…. you get SmoochGloop instead of Smooch Spritz.  Not pretty!  So, play around a little until you get the feel and look that you like.  I tend to spray and move my hand as I go – just as you would hairspray.
10. If the nozzle gloops up, you can take it off and soak the nozzle in household cleaner for about 30 minutes.  Mine haven't clogged by the way!
11. I use my heat gun to help dry the spray…… why?  because I am impatient!  If you pick it up immediately after spraying, it will smudge
12. I LOVE layering.  The Silver and Vanilla tend to be colder colors and work together.  The Gold and Log Cabin are warmer, so I tend to combine the two. 
13. YOUR SPRAYS WILL NOT BE EVEN….. which drives me crazy… however, I have to get over myself, because it isn't meant to be even.  When you look at this sample you can see why I suggest making the card piece just a little bigger – that way I can cut off the big spot that I don't like – the rest of it is perfect, though.
14. The Gold Glow is gorgeous and I love it on the darker colors as well as the lighter colors, it really looks like fools gold on the paper.

    

Here are examples I sprayed for you.

On the right, you can see the smooch GOLD GLOW on both white and crumb cake (aka kraft).  On the left is golden glow  on chocolate chip and basic black.  Golden Glow is the perfect name for it.  It really does look like fools gold!

Let's take a look at the SILVER FOIL on the dark and neutrals.

 
I love the blueish tinge it gives.  It's really pretty.  

Now let's look at it on the neutrals. This time… I mixed it with the Very Vanilla – so that you can see the blueish grey tinge from Silver Foil  with the lighter color of the Very Vanilla.  I thought it would be a good way to show you the two together.  They look great alone, but together they really add another dimension.

Well.. I hope that gives you some insight.  You can see the other cards I made using SmoochSpritz to get a feel of them on projects by clicking HERE

As always, thank you so much for spending time in my little area of the stamping blogosphere.  If you have any questions on using the SmoochSpritz, or any other techniques, just leave me a comment or sent me an email.

Have a fabulous Wednesday!

Hugs

Jaydee