Lovable Legends with alcohol ink 'smooshing'

Last month the gnome valentines I made were featured on the scrapbookpal.com blog. I received a $20 gift card to their store, and two of the items I ordered were the Lovable Legends stamp and die sets from Lawn Fawn. When I sat down to play with the stamps, instead of coloring the images, I decided to try a "smooshing" technique with alcohol ink.

Supplies:
Stamps: Lovable Legends (Lawn Fawn)
Paper: Basic Black, Whisper White card stock (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: VersaFine Onyx Black, VersaMark, Memento Tuxedo Black (Tsukineko); alcohol inks: Wild Plum, Eggplant, Meadow, Oregano, Espresso (Ranger); alcohol markers: W2, E18, E53, YG09 (Copic Sketch)
Accessories: Lovable Legends dies (Lawn Fawn), Opaque Bright White Super Fine embossing powder (Wow!), gold star embellishments (unknown), 3" x 5" gel printing plate (GelPress), powder tool (EK Success), foam tape (3M), Art Glitter Glue (Art Institute)
Other: Alcohol-based hand sanitizer gel

Aren't they cute? The punny sentiments crack me up, too. My favorite image is the kraken, so I had to make a couple of cards with him as the focal point.

Supplies:
Stamps: Lovable Legends (Lawn Fawn)
Paper: Basic Black, Whisper White, Pool Party card stock (Stampin' Up!)
Ink: VersaFine Onyx Black, Memento Tuxedo Black (Tsukineko); Pool Party (Stampin' Up!); alcohol inks: Wild Plum, Eggplant (Ranger); alcohol markers: W2, E18 (Copic Sketch)
Accessories: Lovable Legends dies (Lawn Fawn), Large Stitched Rectangles Stackables dies (Lawn Fawn), Seaside embossing folder (Stampin' Up!), 2-1/2" circle punch (Stampin' Up!), black and white twine (Stampin' Up!), clear droplets (Pretty Pink Posh), 3" x 5" gel printing plate (GelPress), foam tape (3M), Art Glitter Glue (Art Institute)
Other: Alcohol-based hand sanitizer gel

To color the images I used a technique I'm calling Alcohol Ink Smooshing. You'll need alcohol-based hand sanitizer gel (which may be hard to find with the current virus scare), a gel printing plate, and alcohol inks. If you don't have a gel printing plate, a large acrylic stamping block would work, too. Here are the steps I used:

1. Put one or two squirts of hand sanitizer on the gel printing plate or large acrylic block.
2. Add a few drops of alcohol ink. I like to use two or three colors.
3. Use your finger in a dabbing motion to mix and spread the hand sanitizer and ink. The gel won't be completely flat; it should have little peaks.
4. Lay a piece of white card stock on the gel plate or block and rub the back to transfer the ink (i.s., "smoosh" the gel).
5. Lift up the card stock and set it aside to dry.
6. Stamp and die cut your images as usual.

I love the variation in color you get by mixing the inks with the gel. For my cards I used two colors for each of the creatures: Wild Plum and Eggplant for the kraken, Meadow and Oregano for the Lochness monster, and Oregano and Espresso for the bigfoot. I wanted the bigfoot's skin (face, hands and feet) to be lighter, so I stamped that image on a scrap of white card stock, colored those parts with an E53 Copic marker, then cut them out and glued them over the colorful image.

To finish the cards, I kept the backgrounds simple -- with plain card stock, tone-on-tone stamping, or embossing -- so the lovable, colorful legends held center stage.

Thanks for stopping by!