Bokeh Bokeh Everywhere!

Happy Wednesday!!

MAN I needed that!  Needed what?  Needed a day of cleaning, organizing, sorting and general "faffing".  I had NOTHING written on the calendar … and my heart was happy *lol*

I spent the whole day doing laundry and paperwork that needed doing after Teacher's Convention.  I still have some icky things to do tomorrow - apply for a passport for Alicia (I let her last one expire back in June!), submit my chiro and massage receipts  and dreaded of all …. do my taxes.  Ugh!  On the "up" side just think how clean my house will be while I procrastinate on THOSE little gems!

Now - as I  procrastinate on all THAT - lets check out a project, shall we??  This is the card we made at Technique Class last month.  Yes, for all you Technique Junkies you're probably tired of seeing this style all over the internet but oh well.  There may be one or two of you who haven't seen it yet.

I give you …. the Bokeh Technique ….

Isn't it fun?  First off, it's pronounced "bouquet", like a bouquet of flowers.  Second of all it's a photography effect … when points of light are burred and out of focus.

I won't go into TOO much detail as there are LOADS of videos and tutorials out there - just Google "Bokeh Technique Stampin' Up" and you'll be spoiled for choice!

For my card I started with a Whisper White base, 2 layers, Bermuda Bay and Blackberry Bliss, and a smaller layer of Whisper White.  I took one of our sponges, inked it with Bermuda Bay (the lightest colour should be done first) and made three circles in random spots by tubing the inked sponge on the paper in a circular motion.  I then took another sponge, inked it in Blackberry Bliss and virtually covered the white spaces with it, using the same circular motion.  I applied different amounts of pressure to get varying shades of Blackberry Bliss.

Once that was done I set it aside and made a template for the faux circles of light.  I took a piece of acetate 5 1/2" x 4 1/2" (ACTUALLY I used the clear piece from one of my photopolymer sets!) and cut circles in it using the three smallest circle framelits.

Once I had my circle template made I placed it over my newly coloured piece, took a finger dauber and my White Craft Ink and added white circles to the card.  Things get a little messy at this point!  You just keep moving the template around to get different sized circles all over the card.  Notice that almost ALL of the card space has a circle on it.  Note that you don't want to use TOO much ink - that will really just add to the drying time, as Craft Ink dries slower than Classic Ink.  In fact, once I had all my circles in place I spend about 5 minutes drying it with my heat tool.  You want to make sure it is good and dry.

Once that was done I stamped the sentiment in Blackberry Bliss - it is from the Butterfly Basics set in the Occasions catalogue.  I also added some butterflies from the Perpetual Calendar set (I'm telling ya - you NEED that set!!!).  A few rhinestones to finish it off and Wa-Low!  A great card suitable for lots of occasions.  No - I wouldn't be mass producing it anytime soon but it's a FUN technique and you get a different result every time so I encourage you to give it a go!

I think that's about it for today … pop in again soon - I still have 3 or 4 more projects to share.  Until then, have a stampy night!


Tamara