Beautiful Bokeh Cards

I learned a new technique from some of the art boards I follow and I am in love with it!

I made these 3 cards using the Bokeh technique.  

2 of the cards use Sunset, Autumn Terracotta and Goldrush inks.  On the pinkish one, I used Sorbet instead of Goldrush. 

Once the background is dry, these fabulous cards practically made themselves! 

I added a butterfly from the Seasonal Expressions 2 hostess set, Paper Bird. I also started a Gold embossing trend with these cards. Gold glitter trim is an easy accent and doesn't overwhelm the design.




The sentiment here is now retired from the Operation Smile set, You're the Bomb, in the SE1 catalog. 












The sentiment on this card is also Gold-embossed, and is from the Hostess Set, Paper Bird.
















The last card used a sentiment from Finding the Right Words. 


I LOVE how they turned out!

I hope you enjoyed looking!  See my previous blog on the Bokeh Technique to see how to create your own!

Father's Day

May 7, 2015

I didn't get my April SOTM sample put together until the last week of April just before a craft fair. I learned about the Bokeh technique and combined the technique with the Typed Note image to create a simple Father's Day card.

Bokeh Sympathy

I'm still playing with the Bokeh cardstock background I made using CTMH Pear, Sweet Leaf and Topiary inks.

I made a simple sympathy card. Not only am I still having fun with Bokeh, I seem to be using Gold heat embossing on everything, too.  The gold scroll is Inkadinkadoo, the sentiment is JustRite Stampers, and the embossed, fussy-cut butterfly is Cloud Designs.

Bokeh Birthday

Ice Cream Dream

Most everyone is using the June SOTM ice cream truck and  cones, but I found the sentiment embossed in Gold the best for hubby's Birthday card. 

See the set on this page.

I paired it with a strip of Bokeh cardstock using Pear, Sweet Leaf and Topiary inks.  During  my Bokeh experiment I made a large 12x7 strip that I could trim as needed for quick cards. It came in quite handy for this special card! I added some green gems and gold ribbon. I did include a JustRite Stampers circle sentiment, so it's not all CTMH, but a good use for the SOTM sentiment!

Year Noted Cards

May 7, 2015.

Yep. I had some scraps left over from my mini album project and of course I made cards! 

My first card uses Kraft as a background. The sorbet paper has washi tape on the left, and I dry-embossed the right side using the ctmh Arrow embossing folder. being the sentiment is gold embossed on white daisy layered on crafts paper. I added one of the gold stickers and a few sequins from the Caribbean. A simple card.

This card has a background of kraft paper with the washi tape and gold glitter trim. I stamped the sentiment on a year noted and gold  embossing powder and trimmed it into a banner. Then I added the triangles from the embellishments sheet and a few Caribbean sequins.

The last card used the last sizeable scrap of Year Noted paper with a sorbet background. The teal glitter trim was a good accent.  Again, using gold embossing powder, I added the sentiment.

Year Noted Mini Album

I discovered several draft blogs I thought I had posted...these are from May 7, 2015. I'm just a little late sharing. :)

I finally played with my Year Noted mini album.  This paper and project from January 2015 is retired -- but I still have 2 in stock. It was fun  working on this album, especially because I used our Great grandsons' 2nd Birthday photos. I didn't take enough pictures that day to fill this little album, but I know their Mom will have a few more and can add to it.

I cut Picture My Life cards using the Artfully Sent cartridge and mixed them in among the photos. the photo sleeves accommodate both the 3x4 and 4x6 cards. Since the pack comes with gold foil embellishments, I used gold embossing powder for most of the stamping accents in the album.

New Bokeh Technique

A FUN NEW TECHNIQUE!

I learned this gorgeous technique following a Close to My Heart board for consultants. YouTube has several tutorials but here are the steps it takes to make these wonderfully beautiful backgrounds. It isn't difficult, and it doesn't have to be perfect! I had a TON of fun making these backgrounds, and was giddy each time I finished one! I think I may have actually squealed with delight a couple of times!

Bokeh is a term used in photography. It describes the way the camera lens captures out of focus points of light. Boke means blur, or haze in Japanese.

The goal for our card backgrounds is to create an illusion of depth by making faint circles at first and layering on brighter and brighter circles.

Template

The first part is creating a template for the circles. Many people are using acetate to create their templates. I did not have any on hand so I used a piece of slick, glossy cardboard which was actually the folded label in a new set of Cricut mats.  By using glossy cardstock, the excess ink won't soak into it and you can continue to reuse it over and over. I used my Cricut to cut circles from .25 to 1.5 inches around the paper.  I have an Expression2, so it took quite a combination of playing around with spaces and returns to achieve the effect I wanted. Some of the videos I viewed show that many people are using the template as it is cut. I found that I was turning the template and using it in random fashion to place circles where I thought they looked good. It makes each card a unique piece of art. Because my original template did not have large circles, I used a few scraps of the glossy cardboard and punched a larger circle and used it independently. The point is - don't feel you need to use the circles exactly as you have them arranged in your template. You could cut or punch different circle templates and use them over and over again in random patterns. The only caution is laying the template over wet ink and smearing it.

Ink & Sponges

Once the template is made,  you will need some sponges or daubers. These will need to be dedicated to the inks you are using to prevent ink contamination. For the large background  piece, I used a cut up a sponge and pinched it to round the dabbing surface. We will work with a full 4.25x5 folded card.

I chose 3 CTMH inks for this blog post, Hollyhock, Cotton Candy, and Ruby. 

Background

Make sponged/dabbed areas across the entire surface. Start with the darkest ink and end by filling in with the lightest. I covered my work surface with a scrap piece of paper because the background bleeds off the edge. Blend the inked areas well to create the blurred effect. 

It's okay if you don't like the blurry background and it looks uneven - it gets partially covered, so don't stress over it.

Circles

Now we are ready to start laying in the circles. Lay the template over the background. Using a white craft ink  (pigment) and a dauber, lightly dab white ink into the template circles. Swirl them around to blend the ink with the background. 

For larger circles, you may need to get more white ink on your dauber.  Go ahead and place some of the circles off the edges for a better effect. It is supposed to look random.

 

After blending your first layer, move the circle template to make some overlapping circles one or two times. Vary the amount of white to make the top circles (those that are nearest the top) the whitest. Blending the first circles will make them a bit hazy, and dabbing the top circles rather than blending them in will make them whiter. The whiter circles on top will produce the depth you are trying to achieve for a true Bokeh look.

Some cardmakers have used other shapes besides circles, such as hearts.  The effect is still fabulous! Just have fun like I did and get creative with this gorgeous technique!

Let it dry a bit and embellish and stamp away!

On my first attempt, I made several card backgrounds at once in blues and in peaches, and a large strip of 12x7 in greens to cut as I would patterned paper. It came in very handy when I needed to make some quick cards.

The video I watched recommended only using one small area of the white ink pad to prevent contamination. You will pull up some of the background inks. I also have one dauber dedicated to peachy bokeh, and one dauber dedicated to blue bokeh and so on for the other colors. And I will probably end up buying a second white pigment ink pad - simply because it bothers me to have the pad "contaminated" with other inks.

Thank you for stopping by to see this wonderful new technique!

 

If you'd like to see the video I watched, it's here on YouTube. (the demonstrator is a Stampin'Up demonstrator, but her demo is excellent).

Blossom Pages

Still in that Blossom mood!

This double layout is appropriate for scrapping your Mother's Day family pictures, or a fun summer family reunion! 

I cut the photo mats from Pear cardstock using the Artbooking Cricut cartridge. I had seen some layouts on Pinterest that had the lacy doily effect, and the cutwork rectangle, cut in half, worked perfectly.  I decided to offset it across the 2 pages.  This is an airy layout, because I just couldn't cover up the Blossom floral paper. The journaling spots are from the Blossom Complements set, as are some of the flowers.

CTMH Blossom paper and Complements
Doily trim and photo mats: Artbooking cartridge
Family:  Artiste cartridge
Stamped flowers: Shower Flowers
Stamped butterfly: Paper Bird (Hostess Stamp until August 2015)

Embellishments:  Coral Reef Sequins

Life is Wonderful: July SOTM

 

Taste of Summer

I've broken into my pack of  Taste of Summer papers!

 

I had fun putting together my first two cards and thought I'd show them off!

 

These use the patterned papers as a background with some glitter trim. 

Using the coordinating Taste of Summer stamp set, I stamped the oranges with Versamark on Sunset paper. Then I added CTMH white embossing powder and heat set them. I stamped the sentiment to match and fussy-cut it.

 

I'll be playing more in the next couple of days (while it's rainy) so stayed tuned!

Thanks for stopping by!

Check the CTMH Taste of Summer blog hop!

#ctmhtos 

 

Blossoms for Mom

I can't seem to get enough of the Blossom paper. 

I paired it with the Flowers for Mom set to make a couple of precious Mother's Day cards!

Flowers for Mom coordinates with Artfully Sent for the sentiment layers. 

I stamped the MOM image in black and then used my watercolor pencils to color it in. Each card was embellished with stamped and colored blossoms from the same set.

On this card I used a Picture My Life sized card cut from White Daisy from the Artfully Sent cartridge (p.32).  The lacey flowers allowed the Blossom paper to show through beautifully. 

I just recently picked up some coordinating Recollections ribbons in a perfect sweet apricot shade!

One the second card, I used a strip of Lagoon, dry-embossed with the Damask embossing folder. I added a Recollections mini doily in the background for a feminine touch.

Flowers and lace are perfect for Mom!

I hope you enjoy these and I hope my moms do, too!

Timberline Scrapping

In January, I attended a week-end crop and managed to make several pages for my personal scrapbook of our property in the country.

I used the retired Timberline papers and embellishments.  It doesn't seem fair to show them off when they're not available anymore. I do more cardmaking than I do scrapbooking. But I also want to showcase the versatility of the CTMH papers and MyStickease elements, no matter the paper pattern.

I added further texture and interest with die cuts using the Artbooking cartridge.