Group of Seven Cardmakers technique - Bokeh

Hi everyone, it's time for the Group of Seven Crafters monthly technique. This month we played with a Bokeh technique.

• I taped my piece of watercolour card to my mat creating a border and it also helps reduces the warping of the paper as it gets quite wet.
• I used a large paint brush to wet the whole card.
• After it was wetted I used 3 different colours of water colour on each of my samples, gold snuck into all of them.
• I let the card dry then removed the tape. Little bits of water colour seeped under the tape but I think that adds to the interest.
• Bokeh made easy a Wplus 9 video gives you and idea of how to do the bokeh circles.
• I have the perfect stencil for this by Magenta (TM179 duo circle stencils), but you can make your own stencils by using different size circles with dies or punches on acetate or velum.
• I also used Hero Arts White ink (Unicorn) pad and a small blending foam. I find the Hero Arts white ink is one of the juiciest ink pads and gives a real strong white print with stamps or sponge.

You can either add your white bokeh circles before or after you stamp. I really like the misty look of adding the white circles after my stamping, you see more of the image if you stamp after putting the bokeh circles on. My Christmas card stash really needs a boost so I did three Christmas cards

This was a really fun technique and one I will be doing again.

Card 1 Stamp- Unity (Grumpy Owls) BetterPress Sentiment

Card 2 Stamp- Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous, BetterPress Sentiment

Card 3 Stamp- Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous, Mamma Elephant Easy Christmas Sentiments. 

It was hard to capture the image behind the bokeh on this one 😀

Card Recipe
Stamps:
Paper:
Ink: Hero Arts White, Versafine Clair Nocturn, Archival Grey
Accessories: Magenta Stencil set (TM179)
Techniques: Watercolour, Bokeh

Treats on Tuesday at Magenta - Nuance Powders and Bleaching

Hi everyone, I'm over at Magenta with this a card which has been coloured with Nuance powders and  zig water colour pens. I hope you head over and check out how I made this card.

Stamps used

Flower

14650.P

Good Friends

07.1036.L

Agrias Amodon Butterfly

0858.H

41.060

Nuance Powders

Red, Orange, Purple

Card Recipe
Stamps: Magenta
Paper: 110LbWhite, Watercolour
Ink: Versafine Clair Nocturn
Accessories: Nuance Watercolours, Zigs, Posca Glitter Pens
Techniques: Watercolouring

Treats on Tuesday at Magenta- Blue poinsettia

Hi everyone, I'm over at Magenta with some blue poinsettia. I hope you head over and check out how I made this card,

Stamps used

02.326

07.1065.N

With the blue poinsettia I'm entering this in 

Peace on Earth challenge- their blue mood board

The Holly and the Ivy - Christmas Anything goes 

Merry Little Christmas Challenge #56- Anything Goes

Card Recipe
Stamps: Magenta
Paper: 110lb White, Kraft
Ink:  Encore Gold, SU Biscuit
Accessories: Elegant writer, Glitter pen Pencils
Techniques: Elegant writer, Pencil colouring

Treats on Tuesday at Magenta - Coffee and Stencils

Hi everyone, I have one of my coffee backgrounds with some stamps and a Stencil.

I hope you head over to Magenta and check out how I made this card.

Stamps and Stencil

24.012

Love and Music

0823

Stencil

TM309

Fall Ash Leaves

0799.L

Card Recipe
Stamps: Magenta
Paper: Coffee Stained Paper, Cream
Ink: Versafine Clair, Ranger distress Oxide inks, Ranger Distress inks
Accessories: Stencil, Coffee
Techniques: Coffee Staining, Stenciling

Grab a Cup of Coffee and Save What's in the Pot

Hi everyone, I have a fun technique using coffee and stencils for you to check out.

There are a few you tube videos out there showing you how to stain paper with coffee and using the wet coffee to imprint the stencil image on the paper. The coffee creates a beautiful aged look and now I have all these backgrounds ready to use in my stash. 

I used two types of paper the first was the off white packing/wrapping paper which comes as filler in some packages, I think this is my favourite. The prints on these were more like an aged distressed piece of paper. The second was some hand made paper which is a lot thicker and also pulled out more of the colour from the coffee stain and looked more like a dark inky colour as you will see below.

To create the stain I used a couple of tablespoons of instant coffee mixed with hot water. I put it to one side to go cold. I made about a cup of coffee which was way too much and ended up throwing most of it away, half a cup would have been plenty. 

I used a foil tray and poured some coffee into the bottom.

I dipped the paper in so it was completely covered front and back.

Using one of my crafting Teflon mats I lay out the pieces of paper and placed a stencil over the paper. I left them until they were completely dry.

Here are some of the thinner paper prints I made, aren't those colours gorgeous and just look at the stencil detail

Card #1 is the thinner paper. I used a Carabelle clock stencil, some Andy Skinner Stampendous and  Stampers Anonymous stamps.

Card #2 is the hand made paper, look how much coffee colour was picked up and the detail on the stencil really shows through. It's so neat how the solid part of the stencil creates the lighter part of the print. The stencil is a Rebecca Baer design, 

You will be seeing a few more of my backgrounds over the next few weeks.

Card Recipe
Stamps: Stampendous, Stampers Anonymous
Paper: Hand Made, Packing Paper
Ink: Versafine Clair, Ranger Distress
Accessories: Coffee, Stencils
Techniques: Coffee Staining, Stencil