Beautiful Bokeh

Evening All,

What a change in the weather again today, although it was nice to see some children going off to school. It will be so lovely to get back to a normal state of affairs, but lets press ahead slowly I have no desire to see things go backwards again.

The DT at Creative Expressions have been talking about the Bokeh technique that Gwen shared in her show on Create and Craft this week.

So I decided that I would share a couple of cards that I made using this same technique.

I create my background slightly differently to Gwen, in that I use white ink and a homemade stencil to create my circles rather than the gesso and blending tool that she used.

I do love this technique which is a great way to change a piece of handmade background.

Of course the background doesn't have to be bright, I rather like this slightly more subtle look.

Thanks for stopping by.

Stay safe and hugs

Kimx

Crea\tive Expressions 30 Day Challenge - Day 24 Gilded

Morning Everyone
I hope that you have had a reasonable week and are looking forward to the weekend, even if all the days seem to blur into one another at the moment.
One thing I have noticed about being back at work...……...nail polish only lasts about 3 days lol.
I always paint my nails with glitter polish for Christmas and the New Year, and then don't really bother the rest of the time because they chip too easily when working at the till.
So as I have been at home for best part of 3 months I thought that I would continue with my manicures (performed by me I hasten to add)
At home they seemed to last for at least a fortnight, back to work and they have lasted about 3 days. Oh well I guess it is another way to fill my time during lockdown.

Todays challenge at Creative Expressions 30 Day challenge is Gilded.

I've chosen something slightly different for my take on it. For this card I stamped and embossed Jane's lovely sentiment on to black card stock and then used several diferent sizes of circle die to create a stencil out of acetate.

I then used gold, silver and copper metallic ink to sponge through the stencil to create this lovely Bokeh background.
I used a small snowflake from another of Jane's stamps released at the same time to finish things off.
Not gilding in the true sense of the word, but hopefully good enough for todays challenge.
Have a great weekend, but don't forget to stay home, and stay safe.
Happy Crafting and Hugs
Kimx

Circles Everywhere with the Bokeh Technique.

Hi All,
Well that's it on the Bank Holiday front for a couple of months. Did you have a good one?
I spent it finishing off Christmas card samples for the next Woodware release from Creative Expressions. I would say that that is me finished with Christmas for a while, but as we are playing with Watercolour Pearlex in class on Saturday I doubt that is the case. Pearlex always screams Christmas cards to me with all of that lovely sparkle.

One of the only advantages to a 2 hour train journey to visit the littlest grandchildren, apart from my weekly Costa Coffee of course, is the time that I get to trawl through YouTube looking for new things for the Girls to do in class on a Saturday.

I am a great admirer of Jennifer McGuire. She is currently my go to place for crafty inspiration. Not only does she give brilliant step by step instructions, but most importantly she also makes everything up into finished cards so there is always bucket loads of inspiration.

Last Saturday we played with the Bokeh Technique.

I did find it on Youtube, even if it wasn't on Jennifer's feed.

Everyone had a fabulous time, and all came up with some amazing colour combos.

I love teaching, and I can honestly say that I am always learning from everyone that comes along to a class.

It always amazes me how many different backgrounds people can come up with even when we are all working with the same colour palette.

I showed the Girls how to create an inked background for the 'Bokeh Bubbles' to be added to.

One way to create the background is by sponging colour onto cardstock,

while another way of creating a colourful background to work on is by using inks and plenty of water.

I'm not sure which I like the best, but I do know that I will definitely be using this technique again and again.

I have been trying very hard to keep up with the instructional tag book that I started with the Girls a couple of years ago.

It started after a techniques class that I did at SirStampalot a few years ago. I try to write an instruction tag for each class to which they can attach a piece of art work. That way when they want to be reminded of how they did a particular technique they have an instant reminder and written instructions.

In fact, on that note, I had better get my instructions ready for Saturdays class on Painting with Pearlex. Or maybe I had better get to bed and write instructions tomorrow.

Night, night.

Hugs Kimx