Bokeh Card Class

At my sister's request, I had a Bokeh Card Class at my place during her visit. It was so much fun! The picture above is the one I used on my Facebook Event page to let people know they would get to try Bokeh three ways during the class.

Bokeh is all the rage lately. Here's a definition from Wikipedia:

In photography, bokeh (Originally /ˈboʊkɛ/, /ˈboʊkeɪ/ BOH-kay — also sometimes pronounced as /ˈboʊkə/ BOH-kə, Japanese: [boke]) is the aesthetic quality of the blur produced in the out-of-focus parts of an image produced by a lens. Bokeh has been defined as "the way the lens renders out-of-focus points of light".

Stampers have come up with many different ways to create a similar look. In my class we experimented with three different ways:

1) Bokeh with Watercolour - One of the attendees didn't get a chance to finish her card so she's coming back to finish it another time, but two left with beautiful cards using this method.

Everyone was given a 5 1/4 x 4 piece of watercolour paper, a paint brush, a water bowl and told to pick whatever colours they wanted to use from my ink pads. First we used the paint brush to soak the paper with water. Then each person took one of the ink pads they had chosen, squeezed it to get some ink on the cover, dipped their paint brush in water, and then picked up some ink from the cover and used it to do circles in different spots all over the paper. They repeated that with each colour they had chosen to use until they were satisfied with the look, adding extra water to the paper as needed. We laid it aside to dry and later went back and added the finishing touch by sponging white craft ink through different size circle stencils here and there. They each picked a colour of card stock to create a card base for their card and each picked a sentiment and whatever embellishments they wanted.

2) Bokeh with One Colour -

My "almost double digiter" decided to join us for this card and she actually used two colours on her card, but everyone else used one. I posted a video on this method in my blog post Bokeh Technique with Just One Ink Colour. Once again, one of the attendees didn't quite get her card finished and is coming back to finish it another time. I let everyone pick whatever colour they wanted to use and guided through the steps to complete it.

3) Bokeh with Sponging -

I posted a video showing this technique on my Birthday Bokehs blog post. Once again I let everyone choose the colours they wanted to use and guided them through the process. When they were happy with it they chose the card stock they wanted for the card base and whatever sentiments and embellishments they wanted.

I loved seeing how each one turned out so different. It is such a fun technique, no matter which way you do it, and it turns out different every time.

If you missed this class but you are interested in trying the technique, let me know. I am planning another Bokeh card class for sometime this month if I get enough interest.