Bokeh technique! Have you ever tried it?! I loved this technique “from aside” for a while but never get around to try it myself. Until now 🙂 And why oh! why I waited so long?! hahaha

This is such a cool and easy technique and you can achieve this effect in many different ways. But wait, what the bokeh effect is and means?! In photography bokeh (originally /ˈboʊkɛ/, /ˈboʊkeɪ/ boh-kay — also sometimes pronounced as /ˈboʊkə/ boh-kə is the aesthetic quality of the blur produced in the out-of-focus parts of an image produced by a lens. The term comes from the Japanese word boke (暈け or ボケ), which means “blur” or “haze”, or boke-aji (ボケ味), the “blur quality”. The Japanese term boke is also used in the sense of a mental haze or senility. The term bokashi (暈かし) is related, meaning intentional blurring or gradation.

Cool, hey? 🙂

To achieve a similar effect on your card you can try the watercolour technique background which can be pretty amazing, and for the “blur” you simply add lighter “circles” with white pigment ink. And what’s cool about the pigment ink, you can make your circles as soft or as intense as you wish.

The first card I created is for my hubby’s 41st Birthday which happens to be today! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BABY!!! I love you to the moon and back! You are such a blessing in my life xx

You must have noticed our ‘cheeky little thing’ photobomb the picture haha

And here’s the card –

For the background, I’ve used three colours of ink: Pool Party, Bermuda Bay and Island Indigo. I’ve sponged the panel randomly, making sure all the colours are blended well. When I was happy with my background I started adding circles in various sizes with Whisper White Craft Ink and sponge.

Sentiment and border come from Tin Of Cards stamp set that coordinates with Tin Of Cards Project Kit. But this set is so versatile with its bold images. Once you’ve created your beautiful kit you can use that stamp set over and over again on different occasions. I stamped the sentiment in Versamark and heat-embossed with black embossing powder. Stars are punched with Confetti Stars Punch. To add some WOW effect I added Crystal Effects to the sentiment and stars. I love how they “pop!” from the card.

But because I had all my supplies out, I’ve created three more cards using same technique and stamp set but different colours.

For this one, I used Daffodil Delight, Watermelon Wonder and Melon Mambo. For a little twist, I stamped my sentiment onto vellum and added a circle full of punched out stars so the background is peeking from behind. I really love this effect. Larger star comes from Itty Bitty Accents punch pack and it holds vellum in place.

My third card is a Thank You card. And again same technique but different sentiment and colours: So Saffron, Pear Pizzazz and Old Olive. And again I used Crystal Effects on stars and sentiment.

For my last card today I used Wisteria Wonder, Perfect Plum and Rich Razzleberry.

But this time I decided to add a vellum “screen” to my layout. Such an easy way to intensify the blur effect.

Hope you like my today’s cards and that I’ve inspired you to try bokeh technique yourself. Honestly, I had lots of fun creating these cards and would love to hear what you think about them. Please let me know in the comments below.

Thank you so much for stopping by,