A New (To Me!) Technique and Some Cards.

On the card above, I used one of Lavinia Stamps Sticker Stencils (the toadstool) and another shaped stencil to colour in  the shape of the toadstool and the pattern inside the toadstool. I did carefully, and very lightly, draw around the toadstool shape with one of my watercolour pencils in dark blue. Just to darken the edges of the toadstool. I then removed the Sticker Stencil and stamped the bunny, the dragonfly, and lastly the birds. The card looks very pale, but in reality it's much darker.     The bookmark below was done on water colour card, using another LS Sticker Stencil. I don't remember exactly how I did it, but I think I used pink blue and yellow watered down Dinkles. Then I  kind 'painted' inside the shape of the Hare. After taking the SS off the card, I stamped the foliage and the three words. I also added a few splatters of the Dinkles using my fan brush. Pretty simple to make.                           

The card below is one I made some time ago, and never finished until the other day. I stamped on water colour cardstock. he cat stamp is from Katzel Craft. Not sure about the word stamps, I forget which brand they are. I also forget what I used for the background, lol! It's one of those days...

Ok, so on to this new (to me) technique I learned! I used watercolour cardstock, and with a stencil brush, brushed on green and yellow Elemnts ink. Use and water reactive ink for this. Fill up the whole piece of card.

I bought these Magic Sponges below, from my local $2 Shop, but the supermarket also sells them at 3 times the price. The pack I got has eight pieces of sponge. 

The next step is to use a stencil as shown below. My stencil has smaller holes at the top, and they get bigger as you go down the stencil. Any "hole"  of stencil will work. Take one of the sponges and wet it. Squeeze out the water as much as you can, the stencil just needs to be damp. Making sure the sencil doesn't move, carefully (lightly) 'drag' the sponge down over the holes in the stencil. Do this 2-3 times until you have done the whole piece of card.

You will the get a kind of "Bokeh" effect as shown below. Dry the card wither in the sun (it won't take long),or use a heat gun. 

You can now stamp on your card. If you want to take thigs one more step, place the hole stencil back over the card and ink on some pale coloured ink. I think I used a Distress Oxide ink, possibly Shadow, I'm mot sure. Don't do what I did, and brush the Shadow ink over the stamped image! I hade a bit of a "whoopsie" moment and inked over the image. You can see this in the photo below.

Below is the first Bokeh effect card I did, using the technique I have shown above. It's easy, quick and effective! By swiping the damp sponge over the image, it lifts and 'blends' the ink colours, giving it a soft "Bokeh"  effect. My apologies at my attempt at explaining all this. I'm not 100% well, and am in some pain and discomfort. 

I hope you enjoyed this post, and I also hope I didn't confuse you too much, lol! (Feel free to email me with any questions!) I shouldn't post when I am not well. Anyway, thanks for dropping by! Have a SUNSHINE day! Remember to always be your authentic self, and shine bright each and every day!