Bokeh Love

Hi everyone.  Today is the reminder post for CAS Mix Up January Challenge - Bokeh.  Nancy is hosting this challenge as her final month at CAS Mix Up!  We will miss you Nancy!

I love the look of this wonderful photographic technique.  For my card above, I started with a very small strip of leftover yupo with alcohol inks that I had in my stash.  It was JUST wide enough to fill the background for the square peek-a-boo window.  I knew I wanted a black silhouette die-cut to place on top, so looked through my dies and found this darling cupid that I received as a gift from a very sweet friend.  Thank you BozenA!  This goes with the bokeh background perfectly and so does this sentiment that I tend to use a lot (love it too!).

To remove colour from the alcohol ink background to create the bokeh design, I started with my alcohol lift pad.  I've had it for a while, but not used and it was already dry.  Apparently that happens so you need to order re-inker for it (which I had).  I added the reinker, but it was still going slowly.  I folded up a paper towel and placed it in a small container and poured in blending solution.  Picked up some of the solution with a finger dauber, dabbed off any excess and then sponged through a circle stencil.  It worked great!!  I will probably use this more than having to buy alcohol ink lift re-inker all the time.  That's just my experience ... you need to decide for yourself..

Here's a close-up of the card ...

Sweet!  Right??!!

Please check out the reminder post on CAS Mix Up challenge blog to see the reminder cards from the rest of our Designers, along with our wonderful Guest Designer, Viv.

Then come play along.  Hope to see you in the gallery!

Since I used sponging through a circle stencil to remove colour ... I'm adding this to the CAS Stencil January Challenge - Sponging!

Stamps:  Many Everyday Sentiments (Hero Arts)
Paper:  Yupo; White card base (Neenah 110 lb. card stock); Black (SU!)
Ink:  Alcohol inks
Accessories & Tools:  Blending solution, finger dauber, Circle Stencil (AliExpress), Stitched Window die (AliExpress); Cupid die (gift from a friend - unknown)

Challenges:
CAS Mix Up January Challenge - Bokeh
CAS Stencil January Challenge - Sponging