On Monday I took part in a “Holidays” blog hop with the IDEAS team. As part of that I contributed designs for a Christmas card and gift box for the 70 page Tutorial PDF bundle. These projects won’t be available anywhere else and therefore for my blog followers I created a coordinating gift tag. One section of that was a bokeh background layer using the Lights Aglow 6” x 6” Designer Series Paper (DSP) pack. So for today’s project I wanted to give you a closer look at this effect.

Bokeh is a term most often used in photography and you’ve probably seen it many times without actually knowing what it was called. It’s blur, but specifically the effect created when specific points of light are blurred. I most often notice it in photos of Christmas lights which is probably why it was included in the Lights Aglow DSP.

LIGHTS AGLOW

In the Lights Aglow DSP there are actually four different colours of the bokeh design; Basic Black, Soft Succulent, Evening Evergreen and Cherry Cobbler. There’s sheets with just the bokeh effect, while others feature gold foil details on top. As this project was all about showing off the bokeh effect I decided to go with the plain Basic Black option.

I began by cutting a 2″ x 6″ piece of the DSP along with a 2″ x 5-1/2″ piece of Basic White Card. Then I fixed the two pieces together using Multipurpose Liquid Glue (Tombow) and folded the extra 1/2″ of DSP over the end of the card strip. This reinforced the top where I punched a slot using the Very Best Trio Punch.

With an ‘out of focus’ background I now needed to add a focal point to the foreground. For that I chose a motivational sentiment from the Inspired Thoughts Stamp Set, “You make a difference every day”.

First using VersaMark ink I stamped the sentiment towards the bottom of the bookmark. Then I sprinkled the sticky ink with white powder from the Basics Stampin’ Emboss Powders pack. After tapping off the excess I removed some stray specks, before melting the rest using my Heat Tool set on 2 (high).

Finally from the Baker’s Twine Essentials Pack I cut 6″ each of the black and white twines. I folded the pieces in half and poked the loops through the hole in the top of the bookmark. Then I threaded the ends through the loops and pulled gently to secure the twine in place. With that my bookmark was complete.

This bokeh effect is great for backgrounds and it’s really easy to recreate with card and ink. Watch out for my bokeh video tutorial and new project in a week or so.

PRODUCT LIST

LIGHTS AGLOW – For a closer look at all the patterns in the Lights Aglow DSP pack click on the link below. Then on the left side you’ll be able to click through photos of the individual designs.

BUNDLE BONUS – I bought the Very Best Trio Punch in a bundle with the Very Best Occasions Stamp Set (not used today). Buying these two items using the single ‘bundle’ item number meant I saved 10% off the cost of buying the same two items separately. I’ve included a link to the bundle in case you want to explore that option.