"New" Product Tuesday: Bokeh Watercolor technique featuring Mama Elephant Stamps

Hello!

Happy Tuesday!  Today I had a ton of fun experimenting with watercolors, pigment ink and a new Mama Elephant "Up and Away" stamp and die set (well, new to me that is).  I created two cards.  Yes, two!!  I had so much fun making the first one... so I decided to make a second card since all my supplies were out.  These would make great baby cards.  I have several friends who are expecting babies in the next few months.  Some know the gender and others are keeping it a surprise.

I really wanted to make a watercolor background and I've been intrigued by the Bokeh effect that I've seen on Instagram and in YouTube videos.  This was so much easier to do than I expected!

Materials:

• Kraft Card Stock: 4.25"W x 11"H, scored at 5.5" mark
• Pink and Blue Card Stock: 4"W x 5.25"H
• White Card Stock: 3.75"W x 5"H
• Watercolor Paper: 4"W x 5"H, then trim down to 3.5"W x 4.75"H
• Mama Elephant Up and Away Stamp and Die Sets
• Yellow Baker's Twine
• Spellbinders Back to Basics Tag Die
• Homemade Circle Stencil
• Hero Arts Unicorn Pigment Ink and Soft Granite Shadow Ink
• Ranger Distress Inks:
• For the Pink Card: Picked Raspberry, Dried Marigold, Squeezed Lemonade
• For the Blue Card: Salty Ocean, Tumbled Glass, Squeezed Lemonade
• Adhesive

Directions:

• Start with all the watercoloring... this way you can let your watercolor background dry naturally.  
• Tape the watercolor paper to a hard surface using painter's tape or washi tape.  I used an art board (similar to the back of a clipboard).  The water tends to warp the paper, so having it taped down helps keep the paint in place.  Apply a clear coat of water using a clean brush over the entire surface.
• Spread the distress inks on an acrylic block.  Using a paintbursh, gradually add each of the colors to the wet watercolor paper.  I like to start with the lighter color and go darker.  Since I was using three different colors... I went in rainbow order.  Just because :-)
• Here's a picture... sorry the lighting isn't that good

• Once the background has dried, use the pigment ink and a circle stencil to apply the Bokeh effect.  I didn't have a stencil, so I made my own using a sheet of plastic and various sized circle dies from Sizzix.

• Use different degrees of pressure when applying the dots.  I like the small ones to be the most visible so I used more pressure there.  Here's what it looks like.  Once it dries, the pigment ink lightens up a little, so don't be afraid to push hard.  

• While all that was drying, I colored the rabbit from the stamp set using copic markers.  I used C00, N0 and N2 on the main body and accented it with R20 in the ears, cheeks and feet.  I used R20 and R22 for the pink flower and Y000 and Y21 for the yellow flower.
• Die cut the rabbit and fussy cut the flower.
• Stamp the sentiment on a white tag (I used a Spellbinders die to cut out this tag).
• Tie some twine on the end of the tag
• Cut all the paper down to size and adhere each layer.  Add the sentiment, rabbit and flower to the front using foam adhesive.

Here are the two cards: 

Enjoy and have a GREAT day!