Dies and Bokeh, Oh My!

I've been a photographer since the first time I received my own camera when I was ten.  Those early photographs show a curiosity in capturing the world around me.  There were a lot of "duds" but some photos that showed promise.  Over the years I've honed my skills and learned so much more about the why of a good photo.  Manually choosing my aperature is one of the things I choose to do for most of my photos.  And that's where "bokeh" comes into play.

Basically bokeh is the quality of the out-of-focus areas of the photograph.  Even though one ensures a good out-of-focus or background blur by choosing a large aperature, the rest depends on the actual lens of the camera.  Some lenses are known to provide excellent bokeh by rendering the background blur into circular patterns.  Overall, the background blur should be soft and creamy with smooth, round circles of light.

Okay, this is not a photography lesson, but the card that I've created does depend on bokeh, or rather my rendition of bokeh through the use of stamps and sponge daubers.  After first sponging some Pool Party over a piece of Whisper White, I spent some time using both along with the following inks:  So Saffron, Pear Pizzazz, Daffodil Delight, Pistachio Pudding, and, finally, Whisper White craft ink.  The results are pleasing and not entirely unlike bokeh.

After all that dried (the craft ink takes quite a while to dry), I stamped my primary image, the birds in their nest from the World of Dreams stamp set.  Then I attached my die-cuts.  I had cut a birdhouse (Poppy Stamps) and a sentiment (Spellbinders) out of Basic Black cardstock.  I loved the stark contrast of the die-cuts and stamped image against the bokeh.  It made me think of leaves and sky all around.

For my base cardstock, I used Naturals White, then a layer of Basic Black and a layer of Pear Pizzazz.  I put a Basic Black matte on the "bokeh'd" Whisper White and then attached that to the card using Dimensionals.

For more cards including both bokeh and die-cuts, check out The Friday Mashup.

For more cards including die-cuts, check out the Papertake Weekly Challenge.

For more cards using this sketch, check out CAS(E) this Sketch!