Hocus Pocus Bokeh Focus

***To see my fabulous prize RAK I received from Michele of Try It On Tuesday, it's at end of this post. ***

Good Thursday to you. Spirits are a bit down here at Casa Winans, as our Astros have lost the first 2 games of the World Series.  Honey is actually the grieving spouse. I'm not a big fan of any professional sports. I do know they are trying to play their best though and I wish them well.

I have a Halloween card to share today that was a lot of fun for me to make and I LOVE how it turned out. I created the backgrounds of the front and back with stencils, inks and the Bokeh Technique on front. And I enjoyed bringing this sweet witch to a colorful life. And I got to use up some washi tape and patterned paper in the bargain!

I used a Split Coast Stampers sketch, sizing it to A2 in PSE and printing out for the rough measurements of the strips. I used washi tape for all of the strip elements. To accommodate my image, I used a much bigger oval mat than the sketch suggests. That's the thing about any stamp but digital ones for sure: detailed images are next to impossible for me to color well when they are tiny. So I make them as big as I can get away with!

SUPPLIES:
Papers: Bazzill Kraft card stock, Neenah index stock, DCWV Halloween patterned paper, Tim Holtz Distress Watercolor card stock
Stamps: PaperBabe MayLeeDee Witchily digital stamp, Crafty Secrets
Inks: Zig Writers, ProMarkers, Memento, Dylusions spray inks, Distress and various chalk and pigment inks
Dies: QK Squeeze 2x2 Bats, Coluzzle oval, Fiskars corner and circle punches
Other/Stash: Donna Downy 8x8 Circuit Boards 1 & 2 and Orbital stencils, Washi tapes, enamel dots, fixative spray

This gives you a good view of my homemade bottom card stock background mat that I did the Bokeh Technique on, and also on the Kraft card stock oval mat. I took process shots of my steps:

 To make my front and back card backgrounds, I took 2 sheets of the Tim Holtz Distress Watercolor card out, smooshed orange Distress inks on my craft mat, diluted with a spray or two of water and then laid the cards down in it, picking up, moving, repeating until I liked the coverage, drying the cards with my heat tool.

Next, I sprayed on some Dylusions Postbox Red ink and some splatters of Black Marble, again drying with my heat tool, and now spraying with fixative. That last step was hopefully to prevent ink migration during my next step...

 ...which was gathering my white craft inks (Brilliance did the best job for me) and blending tools and various sizes of circles stencils, and sponging a bokeh pattern on my front card and on a Coluzzle cut oval of the same kraft card as my card base.

 Thankfully I did the oval first because when I did the red inked and supposedly fixated card front, the red ink migrated onto my sponge and the bokeh circles turned the prettiest shade of pink. I wasn't expecting to work with pink on this card but at that moment I had to go with it, embrace it and make it work! I mean, right? One of those surprises that turned out a-okay, because the "PeptoBismal" pink goes well with the red, and with black shading and edge distressing I eventually do, it looks downright Goth!

Here is the finished layered Bokeh matting.  As usual, I end up covering up most of my juicy bits of background, but there is plenty showing to tease and clearly suggest the Bokeh Effect.

 On the inside of the card I laid down some DCWV patterned paper also corner-punched like my card base and front and back mats. I will get to use one of my Sakura Silver Shadow gel pen on the black mat when I sign it.

On the card back, I used the other background and added more of all of the washi tape I used on front plus a Stamp Magick siggie stamp punched out using a Fiskars circle punch.

Some more random views of this card. This was photographed under full spectrum white natural light. The pinks in the card change hue depending on how the light hits the card. (The middle photo below is my favorite, the pinks glow!)

Isn't this cute little witch adorable? Her name is May Lee Dee Witchily by Paper Babe Stamps (see link in Supplies List above). I used my ancient but still juicy Zig Writers to color her because of their super fine marker tips. It's pigment ink that dries permanent. I stamped the cobweb and spiders using a Crafty Secrets set. I thought they complemented her. She has such a determined stare that the computer-generated sentiment (and Hocus Pocus movie) came immediately to mind. Her EYES are mesmerizing. I have 3 May Lee Dee digi stamps and will definitely be using the other two!

CHALLENGES:
1.   Split Coast Stampers Sketch #SC769 -- sketch shown above
2.   Paper Babe Stamps Challenge #104: Movie Night -- Hocus Pocus (1993)
3.   Country View Oct. Challenge: Bokeh -- my card front and the oval element were both Bokehed.
4.   Outlawz Crash Your Stash Oct 15-Nov 14: Corner Punches  -- I used the bottom punch of this Fiskars four-corner punch on my card base and every mat. Here is pic of my corner punch and where I used it on card:   

 5    Colour Crazy Challenge Week 41: AG with Colouring - I used my Zig Markers and ProMarkers on my focal image.
6.    The Creative Crafters Challenge #21: AG
7.    Cutie Pie Challenge #140: AG with Cute
8.    SUYP Challenge #47: Meow-loween/Furrything Goes
9.   613 Avenue Create Challenge #226: AG  -- I did not play the option and this my 8th and final entry this month.
10.  Stamplorations October Stencil Challenge: AG with a Stencil -- I used 3 stencils (see Supplies) when doing the Bokeh technique to create the circles.  

11.  Lost Coast Portal to Creativity Challenge #85: 31 Days of Halloween

12.  Lost Coast Portal to Creativity Challenge # 86: PETS  -- CAT

13.  Moo Mania Challenge #202: Die Cuts / Punches -- see Supplies List above, I used both.
14.  Try it on Tuesday Challenge: Halloween Witches / Wizards
15.  TTCRD Challenge Week of Oct. 21-28: AG
16.   Moving Along with the Times Challenge #109: Rich Autumn Colors
17.  Three Muses Challenge: Eye, Eye

 

Last but not least, I wanted to share a photo of the fabulous prize RAK of cool stickers that I won over at Try it on Tuesday challenge blog. I want to thank Michele Storms very much for donating/mailing AND for gifting me the most gorgeous handmade tag...in my favorite purple tints. I immediately displayed it in my art corner! I am a lucky gal!! Can't wait to dig into my pile and play!

Thank YOU so much for visiting me and allowing me to share my creative makes! Until next time: Laugh, Love, Live! xox