The Good..the Bad...and the Bokeh

Clearly Besotted Rose Stamp and Sentiment

I was up early last Saturday morning. My darling husband was on an early shift and he was so noisy I'm surprised he didn't wake the whole house.

So while the boys were sleeping I pulled out the tray I'd been working on the night before. It held some watercolour paints and brushes and the backgrounds I'd created to join in with Jennifer's challenge from her 

Focus your Craft and Soul blog Event.

A few hours flew by... I was on a roll (it's only 8.30am)... and there was still no sign of the boys. By this time the inks and stamps had come out and the tray could no longer be seen...nor could the table, floor or chairs!!

It all started here with Jennifer's challenge, to create a Bokeh effect.

Here's how it turned out...I thought i'd share with you the good and the bad.

First up is the watercolour backgrounds. They didn't turn out quite as I imagined. I tried to create circles in the colour. Sometimes an idea just doesn't work out does it?

Before I totally pushed this background to one side I used one of Jennifer's Happy Scatter stencils and white ink to create the bokeh effect.  Nope, I still wasn't happy with it.

Still...a bad idea can morph into a good one.

After messing around with watercolours and not really feeling it, I swapped them for inks. Tim Holtz distress inks.

And once the inked background dried, I used a white ink pad and stencil to create the bokeh effect as Jennifer showed in her video.

I was much happier with the result. 

My mammoth morning session ended soon after...when the house started to stir...but not before I'd made more backgrounds ......

I missed Jennifer's deadline for her Bokeh challenge, however I'd like to say thank you to her for setting a challenge that gave me inspiration to go on and create many more backgrounds. 

I'll be back soon to show you more on these.

Happy Friday to you all. 

Under the Stars

Happy Friday to you all.

Another week has passed and what a week it's been. Jennifer kicked off last weekend with her Focus your craft and soul blog hop. I 'd like to thank everyone for leaving such lovely comments and it was good to read that our projects inspired you to create. Jennifer's weekend extravagansa was packed full, unfortunately I  haven't had the opportunity to play along this week, I 'm hoping to rectify this over our long bank holiday weekend...

We are currently in the middle of GCSE's. The build up here was overwhelming...for me at least. I think we are worrying more than him. A stay calm and revise postcard came through the post from the school. There was a message from the headmaster and his deputy and a handwritten paragraph from his form tutor. She has been with him and his class mates for five years and reading her lovely words turned me into a blabbering wreck.

Needless to say I'll be pleased when they are all over and he comes out of his room. He's such good company and yet we haven't seen him for weeks now. He has stayed on late at school (there's no study leave here for students) gone in early and has had his head in books every minute.

It's....8 down 15 more to go. This morning is English Literature and i'll not be able to relax until he's home and he can tell me how it went.  Half term next week will be a welcome break.

...and because a post wouldn't be right without a photo, here's a card using a Clearly Besotted Die 

Have a super weekend x

Focus Your Craft and Soul Blog Hop

Welcome to Jennifer Grace Creates Blog Hop Event Focus Your Craft and Soul.

It's good to see you.

Jennifer Grace is giving away the following WRK Insta Album Kit - you can enter to win by commenting on all the blogs in the Focus Your Craft & Soul hop! The giveaway closes on Sunday the 24th of May at 10pm BST, and is open internationally.

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Now onto my part of the hop. I have a layout to share with you today... 

I imagine there are many of you who play a sport or have someone in the family who does. 

Whether it's football, tennis, gymnastics ... or Rugby, as in my case. 

The season has ended for the boys now and it's lovely to get our evenings and Sunday's back for a few weeks...before pre-season training commences, that is. I will be taking this extra time to catch up on scraping some of the hundreds of rugby photos I have. Like these ones.

I am told that playing rugby isn't just about running around with a ball... it's all about watching the game play, anticipating the next move, setting up the passes and working as a team to achieve them. It takes a lot of concentration and you have to be focused to avoid, not only injury, but giving away opportunities.

These photos show how no.3 son's focal point was set on that try line and his sheer determination (through gritted teeth gum shield ) pushed him through five boys to get there (he told his brothers it was nine.. i wasn't going to stand in the way of a good story, was I :) !! ) 

I used lots of patterned layers to build up a background, after applying textured paste through a stencil. A little green ink was added to the paste....I didn't mix it to well which has given it an uneven colour overall I kinda like.

How do you like the acrylic shapes that are popping up? Have you used them? I've used a few now and they really do give dimension to your project. I used an acrylic title at the bottom on the page. It was hard to photograph, it reads "the story of today"

 and another quick close up photo.

Thank you so much for stopping by.... to continue the hop head on to Leslie, if you get lost head back to Jennifer Grace Creates. 

Remember Jennifer has a whole weekend of fabulous blog posts to share with us :) Have a lovely weekend creating. 

One Photo and Twenty Words

It's the 9th of the month which means it's time to join in with Abi's meme.

One photo and Twenty words

Is there a better way to spend a Saturday afternoon? 

Watching your team win with your boys. 

Saints v Saracens 

Friday's Fancies

Good morning to you all, I can't believe it's Friday again today. Where has the week gone. 

Still I have had no time to scrap. Sob. And no time for much else either, aside from work. Sob. 

So it's another card .. or two.. to share with you.

This card was made for a recent card class and uses the oval stamping up chevron stamp. I liked that it could be easily adapted for a girl. We had a variety of colour combinations and numbers...and I am thinking with a couple of wedding anniversary's coming up it could be adapted again. 

This next card you may have seen on Instagram. It uses a Happy Scatter Triangle stencil and a little chevron washi tape. 

Have a super weekend. I will get to scrap something soon and will be back to share it with you. 

Friday's Fancy

Good Morning, I hope the sun in shinning for you all this morning.

It's been a busy week here and sadly there has been no time to scrap...so I'm sharing a card with you all today.

Have a lovely long bank holiday weekend and i'll see you all soon x