Hi, Joyce Schmidt here! I am so happy to spend this year designing with Elizabeth Craft Designs!
When I think of photography the first technique that come to my mind is the “bokeh” technique. This phenomenon occurs when too much light enters the lens and the picture is blurry, but the beautiful circles of light that are left are beautiful! I wanted to replicate that using watercolor.
Here’s how I created the Bokeh backgrounds:
1. Cut six pieces of Elizabeth Craft Designs watercolor paper into two 4×5″ pieces.
2. I used a washi tape (or painter’s tape) to tape a border around my yardstick and to hold it down as a frame for the background. (tip: this makes your piece look cleaner but it is not essential.)
This is how I prep my card stock to paint this technique
3. Saturate the paper with clean water and a soft brush. You want the paper to be really wet layer color on a little at a time so that the colors and blend with the water.
Layer color on a little at a time so that the colors and blend with water.
4. I used my Elizabeth Craft Designs watercolor set to drop on color allowing it to spread onto the paper naturally. All you do at this point is watch is spread and add color or water as you want.
5. After it is completely dry, then use stencil to create dots. I created a stencil with different sizes of circles so that I could replicate the bokeh look. It needs to have many different sizes no bigger that 1.5″ in diameter.
6. Use a good quality white pigment ink and sponge dauber the ink into the circles, overlapping them and variegating the intensity of the ink you add to each circle.
7. After completing your bokeh dots, dry completely with heat tool. this will allow you to not smear your dots!
8. To complete the card I stamped it with the “You got this” stamp from Sue Smith’s collection of Stamp from Elizabeth Craft Designs.
Image with stamped image on it.
For more information on how to do this technique, make sure to watch my video tutorial HERE.
I hope you feel inspired to try this fun technique yourself. Choose some pretty colors and create your own Bokeh background – The possibilities are endless!
Hey Crafters! Katelyn here, sharing with you my We Are Stronger Together Wall Hanging.
To create my We Are Stronger Together Wall Hanging, I’ve used a variety of dies, stamps and stencils from the Art Journal Specials Collection as well as a couple of dies from Joset Designs. You’ll want to read below as I share with you how to recreate my wall hanging at home.
Step One. Die cut a 4″ Stitched Rounded Rectangle out of White Soft Finish Cardstock. Place the Spring Flower Mandala Stencil on the left hand side of the rectangle. Use a palette knife and put Texture Paste Opaque Matte through the stencil. Remove the stencil. Allow the stenciled image to dry. Once the image is dry, spray Distress Spray Stain in Cracked Pistachio and Wilted Violet over the stenciled image. Once dry, ink the edges of the rectangle using Black Soot Distress Ink and a blending tool with foam.
Step Two. From a piece of book page, die cut a 4 1/2″ Stitched Rounded Rectangle Die. Ink the edges of the rectangle using Black Soot Distress Ink and a blending tool with foam.
Step Three. Die cut a 1 1/2″ Diagonal Stitched Fishtail out of White Soft Finish Cardstock. Die cut a 1 1/8″ Diagonal Stitched Fishtail out of Book page. Ink the edges of both fishtails out of Black Soot Distress Ink and a blending tool with foam.
Step Four. From the Budding Florals die, die cut the single bud out of black cardstock.
Step Five. From the Blooming Branches die, die cut the heart branch out of a piece of book page.
Step Six. Die cut the the lamp standard from the Streetlights die out of White Soft Finish Cardstock. Apply Emboss It Ink to the lamp standard. Sprinkle Boho Blends – Wrought Iron Embossing Powder over the entire surface of the lamp standard. Tap off the excess powder and emboss with a heat tool.
Step Seven. Die cut the the Bubbles from the Bubbles die out of White Soft Finish Cardstock. Apply Emboss It Ink to the Bubbles. Sprinkle Peppered Chantilly Embossing Powder over the entire surface of the bubbles. Tap off the excess powder and emboss with a heat tool.
Step Eight. From the Budding Florals die. Die cut the bud strip out of kraft cardstock.
Step Nine. Die cut the left hand side of the Ornate Gateway out of White Soft Finish Cardstock. Apply Emboss It Ink to the gate. Sprinkle Hammered Metal Embossing Powder over the entire surface of the gate. Tap off the excess powder and emboss with a heat tool.
Step Ten. Choose one of the girls from the Floral Girls stamp set. Apply Jet Black Archival Ink to the girl stamp and stamp onto a piece of watercolor paper. Colour the girl in using the Watercolor Palette. Once the image has dried, fussy cut the girl out. Ink the edges of the girl using Black Soot Distress Ink and a blending tool with foam.
Step Eleven. Apply Emboss It Ink to the We Are stamp from the Words & Layers stamp and stamp onto a piece of White Soft Finish Cardstock. Apply Emboss It Ink to the stronger together words from the same stamp set and stamp onto the same piece of White Soft Finish Cardstock. Sprinkle Boho Blends – Wrought Iron Embossing Powder over the We Are and stronger together words. Tap off the excess powder and emboss with a heat tool. Fussy cut the We Are out and cut the stronger together into a strip. Ink the edges of the We Are and strip using Black Soot Distress Ink and a blending tool with foam.
Step Twelve. Adhere the 4″ stitched rounded rectangle to the 4 1/2″ stitched rounded rectangle.
Step Thirteen. Adhere the 1 1/2″ fishtail 1/4″ from the left and 1/4″ from the bottom of the 4″ rectangle. Adhere the 1 1/8″ fishtail 3/4″ from the left and 1/2″ from the bottom of the 4″ rectangle. Adhere the bubbles die cut 1/8″ from the left and 1/4″ from the bottom of the 4″ rectangle.
Step Fourteen. Adhere the gate overtop of the bubbles and fishtails. Foam square the bud strip to the middle of the gate. Adhere the light standard and single bud as desired to the middle of the bud strip.
Step Fifteen. Foam square the girl 1″ from the right and 1/2″ from the bottom of the 4″ rectangle. Use foam squares to adhere the We Are words 1″ from the bottom of the 4″ rectangle and close to the girl. Adhere the stronger together word strip 3/8″ from the right and 3/4″ from the bottom of the 4″ rectangle.
Step Sixteen. To finish the wall hanging, punch two holes at the top of the 4″ rectangle. Tie a piece of twine through the top of each hole.
Thanks for joining me today! I hope that I’ve inspired you to create your own version of my We Are Stronger Together Wall Hanging.
Katelyn
Elizabeth Craft Designs Supplies Used:
Other Supplies Used:
Distress Ink: Black Soot
Distress Spray Stain: Cracked Pistachio and Wilted Violet
Blending Tool with Foam
Ranger Ink: Jet Black Archival Ink, Texture Paste Opaque Matte and Emboss It Ink
Emerald Creek Craft Supplies: Peppered Chantilly Embossing Powder, Hammered Metal Embossing Powder and Boho Blends – Wrought Iron Embossing Powder
Misc: Black Cardstock, Kraft Cardstock, Book Page and Twine
It’s Tanja here and today I would like to show you how to create this super sweet Rainbow Bear Card.
Step 1: Creating the Background
apply Prima Marketing transparent 3D Matte Gel through the heart portion of the Make your Mark stencil
add color with the Watercolors – I used Vermilion, Orange, Lemon Yellow, Yellow Green, Prussian Blue and Mauve
Here’s the color chart that I created with the new Elizabeth Craft Designs Watercolor Set:
Step 2: Creating the Bear
cut out all the elements for the Honey Bear from white Soft Finish Cardstock
color the elements with Alcohol Markers and add extra shading with Distress Ink Ground Espresso and a Mini Ink Blending Tool and highlights with a white gel pen
Step 3: Putting it all together and adding a Sentiment
adhere the adorable little bear to the rainbow panel
stamp the sentiments from the Make your own Sentiment 1 set with Versamark onto two strips of kraft cardstock and heat-emboss them with WOW! Bright White Super Fine embossing powder
Have a wonderful day. And next week I am going to show you how to create a completely different project with that same stenciled heart panel.
Hugs,
Supplies:
Elizabeth Craft Designs –
Other – Prima Marketing transparent 3D Matte Gel Alcohol Marker Distress Ink Ground Espresso Mini Ink Blending Tool WOW! Bright White Super Fine embossing powder Versamark white gel pen
Hey Crafters! Katelyn here, sharing with you my Inspire Gift Tag.
To create my tag, I’ve used a variety of the dies, stamp and stencil from Charlene and Ilse’s Art Journal Specials Collection as well as a couple of dies from the Planner Essentials Collection. You’ll want to read below as I share with you how to recreate my tag at home.
Step One. Die cut the small tag from the Planner Essentials – 2 die out of White Soft Finish Cardstock. Place the stripe portion of the Make Your Mark stencil on the middle of the tag. Using a palette knife, put Texture Paste Opaque Matte through the stencil. Remove the stencil. Once the paste has dried, ink the edges of the tag using Black Soot Distress Ink and a blending tool with foam.
Step Two. Next, you’ll need two coordinating patterned papers. Die cut the small note piece from the Planner Essentials 21 – Note Pieces die out of one of the patterned papers. Die cut the stitched rectangle from the same die out of the second piece of patterned paper. Ink the edges of both pieces, using Black Soot Distress Ink and a blending tool with foam.
Step Three. From the Planner Essentials 21 – Note Pieces die, die cut the curly arrow out of kraft cardstock.
Step Four. From the Blooming Branches die, die cut one branch out of book page and die cut the other branch out of black cardstock.
Step Five. Die cut the stitched label from the Planner Essentials 26 – Planner Pocket 3 – Tags & Toppers out of a third coordinating pattern paper piece. From the same die, die cut the inspire word out of kraft cardstock. Ink the edges of the label using Black Soot Distress Ink and a blending tool with foam.
Step Six. From the Planner Essentials – 8 die, die cut one of the reinforcements out of black cardstock. Cut the reinforcement so that it fits over the circle on the tag and the top ends at the top of the tag.
Step Seven. Apply Jet Black Archival Ink to the leaves stamp from the First Sights of Spring stamp set and stamp onto a piece of watercolour paper. Colour the leaves in using a waterbrush and the Watercolor Palette. Once the image has dried, fussy cut the image out. Ink the edges of the image using Black Soot Distress Ink and a blending tool with foam.
Step Eight. Cut a piece of burlap that measures 1 3/4″ x 3″.
Step Nine. Adhere the reinforcement circle to the tag. Adhere the burlap 1/4″ from the left and 1/4″ from the bottom of the tag.
Step Ten. Adhere the stitched rectangle 3/8″ from the left side and 1/4″ from the bottom of the note piece. Foam square the note piece 3/8″ from the left and 3/8″ from the bottom of the tag. Adhere the arrow to the left hand side of the stitched rectangle.
Step Eleven. Adhere the label 3/4″ from the left and 1/8″ from the bottom of the note piece. Adhere the heart branch to the middle of the label. Adhere the other branch 1/2″ from the left and 1/8″ from the bottom of the note piece.
Step Twelve. Foam square the leaves image to the middle of the branches. Adhere the inspire word to the right hand side of the stitched rectangle and note piece.
Step Thirteen. To finish the tag, tie a piece of twine through the whole the top of the tag.
Thanks for joining me today! I hope that I’ve inspired you to create your own version of my Inspire Gift Tag.
Katelyn
Elizabeth Craft Designs Supplies Used:
Other Supplies Used:
Distress Ink: Black Soot
Blending Tool with Foam
Ranger Ink: Jet Black Archival Ink and Texture Paste Opaque Matte
Graphic 45: Bloom Collection
Misc: Black Cardstock, Kraft Cardstock, Book Page, Twine and Burlap
Hey Crafters! Katelyn here, sharing with you my Thank You Tag.
To create my Thank You Tag, I’ve used a variety of dies from Suzanne Cannon as well as a die from the Planner Essentials Collection. You’ll want to read below as I share with you how to recreate my tag at home.
Step One. Die cut the large tag from the Planner Essentials 26 – Planner Pocket 3 – Tags & Topper die out of White Soft Finish Cardstock. Die cut the butterflies from the Butterflies & Stars Spray out of a piece of scrap cardstock. Place the now created stencil on the tag as desired. Place VersaMark Ink through the stencil. Sprinkle Armenian Pink Modern Gilding Powder over the stenciled image. Tap off the excess powder and emboss with a heat tool.
Step Two. Die cut two wreaths from the Wreath & Elements die out of Watercolour paper. Using the Watercolours from the Watercolor Palette, colour one wreath using the Deep Green colour and a waterbrush. Colour the other wreath in using the Sap Green colour and a waterbrush.
Step Three. Die cut the Thank You from the Thank You 2 die out of White Soft Finish Cardstock. Apply VersaMark Ink to the entire surface of the sentiment. Sprinkle Celtic Mint Modern Gilding Powder over the entire surface of the sentiment. Tap off the excess powder and emboss with a heat tool.
Step Four. Die cut five plain flowers from the Wreath & Elements die out of White Soft Finish Cardstock. Die cut five cut out flowers from the Wreath & Elements die out of Watercolour paper. Using the Watercolours from the Watercolor Palette, colour three of the cut out flowers using the Rose colour and a waterbrush. Colour the remaining two cut out flowers using the Pink colour and a waterbrush. Adhere all five cut out flowers to all of the five plain flowers.
Step Five. Adhere the two wreaths together, making sure that the leaves on each leaf slightly overlap one another. Use foam squares on the top and bottom of the wreaths to adhere the wreaths to the middle of the tag.
Step Six. In the top left side of the wreath, adhere a rose colour and a pink colour flower as desired. Use adhesive and foam squares to adhere the Thank You sentiment to the middle of the wreaths. Adhere the remaining three flowers to the bottom right side of the wreath.
Step Seven. With all the elements on the tag, cut the tag down to 5 1/2″. Tie a twine bow through the top of the tag. To finish the tag, add three Craft Drops in White at the bottom left of the tag. Add another two dots to the bottom right side of the tag and then another two dots to the top right side of the tag.
Thanks for joining me today! I hope that I’ve inspired you to create your own version of my Thank You Tag.
Katelyn
Elizabeth Craft Designs Supplies Used:
Other Supplies Used:
Quietfire Design: Modern Gilding Powder – Celtic Mint and Armenian Pink
Hey Crafters! Katelyn here, sharing with you my Bloom Card.
To create my card, I’ve used a variety of the new dies and stamps from Charlene and Ilse’s Art Journal Specials Collection as well as a couple of dies from the Planner Essentials Collection, Joset Designs and Els van de Burgt Studio. You’ll want to read below as I share with you how to recreate my card at home.
Step One. Die cut a 4 1/4″ Stitched Square out of White Soft Finish Cardstock. Place the Story Telling stencil to the left hand side of the square and put Texture Paste Opaque Matte through the stencil with a palette knife as much or as little as desired. Once the paste has dried, distress the edges of the square. Ink the edges of the square using Black Soot Distress Ink and a blending tool with foam.
Step Two. Die cut a 4 3/4″ Stitched Square out of a piece of book page. Distress the edges of the square. Ink the edges of the square using Black Soot Distress Ink and a blending tool with foam.
Step Three. Die cut a 2″ Stitched Circle out of White Soft Finish Cardstock. Cut the circle down to 1 1/2″. Die cut a 1 1/2″ Stitched Circle out of a piece of patterned paper. Cut the circle down to 1 1/4″. Distress the edges of the circles. Ink the edges of the circles using Black Soot Distress Ink and a blending tool with foam.
Step Four. Die cut a 3/4″ Diagonal Stitched Fishtail out of White Soft Finish Cardstock. Cut the fishtail down to 2 1/2″. Apply Jet Black Archival Ink to the Bloom sentiment from the A Field of Flowers stamp set and stamp onto the fishtail. Distress the edges of the fishtail. Ink the edges of the fishtail using Black Soot Distress Ink and a blending tool with foam.
Step Five. Die cut the Mandala out of a piece of kraft cardstock. Cut the Mandala down to 2 1/2″.
Step Six. Die cut the Blooming Branch from the Blooming Branches die and die cut the branch out of cream cardstock.
Step Seven. From the Planner Essentials 24 – Photo Frame die, die cut the film strip out of a piece of black cardstock. Trim the filmstrip down to 3 1/8″.
Step Eight. From the Planner Essentials 24 – Photo Frame die, die cut the arrow strip out of a piece of pattern paper. Ink the edges of the strip using Black Soot Distress Ink and a blending tool with foam.
Step Nine. Apply Jet Black Archival Ink to the flower branch from the First Sights of Spring stamp set and stamp onto a piece of watercolour paper. Colour the flower branch using the Watercolor Palette and a waterbrush. Fussy cut the flower branch out.
Step Ten. Cut a small piece of cheesecloth.
Step Eleven. Adhere the 4 1/4″ stitched square to the 4 3/4″ stitched square.
Step Twelve. Adhere the mandala to the left hand side of the 4 1/4″ stitched square. Adhere the 1 3/4″ stitched circle to the middle of the mandala. Adhere the 1 1/4″ stitched circle to the 1 3/4″ stitched circle.
Step Thirteen. Staple the arrow strip to the film strip in two sections as desired. Adhere the bloom fishtail 1/2″ from the bottom and 1″ from the left of the 4 1/4″ square. The fishtail will sit slightly underneath the circles. Adhere the arrow strip and film strip to the middle of the circles.
Step Fourteen. Adhere the cheesecloth to the middle of the arrow strip and films trip. Adhere the bloom branch to the middle of the cheesecloth.
Step Fifteen. Foam square the flower branch as desired overtop of the bloom branch.
Step Sixteen. To finish the card, cut a piece of White Soft Finish Cardstock that measures 4 3/4″ x 9 1/2″, score at 4 3/4″. Adhere the cardfront to the cardbase.
Thanks for joining me today! I hope that I’ve inspired you to create your own version of my Bloom Card.
Katelyn
Elizabeth Craft Designs Supplies Used:
Other Supplies Used:
Distress Ink: Black Soot
Blending Tool with Foam
Ranger Ink: Jet Black Archival Ink and Texture Paste Opaque Matte
Graphic 45: Bloom Collection
Misc: Black Cardstock, Kraft Cardstock, Book Page, Cream Cardstock, Mini Stapler and Cheesecloth
We can all use a little sunshine in our lives right now. It’s Sandy Diller here with you today. I just received my ECD Watercolors in the mail and had to use them right away. I am not a watercolor artist by any stretch of the imagination, I’m a crafter. That being said, I had lots of fun creating this card and love how bright and sunny it is.
There are some fun details to share with you – so let’s get started!
I began with the ECD Watercolor Paper. It is 4″ wide so it’s perfect for an A2 card.
I put the paper in my Misti tool and placed this lovely background stamp where I wanted it. The stamp is much bigger than the paper so it was positioned where I have the images I want. The stamp was inked up with VirsaMark ink and stamped. I added white embossing powder then heat set it.
Since I’m new to watercolor, I had to go out to the garage and find a board that would work. I found an old shelf from a wall unit we no longer have so it was perfect for this use. The shelf is laminated – so it’s great for watercolor. The paper was taped to the board in order to keep it flat. OK, ready to go!
The watercolor set comes with a water brush so mixing up the paint couldn’t be easier. I simply dropped some water on the color. The only extra thing I needed was a piece of paper towel. I covered the entire embossed image with pink and then dropped a little yellow here and there. Then came the hardest part, waiting for it to become completely dry.
Once the background was dry, I began painting the additional colors on the flowers and leaves. When adding the additional colors, you will see how the pink and yellow base coat combines with the new colors. Then once again, wait for it to dry.
While my watercolor panel was drying I gathered up the rest of the card elements. I made the base of the A2 card by cutting a panel from a pretty yellow cardstock that was 5.5″ by 8.5″ and then scored down the center. Using the Rounded Stitched Rectangles – a white panel and then the watercolor panel was cut. “hello sunshine” was stamped and then cut with the Stitched Fishtail Banner die set. Now all we need is easy assembly for a bright and sunny card.
Once everything was dry, some clear ECD Craft Drops were added. Weather you are an artist or crafter, this watercolor set is something you will want to add to your supplies.
it’s Tanja here and today I would like to show you how to create this card and how to make your own custom-made sentiments:
Step 1: Die Cutting
die cut a background panel and a wave border from watercolor paper with one of the Stitched Rectangles and one of the Ocean Edges
die cut the Lighthouse elements from white Soft Finish Cardstock
Step 2: Add Color
color the background with Distress Oxide Ink (Tumbled Glass, Faded Jeans) and a Blending Brush
add water droplets for more texture
add color to the wave border with Distress Oxide Ink (Salty Ocean, Chipped Sapphire) and add some splatters with watered-down Distress Oxide Ink Chipped Sapphire
for the seafoam ink up the edge of the wave border with Versamark and heat-emboss it with WOW! Seafoam White embossing powder
color the lighthouse with Alcohol Markers
Step 3: Assembly and Finishing Touches
assemble the Lighthouse and the background – use clear double-sided adhesive and liquid glue
add white highlights with a white gel pen
Step 4: Create a custom-made Sentiment
there a several ways to create custom-made sentiments: you can use calligraphy or just your handwriting or a Labelmaker … in this case I used a Vintage Typewriter to type my sentiment onto sturdy white cardstock
cut the sentiment apart and ink up the edges with Distress Oxide Ink Pumice Stone
adhere the panel to a grey cardbase
I hope you got inspired.
Hugs,
Supplies:
ECD Stitched Rectangles Ocean Edges Lighthouse watercolor paper white Soft Finish Cardstock clear double-sided adhesive
