Bokeh, Birthdays & cheesecake

I had to make a birthday card for my sons friend Lusanda, & decided to do a gift card holder for the gift card we'd bought him, but I wasn't sure how to decorate it... Then I remembered the weekly email from splitcoaststampers & the Bokeh technique.

For more on other gift card holders & links click here.

Stamp Sets: Adventure Awaits & From the Herd
Card Stock: Tempting Turquoise, Basic Gray,Water colour
Ink: Basic Gray, Tempting Turquoise, Pacific Point, Bermuda Bay & Craft White
Extras: Envelope Punch Board, Mini Brads, Ribbon & Smoky Slate Blendabilities.

Inside the gift card holder I stamped the balloons in Basic Gray ink & water coloured with all the blues from the bokeh & added white chalk pen.

The gift card happened to be dark grey which is why I used Basic Gray in the colour scheme. Although the ribbon I had wasn't the right colour, so I used the medium Smoky Slate Blendabilities to colour it in, even though this left the ribbon a bit stiff, it turned out the perfect colour.

The Bokeh technique is quite fun & worth a try.
You need to wet the water colour paper with the aqua painter, then add watered down ink (approx 10 drops water to 3-4 drops ink) with the aqua painter, keep adding the colours randomly until all the paper is full. Allow to dry or use the heat tool to sped things up. Once dry add some white circles with a sponge dauber, white craft ink & some circle stencils or masks.
Splitcoaststampers Watercolour Bokeh tutorial

 It was my partner Pete's 40th just recently, so this was the card I made for him, not much to do with 40 I know... but I just love this stamp from the herd. I think it looks funny on every card I see it on.

Stamp Sets: From the Herd, Just Sayin' & Hardwood
Card Stock: Crumb Cake
Ink: Versa Mark & Crumb Cake
Stampin' Write Markers: Crumb Cake, Soft Suede, Smoky Slate, So Saffron, Blushing Bride, Pumpkin pie, Old Olive, Tempting Turquoise, Real Red & White Chalk Pen
Extras: Black Embossing Powder, Word Bubbles Framelits, Burlap & Aqua Painter

I used the aqua painter to wet the images before adding the colour with the markers, then spread the colour around with the aqua painter. More on this colouring technique 

I asked Pete what kind of cake he would like for his birthday & he said cheesecake, so I made him Turkish Delight cheesecake! I basically just used the Toblerone cheesecake recipe, replaced the Toblerones with white chocolate, omitted the coffee & added a little bit of Rosewater essence & musk flavour + pink colour.

 Once the base is done they just needed to be filled with the cheesecake filling & topped with a swirl of whipped cream & an extra piece of Turkish Delight on top...Yum!

I only made little ones so they would set in time for dessert.