SBYL! Technique classes # 3, Blurred Vision

OK, this is not "class" number 3, but technique # 3 for my classes at SBYL!

And how do you give credit to techniques? They cannot be copyrighted....only the words written about them. So I'm rewriting and renaming these as I go along. Many I learned at Ranger University and at the Ranger Design Team Retreat. So credit goes to Ranger. Many I first learned from Michelle Bodensteiner, a wonderful stamp instructor here in Colorado and a designer for B-Line Designs. A few are things that I came up with on my own. I just wanted to make sure that credit goes where it is due. Some of these techniques have been around for 30 years, some for hundreds...we just take them from one medium or craft and apply them to scrapbooking and rubber stamping.

This is called "blurred vision". The technique is to stamp, then rub the ink so that it blurs a little. Some inks work better than others.

Using distress inks, you can see the blur on the tickets on the top, but her face didn't blur too much:



Using Ancient Page, the blur is so minimal that you just can't see it in a photograph. But it's there. The original stamp is much clearer than what is on this sample.



I didn't like the "headband" so I swapped it out for some swarovsky crystals. Maybe a little better?



Now, back to the symbolism in what I do. In the top card, "think happy thoughts" and you can see the little girl in the grown up woman? Remember back to your childhood and think happy thoughts!

The bottom card "unspoken words" and her hand is reaching out to the child in her. What unspoken words do you have for the child in you?

Art can't just be "art" for the sake of it....there has to be meaning and thought in each piece.