Moon Baby - Bleaching Technique

I love the bleaching technique - it's one of my go-to techniques when I feel like doing something a little different with a stamp set.

There seems to be a pending population explosion in my circle of family and friends at the moment - so lots of baby cards will be needed in the not so distant future and I've never been good at baby cards.  However, at least this time, I won't have left it until beyond the last minute to make them!

Yellow seems like a safe bet since I don't know the sex of most of the babies. 

I cut my panels to size before I stamped the images with Versamark and heat embossed with clear embossing powder.

I then painted bleach onto the images and let it dry (I did help a little by using a heat tool at the back of the cardstock).  

When the bleach was dry, I coloured the image of the baby with Daffodil Yellow, Pink Pirouette and Tip Top Taupe Stampin' Write Markers.  I didn't colour the stars but I did give them a liberal covering of clear Wink of Stella.

Tips:

• This technique works best with medium to dark shades of cardstock
• Different looks can be achieved by using coloured embossing powder
• Test the cardstock for its reaction to the bleach to avoid disappointment (see image below)
• Generally, the more bleach you apply to an area - the lighter it will become.  Therefore, it is possible to achieve varying shades with the bleach by using a dryer or wetter brush in certain areas

This image illustrates how different batches of cardstock can react differently to bleach

The image above perfectly illustrates why I do a bleach test on the cardstock first.  These were offcuts of cardstock.  One of them had been sitting in my collection for a long time (probably at least a couple of years) and the other was from a freshly opened pack.  Both pieces are Night of Navy and look identical.  However, probably because they would be from different dye lots, you can see that they have reacted very differently to the bleach.

The inside of the card is quite plain.

When I get the bleach out, I tend to do a batch of several images at the same time - so there'll be some more examples of bleaching and colouring on my blog in the near future.

Thank you for your visit
'Til next time
Stephanie 

Product List - To visit my online store, click on a product image below (Australian Residents only)

Moon Baby Clear-Mount Stamp Set

[143085]

Flourishing Phrases Clear-Mount Stamp Set

[141534]

Basic Black Archival Stampin’ Pad

[140931]

Versamark Pad

[102283]

Clear Stampin' Emboss Powder

[109130]

Heat Tool

[129056]

Many Marvelous Markers

[131264]

Clear Wink Of Stella Glitter Brush

[141897]

Night Of Navy A4 Card Stock

[106577]

So Saffron A4 Card Stock

[108611]

Very Vanilla A4 Card Stock

[106550]

3/8" Metallic Ribbon Combo Pack

[143601]