Bleaching Images onto your Cards

Chances are pretty good that you have some bleach in your house somewhere. However, laundry isn't the only good use for bleach.  You can use it to create beautiful images on your cards as well.  This tutorial is going to show you how.





Tools Needed for this project:

• Adhesive
• Simple Card Base & Envelope
• Layering paper
• Dark brown ink
• Stamp images
• Sentiment stamp
• Paper Towels
• Small container (an empty baby wipe container, or a bowl will work)
• Bleach

Note: you can use the regular liquid bleach or a bleach pen like I've used here.  They both give the same result!




Step 1: The first thing you want to do is make yourself a nice little bleach stamping pad.  I have a small baby wipes container I like to use just for bleaching.  Fold up your paper towels so they fit in your container and are a few layers thick (because they will probably tear a little as you work).  

Once you have a little 'pad' of paper towels, wet them down with the bleach.  




Step 2: Tap your image around on the bleach pad to get it good and wet.  It's hard to tell if you got it all, since the bleach doesn't show up like ink does, so just tap and move it around a bunch.




Step 3: Place the stamp on your cardstock and press down for a few seconds to give the bleach a chance to soak in.

This image (and the birds below) came from a Stampin' Up! set, but you can find lots and lots of great images to use for this technique.  




See, it's starting to lighten up as it dries.

Note: while the image is drying, go rinse the bleach off your stamp before you forget.  It shouldn't hurt your image, but it may leave some yucky white residue if it dries.  




That looks so pretty, doesn't it?

I will mention that depending on the type and color of cardstock you are working with, you may have different color results.  I bleached a piece of dark green cardstock the other day where the image turned turquoise.  It was not exactly the effect I intended (can you say clashing colors?) so I changed up my project.  Definitely test a small piece of cardstock before you commit, that way you can adjust as needed.




Step 4: Now take your small pieces of layering cardstock and tear a tiny bit off the top of each one.  This is going to create a nice sandy effect for this particular project, but it's a nice effect in general if you're not doing a beach scene.



Here are the torn pieces together.  There is no science to paper tearing, just grab small bits at a time, tearing the piece you are removing towards you.  This creates a nice tear because the piece you are keeping has a ragged edge.  



Step 5: Grab another image stamp and ink it up.



Step 6: Stamp the image on the smaller, front piece of torn cardstock.  




Hello little birdies!




Step 7: Now we're going to adhere the layers.  For this project I'm using the Tombo glue.  I love this stuff - it sticks like nothing else!  Just remember if you are using this product - a little bit goes a long way!




Here are the torn layers glued together.  And below you will see them adhered to the bleached cardstock.




Step 8: Ink up your sentiment stamp and place it on the cardstock.




This is where I decided to put mine.




Step 9: Now add a little bit of adhesive to the cardstock and stick it on your card base.



Love it! So easy and yet what a wonderful effect!  




And here it is after I added a few more embellishments.

Now go forth and bleach!

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