First and foremost let’s announce this week’s winners! The following ladies have each won the Couture Monochromatic family of their choice!

Ann says:
November 19, 2009 at 10:34 am
My favorite is the Herb Garden.

Carolyn Carney says:
November 18, 2009 at 4:55 pm
Congratulations on your new site. The papers are just lovely but I loved the silk road as yellow is my favorite color. Thanks for the chance to receive a giveaway

Denise says:
November 6, 2009 at 2:19 am
Whodunit has to be my favorite. The colors are beautiful and go so well with so many of the other colors. I am looking forward to working with all of your papers.

CONGRATULATIONS LADIES! Please be watching your inboxes for an email regarding shipping information!

***Today we are going to have a bit of fun altering cardstock using a common household item.  Bleach!***

Supplies needed:

Bleach safe plate

5×7 piece of felt, folded in half

Your favorite brand of bleach

A stamp or several stamps

Couture Cardstock!

A few tips before you begin:

When making your bleach pad, remember that bleach loses its effectiveness after prolonged exposure to air.  After about 15 minutes, the bleach will begin to weaken.  Also, depending on the color/weight/texture of cardstock you are using, bleaching will produce various results. Some blacks will bleach to a gray, others to brown and still others to a cream color.

1. Create a bleach stamp pad by folding a piece of white felt and placing on bleach safe plate. Pour enough bleach onto the felt so that it’s damp. (Note: you want to be able to “ink” your stamp, but not with so much bleach that it pools on top of the felt and can oversaturate your piece of cardstock).

2. Begin “inking” your stamps with the newly created bleach pad and stamp onto your cardstock pieces.

3. Stand back and watch the transformation! Keep in mind that black or dark cardstock can produce dramatic results when utilizing bleach techniques, while bleaching lighter colored cardstock may result in more subtle images. Let dry completely before continuing with any other technique or putting your project together!

(*Note: Bleach is not safe for your photos. As always, use only safe techniques if you’re working with heritage photos, or any picture you cannot have duplicated. That being said, by matting your pictures and protecting them from direct contact with the bleached areas, you are making them somewhat safer.)

I cannot show you the entire project that I made… as you will have to wait until this month’s gallery items are posted, but I can give you a teeny peek at how my bleached image looked before I continued with my project. I chose to leave the bleached cardstock as is, because I loved how this particular piece of cardstock turned out looking a bit distressed and mottled because of the thin, scrolling font.

I hope you enjoyed this week’s technique! The possibilities are endless with bleach and cardstock, allowing you to create unique masterpieces over and over again!

xx Heidi