A Year of Card Techniques ~ July Blog Hop ~ In a Bleach of a Moment!

Welcome to A Year of Card Techniques Blog Hop where each month we feature a different card technique. We’ve assembled a team of card makers who range from new to advanced, so you’ll see a great variety of cards and ideas.

From laundry, to disinfectant, to fashion, bleach is a staple in many households; but did you know you can use bleach in your card making and paper crafting? Yup, from stamping, to painting, and several techniques in between, we’re going to share our experiments with you. And if you would like to check out our past technique hops, you can do that here:

• January-Shaving Cream Marbleizing
• February-So Sketchy
• March-no hop this month
• April-Stamp Set Showdown
• May-World of Watercolor
• June-Basic Card Folds

Our amazing sponsor this month is Debbie Bonczek of Close to My Heart.

Please take a moment to check out the great products Close to My Heart has to offer. To visit Debbie's blog, click here.

And the awesome prize this month is (lucky you, there are actually two to win):

We really appreciate feedback, so please leave a comment on each of the blogs in the hop today. While you are encouraged to comment at any time, only comments received by Friday, July 21, 2017 at 8:00pm (EST) will be eligible to win. The winner will be announced on Sunday, July 23, 2017 on A Piece of (my) Heart’s blog, so be sure to check her blog on Sunday the 23rd to see if you are the lucky winner.
You should have arrived here from the lovely Sharon your first stop on this hop. If you're visiting here first, you might want to start at the beginning so you don't miss out on increasing your chance of winning by commenting on each blog.

But now let's get going with the projects...In a Bleach of a Moment

Before you get started with your own "Moment of Bleach experience", let's start with some important information:

1. Pick the right paper that will work with this technique (very important!)
2. Make sure your bleach is new/ fresh and not sitting on the shelf for a while (new bleach minimizes stress!)
3. You can use any stamps for this technique, just make sure you clean them really good right away after using bleach on them (don't forget!)

This all been said, there are a few more things to know while working with bleach. I don't want to make this post to longs, so please check back next Friday for Part 1 of my follow up with this technique to see more information about what papers to use or don't use, etc.

My random thoughts about this technique:

I have to admit I love a challenge and this one was one! But that's what this hop is all about right? Challenging yourself with techniques you maybe not have picked. So this been said, bleach is not my favorite medium to work with... (that's what I have found out this month). 

Lot's of struggle with finding the right paper. As you can see in the image on the left. These papers would not react with the bleach at all. 


Then I struggled with my bleach (sitting on my shelf too long ;-) ). Ones I bought a simple bleach gel pen, things were working out a bit better. Tones of stamps on hand, but never the right one to work with the project.....but I didn't gave up :-)

During the month while we are preparing for the next challenge, we are posting little sneak peeks for the members of this hop and one of the pictures that a fellow hopper posted was a waste basket full of trial and error pieces....LOL.... exactly what my basket looked like. (more detail about the errors next Friday).

At the end, I did finished three projects and it was fun to work with bleach after all. Sometimes even if things don't turn out the way you like them to turn out, there is still a silver-lining you take a way form it. Mine is, bleach is a powerful medium that has some very interesting side-effect. E.g. You need snow on a card and don't have a white pen, try bleach (WAIT! Try it on a scrap piece first before you go to your main creation right away) 

Another thing I learn, if you ever spill color on a white piece of paper (as if that ever happens LOL) before discarding this piece, try bleach to get rid of the stain... it's worth it. :-) Well two of the samples show above here will still be made into cards, but the rest will make a trip to the paper basket. 

So what did I end up using here? 

All three images were created in the same manner. I used watercolor paper, stamped my images either with ink or VersaMark ink and heat embossed them. 

Next I used my Spectrum Noir Aqua watercolor markers and a brush to color the images and the backgrounds in. 

Now the "fun" part....I used my bleach gel pen and put a little bit on a plastic plate. I used a fine brush and water to thin out the gel a bit and to dilute the bleach. I then applied my bleach solution with the fine brush to the images. 

I added a little bleach with the brush around the one flower while I used the bleach solution on the pedals and leave of the other image. 

For the cardinal I thought snowflakes would be perfect match. So I added little dots to the cardinal image and used more bleach on the top of the leaves and the bird to create the impression of snow on them. I am pretty good in shading with color and water, but handling the bleach is more tricky. 

I hope you still enjoyed the projects and stay tuned for the next two Fridays to see more images of the cards I made, to learn more about this technique and the does and don'ts.

Please don't forget to comment below, because I would love to hear from you :-)

Now you’re off to visit with my friend Kim. Hope you had fun and thanks for stopping by. See you next month with another technique!

Claudia

Always remember:

"Art comes from the heart.

So there is never a right way or a wrong way;

there is only Your Way."

Here’s the full line-up in case you get lost:

• Sharon
• Claudia
• Kim
• Wilma
• Card A Day Challenge Team
• Sandy
• Jodie
• Debbie
• Ronda