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Over-stamped Bleached Background

By Wanda Troupe
Hot Rod Scrampers
Advanced Scramping Team Designer 

Bleaching has long been one of my favorite techniques to create backgrounds for layouts. Bleaching cardstock can be like opening a box of chocolates - you never know what you’re gonna get! Different brands of cardstocks, even though they may appear to be the same colors, will bleach to different looks. I experienced a perfect example of this when experimenting for this layout. I wanted to see what these stamps would look like bleached on grey cardstock. After finding a piece of scrap that looked like the same color as my 12x12 background cardstock, I stamped it with bleach and that scrap piece bleached to a beautiful cream color. Satisfied with the results, I proceeded to start bleaching my 12x12 backgrounds. Imagine my surprise when the bleached areas started turning PINK! Since pink was a color in my pictures, that was a perfect color but it could’ve been disastrous. Always, always, always do a test piece when working with bleach.

(*Note: Before you ask me, 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.)

Supplies
•Ancient Alphabet (TAC)
•Foam Alphabets (Making Memories – Misunderstood, Philadelphia)
•Foam Alphabet (Michael’s)
•Giggle greeting (Express Yourself Stamp Set -TAC)
•Smile Greeting and Flower (TAC)
•Grey Dye Ink (Stampin’ Up!)
•Black Ink (Palette Hybrid ~TAC)
•Household Bleach (Clorox)
•White Acrylic Paint (Delta)
•Grey Cardstock (Stampin’ Up!)
•White Cardstock (Georgia Pacific)
•White Cardstock scraps
•Pink patterned paper scraps (Provo Craft)
•Fiber (Unknown)
•Pink Satin Ribbon (Unknown)
•3” Paint Brush (Unknown)
•6”x6” Tile
•Piece of Felt (unknown)
•Plastic lid
•½” Circle Punch (Paper Shaper - EK Success)
•¼” Circle Punch – Regular paper hole punch (unknown)
•Black Pen (Zig-Millennnium)
•Tag Punch (Emaginations)
•Flower Punch (Whale of a Punch – EK Success)
•Zots Glue Dots (Therm O Web)
•Scrappy Glue (Magic Scraps)
•Printer (HP DeskJet 932C)
•Paper cutter (Fiskars 12” ~ *TAC)

Instructions

1.                Trim pictures to desired size and mat with white cardstock leaving an 1/8” border. Fold felt in half and place on a plastic lid. Pour just enough bleach onto the felt to make it damp. Begin “inking” your stamps (greeting and flower) with the newly created bleach pad and stamp 12x12 backgrounds. Now stand back and watch the magic!

2.                Once the bleach is completely dry, reink your stamps with grey ink and stamp over top of the bleached images. It’s not necessary to try and line up the images exactly on top of each other. By stamping the inked image a little off to the right, left, top or bottom you create a shadow illusion. (*Note: Make sure you leave the bleached areas to dry completely. If you stamp over top of the bleached images with ink before the bleach is completely dry, the ink will be bleached out as well. If you’re a bit impatient like me, hit it with your heat gun. Don’t ask me how I know this!)

3.                Squirt a line of white paint onto tile – dip brush in paint and dab off excess. Horizontally dry brush entire 12x12 backgrounds. Turning cardstock dry brush left and right edges vertically.

(*Note: The intended result you’re going for here is a sanded look and it doesn’t take much paint to accomplish this. If you haven’t dry brushed before, practice on scrap paper until you’re confident you have the right amount of paint on your brush to give you that sanded look.)

4.                Apply white paint to foam letter stamps with small paintbrush or foam brush and stamp title across both background pages. Glue pictures to backgrounds. Place pink satin ribbon across pictures on left page wrapping around to the back of the page and attaching with glue dots. Line up right side and place ribbon across pictures, attaching with glue dots on back.

5.                Using pink patterned paper and grey and white cardstock scraps, punch four pink flowers and three white flowers. Punch three pink and four grey ½” circles for centers. Punch three grey and four white ¼” circles using a regular paper hole punch. Outline all pieces with black pen and assemble – glue to backgrounds in desires areas.

6.                Stamp saying onto pink patterned paper and punch with large tag punch – outline with black pen. Punch ½” circle from grey scrap paper, outline and glue to tag. Punch hole with regular hole punch and thread fiber. Attach to background.

7.                Using black ink and alphabet stamps, stamp name and ages underneath pictures.

That’s it! Mission accomplished!

For more examples of bleaching techniques, see the following articles:

Bleaching Black Backgrounds by Missy Cahoon
http://www.rubberroadadventures.com/0305bleachedbackgrndsMissyC.htm

Bleach Out! By Cheryl Hurttgam
http://www.rubberroadadventures.com/0305BleachoutCheryH.htm

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