Bleaching technique using the free Botanical Blooms stamp set

I'm going to cram in as many examples as I can using the free stamp sets before they disappear at the end of the week. Today I've used the Botanical Blooms set. This has the most individual stamps in it (7 in total) and is a Two-Step Stampin' set. What this means is that you stamp with one stamp and then line up the corresponding stamp (easiest with a Stamp-a-ma-jig) and stamp over the top. In this case there are two different solid flower heads and matching outline stamps and a solid leaf with matching outline stamp and finally a sentiment stamp ("to thine own self be kind").

For this card I started with Old Olive for the card blank. I took a piece of Lavender Lace card and with the larger solid flower head stamped with bleach. Did she really say bleach? I can hear you 

asking. Yep! Ordinary household bleach dribbled onto folded paper towels (not swimming in the stuff) on an old plastic lid. I then tapped my stamp onto the bleached towel as though it were an ink pad and then onto the cardstock. I cleaned my stamp straight away, first with a paper towel dampened with water and then with my Stampin' Scrub and Mist. The effect is a little more subtle than I was aiming for so I'll try darker card next time.

Using Elegant Eggplant ink I stamped the outline flower over the top. I then added leaves with the solid part in Old Olive ink and the outline in Always Artichoke ink. Using the Happy Birthday sentiment from the Occasional Greetings set I stamped in Elegant Eggplant at the base of a some Very Vanilla card. The Lavender Lace was matted onto the Very Vanilla and then onto the Old Olive card. It was finished off with a piece of Certainly Celery narrow grosgrain ribbon.

If you have a go at this then please take the proper precautions when working with bleach. Follow the guidance on the bottle eg. work in a well-ventilated room, keep the bleach away from children, clothes and skin etc.

Thanks for stopping by.

Sara xx