A.O.K. / End of the Week Technique #62- Coloring with Bleach / NAC #31/ My Challenge #58

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Hey y'all. Happy Wednesday! I'm sitting here doing this post on pain meds, so bear with me if I seem a little more off than normal. :)

Here's a quick update for you- 1st let me say Thanks! to Everyone who has sent me so much Love and Support over the past week. I am doing much better, however I think I over-did it yesterday (Big Shock to those of you that know me) and ended up with some severe pain today so I'm taking the next 2 days off from work and am back taking pain meds. :( I guess the good news is that maybe I can get some stamping done. Glass Half-full and all that. :)

Two Questions for you today- 1) Do people ever just surprise you and 2) Do you ever just surprise yourself?

1) It seems that people rarely surprise me. Ok...that's not totally true. People rarely surprise me in a good way. 2) It doesn't happen very often, but there are those times when I really just surprise myself. Today's card is a product of both of those things. Oh and are you wondering about today's title? Instead of R.A.K or Random Acts of Kindness it's just A.O.K. Act of Kindness, because I think the person that inspired today's card probably does little A.O.K.'s more than just randomly.

1) One of my Stamping Friends sent me a get well card after my little emergency trip to the O.R. last week and it just really touched me. Years ago, before the internet, it was hard to imagine being friends with someone you had never met. Now-a-days it's a little bit easier, but still sometimes hard to imagine. Then every-once-in-a-while you meet someone and you become friends and you just know that when you actually meet it's going to be like seeing an old friend and you're going to just laugh yourself silly. Know what I mean? Well, I have a couple of Blog-landia friends like that and one inspired today's card. (Hi Tams!) So I sat down to make today's card to let her know how much her A.O.K. meant to me and when I was done I had one of the #2 moments and just looked at my card and thought "Wow! I made this." It's not my normal style card with lots of layers and lots of color but I just thought it was so pretty and I really hope my friend likes it too. Of course I hope the ladies over at NAC like it and I hope you like it too! So without further ado, here's today's card-

Card with Pretty Poppies Stamp Set and Bleach Technique

What do you think? Oh, I really hope it's not just the pain meds telling me it's pretty. I have to say this is really one of my favorite cards in a very long time...you know one of those you almost want to just stick up on your own board instead of sending. I actually think I may make some boxed sets with this...that is if it's not just me and the pain meds. :) 

Here's the sketch I was using-

Wide open for interpretation. This is from the fabulous Tammy Fite over at Nacho Average Challenge. Love her and her fabulous team members. This is an awesome site for not only challenges but inspiration and support. There's still plenty of time to play along, so make sure you drop by and check them out, but after you finish here. :) At first I was going to use my Doily background set and then I thought of my Pretty Poppies set which I love but haven't used nearly as much as I thought I would. So many fabulous stamp sets and so little time. Darn It! I had also been wanting to try out the Coloring with Bleach technique and I thought this would be the perfect opportunity. Ooooohhhhh, so glad I did!

Here's a closer look-

The bleach turned my Crumb Cake c/s a pretty pale, pale, yellow. I started with a base of Early Espresso c/s cut at 4 1/4 x 11 and scored at 5 1/2 to make a tent style card. I inked up my stamp with VersaMark and stamped it onto a piece of Crumb Cake c/s cut at 4 x 5 1/4 and then covered it with Early Espresso Embossing Powder. (Oh yeah, I used my Embossing Buddy first to make sure I didn't get any stray embossing marks. This is Key.) I then colored in my flowers using my Aqua Painter filled with Bleach instead of water. The raised embossing contains the bleach. I sponged the edges with some Early Espresso and adhered this layer with Tombow. The embossing and bleaching makes this layer a little heavier than normal so I recommend either Tombow or Dimensionals instead of SNAIL here. I wanted the sentiment to make a statement but not really be a focal point so I stamped it in Early Espresso ink on a scrap of Crumb Cake c/s and punched it out with my Modern Label Punch.  A little sponging and 2 Dimensionals and my card front was done. I don't remember when I had so little on a card front and had such an impact. I actually tried to "sponge" the sentiment layer with more bleach a few other times but the bristles kept giving me stray marks so I had to give up on that idea. :( I have to say as much as I love how this turned out, this is not a good technique for those of you that are control freaks like I am. You have no control over how this is going to turn out. There are slight variations in the coloring and once the c/s absorbs the bleach you can't really go back and even areas out. Once the bleaching is done, it's done... it won't absorb more. You just kind of get what you get. Oh, the sentiment is from the Language of Friendship set. It's a nice set and pretty in-expensive but I really think it gets overlooked a lot.

You know I like to pretty up the inside so here you go-

The sentiment is from the Kindness Matters set and I just re-inked my stamp with Versamark and stamped a portion onto the bottom of my card and repeated the process from the front. Here's a closer look-

So what do you think? I hope you like it and I hope it inspires you to try something new, especially this technique. If you do, I'd love to see what you come up with! For those of you that have never done this before here's today's tutorial-

Coloring with Bleach.

Here's what you'll need- Aqua Painter, Liquid Bleach, Stamp set and Card stock of your choice, VersaMark pad, Embossing Buddy,Embossing Powder and Heat Tool.

Here's what you do-

1) Choose your c/s and rub your Embossing Buddy all over it to get rid of any static. This will ensure you don't get stray embossed areas.

2) Ink your stamp with VersaMark and stamp. If you use a really juicy ink pad like our new ones you might be able to just emboss without the VersaMark but you would have to work really quickly. Cover your image with Embossing Powder, I used Early Espresso. Flick off and/or brush off any excess powder that may be lingering.

3) Heat set your Embossing Powder. Make sure to thoroughly emboss your image. If you don't get it completely set, you could smear it or your bleach might not be completely contained.

4) Very carefully color in your image with your bleach filled Aqua Painter.  Here's another close-up look-

***Tip*** Here's a few for you-

a) Wear old clothes when you fill your Aqua Painter with bleach, just in case. You wouldn't want to splash/spill any on your good clothes.

b) Make sure to designate one Aqua Painter as your "Bleach" Painter. I used a sharpie and wrote a "B" on mine. You wouldn't want to use this one to do your regular water-coloring with. *OOOOPS!* Thankfully this was not an "Ask me how I know" moment.

c) Be careful not to "squeeze" your Bleach Painter while it's on/over your project. This could result in an unhappy bleach "spillage" moment. :( Use a scrap piece of post-it note or c/s to ensure you have plenty of bleach in your brush tip.

d) Try "Bleaching"scraps of c/s before you actually do your project to make sure you get the look you are going for. I got lucky and had an end result that went with my color theme with my first try. In fact I plan on "bleaching" lots of scraps so I know in advance what to expect, because this is definitely a technique that I will try again.

5) Be sure to secure your bleached layer well. Like I mentioned above, the addition of not only the embossing but the bleach makes for a heavier than normal layer. It would be very sad if your layer fell off because you didn't adhere it well enough. :'(

6) Smile when you see your finished product and smile even more when you think about the smile it will bring it's recipient. (Unless of course you're me and then smile even as you hope it's not just the pain meds making you like it so much, lol)

Well, that's all I have for you today. I really do hope you like it and I hope you will give this technique a try. I already have some ideas for some masculine cards using this same technique so I hope you'll stay tuned for more projects. Don't forget to get your project completed before Saturday night at midnight so you can play along with me over at the Nacho's. (Love that name!) If you liked today's card or technique, or have questions about it, I hope you'll take just a moment to leave me a message below. I love hearing from you and your comments really do make my day! If you'd like to +1 or Pin today's project I've put those buttons on my blog for your convenience. Friends and Followers are always welcome too! :)

Thanks so much for taking time out of your busy day to stop by my little corner of the world. You are very appreciated! Till Next Time-

Remember- Life is often more about the storms than the peace they seek to overwhelm. It's not about Waiting for the storms to pass, but Learning to Dance in the rain.

Be Safe,

Shan

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