Wednesday, April 01, 2020

CAS Mix Up April Challenge

Hi everyone.  Welcome to April's CAS Mix Up Challenge.  This month I'm the host and I'm asking you to try .....


I learned this technique from Susan (Cardmaker's Garret) last year at our craft retreat.  It's such a great way to add colour to an image and to the background separately, while keeping the colours crisp and clean.

For the card above, I started by making a Stencil Monoprint with a dotty stencil.  I then took a small paintbrush and a little bit of bleach and painted over my flowers and leaves to remove the dotty background from inside the images.  I blot with paper towel after every addition of bleach so that it doesn't spread where it's not wanted.  Soon I had a white image of flowers and leaves.  You can leave it to dry thoroughly, or as I did, I painted over again with clean water to wash (dilute) any bleach residue.  Then dried with my heat tool before watercolouring with distress inks.

Close-up ...
We are thrilled to have Mac (The Sweetest of Peas), joining us as Guest Designer this month!  Yay Mac!

I hope you'll join us at CAS Mix Up, adding your CAS, bleached card to the gallery.  As always, there's a few video tutorials for anyone who would like to check them out.  Hope to see you in the gallery!






Stamps: Flutterby (Penny Black); Happy Snippets (Penny Black)
Paper:  Mixed Media (Strathmore 140 lb.)
Ink:  Black (Versafine); Distress Inks:  Milled Lavender, Seedless Preserves, Twisted Citron, Mowed Lawn (Tim Holz)
Accessories & Tools:Mini Tiny Circles Stencil (The Crafter's Workshop), water mister, water brush, Circle die (Spellbinders)

Challenges:
CAS Mix Up April Challenge - Bleaching


25 comments:

HilaryJane said...

This is lovely. I really like the colours and the way the circle nicely encloses the image xx

Brenda in IN said...

The bleach does a wonderful job of removing color and leaving those gorgeous tulips. I love the design and beautiful colors you used. I can't breathe the fumes of bleach so I am just going to enjoy the cards in the gallery this month.

Susan said...

Beautiful, Loll. Love the purple and green - speaks of spring to me! Great background and great shading on the tulip flowers. Thanks for the shout out to me for the technique!

Marcia Hill said...

Such a BEAUTIFUL card Loll! I love using the bleaching technique (and I definitely have plenty of it on hand right now!) and already have a stamp in mind to use. Love the background and the offset circle for your pretty flowers too! Lovely, lovely card my friend!! Hugs. :0)

Barb Ghig said...

Another really gorgeous card, Loll! I love your color palette and the effects of bleaching is amazing! I also love how you placed your focal point on this card...it's so elegant!
Hope you're doing well :) Barb xx

Linda said...

This is beautiful ..... gorgeous colours and I love the stenciling in the background. Thank you for another fun challenge xx

I Card Everyone said...

There you go again, Loll... your brilliance is showing!! How in the world do you KNOW all these techniques???
It's a beauty, alright!
=]

Bonnie said...

What a pretty Spring card, my friend! Love those purple flowers and the soft stencil monoprint background!

Pat said...

Gorgeous tulips Loll and I love the way the circle with the beautifully watercoloured tulips drifts off the edge and the stencil monoprint background looks great too. x

Trina P. said...

Great challenge, Loll. Such an effective technique. Beautiful watercolouring. Purple/green colour combo is one of my favourite for flowers.

TK said...

My Oh My this is gorgeous, Loll! Pretty background and BEAUTIFUL flowers!

nancy littrell said...

Your removal of the stenciling on your flowers and leaves worked great with the bleach, Loll. I love your painted flowers and leaves and beautiful CAS design, my friend. I still have the cheap paint brush that Susan gave all of us at our retreat to use only for bleaching. I will be playing, soon:-) TFS and hosting this awesome challenge. Hugs and stay safe..Nancy

kiwimeskreations said...

What a beautiful card Loll, and love how the background looks behind the flowers as it goes right up to the edge of the image using this technique
Stay safe
Blessings
Maxine

Ros Crawford said...

Absolutely gorgeous!! What a pretty stamp too... Thank you for all the amazing techniques you've taught me...

My Paper Epiphany said...

Absolutely gorgeous card. I love the soft background and the beautiful purple flowers. Thanks for the inspiration!

Anita in France said...

Fresh and so lovely, Loll ... a fabulous colour palette ... and a delicious design! Gorgeous! Stay safe ... hugs, Anita :)

Maura said...

Just lovely as always, Loll!!!

Jo said...

The promise of spring on this beauty definitely brought a smile. Love the vibrancy of those greens with that pop of lavender finishes this card perfectly. Great challenge Loll, thank you xx

Mac Mable said...

What a fun technique and what a beautiful card Loll x. I sure did smile when I looked at your card x. The technique is so useful to cut down on the layers. Thank you so much for inviting me to be your guest designer, which I am still thrilled about x. As always I have learnt so much from this creative and fun technique x. Stay safe and well my friend x.

Christine Alexander said...

Beautiful Loll, love that colour combo and your circular off edge frame. great challenge :)

Bobby said...

I hadn't thought to use bleach this way, Loll, but what a great idea to be able to stamp a background without masking the flowers. Wouldn't you know I just did a bleach card for another challenge (down the road so I can't use it here) but I used it to remove color from the cardstock. I think I'll do it again for this challenge.

Ina G said...

CASimply gorgeous Loll. Of course even better in my favourite colour. Hoping the bleach I have in my laundry cupboard still has some kick to it so I can play.

Papercraft Boutique said...

What a beautiful, springy card, Loll! Using a dotty stencil monoprint as a background is such a great idea.
I love the lavender color flowers and the way you framed them with a circle window off the edge. Thanks so much for hosting this fun challenge!
Hideko xx

Susan Joyce said...

Wonderful design Loll, love the colours and the flower image.

BożenA said...

At the sight of your card, I smile automatically. I love the spring bouquet of your flowers. Your whitening technique is perfect, the flowers look phenomenal
xx