Less is More Week 281

Good morning, crafters!

Less is More has a great challenge for you this week.  We're back with a Theme challenge and this time the technique we would like to see on your submissions is...

Faux Bleach

I find this technique works best with Distress Inks.  These inks react so well with water and the colour lifting results can be really great.  If you don't have any Distress Inks just try what you have, you never know until you experiment!


My first card uses more stamps supplied by STAMPlorations, one of our lovely June sponsors.  Thanks again, Shery! x

On the card base I started by blending two tones of Distress Ink.  I then spritzed the butterfly stamp with water before stamping over the ink.  I held it there for a few seconds for the water to take effect and then blotted with a paper towel to remove the colour.  I then added a few splatters in coral and black to add some interest.  I die cut a white cardstock panel with a stitched landscape die to add a fun edge, stamped the sentiment in black and adhered the panel flat over the card base.

Materials used:

• Ink: Distress Ink - Dried Marigold and Abandoned Coral; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Stamps: STAMPlorations - Blossom Like a Butterfly
• Die: Poppy Stamps - Stitched Landscapes

Challenge entries:

Cute Card Thursday - Challenge #430 - Little Bugs/Butterflies

CAS on Sunday - Challenge #85 - Butterflies

For my second card I used a tiny amount of selected faux bleaching...

On a panel of white cardstock I masked off the corner section with some post-it notes, hand cut with wavy edges.  The water droplets were then stamped with a waterproof black ink.  I then took a paint brush and some plain water to paint inside each water droplet and blot away the colour.  Some accents were then added with a white pen.  The sentiment was stamped in black before the panel was adhered on 3D foam.

Materials used:

• Stamps: Inkylicious - Water Drops; BoBunny - Sentiments
• Ink: Distress Ink - Shaded Lilac, Salty Ocean, Chipped Sapphire; Archival - Jet Black; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Accents: Signo Uni-ball pen - white

Challenge entries:

STAMPlorations - June CAS Card Challenge - Anything Goes (Blue)

CASE this Sketch - Challenge #177 (I flipped the sketch)
Inkspirational - Challenge #111 - Masking

I used a stencil for the faux bleaching on my final card...

I blended three Distress Inks to create quite a bold inked area which I faded out across the cardstock panel.  Instead of placing the stencil down onto my project and then spritzing with water, I spritzed the stencil itself and then placed this over the inked area.  I wanted the positive design to be bleached instead of the negative design, you can get some great effects by using stencils either way. I carefully lifted the stencil and blotted away the watery ink with a paper towel to reveal the bleached design.  I trimmed the panel down slightly to trim away the dark inked edges (and a splodge I'd created from an inky finger! grrrr) and then stamped the sentiment in black before adhering the panel to the card base on 3D foam.

Materials used:

• Ink: Distress Ink - Picked Raspberry, Wilted Violet, Blueprint Sketch; Versafine - Onyx Black
• Stencil: MFT - Funky Florals
• Stamp: Altenew - Label Love

Challenge entries:

Virginia's View - Challenge #22 - All About Colours
613 Avenue Create - Challenge #180 - Anything Goes (create your own challenge - A2/Birthday/Stencils)
Seize the Birthday - Anything Goes
Penny Black and More - June Challenge - Flower Power




And, just for fun I'm also going to link these up over at Happy Little Stampers, June CAS Challenge which is ghosting - no entry as I'm on the DT!


My LIM teamies will no doubt also have more inspiration on their personal blogs so if you have the time, please swing by and see what they've been creating.

Can't wait to see what you create this week :)