Drawn Rose Bleaching

This sympathy card is created for At Joan's Gardens challenge this week, where we are to use two ovals, at least two colors, a sentiment, and a plain background for the card.The buff, black and cranberry mattes are the basis for this card.  The Rose is the "Drawn Rose Corner" by Donna Salazar Stamps.  The technique here is an unusual one; it is bleached paper inking.  Here's how that works.  You stamp the image in distress inks (I used Soot for this one), then immediately emboss it with clear embossing powder.  Then with a waterbrush dipped in household bleach, you work the areas inside the stamp's embossed borders, drying as  you achieve the amount of bleaching you want.  Afterward  you can come back (on well dried paper) and color with any coloring medium that you want.  I did some light brushing with Tim Holtz Distress inks to highlight petal edges and create a light watercolor wash look to the stamp.  The sentiment is a SU stamp from the collection Thoughts and Prayers.  The black scalloped oval frame is edged in Glaze Pen by Sakura.  The ovals were created with Spellbinders Classic Ovals S4-112, and Classic Scalloped Ovals (small) Spellbinders S4-113.    Inks embossing powder, distress markers, and dies are all available At Joan's Gardens, and the idea for the card was inspired by Beate at Split Coast Stampers 2008 tutorial on Bleached Out Images.