Big Whoops: Bleach to the Rescue

Something about Mondays, it’s a good day to begin fresh and start over. I feel ready to face the week, and make big plans to get lots accomplished.

By Friday, most of the plans have gone out the window, but a girl can dream, can’t she?

In honor of Monday’s start fresh feeling, today I’ll show you how to repair a boo-boo. If you use Close to My Heart inkpads, most of them are dye-based. They offer almost instant drying time, and easily blend for watercolor effects.

Being a dye-based pad, they will also react to bleach. I’ve got tons of techniques you can use for your artwork with bleach and inkpads, but today I’ll show you how to easily change your mind and remove the ink, when you made a big whoops.

Here’s a sweet butterfly, from the retired Miracle chipboard set.


You can purchase this set on my website for just $1.00! That’s 75% off the original price, and while supplies last.

Irresistibles™ have a resist pattern that shows through when covered with ink, chalk, markers, or watercolors. The Miracle shapes include flowers, leaves, brackets, frames and more, all with various resist patterns.

I’ve added Cotton Candy ink with a sponge to the butterfly shape.

The problem: I don’t want it to be pink. Whoops.


Use a paper towel, or a paintbrush, or pretty much anything you have on hand…. dab bleach straight from the bottle onto your chipboard shape.

Use a little at first, you want to avoid saturating the chipboard to prevent warping.

Bleach takes a moment to begin working. The photo above was taken seconds after touching the bleach to the chipboard. The color will begin fading, so watch and decide if you need to add more bleach.

After a few seconds, there is still color on the chipboard, so it’s time for a second application of bleach. I repeat the process of patting the paper towel dipped in bleach onto the shape.

After the color has completely disappeared, allow the shape to dry thoroughly. This may take a few minutes, or it may take overnight, depending on the amount of bleach that soaked into the chipboard. You can test it by dabbing with ink – if it changes color or begins to lighten, there is still wet bleach in the chipboard.

After bleach has evaporated, it is neutralized and you can proceed with your project, your chipboard will be good as new!