Distressing paper tutorial ~ December 25, 2009

Hello and Merry Christmas to all of our followers! Whatever your faith or family traditions, we hope that you have had time to set aside and be with those you love.   We look forward to all that 2010 will bring!

Okay, let's talk about distressing paper. If you haven't embraced this technique yet, I hope that you will give it a try! It is a fun and inexpensive way to make your layouts, cards and altered objects uniquely yours.  There really is no right or wrong way to do it as long as you achieve results that you like.

 Below is a photo of some of my favorite chalks, inks and stain. I usually like to use the chalk or ink along the edges of my paper before I start distressing them with any kind of tool.  However, you can do it before or after, depending on the look you like. I usually do both before AND after!  Leah and Nanne have both talked about chalks and ink recently and their tutorials are still available if you would like to refresh your memory. I will share that my ColorBox Chestnut Roan inkpad is one of my faves.  I use it to darken my paper edges (instead of using it for stamping) and love the really dark, rich color it adds ... even more so than my catseye chalk.

There are a number of distressing tools on the market like the Heidi Swapp edge distresser and the Tim Holtz paper distresser.  However, My favorite tools are ones that most of you have right there in your home. First, the edge of your craft scissor blade, sandpaper, emory board,  craft knife, or steel wool. Other favorites are my seam ripper, a serrated knife from the kitchen and my fingernail.

 You can do your edge distressing with your paper dry .. or you can moisten it with a spray bottle or something like a baby wipe. If you're doing a wet technique, you can get more curling and it's perfect for using your fingernail to do the tearing. I recommend trying your hand at this on scrap paper before using some of your favorites! Get comfortable with it and experiment with different weights of paper as they will respond differently. Also, wet paper is more limber so you will distress more lightly acrosss a moistened edge.

Here is photo from the Internet of the Tim Holtz distresser.  Mine seems to be MIA at the moment. My craft room is full of Christmas gifts and wrap at the moment and my scrapping tools are buried  :)

Below is s photo of my project BEFORE I did any distressing.  See how crisp the edges of the red are

against the green.

My all time favorite way to dry distress paper (at the moment) is with the edge of my scissors or a serrated knife.  I try to hold the blade at a 90 degreee angle to my paper. This will give you a very "fluffy" edge and can even be used on letters, mats, and embellishments.   Of course, you will want to be careful that you not cut yourself as you work.  This process stirs up alot of paper dust, so I usually work over my trash can or dust myself off afterward.

Notice how the red now has a white edge to it, as well as the patterned paper which also has been distressed and chalked.  I just love the character it adds.

Here I am going back over the edges with my Chestnut Roan catseye chalk. Then I distressed it some more.

Another way to distress paper is by tearing it. There are tearing tools on the market like the Fiskars one below or you can just do it by hand tearing towards you with the pattern on top.  This will reveal your white or colored core.

You see the navy blue cardstock which I tore working with my right hand and tearing towards my body. This is one that I just did by hand with no special tool.  The beauty of this is that you can really do as much or as little as you like. Next to the torn paper is a sample of "crumpled" paper.  I love to crumple my paper by hand, then flatten it out and sand over it.  The sanding really brings out the lines and gives your paper a very aged look. If I'm using a lighter color, I will often spray my paper with the Walnut Stain to age it even more.

Leah talked last week about embossing .. another of my favorite ways to distress your paper. So, I won't elaborate on that but thought I'd mention a tool you might already have but don't pull out too often .. your paper crimper.  It's handy for an even, corrugated look.  This is a photo of mine in case you don't know what one looks like.

And this is a sample of what your paper looks like after crinkling it.  Wonderful way to achieve the "in" look of corrugated cardboard but maintain your photo safety with archival products.

Well, hopefully this tutorial gets your mind thinking about how you can incorporate distressing into your work.  I thought I would close with my finished project as my way of saying Merry Christmas!  Leave me a comment if you have any questions. I'd be happy to help. Have a great week!

Hugs, Sandi

Cuttlebug and Inking Tutorial Part 1

We are well onto our way to Christmas day and I could not be anymore excited! I just adore this time of year! This year being so exciting for me because my family is complete as this is my baby's first Christmas!

Part of my holiday happiness can be explained by being a part of this wonderful blog and its community of friends! So...

Happy Holidays!

I hope you like this 3 part tutorial!

Leah

We all love our Cricut machine but where would we be without our Cuttlebug? I thought it would be fun to show you some ideas to use with your embossing folders. In these tutorials you will find many different inking ideas to use with the same embossing folder...all to achieve totally different looks! I have mainly used Tim Holtz distress inks as well as metallic Color Box pigment brush pads (aka Cat Eyes).

I also want to add that I used the same hand made paper for each example.

Here is a picture of the Christmas ornament embossing folder which will be the main one used in all my examples. Along with Swiss Dots to show you a bit of Double Embossing.

Now one of the main things I have learned is that you can not Double Emboss with 2 busy folders...at least one needs to be a simple design with generous spacing between images.


This photo shows an example of embossing first with the ornament folder and then with swiss dots. See how the ornament embossing is almost like a background texture where the dots are more in the forefront?
This time I just reversed it. Embossing first with swiss dots and the with the ornament folder. I really like this look as it seems like the image was dusted with snow! Something I like you could do with most of the Christmas folders!



Now lets get to the inking!
This was embossing first with the ornament folder then swiss dots. I inked with Red Brick only (using my Tim Holtz inking tool, the one with foam not felt which is for alcohol inks). I pulled the color swirling off of the page onto the page to the inside of the paper. Then I re-inked and hit just the edges for more definition. This is where I played...I misted this with my mini mister. I thought I would have had water spots but all it did was blend the color, so in person this looks like watercolor! A mistake turning into something with all its own possibilities! Then I took it a little bit further and dusted it with yellow Pearl Ex powders. Unfortunetly you can not see it but the page as the most beautiful shimmer to it, something you can not achieve in any other way but with the Pearl Ex powders.


This was embossing in the opposite manner, swiss dots and then the ornament folder.
I inked outside to the inside of the page with Shabby Shutters (light lime green) and hit the edges with Peeled Paint (dark green). I then used both Gold and Copper Color Box inks to highlight some of the ornaments, I used paint brushes to do this. Dust the paint brush across the ink and then dust onto the paper. This only adds a bit of color so you just reapply until you have achieved the desired color.

I have more to show you so....scroll on down! LOL!

Cuttlebug and Inking Tutorial Part 3

Lastly I would like to show you some variations of inking ideas.


Here I inked the surface of the embossing folder using the ink tool. With regular inks you can do directly onto the folder but because these pads are harder they don't seem to transfer enough color. Tea Dye was applied to the folder and then Vintage Photo to the edges only.
Here is the same technique but using only a single color. Red Brick was applied to the folder which helped bring out the embossed design and then was applied afterward to the edges. This was double embossed and I like how the second time using the ink brought out the dots around the edges.

Here I kept in the same color scheme but used different colors. Shabby Shutters was brought far into the paper while Peeled Paint was used only along the edges. Then I used Copper and Gold Color Box pads to accent some of the ornaments.
Ok here is where I learned that inking directly onto the folders did not deliver enough color. I inked directly on with Faded Denim and Weathered Wood, it added only a small amount of color. I then rubbed directly onto the surface with Silver Color Box ink. I still felt it needed something so I added more Faded Denim around the edges.
And last but not least here is an example of adding different colors. I started with Shabby Shutters swirling the color well into the paper. I brushed the edges with Red Brick and then added Gold Color Box ink (which I did rub directly onto the paper).

I hope that you enjoyed these tutorials and that they in
spire you to get out your inks and start adding more color to your projects!

 

Inking and chalking Tutorial -#1 Tree

We've had some requests on how to ink and chalk some of the cuts from the cartridges..This will be the first of many to come..

Here I have a tree that I had used on one of my layouts..

In the above  photo you see the before inking (lying flat) and the after .. I cut the tree using the Paper Doll Dress Up cartridge and green (light and dark) cardstock. For the inking, I used Tim Holtz Distress ink: Walnut Stain and Black, plus I used Versa Color: #29 Evergreen ink.  I also used dark green chalks by Pebbles,inc.. which you can see in one of the following photos..  The sponges that I used are just cheap make-up application sponges.. works great and they are very inexpensive.

*Remember to click on the photo to open a bigger one..

 

For the first step.  dab your sponge in the brown (Walnut stain) ink and rub it generously to all of the out side edges and dab it on the bark of the tree (we want that brown).. also, bend the paper at the seems and ink the tips of those as well..I usually hold the tree with one hand and apply the ink with the other.  I never lay them flat when applying ink, only when I cover a larger area..

*Just remember that we are only working on the edges and the seams..

Then  apply some green ink to a clean sponge and just lightly rub/dab the ink working  from the edge towards the middle, but staying close to the edge.. You can add as much or as little as you want..You can really see the difference in the lighter trees..

Then your next step is to take dark green chalk, a medium size cotton ball or q-tip and add the chalk to the edges by applying it in a small circular motion..We always want the edge darker than the rest of the tree.

.  *Do not chalk the bark green, leave it brown..

Now, take the a clean sponge and add some black distress ink to it.. rub the ink along the very edge and then dab it onto the bark of the tree.. were only adding a little bit of shadow to the edges..

We dont' want to cover any of the green ink or chalk...

*Once you have cut the tree (paper doll dress up cartridge), the cricut will cut seems along the tree, where you will first ink them and then with your fingers carefully push the seems open, carefully not to tear the sides (the sides will hold it all together so you don't have 4 different pieces..)
Once you have the seems open, you will bend the layers down towards the trunk of the tree..and this will give you the layering.
It will be little bit difficult, but not impossible..

It will add some dimension to your layout..

So, from This

To This!!!
This is what your final tree will look like.. This isn't the best photo, but you can see what it looks like on a layout by clicking HERE..
And all of it cut with just one piece of  green cardstock..you can use pop dots to apply it to your layout or card and that will give it even more of a 3-D look.. leave it as is or you can decorate it like a x-mas tree, etc..  Just let your imagination run wild..