Day 1 of 12 Days of Distressing - Edge Distressing

Day 1 Edge Distressing - There are several ways to distress the edges of your paper. Weather you own tools for it or not, it's super easy to do. I have a couple of examples of paper distressing below along with how to achieve that look and what tools you can use to get it.

This layout below has what I call nice and neat edge distressing. For the most part it has straight lines with roughness just on the edges.
A couple of tools you can use to get the above look are this Tim Holtz paper distresser or an exacto knife such as the Cutterbee. Some people use the blade on scissors as well, just as long as they are sharp enough. Now the Tim Holtz has directions included, but when you use and exacto knife or scissors you want to run the blade sideways along the edges. You will then begin to see the paper fray up a bit. The more you run the blade across the paper the more it will fray.



Below is a non uniform way to distress your edges. This layout below has been featured on my blog in the past for the flower, but it is also a great example of a very distressed edge. To do this I just run my scissors around the edge of my paper, cutting like you would wrapping paper, just let the scissors glide. If it tears a little, no big deal, it will only enhance the look more. You can decide to have more control with your lines like the photo mat or just go wild like the background paper.
Enhancing your edges isn't hard either. You can use inks and water. For example if you want an inked edge that looks like it's curling up, you can simply ink it then spray your paper with water around the edges and crinkle them up or roll them up. When it drys it looks really neat, because the ink runs just a little and the paper dries rolled and crinkled. I will generally use Ranger Distress Inks and Blending Tool when inking.

I did say several ways to distress your edges didn't I? Don't forget simply tearing your edges. That's a great way to create a neat look including a burned look. Make sure you are tearing the paper so that you can see the layers torn. Then I use Black or Dark Brown inks on the torn areas. Another way to get a burned look is by actually burning the edges lol. I've done that too, but I don't like the ashes that fall off the edges.

One more way to distress your edges just a little, but not actually all the way around. Just take scissors and make little 1/8" to 1/4" snips here and there around the edges of your paper. Then fray up the snips just a little. I did this around the background paper on this layout. I did make two large tears at the top and just cut some different pattern paper to stick behind it. I had to go back and actually correct this layout because I put the wrong year on it lol. That happens sometimes.

12 Days of Distressing!!

I was planning on actually starting this on the 1st, then I got caught up in this really fun 12 Days of Christmas challenge over at sb.com and forgot all about this. Well the funny thing is yesterday was day 8 and our challenge was to distress our layout at least 3 different ways and the person who distressed the most wins extra points. Well that day inspired me to start a 12 Days of Distressing on my blog even though it's late!! So tomorrow on the 10th, I will post my 1st form of distressing. Some of my entries will already be things that you may know, but I will try to get a little creative and show some different techniques for distressing your pages. Oh and by the way, here is my entry for Day 8 of the challenge. This is a pic of my daughter Tyler when she was 1 1/2. I distressed almost every part of this layout. I will be going over a lot of the techniques you see on this layout. Can you see the cute kitty in the background? That was our Persian cat named Tequila. We got her from an older lady that had a large amount of cats and needed to get rid of some. The funny thing is they were all named after some form of alcoholic beverage. My sister took a white cat named Chardonnay.

Working With Canvas

Canvas..... LOVE IT!! I bought these two 12x12 canvases a few months ago and they have been sitting on my shelf the whole time. I just didn't get the inspiration until today. I am doing this challenge over at sb.com and it is 12 Days of Christmas challenge that involves a sketch a day. My canvas layout called "him" was my take on the sketch. The heart symbolizes our love and the broken chain and ribbon symbolized the things we have overcome and broke through in our relationship. Here's a quick how to on what I did. I started with using red alcohol ink and covered the entire canvas with it using a blending tool. Then I went over it with some gesso and red acrylic paint and just did some finger painting. Gesso helps to add some nice thick texture.

The black and white polka dot paper was severely distressed by crumpling it first then running over the top of it with a sanding tool. Then I tore and inked the edges on both the red and polka dot paper.

The title was a total accident. I used Bo Bunny chipboard letters in cream. I stuck the word 'him' on a white piece of scrap paper and then sanded the color out a bit and did a couple of swoops with some black soot ink. I liked it so much I just left it like it is on the scrap paper and stuck it on here.

The heart I smothered in glue and poured red glitter on that. I distress both the polka dot ribbon and the red ribbon, by shredding the edges of the polka dot ribbon and inking the red ribbon and shredding the ends for the break.

Thanks for stopping by and looking. I highly recommend trying out a canvas. They are a lot of fun.

Some More Swirlydoos

Just dropping off some more layouts from Decembers Swirlydoos kit. This first one I call "Angels Kisses"and it is a mixed media layout that I did using some of the Flowers, Chipboard and Stencils from the kit. I used the new spray from Smooch to create the blue and purple background. I also use a lot of Shimmerz glitter paints to create a ray effect coming down from the corner. The chipboard frame is painted with black acrylic and covered in the same glitter paint. I used some gesso over the stencil to get the white stamp effect and I applied pink acrylic paint for behind the photo. I just love the colors of this and that photo of Brooky is so sweet.
Aren't these little hearts adorable!! They are tiny cloth hearts that I found on Ebay awhile back. They went perfect with this layout because they symbolize the kisses.

Here is my "Christmas 2006" layout. I had this photo of us for the longest time and I have never scrapped it. I think it's because it's just your average everyday Christmas photo. I was actually a few months pregnant in this pic. I really love how this layout turned out. Most of the items are from the kit and add-ons. I did add my own Etsy pearls and some super cute metal objects I purchased off of Etsy.

I love the added pieces of chipboard in the kits. So pretty!! I didn't want to over do this dear so I just used some stickles on the edges of the antlers, hoofs, and tail.

I used some smooch paints on the poinsettia diecut. It was so pretty plain but I wanted just a touch of color and it turned out great. I put some gold stickles in the center.

Here is my layout that I couldn't figure out a title for. So I just used one of the stamps included in one of the add on kits that said Merry Christmas. This is a sweet little picture of Brooky just looking at her dress. I did a cut out of the paper to create this framed effect and roughed the edges up a bit. Basically the only thing I added was the large jewel, the green ribbon, and the red butterflies and leaves.

Here is a close up of the jewel work I did at the top. The easiest way to do this is use a stencil to create the swirls using a fine tip pencil. Then just lay the jewels over the line for a perfect swirls. These faux diamonds are also in my Etsy.

The extras on this layout are pretty simple. I used a lot of stickles and added one of my own butterflies.

Such a Busy Time of Year

I love the Holidays, but I tend to get really busy and not have much time for scrapping. I did get the new December Swirlydoos kit and I managed to get one layout done so far. This kit is so gorgeous and it's filled with glittery goodness. I even made one of my fancy stickpins with a Prima flower and some other items from the kit. This layout was done using Beggahuna's monthly sketch. Check it out!!
This photo is of Brooky praying. Being only 2, she usually says things like "Thank you for cheese, thank you for babies, thank you Jesus." It's so adorable to listen to her. I took this photo for my friend Katie's Etsy shop. I used it to create a banner for her and it turned out so cute.

Gesso!!

I'm loving Gesso. It's not just for painters.... but can be used in the art of scrapbooking too. Check out this layout I did using a butterfly stamp and Gesso.

Want to know how it works? I did a quick and easy tutorial over at the Harlee Quinnz blog! Feel free to check it out and also take a look at the great tutorials from other DT Members as well. Harlee Quinnz Blog!

Swirlydoos November Antique Linen Kit

Well let me see, I am going to do my best to complete this post while my 2 year old stands next to me on the couch dancing to Yo Gabba Gabba and sticking her head in between me and the laptop. So please forgive any mistakes. Ok so if you haven't already, you should really consider signing up for Swirlydoos kits. These kits are like Christmas every single month. This kit club would best be described as Shabby Chic as far as the style goes. If that is your style then you HAVE to subscribe. Here are some of the current kit layouts I have done so far.

Thanks for looking!!