January Swirlydoos Kit - Rubs on the Letters

I hope everyone had a Wonderful Christmas!! I thought I would show off a couple of pages I have completed using the main Winter Wonderland January kit from Swirlydoos along with some of the add-ons that can be purchased with that.

The top layout that was originally featured in this post is now out for publication!

I didn't take any close ups of this page because I was having some lighting issues, however, the main photo turned out ok. This was my take on the sketch that Begahunna does every month for Swirlydoos. This is a picture of my family in 2007 right after a light dusting of snow. The only thing not from Swirlydoos was the blue butterfly I added from my own stash. For the letters on these I did the same as above except without the rub ons.

~*~ Thank You ~*~

I just wanted to thank everyone for all of your great comments during my 12 days of distressing event. I also wanted to welcome all of my new followers. I hope to bring more tips and techniques to you very soon. Most importantly I wanted to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and a safe and fruitful New Year!! Blessings to all!!

Day 12 of 12 Days of Distressing - Photo Distressing

Day 12 Photo Distressing - This is it! The last day is here and my newest and my most favorite distressing technique is the subject for today. I love distressing photos and even though it isn't practical for most layouts, it's sure fun to do when you get the chance.

First off when distressing a photo I 100% recommend using matte photo paper. Using matte paper is like using regular paper and you can write on it with anything without it smearing. On my 'She' layout I placed the photo before distressing it, so I could blend it in with the existing layout. I placed it down and used an exacto knife using the shredding technique.

This photo I distressed before placing it on the layout. First off I took it to the laundry room and took out my bleach. My bottle of bleach has these dried up bleach crystals that tend to accumulate around the lid. I took a few little crystals and rubbed them around the corner of the photo. It just rubbed the photo raw and white. After that I cleaned off the bleach and took some rust colored alcohol ink and dropped it on the corners and went around the entire photo. I really think the photo is the best part of this layout.

So again I 100% recommend using a matte photo!! Otherwise you may not be happy with the results or you may even find that the product you are using doesn't work with glossy photo paper. Let me know if you have any questions in the comment area and I will be happy to respond there as well.

Day 11 of 12 Days of Distressing - Paints & More

Day 11 Paints and More - I might be pushing towards a little mixed media here but you can really do some amazing distressed layouts by mixing things such as paints, glitter glue, etc. There is no real directions to do this except for experiment with it. Again don't try to be perfect, but slop it on and put your fingers into it. This first layout was done using inks and acrylic paints all over it. I used a clear acrylic background and started with alcohol inks and went from there.

This layout has some blue crackle paint in the corners just for that extra something. Also around the journaling I smeared some golden dristress stickles. After inking the edges the stickles really brought it out that much more.

These types of accents are really just for those finishing touches. If you are stairing at a layout forever and not sure what it needs, try adding some shimmer or paint. On my layout called Bug I finished it and then thought there was something it needed. Instead of adding more embellishments, I just used some Shimmerz brand iridescent paint and painted it on the exposed background paper. I didn't do a ton of distressing on this layout, but I thought it was a good example.

Day 10 of 12 Days of Distressing - Embellishments

Day 10 Distressing Embellishments - Ok so we can basically use almost every technique I have gone over this far on embellishments. We can sand, ink, shred, paint and more to a lot of different embellishments. This particular layout I did some work on the flower, scroll, and title. I hand drew the letters for the title then cut them out and took an exacto to the edges to fluff them up a bit, then I inked them mildly. The flower on the other hand I inked, added a tiny bit of acrylic paint that I smeared on the petals. Then I misted it with some Smooch Spritz silver spray. Then to my little scroll that is at the bottom of the layout; I sanded, inked, and dropped some red alcohol ink on it. I was just plain black when I started.

On this layout I did what I did on my Soar layout featured in one of the early distressing posts. I used my diecutter to cut both chipboard flowers and paper flowers. I glued the paper on to the chipboard and sanded the tops and edges of it. You can take these further and ink them too. The raw chipboard circle I used the Tim Holtz edge distresser on.

Basically anything you put on a page you can distress in some way. It's fun to play around with. Letters are probably the easiest embellishment to distress by either sanding, inking, or roughing up the edges. Just have fun with it and try different things.

Day 9 of 12 Days of Distressing - Stitching

Day 9 Distressed Stitching - I think that stitching can add a lot to a layout even if it's just a little bit. It's another one of those techniques that I feel people think is too perfect for a distressed layout. I think it can take a distressed layout to a whole new level. Ok so what is distressed stitching? To best sum it up, it's imperfect, destroyed, non uniformed, etc. Here are a couple of examples of some distressed stitching. This first layout was done with a machine. I stitched in white around the photo mat. I would stitch forward then reverse, then repeat a couple more times. I then went over the corners doing the same thing. I didn't worry about straight lines and that is honestly more difficult to do then straight stitching lol.

This particular layout I hand stitched with some cream colored twine. I punched little holes here and there along where I wanted to stitch and just went to town. I tied a couple of knots into other sections of the twine just to really throw off the lines.

There is so many ways to distress your stitching. Another way is to slightly tear apart or loosen some of the stitches. Ink a section of it to give it a stained look. Have fun with it! If you have a question feel free to leave it in the comments area and I will answer you back there as well. Thanks for looking!!

Day 8 of 12 Days of Distressing - Shredding

Day 8 Shredding - Shredding is another way to destroy your papers surface and create a distressed look. This first layout was done using a solid black piece of cardstock. I first used silver alcohol ink on almost the entire thing. Then I used my Cutterbee exacto knife that I featured in my 1st day of distressing post. I drug it from side to side on this entire page and even sliced some of the sections.
This particular layout I used the same knife and used it on the green textured cardstock. I fluffed it up and gave it some really nice texture. As you can see this technique can be very thrashed looking or very pretty and neat. Either way it's very easy to do and helps give a layout that something extra.

This layout is temporarily out for publication!