Distressing Techniques

Life is distressing enough… adding a distressed detail to your paper crafting shouldn’t be!! For this month’s design team project for Lone Wolf Designs I am going to walk you through a few of the techniques I use. I have no doubt there are a lot – A LOT more out there. But these are my go to.
1) Direct to paper. Just like it sounds I rub the ink pad right on top of the paper. I tend to stick to the edges, but sometimes ink it all up. This one is MESSY!
I use this to create a tree trunk look, over crumpled paper it really adds that ‘old’ feel. And it is quick – but that is almost never my goal ;)
This photo has Stampin Up’s Very Vanilla crumpled – on the right it has Walnut stain and the left Tea Dye This is a look at the all over technique – Walnut Stain on the right and Tea Dye on the left again

2) Just softening the edges. I use a lot of matting in my paper projects. I think it makes things look more finished. A soft line on the edge is a way to add another layer and blend your top sheet into the bottom.
On the right I used the ink pad and just lightly stroked it down the very edge of the paper. On the left I used a sponge dauber to just gently pull the onto the paper.
I used whisper white and Tumbled Glass here on the right and Black Soot on the left

 3) Dual Inking.  For a really aged distressed look I have two favorites and I use the walnut stain and vintage photos for bothsides. I used the sponge dauber like above but pulled it in a bit farther. This is the lighter color so I used Vintage Photo.
Then I went over it again with Walnut Stain, only I just covered about half the space from before. Darker to the outside edge of course.

4) Now we are going to get fancy… First… On the right (above) I used an old (older the better) nail file and roughed it up. Sometimes I will add back in a bit of ink if I take off too much. For the left… I get it wet! Tiniest amount of clear water on a flat skinny brush and just barely touch the edge and drag it in a bit. This helps the two inks to mix up and really look like time has been ticking away on the edges.

I give these looks a bit of ink in the focal area as well. Can’t be all crisp and pretty inside with this ragged edges!!

Here is a card I made with the last technique(s) For my mom's birthday:

You can purchase the Distress Inks, ink applicator tools, and hundreds of other craft supplies at 25% off of MSRP at Lone Wolf Designs, LLC! Check it out at www.lonewolfdesignsllc.com. If you're buying your craft supplies anywhere else, you're paying too much!