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!

Oh Yes I Can Can

I have made these tags for a swap at http://minialbumscraps.ning.com/ .  This month was a dressform swapper’s choice and I made a Can Can girl-esque tag for my swap.  While the papers aren’t visible on the front, she was inspired by Graphic 45’s Curtain Call paper collection.

The background paper on the front of the tag is made with Recollections paper from Michael’s that I have inked up with Tim Holtz tea die distress ink and added a few spots of Crackle Accents to give it that shabby feel.  I added a photo of the before and after look for the paper.

The curtain is made with a shirt I found at a thrift store after no one would part with their daughter’s old Christmas dress for me ;).  I hung the curtain on a rod that was a lollipop stick rolled in red ink and a touch of stickles.

The dressform is from the Forever Young cricut cartridge cut once in thin chipboard and again on handmade papers I find at Blick.  I added stickles at the neckline and stand to give the look of a shimmery leg and shoe.  The feathers were just added with glue dots to the back of form.  Her skirt was made with a piece of white lace that I hand dyed with an ink pad, folded in half and a satin black ribbon hot glued to the top of that.  I specifically used hot glue because I wanted it to have a shape and stand out from her ‘body’.

The tassle is made with half of a skein of embroidery floss to pull back the curtain.  The back has some of the DP from the collection and my card info.  If you would like, the video can be found here.