Distressing A to Z (link list) (P.S. Provocraft sneak peek, survey, & prizes.)

Is distressing out or more in than ever? Maybe, you either like the distressed look or you don't...

I luv it so much that it distresses my partner. ;O) Charles always compliments me on my work (sweet fella!), but he is also my best beloved critic. He has been known to lament my distressed edges upon occasion: "Do you have to do that thing with the edges?" I say YES! muhaHA!

Sounds like my reliance on distressing paper edges might be getting tired, so I've "researched" other techniques that give you the distressed look (a.k.a. hide my mistakes!) Thought I'd share with you in case you'd like some distressing ideas.

Some ways to distress:

Wet it & Sand it. This is so kewl. If you spritz cardstock with water & sand it, you get a great texture
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Wet it & Crumple it As easy as that. You can also ink it & iron it... (more below)
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Ink it up. I finally tried make-up sponges for applying ink (Got some cheap at the dollar store & me likey!) Sponges/Daubers/
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Rip the edges (by hand or with a tearing edge (or you can just use a blade from a tinfoil package)
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Sand it Emery boards/Nail files are great & here's a post with an idea for cheapo sanding blocks bottom of post
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Heat emboss the edges (great for mats or card edges.) Add shine to edges by dragging any ink used for heat embossing versamark pad/versamarker/Craft or pigment inks & clear embossing powder work great. Silver or other E.P. might be funky, hey?
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Crimp cardstock over & over (reversing directions as you go) it makes a fabric paper that's feels really nifty.

There's no rhyme or reason to these links.... The ones at the bottom are distressing tricks in my old posts; they're separated so that you can skip them if you like. :O)

Distressing with the Cuttlebug Challenge Blog




To Distress or Not to Distress by Shannon




Bad Sherry (GOOD distresser!) ;O)




What's Up With Those Distress Inks from Ranger (7 subheadings down)
Have your tried them? I wanna.



Close to my Heart TV Distressing Video (Check the list in the column on the left, courtesy of my fantastic friend Annapurna's Close to my Heart site)



Distressing a Transfer (video) by the awesome Suzi Blu (and her old blog here) Caution, to those who abhor swearing Suzi Blu may not be for you. (She occassionally cusses, 'cause she's passionate like 'dat.)


For Coredinations (or any white-core cardstock): Sand it or Tear it or Antique it




Distressing PDF by Crissy




Distressing pointers by Jessica on the Memory Lane design team blog




5 ways to ink edges by erinmichele




Distressing Chipboard (video) by creatingintentions She uses pre-embossed chipboard, but you could always emboss your own, of course! :O)


Tips for using making memories distressing kit (video) (Great techniques that apply to similar tools you probably have) :O) Love her technique of using chalks (even on velvet, kewl!)



Distressing with acrylic paint by Beth




Signs of my distress:


My favourite way to distress (marker the edges especially with black!) :O)




Wet & Wrinkle technique (for flowers) (for card bits)



Distressed Embossing:
Distressed--or Etched--Embossing (by scratching regular embossing powders)
Distress embossing (White ink with Clear Ep & overheat it)
Etched Verdigris embossing

Distressing cardstock with gesso:
Gesso Cardstock
Creating a Scor Pal grid & brayering with gesso
Painting a gesso wash over patterned paper


Distressed Ribbon



Distressing with a Scor-Pal grid:
Distressed Scor-Pal marker grid Tutorial
Distressed Scor-Pal marker grid (another example)



Tea staining embroidery thread





Distressed Acetate Board Book




Distressing edges with Pearlescent Paints




Faux burnt distress edge (just tear & marker it)




Distressing background stamps (using pencil or pen to highlight words or parts of an image)



Distressed picture frame mat




Zee end. ;o) What's your favourite way to distress?




Edited to Add:

Hero Arts Distressed Watercolour Stamping & other Distressing (video)
& Their Distress Resist Stamping (video)
Some gorgeous cards & distressing ideas (Hero Arts again)

Hope your day has only de-stressing in it. ;O)

P.S. CUTTLEBUG STUFF!!!

Survey & Sneak Peek & Prizes:
There's the coolest Provocraft survey (and prizes too) over on the Cuttlebug Challenge Blog. What a great idea to tell them what we'd like to see...
(More folders, yesterday please, no DUH, right?) ;o)
Click here to check it out!

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LPS Monday! Colour Challenge (+ mini area rug, LOL)

Do you like to "cheat" at challenges? Are you a challenge purist, or do you relish throwing something that bends the rules in there? It's so fun to see what develops out of challenges isn't it?

I loves me those colour challenges, and boy do I need 'em! (You guys know me, without colour challenges, all the cards I make would be monochromatic (especially turquoise); oh wait, they are! hehe.) I always feel the need to throw something extra into a colour challenge, ...makes me feel like I'm getting away with something sneaky, muhahaHA! ;O) This time it was turquoise; go figure, huh? ROFL.

Wanna bend the rules with us? ;O)
Here are the colours...

The keyword is: LPSC09

The Cardstock:

I've used Sarhara Sand cardstock here, but I've replaced the other colours with rich coloured cardstock from Paper Temptress: Instead of Chocolate Chip, Hot Fudge Pop Tones c.s It's not as orangey a brown (it's more of a deep coffee colour) so it coordinates like a dream. And instead of Riding Hood Red, Wild Cherry Pop Tone c.s. That is one sassy red!

I like the Pop Tones Cardstock better for two reasons (sorry SU): It's priced for less than I pay per sheet as an SU demo and the colours are more saturated. There's a whole family of juicy colours here.

Who on earth could possibly need a tutorial on making a miniature Persian rug? Nobody, I'm sure, but it was so much silly fun that I just had to share with ya. (P.S. Yup, I know I'm nutso.) ;O)



Step 1) Cut a rug (shape) & colour areas of it to match your colour combo. (The paper is Sweetwater Cotton Candy Item # BJ5.)



Step 2) Make carpet underlay (just kidding.)

Stick thin papers to a piece of cardstock (the cream colour in the above photo.) Layering helps to support flimsy Designer Paper (like this brown flowery piece) that you may want to mutilate (a.k.a. knot it like crazy.)

Use the patterned piece as a guide to trim away the cardstock underneath.

Step 3) Make a row of knots on the end by...



A) Piercing a row of holes (far enough in so that it won't tear when you stitch; ask me how i know!) ;O)



B) Tying a knot on the front
C) Putting your needle back down through the next hole
D) Continuing to knot.

"Why would you want to do all that?" you ask...

for Step 4) ...To make a realistic miniature area rug fringe:
(of course) ;o)



Step 1) Cut two strips of cardstock to fit under the ends of your rug shape.



Step 2) Stick a piece of good strong double-sided tape to both strips of cardstock.

Step 3) Adhere pieces of embroidery floss to the tape (trimming as you go along)

Step 4) Adhere another piece of tape over the thread pieces & stick the whole fringe under the rug.

It may seem crazy to make a rug, but here are some other potential ideas for embroidery fringe:

...as an edge on a card...
...as a soft textural element in place of ribbon.
...fringey grass...
...a lion's mane...(or a horse, giraffe's mane....)
...People hair...
...scarf fringe (on snowmen maybe?)
...fringe on a dress...

For directions on making embroidery thread fringe
(that are hopefully much more precise)
please click here to see the tutorial at the bottom of an old post.

Digital Fun:

It wows me that the Little Paper Shop digital images are
still clear as a bell when you reduce them to a minuscule size
(these lil' gals are 3/4 of an inch).



Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic
-Arthur C. Clarke

Clarke was theorizing about SciFi, but digis feel like the best technological magic to me. :o) I giggled all the way through this card, because of how fantastically the weensy little digital images printed out (the ones in those wee 1 inch silver frames.) Click the pic to see them up close. You can even emboss them!

To make the Mini Digi Frames I did this stuff:
(In case you have any of these dollar store frames & want to try it.)

1) Print the digital images at 18% (Fits in 1 inch shape; perfect for you inchie enthusiasts.) Jena Rain & Katie Swing

2) Emboss them with clear embossing powder. (Crazy, hey? These little guys are even embossed. The print so fast at that size that the ink didn't dry up before I could emboss them)

3) Colour the image (I used Copic markers. How tricksy to colour something so small!) :O)

4) Adhere them to the frame. Crystal lacquer that has set for a few seconds works wonders:



...using a pin to spread the Crystal Lacquer on the back of the frame is handy. :O)



Want to stitch a mini embroidery sampler? Or a sentiment with small letters? Here's some tricks that might come in handy.

Step 1) Keep writing out your phrase until you like the spacing & size (or type it up & print it out) Boxy letters stitch nicely.

Step 2) Instead of piercing your cardstock with a paper piercer, use a needle for smaller holes.

Step 3) Use a super fine needle to sew a single thread so it doesn't obscure the lettering or tear your paper.

Making Wee Wainscoting:



Not sure if this picture is any good (I think I scratched the lens on my camera & now everything is grainy)... but this is how the wainscoting was made:

Step 1) Punch out a bunch of word window punches made of cardstock (or just cut strips)

Step 2) Cut a piece of cardstock in the same colour (Sahara Sand)

Step 3) Add double-sided tape the the cardstock piece & adhere the punched strips to it

Step 4) Trim the ends & add a strip at the top and bottom for baseboard & chair-rail

Step 5) Add a paint wash with markers, if you like. This is "painted" with a white marker from Close to my Heart<---(LUV their white marker & the awesome Annapurna!) :O)

Well, i hope there may have been a useful method for you in this madness...
and that your crafting is blissful,

P.S. Do you prefer bigger pictures for the tutorial schtuff, or is this size better?

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Still time to enter the Birthday Blog Bash Challenges!

Hi All,

I'm missin You, but I am enjoying the time off (well I'm mostly sleeping it all away & recuperating, in between some work for a client, but I must have needed sleep more than I knew...can't shake the snooziness....zzzzz)

But..... While I snooze, I didn't want you to lose! There's still time for you to participate in the Blog Birthday Bash challenges for Paper Garden Projects and win the nicest goodies (The competition is slim, ;o) so you may wanna go for all of 'em!) Cathy made them very open-ended, so everyone could join in the fun.

You still have until March 30th
(you can play all the challenges!):

Click the pictures or links to go to Cathy's blog post for each challenge:

Week 1: Birthday Card Challenge

Week 2: Add a Flower Challenge

Week 3: Just Say Thanks Challenge

Week 4: Its in the Background Challenge

Hmmm... 4 days left (including today) and 4 challenges. How perfectamundo!

No time to do the challenges, but you want to see some gorgeous work?
Check out these blogs:

• Cathy
• Tracy
• Debby

See you all soon,

:O)
Mel

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