I'm Distressed! Part 2

Ah, distressing. Ever since I was introduced to it, I have a very hard time doing a card or scrapbook page without it. I even digitally distress my online scrapbook pages! I just love the grunge, worn, textured look. In my last post, I distressed paper by inking the edges. Today, you are going to do something unheard of - tear your paper. That's right - it won't be pretty, it may even be painful, but I know you can do it - and you just might love the results!

Something as easy as tearing paper sounds like a no-brainer, but there really is a technique to it - especially if the paper you are tearing has a white core. Ideally, you want to see the white core of the paper in your tear. All a "white core" refers to is that the paper is not the outside color all the way through - it's basically white cardstock that's been printed on one or both sides with a color. Some cardstock is the same color all the way through, which doesn't make for a dramatic tear. White-core cardstock is also the only cardstock that you can distress by sanding...but that's Part 3.

So, in order to "properly" tear your paper, hold the cardstock between your thumbs and forefingers. The piece you want the torn edge on should be on the left, and the scrap you will tear off will be on the right. Start tearing the paper by pulling the right side toward you (see below).

Notice the white edge you get from tearing the white-core cardstock. If you had torn the edge away from you, you would still get the white edge (though you would have to turn the piece over to see it), but you wouldn't be able to see and control the look of your tear the same way.

Continue tearing your paper all the way down the right side, moving your thumbs and forefingers down the edge as you go (this will give you much more control over how the paper tears).

Well, that was easy enough. So let's take tearing cardstock one step further. Let's tear a piece of cardstock and use it to make a cool, airbrush-look background for our card. First, use the step described above to tear a roughly 2" wide piece of cardstock. Make the edge uneven and varied to add interest.

Next, with the torn edge facing you, lay it across the bottom of your card base, approx. 1" up from the bottom. Using ink & a stipple brush, stipple along the edge of the torn cardstock until you've got the color coverage you want.

Repeat this step two more times, moving the torn piece of cardstock up an inch or so each time, and using a different color ink each time. You can also move the torn cardstock left or right in order to vary the pattern a little.

Once your stenciled background is complete, stamp an image onto your card, and complete with the torn green cardstock piece we did first, a sentiment, and some embellishments:

Voila! Gorgeous! The torn edge of the green cardstock really "roughs" the card up a bit, making it much more "outdoorsy" to go along with the images. And the "mountainous" background we created with the torn cardstock and stipple brush - what a perfect way to add both texture and depth to the image.

I hope you are having as much fun being "distressed" as I am! Next time - sanding. And, no, we won't have to go to the beach to do it! (Though that would be nice!) Until next time - Happy Tearing!