How to Distress Your Scrapbook Paper

One scrapbooking trend that is becoming more and more popular is the distressed paper look. This rugged appearance is perfect for most scrapbook layout themes. Scrapbook pages for little boys, camping vacations, heirloom pictures and more are perfect for the distressed paper layouts. Another advantage to creating distressed paper layouts is they don’t have to be flawless because the whole idea of the “distressed” look is to make the paper flawed.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Scrapbook paper
• Sand paper (fine grain)
• Sanding block (optional)
• Ink pads (brown, black or darker colors)
• Sponges
• Stipple brush
• Paint brushes
• Edge distresser
• Emery board
• Small spray bottle with water
• Iron

1. Select your cardstock for the base of your page layout and decide on your theme. Get your supplies and photos ready ahead of time.

2. Attach the fine grain sand paper to the sanding block and sand the entire body of the cardstock. Sand as much or as little as you would like but be careful not to sand through the cardstock. Your sand paper will sand off some of the color on the cardstock, which will expose the white core of the pape

3. Use a black or brown ink pad and gently run the edge of the cardstock across the ink pad in order to “ink” the edge of your paper. You can also use a sponge and rub it along the edge of the cardstock to achieve the same effect.

4. Cut out your photo mats and crop your photos according to the design of your page layout. Before matting your photographs use the edge distresser to rough-up the edge of the photo mats. This may cause a little tearing so do it cautiously so it doesn’t ruin the photo mat completely.

5. Use an ink pad and a stipple brush to ink your photo mats so they look weathered. You may even want to curl up some of the damaged edges for a more intense appearance. Another method is to slightly mist the papers with water, then crumple the entire photo mat and straighten it back out with a cool iron. This will permanently set the creases into your paper.

6. Embellish your page layout with hemp, brads or other rugged looking embellishments. You can use your emery board to sand some of the color off of the brads or rough up the edges of your photos.

7. Adhere all of the page elements and add your finishing touches, then place the layout into a page protector so it is preserved for your scrapbook album

Tips & Warnings

• Use the ink sparingly; its purpose is to make the paper look old and yellowed.
• Try using ink and a sponge to fill in the white core of the paper after sanding in order to make a more dramatic appearance.
• Brads can be used to attach photographs to photo mats or they can act as a frame around your pictures. Sand your brads before you attach them to the paper.

[labellefleur100]

on 3/21/2009 This article was really different and informative! 5* RCMD