Help Distressing

Hi Andi,

And welcome you've come to the right place. Lots of experience here in many different areas. I can give you ideas about the sanding block and steel wool. In fact I've been sanding away today on a kit I got from TLC a few months ago. I'm following the directions and every piece for the 2 page LO needs to be sanded! What I'm doing is sanding the edges to give it the worn distressed look. One can also sand any where on the piece of paper or embellishment to make it look worn. Start small and softly. You can always sand more and with my pressure as you go to get the look you want.

Lynne

Thank You Lynne I will give it a try, sounds like a good place to start.

~Andi~

Welcome to the group Andi! I don't have the answer (bought a distressing inkpad myself recently which I'm not quite sure how to use), but I'm sure someone allready helped you. Thanks for the question.

Judy, SA

Use the ink around the edges of the paper or cropped area by holding the pad against the paper at an angle. Or crumple the paper then rub the ink pad against the paper, unfold and flatten. You can use any inkpad to distress and area. The distress inkpads usually are a bit transparent. I like the red roan ink that comes in the little cat eyes on red paper. I used a lot of that at Christmas time and also Valentines.

Welcome to RCS Andi :o) I don't know the first thing about distressing (have been meaning to ask about it myself actually!!) lol. Just wanted to welcome you to the group and hopefully we'll both learn a little about distressing :o) luv Cec...xxx

Hi Andi (Welcome to the group!) and Judy, I have used the distressing inkpad for edges, by having a scrap piece of paper under the paper I am wanting to ink, and I just wipe the edges gently in an outward direction. OR I hold up the paper and run the edge along the inkpad. I have also just barely wiped it across the page almost like a smear. HTH Linda

Hi Andi -

I have that kit too and I love it. Some things you can do with your new tools -

Use the little ink pads to do direct-to-paper inking. Just dab it like you would a stamp directly on the paper and make unique ink patterns.

Use the emery boards, sand paper, file block and steel wool to scratch up EVERYTHING. You can paint metal embellishments, let them dry and then scratch off some of the paint, looks very shabby and cool. Sand cardstock and paper edges. Use the ink pads or chalks to grunge up the edges after you sand them.

Crumple up paper and smooth it out, then run the ink pad gently along the top of the crinkles. Ink the edges of the paper by running it haphazardly along the pad, or just swipe the pad along the other borders, very gently. Use the foam brushes to dab ink, chalk or paint on your layouts. Use the rubber comb to drag through paint or wet ink and make stripes

The edge scraper... scrapes edges, just pull your paper through the v-shape.

You can use the pounce wheel to make patterns or to perforate paper. The stipple brush makes good non-uniform dot patterns with ink or paint.

hth,

My best advice is to just try out the different tools on scrap paper, cardstock, chipboard pieces, buttons, etc. Try sanding on buttons. Looks pretty cool! I've also seen LO's where they've sanded the photo. It looked really great. Most of all, have fun!

Thank You Soooooo much everyone this is a big help I can't wait to start experimenting now that I know where to start from. ~Andi~