Too busy scrapping to work on this blog .....

but I am here again now. I have been trying to decide what to put on this page and I have decided for the moment I will post some tips, tricks and techniques I have picked up over the years.
For any beginning scrappers, there are several techniques which are used on a regular basis.

TORN PAPER This is a common technique, but there are several ways to tear paper. You can use one of the shaped rulers especially made for the purpose, but it is easy to do it by hand. Hold your sheet of paper with both hands fairly close together. Bring your right hand forwards as you tear and you will notice that the paper in your left hand has a white edge. This is the piece usually used, but sometimes you may want the tear the other way. These edges can then be inked or chalked or left as they are.

DISTRESSING Cut your paper or cardstock with trimmer or scissors, then run your distresser or blade of your scissors backwards and forwards against the cut edge, until you have the amount of distressing that you want. Once again you can ink or chalk or leave it as it is.

INKING Several ways to do this as well, the one I use is with a small stiff paint brush. Dab your brush onto the stamp pad, lay your paper or cardstock onto a piece of scratch paper, and starting on the scratch paper and brushing onto your cardstock, gently go over the edges you want to ink. Do this lightly, you can go back over to build up the colour. Another method is to gently brush a stamp pad against the edge of your paper or cardstock.

CHALKING This can be done the same as inking, use a small brush and load from your chalks.

CRUMPLED PAPER Paper and cardstock can be misted lightly with a spray bottle, then crumpled tightly. Smooth out and iron dry. Cardstock treated like this then lightly rubbed over with a Distress Ink pad looks great.

STITCHING Stitching can be used in a variety of ways, the most common is a simple back stitch, just as if you were sewing, or a series of crossstitches. Pierce your paper or cardstock before you start, prevents holes in the wrong place (for instance, your fingers) and makes the job much easier. You can use embroidery thread, ribbons, string, leather, raffia etc for this.

That will do for this time, more later.