Team training for June ...

Welcome to our June edition of Team Training brought to you this month by myself, Jane Howden.

Each month one of our team will inspire you with a little tutorial, tip or trick to help you in your scrapbooking pursuits.

Some tips on distressing on your scrapbooking pages

It seems some people become a little nervous when distressing is mentioned.  It needn't be all that difficult - distressing on your layouts can be as simple or a complicated as you care to make it.

Let's look at a few simple distressing techniques.

The most obvious one is to use a sanding block or some finer grained sandpaper to run across your cardstock exposing the white core.  

Tim Holtz has a wonderful range of cardstock called Core'dinations which most scrapbooking stores stock which is perfect for this.  It even comes in wonderful patterns.

TIP - For added oomph try spraying your cardstock base with mist or ink OR apply some distress ink  before sanding - make sure it is fully dry before you start to sand.

Another quick and easy technique to distress your paper or cardstock is to simply tear it.  You can tear the edges of your layout base or the paper you put onto it.

TIP - Use your "other" hand to hold the paper in place - you have more control over the tear this way.  You can also use a ruler - either a normal straight edged one or one of the variety of decorative edges that are available.

One of the techniques I like to do occassionaly is to rough up the edges of my cardstock using a distressing tool or the edges of my scissors.  It gives a wonderful shabby look to your paper.  

TIP - You can take this several steps further.  Consider rolling the edges in towards your page to create a more dimensional look.  You can help this along by lightly spraying water to the edges (or applying with a paint brush).  This makes the edges more pliable.

Ink can also be used to achieve a distressed look for your page.  Try inking the edges of your base - you can apply straight to the plain edges or distress the edges first.

TIP - You can ink directly onto the paper with the ink pad, your inking tool or try using a makeup sponge for added depth.

Of course you can do all of the above techniques to your actual photograph - if you dare !

Don't forget to have your entry in for our challenge this month.  Some lovely prizes on offer - one prize by vote, another completely by random draw and a guest designer spot with RAK to offer one lucky entrant. You have until 11.55 on the final day of the month to have your submission linked.