Tuesday's Tutorials

Happy Tuesday, everyone!  

I'm very excited to share a special new feature on my blog with you today!  I have a layout and a tutorial!  I plan on posting tutorials (almost) every Tuesday!  They will be anything from super simple techniques that you can use on your layouts, cards, or Project Life spreads to step-by-step instructions for creating layouts, photography tips, and more!  I'm really excited about this new feature and if there is ANYTHING you would like to see, please don't hesitate to comment and let me know :)

I took these photos of my daughter a few days before she turned four years old.  She was actually getting her spring pictures taken at school that day so I thought it would be fun to "practice" a few poses beforehand...

I knew I wanted to have a lot of texture on this page and I had this idea of scrunching up paper in my mind for a while before I formulated exactly how I was going to achieve the look.

I took these photos in my bathroom where the light was shining in through the window absolutely perfect that day!  I also used the new iPhone app, PicTapGo, from Totally Rad to adjust the shadows and soften the shots.

I used paper and embellishments from the March Studio Calico kits +Add-ons for this layout.  I have to say that SC really knocked it out of the park with their kits this month.  Wow!  I immediately dove into my box the minute it was delivered and whipped out three layouts in one afternoon!  I honestly don't think that's ever happened before!

And here's how I achieved the textured look on my layout in a few simple steps: 

Misted Book Paper Scrunching Tutorial:

First, you need to gather your supplies and here's what you'll need:

1.)  A piece of book paper.  I used some I had leftover from a previous SC class.  You can scour garage sales or flea markets for cheap, old books.  I recommend using book paper because it's lightweight and it soaks up the spray ink well.

2.)  3 or 4 colors of spray ink/mists.  I use Mister Huey's, but any spray ink should do the trick.  For this project I chose a yellow, a light orange, and a darker orange to give it sort of an "ombre" effect.

3.)  Scissors or a paper trimmer.

4.)  An area where you can get messy with your inks.  I use my SC boxes to mist my projects in.  I'm all about the re-using of my SC boxes, lol!

Next, you'll need to cut your book paper into strips.  The strips can be as wide or as narrow as you like.  I used my Fiskars scissors to cut my page and I didn't care if the strips were straight, crooked, different sizes, etc.  It's all going to get smushed up anyway, so I wasn't being too particular.

***Don't cut all the way through your book paper.  Make sure you leave a little room at the top when you're cutting, about an inch, so that the strips don't all fall apart from each other.

Next is the fun part!  Mist that paper up good!  You can't mess it up, so have some fun and get creative!  I started with the lightest color (yellow) at the top and worked my way down.    

Now you'll want to turn your paper over and let it dry.  I didn't have to wait too long because as I said above, the book paper really absorbs the mist well and I like the effect that it leaves on the opposite side of the paper.

Next you can start scrunching.  This is also pretty fun, but don't get too crazy and rip it up, unless that's the look you're going for and in that case, GO FOR IT!  There's no right or wrong in creating as long as you're having fun with it!  I actually scrunched my paper before it was completely dry, but I was in a hurry and it works well either way (slightly wet or dry).

And finally, you're ready to add your scrunched up, smushed up, paper piece to your layout or card!  Like I said above, I really like the look of the reverse side after all of the misting, but it's up to you which side you use :)  I also added in extra strips of gold polka dot vellum from Dear Lizzy on my layout...I just stuck them in wherever I pleased amidst the other strips.  I really liked the effect of the extra vellum strips and I think it would be fun to add in other strips of patterned paper as well, or even ribbon and twine!  The possibilities are endless!

Well, I hope you enjoyed my little paper scrunching tutorial today and I hope you try it out on one of your creations!  In fact if you do try it out, I would love to see!  Link up your creation using the "paper scrunch method" in the comment section of this post by Tuesday, March 26th 2013 and I'll randomly draw a winner to receive some "happy mail" from me!

Good luck, happy scrunching, and have a great day!