Critic's Corner

Every Wednesday our designers will give you feedback about products and/or techniques. Be it good or bad we will tell you what we have found using them. (or alternatives if we have them) We will also be posting a few examples of ways we have used them. If you have an idea on something you’d like to know some more about please let us know and we will try and work it in. (please, leave a comment)

This week… Distressing Inks. I am sure you have heard the buzz on this technique—it is all around us in the scrapbooking industry. You can use inks, liquid chalks, chalks, paint, bleach… anything that will give you the “distressed” look. You can use it on your paper pages and paper elements, right on the photos, and on any of your embellishments. Don’t forget when distressing be sure to use a sanding block to rough up your surface. This helps the ink “stick” better—and helps with dimension.

Here is what we have to say…

Ashleigh- “HMMM distress ink, love it, and hate it at the same time. It adds so much dimension at times to a layout or project. It also helps make that vintage, rugged look that I am always looking for in my guy and sports layouts. However, I hate how once it’s on, it’s on, and I always seem to get too much or not enough! Even though I struggle with it at times, (which I think everyone does with some scrapbooking tool) I still use it all the time!”

Deb- “I like Distress Ink on some applications, but REALLY love Fluid Chalk. The petal point option pads match all of the papers and really gives depth. Fluid Chalk makes the difference between a good LO and a great LO.”

Kim- “Did you know that you can use any color of distress ink as an embossing medium? Stamp any image using your favorite distress ink color, cover it with clear embossing powder, and heat with an embossing gun. Watch your image "pop"! I love distress inks! But there are many more techniques to use them for besides on the edge of paper. I also love to make ink-stained tags. Spray your tag with a bit of water, crinkle it up, lay it flat, and ink it with a brown distress ink.”

Megan- “Distress Ink! I love IT!!! I use Shabby Shutters (green) on most of my stuff. I sand photos & add ink the raw edges, color raw chipboard. I Mix contrasting colors for a layered look.”

Candi- “I love distressing! I either use distress ink for a bold look, liquid chalk for a more subtle look, or paint for a “messy” fun look. I don’t feel like my page is finished until the distressing is done.”

Some distressing examples:
(click on the picture to make it larger)

Below is a slide show featuring some of our favorite products:

Thanks for stopping by! Join us next Wednesday for another product review. Be sure to ask in the store for a deminstration of these products. Also, we would love for you to share your comments on distressing... let us know if you like it, love it, gotta have it, or any experiences you may have had with this technique and the products. This way we can all learn from each other!