Scrapbook Techniques - Paper Tearing

By Marcy Larsen

Scrapbook Techniques – Paper Tearing

Ripping and peeling paper is a fun way to add warm, hand crafted
accents to you pages. Almost any paper scrap can be turned into a cute
accent. Mastering a few tearing techniques will turn your "regular"
pages into "wow" pages. You can create beautiful boarders, backgrounds
and shapes by tearing paper. Here a few versatile and whimsy ways to
decorate your layouts.

Practice with scrap paper to get the feel of how different papers well
tear. Once you get the feel for it, you will become a pro and enjoy
doing this technique over and over again.

To make a basic tear, hold the paper in your non-dominant hand. Tear
with your index finger and thumb, going gently and slowly for you a
straight tear or rapidly for a modern look. If your paper is jagged,
you may be tearing against the grain. Rotate the paper about 90
degrees and try again.

To tear strong paper, wet the paper with a small paint brush or cotton
swab. Once the water soaks in, gently tear the paper. When the paper
dries, you will not be able to see the water marks. Using water will
make it easier to tear shapes such as circles and hearts.

To tear intricate shapes, sketch your design first. Brush with water
to weaken the lines. To make it a little easier, use a scoring blade
or stylus and firmly push against your cardstock to weaken it. Tear
you paper along the lines.

Remember that different papers result in different looks. Heavy
cardstocks are usually died and the color will stay the same with the
tear. Patterned paper typically has a white core or light colored
edges vellum is so shear that the edges are not visual. Try adding
chalk to the edges to give extra dimension. By trying these few
techniques you will be amazed at the different looks you will add to
your pages.

Scrapbooking by Close To My Heart Consultant Marcy Larsen. Scrapbook
Layouts, stamping techniques and more at marcylarsen.com.

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