Techniques......I wanna know???

What technique is your favorite and why? Maybe you'd like to give a breif explanation of how it's done.

I have scrapped since 2006, but took a 2 year break from it after my last child was born because I just got to busy and then forgot how much I loved it. After coming back to it this past Sept. I am now addicted more than ever! I scrap as much I can get away with in my free time. I have noticed that my pages look better now than when I first started because I have been trying new things and trying to scrap outside of my box. But I still feel left in the dark as to some of the terms and techniques used and how they are done.....haha this is bad I could be using some due to inspiration from the LO gallery and not even know what the technique I've used is called.


Also I know this is sorta like the present post 'what should I buy next'....but I'd also like to know the top 25 or more tools and essentials you cannot live without and why. I plan to buy more tools and essentials but it seems like alot of the tools do the same thing.

Haha sry...I am just curious...I didn't mean to make you all write a whole blog!!! But thanks in advance anyway!

My favorite technique is inking. I love to ink the edges of my papers. It really helps them pop from the other paper on the lo. I ink almost all of my projects.

My can't live without tools are...
craft knife - I love to hand cut elements out of pp.
embossing powders and heat gun - Such an awesome effect.
Bosskut Gazzelle - So hand to be able to cut out so many shapes, letters, etc.
scissors - to distress the edges of my papers.
Ranger ink blending tool - It really makes the inks looks so good.

Cricut.
Cricut.
Cricut.

Misting.

Oh mist, how I love thee.


Def wants good inks and that Ranger blending tool. Some will say, don't get the tool, but get it.

Heidi Swapp Distresser, it is like 2 or 3 bucks and I have used mine for forever.

I love inking and fraying edges -- that's the easiest form of stress relief I can find!

Now, the most effective form or stress relief goes by a few names. I call it "torching," but essentially you burn the edges of your paper and extinguish the fire when you feel you've burned off "enough." I was really happy recently to figure out that misting the flame with water leaves much more of the burn mark AND puts the flame out faster. If I could figure out how to perserve the paper curl post-burn I'd dance a jig.

Oh, and I'm starting to love misting; but I still only have the one bottle.... with a second in my cart just in case I need some retail therapy.

Rubber stamping is my favorite technique- all forms of stamping. I guess I like to use an accenting color ink and do a border the most. You can really do some cool designs with a swirly stamp and some ink! But I love heat embossing too, you know with embossing powder and use a heat gun to make it melt.

I will be looking up embossing ad heat gun ect. I have no idea what it is.

Can't live without my big bite, and my fav technique of the moment is stamping!

hmmm. there are a lot of them!

i have a new fav. i just discovered tim holtz distress inks. i ink chipboard, paper, etc and then stamp and image/flourish on top. it looks awesome!

It's pretty basic, but I really like paper tearing.

My fav is matting/framework, but I also love inks. Tools I cannot do without, hhhmmm:

Tools:

My Sizzix!!!
Cricut
Crop-A-Dile (Big Bite)
Paper Piercer
Paper Trimmer

Essentials:

Tim Holtz Distress Inks, most def!
Brads, one of my first loves
Rhinestones, non-adhesive and a great variety
Tombo Mono Metal Glue
Ribbon, Floss or Fibers
All My Paper, but of course

DISTRESSING! I don't think a layout looks complete without it! I use a Heidi Swapp edge distresser and Tim Holtz ink and I love the outcome!

My favourite techniques:
1/ Heat Embossing- adds so much texture!
2/ inking the edges of everything
3/distressing edges (I just use scissors)
4/stickling things (stickers, paper cut outs, die cuts, flowers)

If you're looking to learn a bunch of new techniques YouTube is the place to look. You can search any technique and come up with lots of videos to watch how it's done. When I started getting into techniques like embossing I discovered Marion at apieceofcraft.com and I found her older videos to be really helpful. Her more recent ones mostly just show kits that she sells (along with a few techniques) but in her older videos she actually leaves the camera on while she scrapbooks (she puts it on fast fwd so it's not so boring) and I learned so much from her, especially about heat embossing.

To find her, just go to YouTube and search for apieceofcraftdotcom (all one word) and several of her videos will come up. If you click on her name (as opposed to the video itself), it should bring you to her channel. Then click on her uploads and scroll down to the ones from a year ago. Her "how I start a mini album" parts 1-3 are especially full of techniques.

As for tools, my faves are:
Slice (a small portable electronic die cut machine)
Cuttlebug with Nestabilities
Bind it All (new so I haven't used it much yet)
ink blending tool (a must have for inking)
Cutter Bee scissors
BG files (for mini albums)
A stamp cleaning pad (goodbye babywipes!)
Xyron X sticker maker (for adhering all those diecuts I make with my Slice)

I love to distress paper by fraying the edges and inking them and I love to distress pictures edges by filing them.

hand doodling with markers and/or Stickles and hand stitching are a couple of more faves of mine.

I really need to bust out some of my supplies and try these techniques! Such great inspiration.
I just stick with the tried and true. Inking the edges is a must on almost every project. That and I absolutely love my stamps and Slice. I'm all for reusable products so I can get the most bang for my buck!

Tearing, inking, distressing, doodling by hand with markers, pens, stickles, paint brushes, stickling, layering stitching, paper burning (to distress) and I am just now attempting to try clustering.

Misting and frayed edges for me. I love to use twine on everything also to curl up the edges of my photos.

Cool. I didn't know about the ink blender. I'll have to go buy it now!

I want to know about stamping.

What do you want to know?

Stamping is fun, but can be intimidating cause once it is down, it is down!

I really like clear acrylic stamps. I mostly use Tim Holtz Distress inks, but I also like the Colorbox pigment inks.

I like Versamark ink for watermarking and Emboss it for embossing.

Perfect pearls are fun to play with, they are little jars of powder that you can brush over a stamped image and the powder sticks making it look shimmery and sorta metallic.

What is clustering? TIA.

• Manda_K Said:

Thank you for the info. I own a lot of acrylic stamps, but I haven't used them and I have some of the Colorbox inks.

Favorite Technique... DECO SCISSORS!!!

How to cut photo mats with deco scissors By Gelidy Gelato

right now, my favorite is simple... CRICUT i love making things with my machine... i love being able to learn new things on here... perhaps i will have to try the distressing... that sounds interesting.