Monday, October 26, 2009

Texture Technique

by: HappyElephantDesigns

I wanted to share with you a technique I like to use sometimes that is quick and easy, and that anyone can do. It's a great way to add texture to your cards or any project. Here is what I used:



A punch (any kind, I used 1 3/4 circle punch)
Files (I used a 3M file for the bigger circles and a small file for the half circles)

You also need textured cardstock with a white core. The white core is important because when you sand the punch, the white core comes through. This is what gives the card it's dimension.



I then punched some circles out of the textured cardstock. I cut some of the circles in half to use on the edge of the card. Then I sanded the circles and half circles with my files.






After all the circles are sanded, I rearrange them on the card until I get a pattern that feels right to me. The card consists of a white card with sage green cardstock cut slightly smaller, and then the purple textured cardstock cut slightly smaller than that. When I have a pattern that feels right with the circles, I place the cirlces in my Xyron machine. A Xyron machine can make anything you place into it a sticker. You can use any form of adhesive you feel comfortable with though.



Take the circles off the Xyron sheet and adhere to the card. I chose to put a polka-dot ribbon with a metal buckle at the bottom of the card.

Here's the finished product! This is a great technique to use for the up coming Holidays. All you need to do is use a Holiday punch and you can make your own pattern paper.
I hope you enjoyed learning this technique as much as I enjoy doing it.
Shannen

11 comments:

Robbin said...

oh this is a very unique technique! thanks for sharing. great photos in the tutorial, too. :D
-Robbin

Happy Elephant Designs said...

thanks :)

Shannen

Theresa Dagostino Forge said...

great tutorial~ thanks!

Tricia Rush Richner said...

Like it. Thanks for showing this.

Terri said...

Cool Technique. Great tutorial too. Thanks for sharing it with us.

Debbie said...

Thanks for showing us this technique. I really like the way it looks and will be trying it out.

Cara said...

Shannen, great tutorial, thanks for sharing!

Jen :) said...

Have you tried this with any of the Core'dinations brand of cardstock? I've done similar things with their Black Magic product line with some very neat effects.

Unknown said...

Such a cool technique! I don't make cards this way, but if I do anytime soon, I'll definitely have to try this out!

Judy said...

Great idea! I have a ton of paper punches and lots of white core and Core'dinations cardstock. I'm going to have to play around with this technique.

Jen :) said...

With the Core'dinations cardstock, you can still get some pretty neat effects with some varying degrees of crumpling, too. I like to crumble then hit it with a sanding block. It's neat how the sanding block picks up only the raised points created by the crumpling.