Faux Tearing Tutorial

To create this project, you need the supplies shown here (and listed below):

•  8.5" x 5.5" piece of Soft Sky cardstock, scored at 4.25" 
• 1.5" x 3" piece of Natural Ivory cardstock
• 1.75" x 3.25"  piece of Blue Bayou cardstock
• 16" piece of River Rock double stitched ribbon
• Garden Whimsy stamp set
• Paisley background stamp
• Blue Bayou and Mellow Moss classic ink pads
• Brayer
• Stampin' Dimensionals
• Dauber
• A piece of scrap paper (not shown)
• SNAIL adhesive (not shown)

To start, fold your Soft Sky cardstock in half.  Then take your scrap paper (I just use copy paper) and tear it lengthwise.  Strive for a nice wavy tear and then lay it over your folded card as shown below (the folded edge is the part showing).

Now we'll ink up your Paisley background stamp using the brayer.  Alternatively, you could ink up the stamp directly with the ink pad, but I find that the brayer does a fabulous job of getting a nice, even coverage which makes for a beautifully stamped background.  To use the brayer, simply roll it over the Blue Bayou ink pad several times until the roller is completely covered with ink. 

Then roll the brayer over the rubber on your stamp going both directions until the entire stamp is covered.

Normally, I leave my background stamps on the table and press the card on top of the rubber so I can rub the paper and get a great impression.  But that won't work on this card since we have it masked off with our torn paper.  So carefully lift up your inked stamp and line it up to press onto your masked card.  You'll have to be careful to get the entire card covered, so peek underneath the stamp to see the edge of the rubber as you place it down.  I've been too fast with this before and upon lifting it back up, noticed I missed a bit of the edge -- that's okay... I just trimmed the uninked part off and it was just a slightly more narrow card!

When you place your stamp onto the card, please be sure to press evenly all over so you're sure to get a nice impression.

And this is what you'll have when you lift it up!

Now, to make the darker edge, simply slide the masked paper over to the right just a bit like this:

Now for my favorite part!  Take your dauber and dab it on your Blue Bayou ink pad.   With a gentle rubbing motion, sweep your inked dauber across the uninked part of the card, being careful to hold your scrap paper in place. 

When you've finished and removed the scrap paper, you will have a gorgeous faux torn edge like this:

Now add the sentiment of your choice.  Mine is from the Garden Whimsy set and inked in Blue Bayou.

I used a 16" piece of River Rock double stitched ribbon and tied it all the way around the front of the card like this:

For the flower, I used the tulip from the Garden Whimsy set.  To make it two different colors (the flower Blue Bayou and the stem & leaves Mellow Moss), I would normally use my markers.  But since there aren't markers in the In Colors, I just used the stamp pads themselves.  With this tulip stamp, it's pretty easy to get the flower bulb one color and the stem & leaves another.  You just have to peek in there and make sure the edge of your ink pad is stopping at the edge of the tulip bulb.  Then do the same with the Mellow Moss on the stem and leaves.

Since you took time to ink this one up, before you stamp it, it's a good idea to "huff" on the rubber (breathe on it as if you are fogging up a window) to re-moisten the ink.  Stamp it onto your Natural Ivory and layer that onto the Blue Bayou like this:

Attach this to your card with Stampin' Dimensionals and you're finished!

I hope you enjoy this technique as much as I do!