T is for TEARING #AtoZChallenge

Hi and Happy Monday everyone!

Today starts the final week of our A to Z Blog Challenge!

This week is also special because with the way the dates fell on the April calendar this year, the last post will be this Sunday. That means a full 7-day week of posts for this last leg of the blog sprint.

It’s going to be exciting and chock-full of Scrapbooking know-how.

Are you ready? I'm READY!

"Light me!"

Let’s get the party started with today’s letter – T is for TEARING.

Tearing is the utilization of ripped paper on your scrapbook pages. This is another one of those “haven’t tried much” topics, but I put myself to the test creating the examples, so I hope they do justice to the subject.

I experimented with my first example. I tore an ad for a face cream out of a magazine, and bordered it with torn beauty-themed paper.

The teared edges gives a fun, ripped-from-the-headlines effect; a perfect add-on to a scrapbook page.

I liked out how the ad turned out, but I figured that I needed to go more in-depth with my second example (both these projects are my first attempts at tearing).

For the next try, I went with a Halloween theme.

I first cut out a pumpkin and Jack-O-Lantern face using dies cuts.

I actually made two pumpkins: The one you see has a cut out face, while the second one I glued the pieces of his face on individually. The nose was the TINIEST thing ever.

Footnote to save your sanity: Don’t glue the pieces on one by one – cut the faces out.

Sorry – rant over, moving on.

I tore up a bunch of black paper and adhered my masked pumpkin onto one larger square piece.

The next step required me to break out the Mod Podge (a glue-sealant that goes on white and dries clear and smooth to the touch). The opportunity to create using ripped paper felt like a reward – I didn’t have time to make a Mosaic for my M post, so I got to make up for lost projects. (*Woot*)

Using a sponge applicator, I spread out a generous layer of Mod Podge.

I arranged the ripped pieces of paper, applying layers of Mod Podge to merge and seal.

After it all dried, I added the pumpkin square.

The finished product came out super cute.

I’m thinking this would look great as an anchor in the corner of a 12x12 Halloween colored (orange/black/green/brown) plaid page.

Tearing also makes for a great contrast between textures and patterns of paper.

The raw edges could also give a journalistic and real-world feel to text boxes. Tearing is an eye-catching way to add dimension and appeal to your scrapbook pages.

And that’s another letter down, only six left to go. I can’t thank you enough for stopping by to read my post. If you have tips about tearing, general feedback about my scrapbooking theme, or just want to say “Hi”, please leave a comment below. I’d love to hear from you.

If you would like to check out other awesome T posts, please check out my fellow AtoZ blogsters by searching the keyword “A to Z Blog Challenge” or the #AtoZChallenge.

I’ll be back tomorrow with a letter that’s a personal favorite – U is for UPCYCLING.

See you then!

-         SNG