Paper Tearing and Crumpling

Don't be afraid of tearing or crumpling your paper! These 2 techniques help to add a shabby chic look and texture to your paper crafting projects.

Tearing

Hold the paper in front of you, and tear. Pull the right side toward you to expose paper fibers on the left side of the paper. Pull the left side toward you to expose paper fibers on the right side of the paper. It's as easy as that!

Don't worry about having a straight tear, the shape of the tear will add a special touch to your project. Hint: the closer your fingers are to the tear, the smaller the tear will be. To have a larger tear, hold your hands farther away.

Crumpling

Just as it sounds, take your paper and crumple it up. You can do this once, or several times by uncrumpling and recrumpling! The more you crumple, the more the fibers in the paper break down and the paper becomes softer. When you are ready to use the paper in your project, just uncrumple and smooth it out. To adhere, use liquid glue or glue dots.

To adhere, use adhesive dots, tape runners, photo mounting squares, or other adhesives!

To submit a tip or ask a question, please contact us.

(Watch this space for an archive of tips as we collect them.)