Grungy Monday #10 with a "Nellie Knot" tutorial

On Monday when I went to Linda's Studio L3 to learn what the latest challenge was, I found that was simply "Distress Ink".  Now don't get me wrong, "simply" does NOT describe Distress Ink as there are multitudes of ways to use it and looks to get, in fact Distress Ink is my "go to" ink unless I need a waterproof ink.  Our challenge was to create something using Distress Ink any way we wanted!  Oh what fun this will be!

Tuesday evening I was a bit stressed, so I did something that "de-stresses" me.  I "Smooshed"!  Smooshed? What is "Smooshing" you ask?  Perhaps you know it better by what Tim (Holtz) calls it, "Wrinkle Free Distress"!  You can find the directions for Smooshing, I mean, Wrinkle Free Distress on page 33 of Tim's book A Compendium of Curiosities.

I used every color of DI (not all on one sheet) and created 10 sheets of background paper!  I had great fun and felt much better after I finished!

I used part of one of the background pieces for this card:

A while back I took a class at Stamper's Corner (Elk Grove, CA) where Nellie taught us a nifty trick for bows/knots on our cards.  What is nifty is the bow/knot will stay exactly where you put it!   With her permission, here is how to make a Nellie Knot.



1) Decide where you want your bow or knot.

2) Punch a hole in the chosen spot. (Note: If the card is vertical like mine, then just put a hole in the top layers before you adhere it to the card.  If the card is horizontal, then you can adhere the layers, then punch the hole  the layers and card.)

3) Cut a piece of fiber 2 1/2 to 3 times as long as the width of the direction the fiber will go.

4) Fold fiber in half.

5) Push fiber from front to back through hole.

6) Put ends on either side of hole and loop the fiber from the back over to the front (making sure there are no unwanted twists in the fiber).

7) Tie the bow or knot!

8) Voila!  A bow or not that won't move or fall off!  Pretty nifty, huh?

Hope you enjoyed the tutorial!

Be sure to check out Linda's (Ledbetter) blog on Monday morning for Grungy Monday 11!

Have a fabulous week!

Linda

Products used to create:  Craft sheet, White Diamond paper (from Stampers' Corner), Distress ink (Broken China, Tumbled Glass, Dusty Concord, Peeled Paint, Frayed Burlap, Walnut Stain, Vintage Photo), Art Glitter Mist (copper), Ace Hardware multi-purpose twine, Idea-ology Muse Token, Tim Holtz "Odds & Ends" and "Nature's Discovery" stamps, Ranger Ink Pearl Blue embossing powder.