My regular habits....

Hello everybody, Nicole here with today's blog post. I had clean forgot about it until about half an hour ago, so thought I better get on here and sort something out for you all.

I was sitting at my table when I remembered about this and I had been looking at the page I am working on at the moment. I often look at my pages and think of the few things that I do regularly when scrapping, and wonder if anyone else has anything they do regularly.

There is at least 3 things I do every single page -
*I always do something to the edge of the photo/s. Whether it is sanding them, distressing them, inking or painting, I never have the edges of my photos untouched.
*I never stick things down until I have everything cut out and set out to how I want it. This gives me the opportunity to add something or take something away. There have been times when I have completely wiped my base clean and started again - that's a bit hard to do when it's all glued down.
*I always reach for my scraps first. It's not often that I will reach for a full sheet for something that I need for my page. I keep all my scraps and 9 times out of 10 will find what I need in my scraps.

I have lots of other techniques that I use on most pages too.
* I use lots of ink. I am regularly inking the edges of my paper and cardstock. And it's not often that I do a neat little inked edge. It's usually all messy and grungy like, and I usually get a good lot of ink all over my hands too!!
* I love to distress the edges of my paper and cardstock. Like inking, I love the definition and texture it gives. Again, it's never a neat little distress, it's normally a messy edge with a bigger tear or 2 in it.
* It's not unusual for me to combine the inking and the distressing. Another thing that I love the look of.
* I often alter the base of my layouts. Sometimes it's just a simple spray of Glimmermist or Colour Spray, a swish of paint, using a mask, or stamping. I often find that a page is a bit flat sometimes and just needs that little bit of oomph, so I add some texture to the background to add that needed lift.

So here is some my recent layouts showing my regular techniques:

~This page shows my love for inked and distressed edges. You can also just see the white sanded edge of my photo.
The page below shows a background altered with paint. It just lifts the rest of the page that little bit.

The next page has no ink, no paint or glimmermist but it does have an altered background. I glued a piece lace cut paper over the background cardstock just to give that extra bit of texture. You can see the white sanded edges of my photos here.

This next page is a very good example of my messy inking technique. I love ink and what you can do with it. Again notice the sanded edge of my photo.

And my last page shows lots of paint. I painted the edges of my photos and the edge on my paper. I also used Glimmermist and a bit of paint on the background to alter it and give it a little texture and colour.

So what techniques do you use regularly without realising that you do it? And are there any techniques that you use to make other people recognise that it is your work?
Thanks for looking today and I hope you all have a great weekend.
Hugs, Nick xxx