Tutorial: Barb Wire embellishment / Grunge Effects

I noticed some of my tutorial connections got lost since I last posted them so I'm reposting them to my blogposts.  I wanted to show how you can do an embellishment for a  more 'masculine' l/o.  (We all love the flowers and pretty stuff, but some of us have boys to scrap too, LOL!!)

For this layout I made of my nephews I  used a few different techniques that give the page a more masculine feel (aside from my 'cutie-pie' nephews in the photo LOL!)

* I made the barb wire border, simply using a Sharpie black permanent marker and a white gel pen. (the steps to do this follow)

* I used a piece of bubble-wrap dipped in some grey/blue paint and stamped it randomly onto the page behind the photo

* I used a piece of corrugated cardboard and dry-brushed some paint randomly on it. DRY BRUSH: means you dip your paint brush in the paint, dab off on a piece of scrap paper and then lightly brush on the left over paint on your project.

* And of course paper tearing and inking the edges can give a page a more masculine feel too.

To make the barb wire border just follow these simple steps!


1. Draw a random wavey line with a black Permanent marker, I used a Sharpie.....

2. Draw a bunch of zig-zags on the wire, have some of the lines randomly going upward or have them start pointing up and ending point down. This is totally free-style....

3. Now using your white gel pen (I used the Inkssentials gel pen, Signo Unibal works great too!) highlight the black line...

4. Now, using the white gel pen, high-light the zig-zag lines.....

You can now do a double line like I did at the top of my l/o or you can get creative and do looping lines etc.  Here's a close up of the barb-wire on my finished l/o.....



Here are some close-ups of the corrugated cardboard (to expose the corrugated cardboard, simply tear off the top layer of paper, ....I like to leave on little bits of the flat paper on the corrugated part to get a more rugged look, you can also see the bubble-wrap stamping up close in this photo (as you can see, it does not have to look 'perfect'!)....

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I made this layout using the gorgeous Websters Pages 'Sweet Life"  papers and some lovely Prima vines!  The photo is one I took of my oldest daughter after she got her face painted at the resort we were staying in on our trip to Florida.

I doodled the brick wall behind the photo, and used some water colour pencils to randomly colour the bricks (use a Q-tip lightly dipped in water to get a softer effect on the watercolour pencils) I thought the vine would look cute climbing a brick wall. Here's a close up photo....


The blooms in this kit are so beautiful, they have beautiful sheer and opaque layers, here's a close-up....

The leaf designs were cut from the Websters Pages paper and then I simply inked the edges a little with some brown chalk ink and then put on a thin coat of green Stickles.....

Here's another page I made using the Limited Edition kit (this is a photo of my new baby neice) the papers were just perfect for the cute little berry bathing suit and hat she was wearing on our trip to Florida (we just recently got back!).....

There are some awesome sticker sheets in this kit that co-ordinate with the Webster's Pages Sweet Life papers and there's a whole page of co-ordinating colour letter stickers in a really pretty font in just the perfect sizes!....


And finally here is a 3rd l/o I made using the same Limited Edition kit, (these are a couple of photos I took of Chloe when we were going out to dinner in Florida, when I saw these, I was stunned at how grown-up she's already looking at 10 years old!).....

I made the 'lilac' clusters using the retro flower punch you've seen me use on many of my previous l/o's, but for this page I used 3 different colours of cardstock (using the darkest colour toward the outside and the brightest on the inside) I simply use a white chalk ink (Colorbox Pigment stamp pad) on the edges of the blooms and put a soft white line in the middle of the petals with the edge of the stamp pad. To finish I added a dot of purple pearlized dimensional paint in the center of each bloom. Here are some close-up photo's.....

To make the design across the bottom, I punched some holes in the purple cardstock (two holes close together and then leave a 3/4 inch space, then punch 2 holes close together again, repeat)....then I ran the bronze ribbon (also included in the kit) through the holes (the pearl/lace ribbons are included in the kit and the scallop edge patterned paper is a sticker also included in the kit, easy-peasy right?!)....

The circle design around the right side of the photo is a sticker included in the kit as are the buttons, I simply added some Diamond glaze to them to give them a more glossy 3D look. Here's a close-up.....


There are also 3 other new kits for the month of April! Here are some l/o's I made using the Main kit.....


This kit has lots of beautiful blooms and chipboard elements in it!.....For the butterfly and the dragonfly I used some inks, Stickles and dimensional paints to dress them up a bit....


Another l/o I made with the April Main kit.....

I made the 'jewel's on the lace paper by first drawing the gold tear-drops and circles and then filled it with pink and green Stickles. Once it's dry I topped it with some Diamond Glaze to give it a more 'rounded' jewel look.....

There's also beautiful pink Zva crystals in this kit...here's a close-up....


And finally there is a wonderful Album kit for the month of April. Here is a layout I made for this kit....

There's lot's of supercute embellishments in this kit!! Some pretty Zva Crystals, a full package of Prima embossed pink blooms (Sprites), transparencies, chipboard and much, much more! Here are a couple of close-up photos.....


Well, lot's of awesome kits to choose from this month. If you'd like some more inspiration check out the amazing work from the rest of the talented design team at in the Design Team Gallery for April at MCS! We had some awesome Guest Designers this month too that you won't want to miss!

Thanks for taking the time to read my crazy LONG post! LOL!

~Gabrielle xx