For the Love of Cropping

I love a good crop. Whether it's on-line or in person, I just can't help but be motivated to get things done. This weekend there's was an impromptu crop over at the Fiskateers site. If you're a Fiskateer,  you should definitely head over and check it out. Challenges don't close until Wednesday night, so there's still time to play along. If you're saying "Fiska-what?" you should also head over and check out the Fiskateers. It's a free community of people who love all things Fiskars (and if you're a paper crafter, sewer, or gardener you definitely own at least one Fiskars scissors, paper trimmer, punch, or gardening tool!).  It's a really fun, creative and supportive group, and you won't be disappointed that you checked them out. I've been having fun working on a few of the crop challenges. Here's a spring layout I made using my favorite Fiskars Border Punch (which just happens to be Fiskars Upper Crest border punch. I used it as an accent on the left hand side of my photos):

 

I created this layout from some leftover paper I had from another project and some Washi Tape. I used black, blue, and yellow Washi Tape to create the pattern on the top part of the page. There's a lot you can do with Washi Tape, but one of my absolute favorite things is creating my own patterned paper with it. You can check out the chevron paper I made with it here if you didn't see that project when I posted it.

This background was created by placing 3 strips of the same tape next to each other on a diagonal, and then repeating with a new tape until the entire background was covered.

 

The  patterned paper and journaling tag are from My Mind's Eye's new On The Bright Side Collection. On the bright side is much like it sounds; a bright and bold collection, however it has surprising vintage touches to it as well. 

Thanks for stopping by!

How to Make a Chevron Pattern from Washi Tape

  Scrapbooking is like anything else, there are trends in products and styles. I really enjoy watching the current scrapbooking trends and finding ways to incorporate the ones I like into my style. Sometimes a trend feels "totally me", but other times I look at it and thing, hmmm....it could be me if I tweaked it.... That's what happened with me and the layout I'm showing today. I took 2 current trends: Chevrons (I love clean lines and lots of mixing of colors, so this trend is "totally me"), and washi tape (okay, this one can be me, but only when tweaked) and use them as a base. Which, resulted in a layout that is totally my style.

Both the Chevron border and the little flower in the corner are  made from washi tape. I'll give you the step-by-step on making the washi tape chevron border today, but the flower I'll have to save for another day.

I started with a 12" x 12" piece of card stock and 5 rolls of washi tape. The number of rolls that you use really doesn't matter, just choose some that you like. You will be completely covering the card stock, but washi tape can be a bit translucent, so remember that when you chose the color.  I chose one tape to start with and placed it diagonally from corner to corner.

Once I had the center strip placed, I continued to layer tape diagonally flush up against the previously laid strip. Work all the way from the center to the bottom corner, then work from the center to the top corner, alternating tapes as you go. Wrap the ends of your tape that hang off the paper around the back side of the card stock. 

Once you have finished, your paper should look like the paper in the photo below. Covering the entire piece of cardstock only took me about 5 minutes to do. Washi tape is really easy to work with. I cut 2 - 1 1/2" x 12" strips of paper (that I then cut into 1 1/2" x 6" strips of paper). Rotate what's left of your washi tape coverd paper 90 degrees, and cut 4 - 1 1/2" strips of paper. Cut these down so you have 4 - 1 1/2" x 6" strips of paper. 

You should now have 8 - 1 1/2" x 6" strips of paper. 4 will have the tape slanting from top left to bottom right, and 4 will have the tape slanting from bottom left to top right. Adhere the strips along the bottom of a 12" x 12" piece of card stock (I used Jillibean Soup Kraft card stock) alternating between the slanting down strips and the slanting up strips  to create the chevron pattern. Then all you have to do is decorate and add a photo or 2 to your layout.
 

Please feel free to post any questions you have in the comments and I'll be sure to answer them as best I can.

Thanks for stopping by!