All You Need Is Love (& Maybe Some Washi Tape?)

Hi guys, it's Lauren here again. Everyone knows I love Eyelet Outlet Washi Tape, and that one of my favorite uses is to make my own patterned paper, by neatly lining up strips of tape on plain white cardstock. But did you know that some tapes can be "stacked" to make a bigger design than you can see within one strip of tape? In fact, both of today's cards are made using just one style of tape-- this gorgeous Wide Music Washi.

I made the backgrounds for both cards in exactly the same way, by adhering the Wide Music Washi to a piece of plain white cardstock in strips, and lining each subsequent strip up very neatly so that the design on each segment match perfectly and the fully assembled panel looks seamless. This is not difficult, just a little bit fussy, but if you work carefully and take your time, you get wonderful results! It took four strips of tape, layered vertically, to make the complete design of this tape. You can see below that because I was overlapping the (clear) top and bottom edges by about 1/16" there was a little "blurry" bit at each level. I think it'd be absolutely fine to leave that as is, but being a bit persnickity, I wondered if I could take a very fine tipped permanent pen and fill in the black just a little darker. And I could! After a bit of practice, I even got faster at it. I made two panels that measured approximately 4 x 5" and then started to plan my cards.

For the first card I decided to use our Fancy Long Zig Zag Bling Strips to make a frame. This meant I'd need a card big enough to hold the tape panel AND the frame, so I made an A7 card blank from glossy black cardstock and adhered my tape panel to the center of it. I "dry fit" the bling by leaving it on the clear plastic backing, laying it on top of the design and trimming it to size. When I knew exactly where I needed to place each piece (so that the "point" of the teardrop gem was just overlapping the printed panel) I removed the backing and set each section in place.

I made the rest of my sentiment on the computer, using a free font called "Vogue" at 24 point size, and printed it out on plain white cardstock. I matted the strip for the first card on a piece of Cruise Tape so that my words covered the anchors and ships' wheels that are on the tape, but left that elegant braided border, which I think is the perfect finishing touch.

My second card is a standard A2. For this one I thought I'd leave off the bling, but bump up the texture factor by making an extra partial tape panel which contained the word "Love" and the sweet bird in the design... then fussy-cutting the bird and the letters, so I could raise them on some foam tape.

I borrowed this technique from old-school decoupage, and while it seems like a small touch, it adds a bit of dimension and a lot of elegance, in my opinion. 

Once my 3D pieces were attached, I added the sentiment. This time it's trimmed into a little flag shape and framed with a scrap of the same glossy black cardstock from which I made the card base.

I'd like to write more, but now I'm kind of anxious to find out if any of my other Eyelet Outlet Washi Tapes can be stacked into a bigger design! I'll let you know what I discover!

Lauren Bergold

really likes Eyelet Outlet Washi Tape.

(A lot!!!)

To the Lighthouse

Father's Day in the US is Sunday --which arguably makes it a little late to just be starting on cards, lol-- but let's face it, sometimes it's the last minute or nothing, right? And for that matter, I (Lauren) never turn down a masculine card idea at ANY time of year, especially one that can be made by combining some of my favorite styles of Eyelet Outlet Brads!

For this not quite 6x6" card, I painted a tiny watercolor --though you could easily do this with stamps-- using some of my favorite shades of ColorBurst pigment powders, then framed it by cutting a heart-shaped hole in some sea-themed dictionary paper backed with cardstock. I attached the brads (which I'll list and link to in a minute!) to the frame, then popped the edges up around the opening using tiny slivers of foam tape. But before I started piercing a million holes in my frame, I did a "dry fit" by flattening the prongs a bit and laying the brads on to estimate how many I'd need; while also checking color, size and arrangement. Then I took a quick pic on my phone, so I'd have something to follow when I started attaching them for real. 

So which varieties did I choose? Well, I've got some very handsome Trout and Bass Brads, as well as lots of Stars in assorted colors (each pack has shiny gold, patina-ed silver and copper); Seagulls seemed like a great choice for the lighthouse theme, and of course every good sailor needs a Compass. I hadn't originally thought of using Sketched Owl Brads, but they're so lovely and the colors worked perfectly! After I assembled the main panel, I added a decorative band of Cruise Washi Tape, flanked by two strips of Brown Skinny Glitter Tape, and mounted the entire thing to a folded card in a coordinating shade of teal. 

Sending lots of good wishes to all the dads out there for a very Happy Father's Day!

Lauren Bergold

can be found here every Wednesday afternoon 

and on her blog the rest of the week!

Let's Be Adventurers!

Hello friends!  Are you looking forward to the weekend?!  Summer has officially started and with school ending, that means more freedom to do more fun things!

My card for today is made with Eyelet Outlet products, and stamps purchased when I visited the new local scrapbook/stamping store in our area.  They had Eyelet Outlet products (yay!) and lots of fun stamp sets and designer papers to go with them!

The anchor and ship wheel are classic symbols of Summer!  I love how perfectly our anchor brads coordinate with the anchors in our cruise washi tape.  (There are also ship wheel brads that go perfectly with it!).  The contrast of the black and white washi looks great against this hot Summer yellow and navy color scheme.

Inside, there is another anchor to accent the sentiment...and a sprinkling of stars to help navigate the way!

The anchors and stars that I used today are the metallic ones, but they're also available in red, white and blue.  You can find those here and here!  And we have jewel star brads and sticky back enamel stars as well!  Such a wide variety really makes crafting Summer cards easy and a lot of fun!

Enjoy your Summer adventures!