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

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 on the Eyelet Outlet Blog 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 report my discoveries on the Eyelet Outlet Blog!