...Monday morning Make...DIY Washi Tape Challenge?

Good Morning! I have another Monday Morning make for you! As I settle back into some sort of routine after the Christmas blur I am finding that Monday morning is a good time to post something to the old blog. LOL, let's see how long that lasts...

I thoroughly enjoyed the entries from folks who played along with our Chalkboard challenge last week and I will be announcing a random player tomorrow who will win a wee gift code for the store!

Trying to kick start mojo has never been easy for me - I am one of those twits who needs to have acres of time in front of me before I can tune into my muse and truly 'create' - this is pretty much never the situation in a house with 3 children and a full-time business, and so I often struggle. I waste a lot too...but sometimes, just sometimes, I make something neat. The added bonus with home made washi tape is that I also recycle!

I have yardage of tissue paper - I keep it when it comes my way wrapped around gifts or in packaging. I always KNEW it would come in handy for something and Washi Tape is that something.

I love washi tape, I have been making up little rolls of the stuff and it looks pretty all piled together on a shelf - must get around to actually using it. There are many tutorials on the web about how to do this, I use an easy method, because I am pushed for time.

I use double sided tape if I have it, but I use ordinary tape also if I don't have the double sided stuff in the right width. I lay out a piece of  tissue paper - I don't mind if it has been a little wrinkled, infact I prefer it to smooth tissue. I stick strips of double sided tape across the tissue paper. In my picture the gold backed tape is the double sided stuff.

The cream tape is masking tape - I had no double sided one inch tape available and I wanted some thicker washi tape so I'll show you how I do it with single sided tape also.

Next thing I do is run a rotary cutter down the side of the tape to trim it out and get rid of the tissue in between the strips. I use a rotary cutter because I was once a quilter, but scissors or a craft knife will do just as well.

This is what you are after - lots of strips of tissue paper with tape already adhered to the reverse.

Next thing to do is colour on the tissue - I like to use copics because there are lots of shades available and they dry quickly and I have no time to wait on anything drying...

 

...except for distress inks...love distress inks...

Then it's time to have fun stamping! - Anything you fancy, words, patterns, repeated images, whatever tickles...

And hopefully you end up with a bunch of lovely patterned tapes! The beauty of making your own tapes lies not only in the customization, but in the fact that you can make small quantities. If you are at all related to me you no doubt have rolls and rolls of the stuff that you will never use because  'strident red stripes' just don't really work on that many cards....

Stamps I used on my tapes included, Woodgrain, Victorian Frippery, Off Beat Backgrounds, Heirloom Patterns, Dainty Doilies large and Little box Labels for the herringbone patter.

The Washi tapes that you make with double sided tape are all ready to use - simply peel off the backing and adhere.

For tapes made using single sided tape such as masking tape or similar - there is onemore step to follow - run the washi through the Xyron machine to add stickiness to the reverse. Failing that you can just use a little clear adhesive tape on the reverse, or even a little thinly spread glue. Easy peasy.

Your tape is now ready to use! I was itching to make a wee card and decided that I wanted to make one that sort of co-ordinated with my tape - another thing you can't do with some  store bought tapes....

 

I used some of the same stamps in my background that I used on my tapes. Love that pale green tape with the white doily image especially much.

So, what do you think? Fancy having a go? Why don't we make this another challenge then, have a go at making some patterned Washi tape with your WMS stamps and use it on a card. Link up your card here and I'll randomly pick another winner!! The winner of this challenge will scoop a large stamp set of their own choice!

The links will open (hopefully) at around 2:00pm today (8:00am Chicago time) and close the same times next Monday - I argued with Mr Linky this morning and although I'm pretty sure I had the last word, you never quite know...