Tutorial Friday By MEGAN

As a self diagnosed washi addict, I'm always looking for new fun ways to use decorative tapes. Right now I'm excited about all of the thin washi tape sets in the Freckled Fawn shop. Not only are they a fun width, but they come in a range of colors I find myself wanting in scrapbooking supplies (but rarely finding). I want to experiment with using these tapes to create my own patterns and backgrounds, and I thought plaid was an excellent place to start! This is a fun pattern to try, especially if you have different widths of washi to use together. All you'll need is a piece of cardstock--I used 4x6 so I can use the cards in my pocket scrapbooking--and a few washi tape colors! For my first pattern, I used orange and yellow from the neon colors washi set and blue green from this thin washi set. For my second plaid, I thought it would be fun to try out a patterned tape. I used orange, blue, and yellow triangle washi, Lorabailora ombre blue washi, and orange from this thin washi set. First, lay down your first color layer of washi for your plaid. If you are using multiple widths of washi tape, this is where you'll want to use your thickest tape. The exact measurements of your tape placement isn't important. But you do want to place a symmetrical pattern with your tape. You'll need to leave enough room for other tapes in between each strip of your first color. You'll also want to "cut off" your pattern at the edges of your paper to make it look continuous. For a 4x6 background, I placed my two horizontal strips about a half of an inch from the edge and my first two vertical strips about 3/4 of an inch from the edge, centering my third strip. The measurements were a little different for my first pattern, because the base washi I was using was a little thinner. The number of strips of washi you'll want to lay down will depend on the size of the cardstock you are using, so if you are using a different size, just expand and add more strips, centering more strips between your edge strips and your center strip each time. For my second color, I centered a piece of washi between each strip of my first color. You'll want to use your second widest washi for this step. For a little extra fun and to make the pattern look more continuous, I put two vertical strips at the edges, only using half of the width of the tape. For the third color, use thin washi. This is where the plaid pattern really starts to show! For the horizontal strips, I used two strips of thin washi in the middle spaces between the first and second colors and one between the first color and the edge of the paper. I did the opposite with the vertical strips, using one thin strip in each of the the middle spaces between the first and second color and two strips between the first two colors on the edges. If you are covering a bigger background, try using a thin washi pattern, such as one strip three times, then two strips, then one strip three times, two strips, etc. To finish your plaid, just wrap your washi around to the back of the paper or trim the edges! It is so fun to experiment with making washi plaid! There are so many different plaid patterns, and I look forward to experimenting with more using inspiration from images of plaid online. I'm using my plaid cards on a pocket page with the August Kit! Check out a sneak peek of the kit and come back tomorrow for a full revel. I'll be sharing all of my creations on my blog!