Prep Day, a tutorial

I said I was going to create at least one tutorial every month, yet here it is February, and I still have yet to hammer one out.  Seems January got away from me.  And I was hoping this tutorial wouldn't be too taxing on my still-not-well system.

Here is a simple tutorial that I'm sure most of you can replicate.   Today we will be making our own faux tissue and washi type tapes.

From the back clockwise:
Various widths regular masking tape
Various tissue papers
Double sided tape

We'll begin with double-sided tape and tissue paper.  I save all my tissue paper that people add to their packaging they give me, but I confess, I bought the gold stars tissue several years ago to wrap Christmas gifts with. 

I began by laying out a long strip of the double-sided tape.  Not sure why I felt I needed that much, because it was hard to handle, at least until I finally got the hang of it.

I cut the tissue to size,

and sometimes not the right size.

I decided to remove the extra tissue the first time I used the tape, or as I needed it.   For now, I was just anxious to finish the rest of the tutorial.  Note the tiny bit of tape I left at one end of the double sided tape. 

I used it to hold the tape in place, thinking this was the only way I knew how to store it, at least at the moment.

Next it was on to the gold stars.  I was really surprised at the difference in the weight of the two tissues and how much thinner this tissue was.

This tissue also proved to be more difficult to cut.

This was the heaviest tissue of all, and I had trouble keeping it directly on the tape, something that hadn't happened since my first tissue.

I debated which direction to cut the zebra stripes and finally decided this direction would show the most stripes.  One thing you need to consider when choosing your tissue patterns is the size of the pattern relative to the size of your tape.  I have lots of tissue, but much of it is too large to show any real pattern on this narrow tape I used.

As an aside, I found this tape to be totally and completely USELESS for taping anything.  I couldn't  get it to stick to anything, yet I have seen many of my WOYWW desker friends using what looks like the exact same tape.

But now it was time to put the tissue away and bring out the masking tape.  This is single sided tape, so it had to be treated differently.  If I were to stick anything to the sticky side, I'd have to use glue or tape to stick it to a book page or tag.  That meant I had to get out my rubber stamps.

I chose a length of tape that was approximately the same length as the width of my craft sheet.  I knew it wouldn't stick to it.  Then I used Bleubeard's signature stamp and made a few marks just to see how well the technique would work.  I've seen this masking tape technique on other blogs, but never tried it myself, so I wanted something simple to begin with.

Then it was time to cut the tape and lift it off the craft mat.  I attached it to ONE SIDE of a transparency.  If you get carried away stamping, just wrap the tape to the back side.  I learned this technique from my dear friend Johanna.  I thought this was a brilliant idea.  Once I had the tape attached, it hit me that I might be able to use parchment paper once I had used all my excess transparencies.

But I was experimenting, and I wanted to use the wide tape on the back.  Wouldn't you know.  I couldn't get the tape to remove properly, and I couldn't rewind the day to make it better.  I was truly disappointed, but knew I could use it, even the piece that didn't come off the roll properly.

So, I inked up a stamp and stuck it on the tape.  No cushion underneath, nothing to make the stamping easier.  Guess you could tell I was a bit discouraged.  Of course, I got a super, nearly perfect image the first time I used this stamp.

A ghost print was nearly as acceptable.  I was a very happy camper.  Now all that was left was to clean the stamp and put everything away.  I had done enough damage for one day and wanted to stop on a high note.

Hope you enjoyed this tutorial, and you learned a bit about making your own tissue and faux washi tape.  Next time, I might even break out the paint.  That is, if I can get the tape to tear properly.  You will always be able to access this post, because I'm adding it to my Tutorials page.