Thursday Tutorial | Cutting Straight Edges in Washi tape

Do you like working with washi tape? I love it, and have totally jumped on that band wagon. Along the way I have come up with a few techniques for using it on projects, and today I want to share a very quick and simple one.

Take a look at this layout that I made for the Sister Sketch series on my personal blog.

Do you notice how the washi tape is cut in a straight line along the top? Usually I love the torn effect of the tape – one of the things that makes washi tape so easy to use is that you can just tear bits off the roll. But on this page I really wanted a clean cut edge for my title. Now I’ll show you how I did that!

All you will need to complete this technique is a metal ruler and a craft knife.

Step 1. Apply the washi tape to your projects by tearing strips off the roll.

Step 2. Place a metal ruler along the side that you want to be straight. I like to line the top of the ruler up with the top edge of the background. This ensures that you get a pretty straight line.

Now hold the ruler down with one hand and lightly draw the craft knife through the tape, using the ruler edge as a guide. The tape is very thin, so you only need to use a light hand, and you will cut through the tape without cutting through the background support.

If you look closely in the photo above you can see the line I cut through the tape. Now very carefully pull the extra pieces off.

And there you have it!

You can repeat to have a nice straight edge on the other side, but I like the torn bits too, so will keep mine as is, and use this background for a scrapbook page soon!

What do you think? Is this something you can use? Do you have any washi tape tips to share?

More Ideas For You:

Nathalie incorporated paper weaving with pink and polka dot pattern papers on her pretty Family layout. There’s also lots of clusters of pumpkins and Fall leaves, sweet sentiments with more layers of patterns behind. Take a closer look at the Simple Stories blog.

Thanksgiving will soon be here in the states and that means gathering together with family and friends and enjoying good food and great company. Even if you don’t celebrate Thanksgiving this is still a wonderful time to spend doing Autumn activities, cooking, baking and eating together, heading out and enjoying the cooler weather with family members. To capture all those wonderful memories today we’ll look at some inspiring scrapbook layouts that celebrate how grateful we are for our families.

Below each photo you’ll find a link, click it for more details like products used, process videos and tips.

Inessa used pretty chipboard flowers and die cut leaves backed with pattern papers to surround her sweet family photo. There’s also more dimension from puffy stickers, a tag tied with twine and gems. Notice how the photo and title are offset, it adds extra interest. Learn more at the Paige Taylor Evans blog.

Becki added color, pattern and texture to her Thanksgiving layout by stitching down strips of pattern paper for her background. She also added the title on a vertical along the edge and included some room for journaling and a few scatterings of embellishments. Take a closer look at the Scrapbook and Cards Today blog.

This beautiful layout from Noreen has a wreath of leaves punched from pattern and vellum papers around the family photo. There’s also a list of things she’s thankful for, wooden title and a Fall word pattern background. Find more details on the Creative Memories blog.

Kirei created a wonderful, colorful background with distress edged strips of pattern papers. Across the center horizontally she created a border made of Autumn elements in colors that match each strip for a bold design for a family dinner. Learn more at the Bella Blvd. blog.

This beautiful botanical page from Rona has plaid and botanical pattern papers with torn brick paper that was created with stenciling and gold paste for the background. There’s also loads of flowers and leaves with several cute dimensional buttons. Find a link to her process video on the Pretty Little Studio blog.

This groovy family page has a retro feel with funky die cut flowers with button centers, woodgrain and floral pattern papers in teal, brown and orange. There’s also touching family themed sentiments with the photo tilted for some extra interest. I spotted this idea on the sweet scrapbook girl Instagram page.

This darling Father and Son layout has die cut and dry embossed leaves, die cut circles and zig-zag background. The photos have frames with tabs along with hand written journaling and die cut title. Find step by step directions on the Cardstock Warehouse blog.

This yummy baking themed layout uses digital scrapbooking with fun pattern papers along with large clusters of flowers, leaves and baking elements. Going digital gives the look of dimension without all the bulk. I came across this page by Evelyn on the PickleBerryPop gallery.

This beautiful design from Sue has amazing texture and dimension from a paper doily, gauze, burlap heart and other fun details like typed journaling and rubber stamping. There’s also touches of gold with paint splatter and foiled titled. Take a closer look at the Cocoa Vanilla blog.

I’m in love with the pink and orange color combo on this fabulous Fall family layout from Stephanie! She added a diamond of plaid paper over her graphic background paper along with a large cluster of pumpkins and several sentiments scattered around. I came across her idea on the Fancy Pants Designs Instagram page.

This tall Traveler’s Notebook style double page spread by Ronnie has lots of room for journaling with flower edged lined paper and 5 stacked photo with floral clusters on the other side. These designs can be used digitally or printed for traditional style scrapbooking. Learn more at Traci Reed Designs.

I hope this Autumn you’ll be able to get together with your family and enjoy have some quality time and make some lastly memories!

-Heather

Looking for paper crafting supplies? Check out Craft Stash

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