Easter Playtime with Paper Tape

For Mother's Day my lovely daughter presented me with a wonderful selection set of 8 paper tapes from Paperchase, from their 'Taking Tea' range.  Obviously I squealed in delight at the sight of this scrumptious set, the box even has a serrated edge so you can easily cut the tape too.  Now some mums would love chocolates, flowers or other delights for Mother's Day, but my daughter knows exactly what her mum likes.  I love that she goes with her heart and not with the commercial bombardment of what the advertising world say mums should want.  (one year she presented me with a wonderful cacti).  To be honest this mum would settle for a hug and some special time with her children. 

Anyway back to the Paper Tapes, my daughter said she bought them so I could use them in my crafting as she had seen me using Washi Tapes before. I already had in mind what I would do first with these tapes, I had originally planned to make a simple striped Easter Egg shaped card with Washi Tapes, so instead I used these Paper tapes.

Here is a simple way to make a lovely Easter Egg shaped card, using just card and some paper tapes.

The Materials and Tools to start with. 

Using a sheet of white Pearlescent cardstock for my base, I cut 2 egg oval shapes using the largest die in the set.  Next I chose just 2 patterned tapes (and in 2 different widths) from the set of 8 and proceeded to stick them at an angle across the front of just one egg shape.  Taking care to space them evenly and cutting the edges flush to the card edge with scissors.  Then taking the 2nd white card oval, I scored a line approx 1" down across the top of the egg shape.  adding 2 lines of double-sided tape above this line and cutting off any overhanging.  Before sticking the 2 sides of the card together, it is a good idea to just cut a little strip of card off the bottom of the plain card back, this will allow the card to stand up.  (only do this to rear piece of card - keep the front shape intact).  Then just line up the front decorated card piece to the back piece carefully before pressing down and sticking the 2 sides together. Hey Presto  a standing card!!

Next Step is to add the ribbon & bow decoration. I took a sheet of Teal coloured card stock, from Papermill Direct, as this would be a nice contrast to the pink shades of tape I was using for this card.  I ran the dies through my big shot and then again using the embossing mat to add the embossed detailing to these particular die-cuts. Sticking the ribbon part to the card front with double sided tape and again trimming off the excess so everything lies flush with the card edges.  Assemble the bow pieces using adhesive, I prefer a fast drying acrylic glue such as cosmic shimmer glue or Tattered Lace detail glue as these grab quickly and dry clear to give a more professional finish.  When positioning the bow on the card, do bear in mind the dimensions of your envelope, I chose to overhang the card edge a little, this gives more interest to the shape, but still enabled it to fit into a 6" square envelope.

You can see from the pic that i also made an alternative version, using 2 other colours from the pack of paper tapes and different coloured card (Papermill's Spring Green) for the ribbon and bow.

Materials List:
White Pearlescent Card from Craft Stash
Teal coloured card - Papermill Direct
Taking Tea set of 8 Paper Tapes - Paperchase
Detail Glue - Tattered Lace
Double Sided Tape from craft stash
Spring Green card  (for other egg colour) - Papermill Direct

Tools List:
Big Shot
Easter Egg nesting dies - Xcut
Finishing Touches Classic 3D Bow die set - Creative Expressions (Sue Wilson)
Scissors
Scoreboard & crease tool


Of course you don't have to use dies to cut your shapes, you can draw a simple oval or egg shape and use that as a template for the basic card shape.  And you can use real ribbon and tie it in a bow instead of using the dies.  I just had the Egg dies already in my stash and also wanted to try out a new set of ribbon / bow dies.  I did notice that these paper tapes stuck really well to my pearlescent card, washi tape is a lot less sticky, so if using washi tape you may need to use plain card instead of pearlescent.