WEAVING AS EMBELLISHMENT

I get inspiration for my card ideas from many different places. Sometimes the ideas just pop into my head on their own. I am so thrilled when that happens!

The other day I was looking at an old tutorial for doing weaving with paper strips. All of a sudden it occurred to me that that would be a good thing to do on a card.

After doing a brief search through my retired Stampin' Up! cardstock, I came up with this sort of strange color combination. Strange, yes. But I liked it, so decided to proceed.

I cut a pile of 1/4" wide strips of each of the colors. Upon a solid base that measured 2 1/2" x 5 1/2", I did my weaving. To start with the process, I adhered the ends of alternating colors close together across the 2 1/2" span. Then I set to weaving, alternating the colors the same as the initial ones at the top. 

To continue with my color combo, I incorporated all three of the colors in the rest of the card too. 

After I'd finished the weaving process, and trimming and adhering all the edges, I did not like the way it looked. It was way too flat, totally devoid of any personality whatsoever. To alleviate that situation, I grabbed one of my Sakura Pigma pens and drew lines alongside each of the woven "squares" in an attempt to make it look more like a basket. 

The drawn-in lines were an improvement, but still not enough oompf. I hit upon adding little black dots hither and thither to give it a bit more personality. I liked the way that looked enough to use it.

So, I adhered my woven piece to the bottom of the card, adding solid green strips at the top and bottom to finish off the look.

Then I was left to finish the rest of the card. The bit of seam binding ribbon above the weaving added a nice touch. 

I decided to die cut the word "sunshine" in one of the colors and added that to the center above the ribbon. It was still way too naked looking. So, I took one of the left over pink 1/4" strips and adhered it to a wider piece of the purple. I used my little retired banner punch to punch out two banners. These were added on either side of the word. 

Cute, but . . . 

OK. I had dots and lines within the weaving area. so I went to work echoing that same feel in the word and the banners. There! Now I was happy with the end result!

And, here you go with the final card. Not exactly a work of art, but it's sorta cute, eh?

Have you ever incorporated paper weaving into any of your card designs? After seeing my example, do you think you'll be giving it a try?

Woven

Smiles.