Tips tricks and techniques Tuesday Hand-Penned suite

 Papercrafters find inspiration for techniques from all sorts of places and other crafts. And today I'm sharing a technique which is based on a quilting on. The technique is called a twisted ribbon border . Instead of fabric I've chosen to use some of the beautiful pattern paper that is part of the Hand-Penned Suite. Called Hand-Penned it is such a pretty floral pattern paper in gorgeous fresh colours.

The twisted ribbon border is created using a base of card stock the measures 14cm x 4cm. These measurements can be adjusted to fit your project once the principal is understood. Mark along the long side top and bottom in pencil at 2cm intervals as per the picture below.

Next you need 2cm strips of paper . For the tutorial I've used 2 colours of cardstock. For my card I chose one of the pretty pattern paper which as it's double sided I could use both sides secure in the knowledge that they will coordinate perfectly 😉 

I started placing my strips that will end up appearing to be in back of the panel. I started at the right hand side placing my stip diagonally with the top left corner of the stip sitting flush to the top right corner of the card. The bottom left corner is lined up to the second mark in from the right. I used liquid glue to adhere the strips to allow a little wiggle room.

The second strip follows the first with the left hand sides lining up with the marks at an angle as per the photo below.

Continue till the strip is covered as per the photo below. I always leave my strips over hanging so that I don’t have to worry about them being too short 🙃 

Now take the piece of paper that will appear to be at the front of the twist and starting  from the opposite end. Take the top left corner of the strip and place it to the top left corner of the base. The strip is placed diagonally with the bottom left corner placed to the bottom left corner of the strip already in place. The picture below shows it far clearer than I have explained I'm sure 😉

Continue to place the strips until its completed . And looks like the photos below.

Next trim off the over hanging pieces to neaten and complete the panel. I always trim from behind as I find it easier to follow the line of the base card.

Now that  I had the technique worked out I set out to play with the pretty Hand-Penned papers. I chose coloured cardstock to coordinate in purple, yellow and white. I the created layers to fit my split front card base.

The card base was created from a piece cardstock measuring 14.85cm x 21cm , scored at 10.5cm. I then cut a strip measuring 5cm x 14.85cm off one side. This became my split front card base. 

The front panel is decorated with layers. On the top purple layer I stamped in the same colour ink to give a tone on tone effect. I then used an embossing folder to give the panel texture.

I decorated the narrow front panel using a punched panel and a stamped image from the Hand-Penned Petals stamp set which I coloured with my alcohol markers from Stampin Up.  

I then die cut the image. I also die cut the outline 3 further times in white cardstock.  I adhered the 3 pieces together and the stuck the stamped image ontop. My reason for doing this was to create an embellishment that helped add depth to my project, gave strength to the stamped image as it over hanges the edge of the panel and hid the back of the alcohol coloured piece.  I stamped and fussy cut out a sentiment and placed it nestled amongst the stems of the flowers. A few of the Genial Gems from the suite and the front was completed. 

Now for the inside. I placed my twisted ribbon border panel on to the right hand side  of the white panel that filled the whole of the inside portion of the card. I added a narrow strip of yellow card along the left hand edge to mimic the layers of the main panel. 

I the stamped and coloured a portion of the same image as the front. I then fussy cut it out and adhered it to the left hand bottom corner of the inside of the card. 

I think this card came together really well. The colour pallette is both clean and spring like. Whilst the pattern paper may be busy it doesn't overwhelm the card.

I think this Twisted Ribbon Border technique is a great one to have in your arsenal to use up those narrow strips of patterned paper. I hope you like my project as much as I do and will give this fun technique a go.