Punching great corners!

I was asked recently how I got such clean corners with my Fiskars Threading Water paper border punch. It's really not difficult at all once you take a few steps. First you'll need to punch one edge of your paper with the border punch. Then we'll can start working on an example of a corner. The key to a great corner is just having the ability to line up the curve on your last scallop with the curve of the first scallop on the next edge.
Since the border punch has a specific width or distance from the edge of the paper where the cut occurs, you just need a reference point to create this exact distance. I have found from experience that if I trim off the edge of my paper to the exact point where one of the small holes in the punch design sits, then I can easily line up the punch when I turn the corner. I have an example in the picture on the left. The dark line represents the point where I will trim the edge of the paper. See how the line I have drawn just touches the small hole in the last scallop design.



Here is another picture where I have trimmed the paper. The paper I am using here in this example is two sided and the green side is the topside of the paper, the backside is a red and orange print. To turn our corner we'll need to work holding the punch in our hands upside down so we can see how the paper is lining up with our desired design.

Although it is a little hard to see in this picture, when I slide the new edge to be punched into the border punch I can use the small holes in the design to be sure that my corner is lined up. In the picture the first hole on the left lines up perfectly with the little hole that was created by the last scallop on the previous edge that I punched. All you need to do is punch the corner while holding the paper and punch upside down, then you can turn the punch back over and work as you normally would lining up the punched design with the design painted on the punch guide. Hope this helps those of you who are enjoying this Fiskars border paper punch!

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Masking with Drafting Tape

When I created this Skateboard layout for a friend I wanted to add a little bling to this "Boys" page. So I decided to create some distressed lines up to a series of stars reminiscent of search lights. To create the distressed lines I used drafters tape. It looks a lot like ordinary masking tape, but the sticky formula is different. This tape is designed to work well with paper and can be removed and repositioned without harming the paper. I learned about the useful qualities of drafters tape from my watercolor painting experience.

In this layout I wanted a nice clean edge for one side of each line, so I put a piece of drafters tape down and distressed the page starting from my tape and moving away. I repositioned the tape for each line. When my distressing was complete I took Stickles (here's the bling) and applied it near the straight edge of each line. Then I used an old watercolor paint brush to spread the Stickles over each line giving them a nice sparkle.

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