Hello friends – I hope you are all well and staying safe!  I’m here today to bring you a diversion from the new normal that we’re all dealing with right now.  I have been art journaling a lot recently to help deal with stress of the everyday and playing with one of my favorite digital elements – washi tape. :)  Cheryl of Fiddle-Dee-Dee Designs has some amazing templates in today’s SOSN sale that are a great starting point if you haven’t played with digital washi tape before.  They are also a great resource if, like me, you are a washi tape addict.

Washi tape is a transparent colored and/or patterned tape this is very popular in traditional scrapbooking.  It also has quite a cult following in the digi-scrapping world.  Here are a couple of examples if you aren’t sure about the concept of digital washi tape.  On the page below you can see the washi tape extending from under the portrait toward the right edge of the page.

On this page, the washi tape is used to hold down the photo and also as a decorative element spread out underneath the photo.

The beauty of Cheryl’s template set is that you don’t have search for washi tape in a kit and hope that find enough (in the right shapes) to fill out the design.  The tape “holders” on the template can be converted to digital washi tape simply by clipping a piece of patterned paper or ribbon to the tape shape.  The tape layers are saved at a reduced opacity, so when you clip the pattern to it

Here are some different things you can do with the washi tape in Cheryl’s templates:

1.  Clip solid or patterned digital paper to the tape layers to magically convert them to washi tape that coordinates with the digital kit you are using.

2.  Clip a color adjustment layer to the tape layers if you want a solid coordinating washi tape.

3.  Clip a digital stamp to a tape layer to add some color and/or pattern to the tape.

4.  Intermix washi tape from the digital kit you are using with the tape layers in the template.

I used the digital stamp (3) and mixing technique (4) on this page:

5.  If you want to add some realism to the tape and make it look like it is actually holding a dimensional object on the page, check out THIS video by Cheryl talking about using the dodge and burn tools to add some shape to the washi tape.  (The video is at the bottom of the linked page.)

As an added bonus you can also use the tape layers as on their own to create digital washi tape to use on other pages.  With all the tape pieces included in the templates you can build quite a collection!  If you are looking to add some texture or a folded appearance to the tape pieces be sure to check out this Washi Tape building set by Mommyish Designs.

I hope you have fun exploring the different ways to use digital washi tape – and don’t forget to share your creations with us in the TLP Gallery!  BTW, all my sample layouts were created with the “Oh, so FABulous” April BYOC collection. (Click  on the layout to specific credits.)

Until next time ~
Judie (HeyJude)