Herringbone Technique Tutorial

In this post, I promised I'd be back with a tutorial for the Herringbone Technique. Well, here it is... enjoy! I love the ease and simplicity of this technique and can't wait to try it out with my fave current DSP, Beau Chateau :)

Steps: 

1. Choose a Designer Series Paper (DSP) which has patterns that coordinate very well together (some coordinate better than others). Examples from 2011/2012's offerings include Beau Chateau, Frightful Sight, Big Top, and Beyond the Garden. Of course you can use any DSPs you want. For this Hallowe'en-themed card, I used Frightful Sight. You will need 6 different patterned papers (i.e. half a SU! Package, 1 of each sheet).

2. Trim a 12” x 0.5” piece from each of five patterned papers. Cut them in half. You will end up with ten 6” x 0.5” pieces of DSP as shown below. Here I've flipped five of them over to show the other side of the DSP.

3. Trim a 12” x 0.5” piece from one of the patterned papers. Using a glue stick, put glue across the middle diagonal of a 5” x 3.75” piece of card stock and adhere the 12” piece of DSP.

4. Cover half of the card stock with glue. Choose a 6” strip of DSP and adhere to the card stock to form a 'Y', as shown below.

5. Using different patterns of DSP, fill in the 'V'. Alternate which side you put the DSP strips on as shown on the picture below.

6. Once you've filled in the first 'V', fill in the second one. Half your card stock is now covered. Continue covering the card stock with the DSP strips in the same pattern as above. You'll end up with a herringbone-patterned card, as shown below.

Hope this tutorial made sense :) Enjoy making some lovely backgrounds for all your cards and testing out various DSPs. That's the beauty of this technique... it's likely that no two cards you make will be the same!  'Til next time, keep letting stamps bring out your creativity!