Your Next Stamp Challenge #35

Yay! I have another Your Next Stamp Challenge today! I have the honor of being your hostess and I've chosen a challenge called "Pretty Pleats" - add pleating to your project with ribbon, paper, fabric, etc. In case you're a little unsure what pleating is, here's the Wiki article with more information than you'll ever need! Also, I've put together a couple very simple tutorials that are shown below my project.

First of all, here's my card:


I used Ellie Loves Music again, but this time I just used Ellie alone. I colored her with Copics, cut her out and mounted her with foam boosters. The sentiment is from the Garden Greetings set.

I did 2 different types of pleats on my card. For the black piece, I cut a strip of paper and then scored at 3/4", 1", 1 3/4", 2", and so on. After lightly folding, it looks like this (I used plain cardstock to make it easier to see):


To finish it off, I notched the ends, smushed it down and then sewed it down the center to keep it flat. Here's the finished pleat:


For my second pleat, I used white seam binding. I pierced a line of holes in the red background paper and then hand sewed the binding, pleating as I went. I could also have done it with my sewing machine, but because the binding is really slippery, I thought it would be easier to do it by hand.

For my tutorial, I've used white cardstock again to make it easier to see. I cut a strip and scored with the same measurements as above, but instead folded it like this:


And then I stitched down the middle again to flatten it:


Obviously the pleats in the seam binding are skinnier and I sewed across the top instead of the middle, but it's basically the same fold as the paper example above. I hope this clears up what pleating is a little, but if you need just a bit more guidance, HERE is a card I made previously that used the same first pleat that I used on today's card, but it's a little easier to see, and HERE is a card that included an accordion folded medallion (they are so popular right now!)- those accordion folds can be considered pleating!

This card is for the following challenges:

• Scrappy Saturday - Sketch
• Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes (optional - flowers)
• Top Tip Tuesday - Anything Girlie

We hope you'll play along with us! One lucky participant will be drawn at random to win $10 in YNS Stamp Bucks!! You don't have to use YNS images on your card, but if you do you'll get a double entry in the draw!

Also, I will choose my favorite card, and that winner will get the YNS Challenge "Top Pick" blinkie to proudly display on their blog PLUS $5 in YNS Stamp Bucks! You must use a YNS image to be eligible to be chosen for Top Pick.

Full details can be found at the YNS Challenge Blog. TFL!