Post no.3 for today! Pleating Tutorial!

This month is National Craft Month and if you've been following along with the Limelight Papercrafting blog, then you know that each week one of the DT members has been sharing fun little tutorials. This week it is my turn to share how I do my ribbon and paper pleating. I have really been loving this technique and have been finding myself using it a lot lately. It's a fun way to add a girly, frilly accent to any card. I love the different looks you can get from either ribbon or paper.
While I'm sure there are many ways to do this, I like to find the easiest and quickest way so I use good ol' snail adhesive (really my only use for this adhesive, these days!) and wide ribbons. You could also use a sewing machine, or even glue dots (BEWARE-you'll just end up using a lot of dots, though). I made this card for last week's sketch challenge and I used a thin white satin ribbon, for this tutorial I pulled out a wider version of that ribbon. TIP: You will use way more ribbon than you think to do this, I almost use at least twice at much ribbon as I think I will need. Often times, I'll leave the ribbon attached to the spool until I know I have the right length of pleats for my project. Then I cut.

I run a strip of adhesive along to top of my ribbon, both on the front and on the back. It works best if you do this on a non-stick surface (otherwise you run the risk of your ribbon sticking to the paper). Then it is just a matter of pinching and folding. Here's what my first pinch looks like.

Then I fold the ribbon back on itself. You continue to do this all the way across your ribbon.

A few more folds and you can see it coming together.

To finish it off, I almost always tuck my pleats behind a layer of cs or main image panel, having them stick off the bottom or side. This helps give a clean, polished look to your project AND hides the adhesive strip along the top. I usually run a strip of Scor-tape to attach it to the cs.

Okay, and if you are still with me, this is how I do my paper pleats. It is more of an exact science, because you can score and measure the paper. To get nice even pleats (I do admit, I rarely measure, but for your sake, today I did!) I score every 1 inch and then 1/4 inch, then you fold in a mountain/valley fashion. I always start with a 12 inch strip and a run of tape across the front and back of the top of the strip.

The first, Mountain fold at 1 inch.Then the Valley fold at 1 1/4 inch.

Again, like the ribbon, just continue on down the strip of paper.

Here you can see that I tucked the pleats behind the dotted,flower dp and tied a satin ribbon bow around the seam.

AND, now the finished card I used my paper pleats on. Doesn't it just add an adorable element to the card? Stamp: Stampendous Daisy Bee

Ribbon: 3/8 pink Satin ribbon

Paper: Oct. Afternoon-weathervane

Stickles

Hope you enjoyed my little tutorial! and if you haven't tried ribbon or paper pleating, give it a try. You'll enjoy the results, I promise! Be sure to check out the Limelight Sales this week! Lot's of goodies at GREAT prices!

Hugs, Lisa