DIY Pull-Strip for Cards & WOYWW!

I have been having the brainstorms this week! I loved the look of the cards the Papertrey Ink design team had made that had a pull away strip (think of the pull strips on cardboard ice-cream boxes you use to open them) and I really wanted to try that technique. The PTI girls used a die which I don’t have. I am picky about dies and almost only buy ones that are thick and can cut a variety of materials such as foam, burlap, mat board, metal etc, so I was not really interested in buying a die for such a novel purpose. The good news is that you can replicate this look many ways. Here is my attempt at it:

I am quite pleased with the results. In case you are wondering the seed packet and flower stamps are from Papertrey and the pointing finger is from one of those old Making Memories magnet mount stamp sets and the letters to spell “pull” are from a $1 wood peg mout Studio G set. Here is a close up of the pull tab:

There are so many ways to make the pull strip.

• You can use a perferator wheel on your paper-cutter to cut two parallel lines and connect them on the pull end.
• You can use a cutterbee perforating bug (this is the method I wanted to use but I could not find my perforating wheel!) and proceed as above.
• You can use a Basic Grey Notch and Die tool to make 2 series of strait notch lines and connect then at the pull end with the tab notch.
• You can use an x-acto knife and a metal edge ruler to cut two lines of slits and connect them at the pull end.
• You can make a template in SCAL2 (or snag my free one here) so your electronic die cutter can cut it for you. For an explanation on how to make your own custom templates in scal2 please check out my screen shots:

The file I designed will cut 4 cardfronts for a 8.5″x11″ paper, if you are using a smaller cutter like a Cricut Personal just delete the bottom two designs and use a half sheet of paper. I am using SCAL2 and a Cricut Expression and the oval end perforations did not cut all the way through but I think it has more to do with my finicky Cricut than the cutting file 🙂

***FYI SCAL3 does NOT work with Cricut Machines****

Now Let’s put it together! You want to decorate the cardfront with the strip first. Then you need to stamp your sentiment on the card base. For placement I centered my cardfront on the card base and made little pencil marks on the edge at the top and bottom of the strip. Then I stamped my sentiments.  Put a strip of adhesive on both sides of the pull-strip, this will keep the card from tearing when the strip is removed.

Since it is What’s on Your Workdesk Wednesday I snapped a pic of mine:

I hope you try this technique it is so much fun! Thanks for stropping by and til next time happy crafting!