Crafting: New Skill Level Unlocked

Algorithms on YouTube kept popping up journal content that included making Dutch doors. These are pages that you cut away part of and decorate. I'm going to post a few pictures, so if I explained that poorly, there will be examples.

I've been scared of Dutch doors, afraid I'd mess up my journal, but after months (Honestly, MONTHS) of watching these videos, I felt like I could maybe give it a try.

I remembered seeing a How-To video early on in my watch history, but a search didn't turn it up, so I watched other videos, got my stickers ready, and said, "let's just go for it. It's only paper."

Although I do have decorative stickers, I decided to use geometric stickers for my first attempt. I thought they would be easier to cut around and wrangle. I also decided to use washi tape, which wasn't the best decision because I didn't have super wide washi in the correct colors, but it's okay.

I carefully placed down my first sticker. A square box seemed like a good base to build from. Then a big circle, a small circle, and some other shapes.

Then came the scary part. Scissors.

I could have used my craft knife, but the cuts seemed easy enough with scissors. It was a little tricky going around the circles, but that turned out mostly okay.

Now it was time to turn the page and put down stickers on the opposite side to match the first side. That's when I realized I didn't have enough of the pink/orange/red colorways to complete the pattern. Poor planning on my part. I went with green and blue on the opposite side.

Then it was time to search out washi tape. I don't own a lot of wide washi. Most of it is narrow to less than an inch because I generally use it in my planners.

I also had a second constraint. I needed washi tape that wasn't reliant on a horizontal pattern since I'd be running it vertically. That also limited my wider washi choices because most of my wider tapes are horizontal. I'm not entirely happy with my choices, but for a first attempt? I think it turned out well.

 

 

This is the first side I did. This is an 8x8 journal with lines. I used four rows of pink-colored washi tape on the page after the page with the cuts. 

 

 

This is the second side of the paper with the green/blue stickers. There were three strips of two different washi tapes used. 

 

 

This is a close up of the front side of the paper with the page lifted up so you can see how I cut around the different shapes.

Aside from a bit of stress about cutting into the journal, this was fun! It also turned out fairly decent despite the washi tape not being exactly right. Next up, I'm going to try a deeper page cut with stickers instead of washi tape on the backing pages. We'll see how that goes.

If you're interested in trying this for yourself, I'd recommend going to YouTube and searching for "How to create a Dutch door in a bullet journal." There are a lot of videos available.