By Angie Felix

Using Foam Tape

Thankfully, paper crafters have a great selection of products to choose from for our creative endeavors. Endless patterned papers, numerous cardstock colors and yes, lots of adhesive products line the shelves at our local chain and independent craft stores. While the acid-free glue stick is the perfect staple for gluing paper, some designs call for something a little different.

Foam mounting tape is just the thing to add a little “lift” to your paper crafting projects. This double-sided adhesive tape made of foam is great for adding a little extra height, or dimension as we call it, to a portion of your project. Paper crafters use foam tape for a variety of purposes in their pages and cards—from creating a raised title to giving a card quote more height.

Standard foam tape like the Scotch® Brand Foam Mounting Tape adds 1/16” in height when used on an element of your page or project. The foam adhesive works great on paper and 3-D embellishments like ribbon and mica.

Foam tape comes on a roll or in packages of small, pre-cut squares, and is easy to apply to a project. Simply unroll and cut a small piece of tape or several small pieces to add to your page element. Place the sticky side down on the back of the element and peel away the liner. Turn your element over and add to your project, pressing down lightly to make sure it adheres.

For long pieces of paper or ribbon, it’s not necessary to cover the whole back with foam tape—just a small piece every 2-3 inches will do the trick. It is important to remember that if you’re attaching something large, place foam tape in the center of the piece as well as around the edges; otherwise the center of your element may cave in.

Want double the dimension? How about triple? Stack two or even three squares of foam tape on top of one another to adhere a portion of your project—you’ll get incredible lift!

Another tip? For those small or very thin page elements—a knotted bow or a thin paper ribbon fragment—use your X-acto® knife to cut the foam tape into smaller, thin pieces and add.

Ready to try it? Here are some simple ways our designers at Hot Off The Press have used foam tape to give their projects a boost:

click here to view large image A raised alphabet tile page title: LeNae used a small square of foam tape on the back of each of the alphabet titles that spell “Disneyland” on this page. The tape lets the tiles stand out from the page, drawing the eye to the subject of the layout.

click here to view large image Adding dimension to elements of a collage: This cool collaged birthday card is made up of fun Birthday Quote Fabric Stickers. To keep the elements from getting lost on the background, Shauna matted the stickers on white cardstock and added each to the card front with foam tape for a great 3-D effect. This is an ideal technique for collages of Ephemera as well.

click here to view large image Creating depth: Placing the foam tape between the slide mount and the image or paper behind it instead of under it creates a unique, dimensional look. Paris covered this Mini Black & White Slide Mount with paper and added the small triangles in the shape of a sun. She then cut the sun and quote paper and used foam tape to attach it behind the slide mount. The swirl portion of the sun image shows through the center of the slide mount, creating a striking sun slide mount project.