I am quite excited to share today's layout with you and I hope you are inspired and excited to give it a try too! Just like last Wednesday, I am going to share a layout with you and some of the process behind the why, what and how.


INSPIRATION: zigzag / chevron

WHY: I keep hearing everyone referring to chevrons.  They are everywhere right now.  Clothing, decorating and of course they have invaded scrapbooking.  I look at most of the designs however and think they look more like what I would call a zigzag, so I decided to do a little research.

Here are the definitions I found on Wikipedia...
A chevron is an inverted V-shaped pattern. The word is usually used in reference to a kind of fret in architecture, or to a badge or insignia used in military or police uniforms to indicate rank or length of service, or in heraldry and the designs of flags.

A zigzag is a pattern made up of small corners at variable angles, though constant within the zigzag, tracing a path between two parallel lines; it can be described as both jagged and fairly regular. Traditionally a "zig" points in the left direction (/) and a "zag" points right (\). From the point of view of symmetry, a regular zigzag can be generated from a simple motif like a line segment by repeated application of a glide reflection.

I also found this nice image to help discern the difference visually between the two... The top images are of a chevron and the bottom are of a zigzag.


So now that we know the difference, I went looking for some specific inspiration and I found this super cool image on my new favorite time busting site...Pinterest! Hours can be gone before you know it as you cruise through all the inspiration there!  When I saw this image I immediately thought of a nice big zigzag border with some fun accent colors.


I decided to try to keep the creation of a zigzag easy and quickly found a great image on the Cricut Essentials Cartridge included on the new Cricut Expression 2.


I first cut out a large zigzag from white cardstock to play around with the size and placement of the border. The next thing I did was find a photo and went to work picking out papers and embellies to go with my zigzag pattern.

As the colors started coming together, I quickly realized that the photo I had originally wanted to scrap just wasn't going to work, so I dug through my photos and found another one that went with the colors much better.  I then started playing around with a different placement for the zigzag border and this is what I came up with.


Once I added the white grid like paper as a large mat for my photo, I knew it needed a edging to it.  That is where the twine came into play.  I taped it to the back side of the layout using Provo Craft's Terrifically Tacky Tape.  I then began adding the buttons and brads.  I also used the packaging piece from the buttons as a decorative element...






Here you can see how I adhered the twine to the backside of the layout.  I also like to use Provo Crafts Terrifically Tacky Tape to hold the thread from my buttons.  Tying knots works well too, but they leave little bumps on the back that I don't always like.