Crinkle Border Tutorial

I really hate spending money on things that are just for decoration, borders included. When I was student teaching a few years ago, I noticed a really cool-looking 3-D border in another classroom. I asked her how she did that, and she said it was just surface paper scrunched up and stapled on. I couldn't wait to try it in my own classroom! I used it on my hallway bulletin board and had so many coworkers ask me how I did it. It's really simple, and here are a few reasons why I love using it:

1. It's FREE!! You just use the colored surface paper that your school most likely provides.
2. It is REUSABLE!
3. It's super EASY- to make, to put up, to take down, to re-put up, etc...!
4. It is 3-D so kids love it (I do too!)
5. It almost looks like flower petals- it is just so pretty!

Alright, here's my latest creation using the crinkle border. I needed a way to separate my CAFE headings, and regular border between each one drove me crazy since it was not symmetrical to both sides (and I didn't have enough room to put up two strips facing each way).

 

It's so cool to see from the sides:

 

I obviously still need to add the strategies to each heading, but I love how it turned out. Maybe I should change the outside border to the white crinkle border as well. I just wanted the kids to be able to see that CAFE is all one program, broken into four categories, rather than four completely different programs. 

I experimented until I found the easiest way for me to put it up. Others may do it a different way, but this method has been efficient and successful for me! Here's how I make crinkle border:

First, cut your selected color of surface paper into strips that are about double the width of regular border. The edges won't show when you put it up on the board, so don't worry about an exactly straight line.

 

  Next, keep the strips on a table top or flat surface and starting on one end, go ahead and scrunch up the paper. Keep moving your hands down as you scrunch until you reach the end of the strip. 

You should use both hands, one on each side, but I had to use one hand to take the picture ;). I guess you don't HAVE to do this step, but it sure makes putting it up on the board SO much easier since it will scrunch up better. You're going to have a stapler in one hand while you put it up, so this step saves me a LOT of time and hassle! 

The scrunching is not supposed to be perfect. Just make sure you scrunch hard enough to get some random lines where it scrunches. I usually only do one or two strips at a time so that I can get them up on the board to see how much more I'll need. However, if you know you'll need a ton, go ahead and scrunch up a bunch of strips.

You may be thinking, How do I scrunch this? I don't understand. Don't worry. Once you start putting it up on the board you will see how you needed to scrunch it up in order to make it easier for you, and you can always adjust.

Then, take a strip and your stapler (open up the stapler to use on the board obviously :) ) and place the end of the strip where you'd like to start your border. The key to this is to make it really scrunched up, and to keep the sides of the paper strips tucked under. You don't want to be able to see the edges where you had cut the paper. So, tuck the sides under and staple the first staple at the very top/end of the strip. Then use your hands to scrunch up a little under that, and staple again. I try to staple in the middle, but it's best to staple in a low crease that will be covered up by the scrunched parts. 

In these photos, I started up at the top and am moving my way down. I like to think of this method as the scrunch & click method. Think of Legally Blonde's "Bend...and snap!" Scrunch...and click! You can scrunch as much or little as you want. The tighter you push it together, the smaller the border. If you want a large, loose-ruffled border, make sure to keep the scrunching light and loose. The tighter method covers up staples better though. Don't forget to keep tucking the sides under a little as you go!
When your strip is all stapled up, just grab another and pick up where you left off!

Hopefully you will see how the pre-scrunching step really makes this part easier for you! It does use a lot of staples, but a good scrunching job covers them up so you won't see them, unless you really take the time to find them.

 

It looks like it's magically attached to the bulletin board :)

When you want to take these down, just reach under and pull out one staple at a time. It is thick enough that most staples come out so easily. I store these in paper grocery bags to reuse. The good thing about reusing these is that it is 100x easier and faster to put them back up a second time since they have been scrunched up so nicely before.

P.s. I know my lines aren't exactly straight since I didn't have an edge to line them up with, but I don't think it'll be very noticeable once I fill in each column with the strategies.

P.p.s. My CAFE headings are free on TpT. You can find them here.

If you have any comments or questions please let me know, and happy decorating!