How to tie a twine sailors knot

For me, embellishing male cards is not as easy as decorating cards for ladies.  It doesn't quite feel right to add pretty ribbons, fussy bows, jewels and flowers in my designs for guys.  The nautical theme of my project was based around the Stampin' Up! Set called 'The Open Sea'.  I liked the idea of adding some twine and creating a 'sailor knot' to feature on the design.  I wanted to share the following tutorial with you to try in your own nautical themed papercraft projects.

Step 1. Create two even lengths of twine.  The length you need will depend on your card.  I created a card using the Stampin' Up! Circle Thinlet die and made my lengths about 35cm each.  Take the first length of twine and create a loop in the centre. Cross the loose ends so that the bottom strand lies on the top strand, as shown.  Leave this loop lying still, it will become the 'standing part' of the knot.

Step 2. Loop the second length of twine over the top of this 'standing part' with the loose ends facing the opposite direction to the loose ends of the first length of twine.  Pass the bottom strand of the second twine loop underneath the bottom loose end of the 'standing part'.

Step 3. Gently move the top strand of the second loop so that it sits underneath the little loop we made in step 1.

Step 4. Bring the bottom loose end of the second piece of twine over the bottom of the initial loop, passing it over the top strand we moved into position in the previous step, and back under the top strand of the intial loop.

Step 5.  To finish, take the loose ends of both pieces of twine and pull gently.  This will create a little diamond shape in the centre.

...continue to pull until the knot has come together more tightly.

To finish, use a little sticky strip underneath the knot to secure it to your design.  Wrap the ends around the back of your card and secure with sticky strip.  Cover where these ends join on the back with a punch cut circle.  In my card I'd stamped a matching stamp from The Open Sea set and attached this with Stampin' Dimensionals on each side of the twine to cover the join.

This tutorial is derived from one by Martha Stewart, www.marthastewartweddings.com.