Re-Examining Your Creative Process: Making the Most of Your Patterned Paper - Day 3

Thank you for your warm wishes for my involvement at The ScrapRoom.  I intend to keep you informed by posting updates with the new ScrapRoom kits, showing you some close-ups of our designers work and helping you "Get More Pages Done" with tips, recipes or challenges.  I'll probably continue to throw in some Sneak Peeks at the end of the month too.  :)

 Today I wanted to continue with the Patterned Paper Series.  For those of you just joining us, Brenda Carpenter ran a series of classes on patterned paper that shared several of her tried and true methods to work with patterned paper.  Every class has at least one good tidbit to consider.  I, personally, have learned a lot from her. Hope you enjoy!

From Brenda Carpenter:

3.  Use Small Amounts of Patterned Paper Effectively.
Sometimes less is more. A standard way to use small amounts of patterned paper effectively is to use small 1/2 inch strips of patterned or solid paper to anchor designs, break up patterns, and add borders to photos.  In this layout the skinny strip of striped paper is the base for the pink cardstock and helps incorporate more colors in the layout. 

Another way to add a little touch of color to a layout without overwhelming the design is to use punches.  The small hearts punched out of the patterned paper are a perfect example of this - well-placed accents of pattern and color.  Punches and die cut machines are great tools for making your own accents.

Here is my lift using Crate Paper Poolside:

Since the photograph that I had of myself from a gazillion years ago was sized funny, I used very unusual measurements.  For today's instructions, I am going to defer to Brenda's instructions as her measurements are much more typical of a photograph that you might consider for this layout.  If you like my color and paper scheme to this layout, I added in items from the August Embellishment Kit and August Patterned Paper Kit, as well as border strips from some of the papers.  I, also, added gold twine and a bit of Stickles on the edges of a couple pieces of ephemera that weren't already outlined. The bow was made from a die cut. Please do not hesitate to ask any questions if I can clarify anything as to this layout. 

I, also, thought that I might share a picture of my layout before I added all of the embellishments.

I, personally, find it a lot easier to heavily embellish a page when the patterns are used in small bits.  I did add the punched pink patterned paper at the base of my picture after I thought that the page could use just a touch more pattern.  Brenda had nicely grounded her photo with the striped paper and I wanted to use a touch of pink.

Without further adieu, here are Brenda's instructions on her layout with customary measurements. Please print these instructions and adjust them with Crate Paper Poolside or some other fabulous TSR kit.

• Photo is matted 4 x 6 inch, text was added in Photoshop. 
• Base of layout - Yellow cardstock, add 4 x 12 vanilla cardstock along the right edge.
• Trim an 8.5 x 8.5 inch square of green floral paper (TIP: make sure that you cut out the inside paper that will be covered in the design. This is a great way to stretch your supplies.  Cut out the flowers to use on your layouts and cards. )
• Trim pink cardstock to 6.5 x 8 inches.
• Trim striped paper to 1/2 x 8 inches.
• Cut out large scalloped and pink decorative pattern from the Cherished sheet of patterned paper add-on.  If you don't have this paper, simply substitute strips of scalloped edged cardstock.)
• Punch out three hearts from scroll paper and one from red cardstock (I used a Martha stewart crafts heart punch.)
• Add chipbard accent and ribbon attached with a decorative brad.