First Challenge!

Challenge 1: Make Your Own Patterned Paper From Cardstock

There are SO many beautiful patterned papers out there…. American Crafts, Basic Grey, My Mind’s Eye… the list goes on and on. Patterned papers add color, shape, and interest to our pages, but who says you have to leave it to the manufacturers to have all the fun designing them?

My challenge to you this first week is to make your own patterned paper out of cardstock only, and then use it on a page. (Feel free to use whatever other goodies you want on the page as well).

This can be as simple or difficult as you want to make it. Use strips of cardstock to make a stripe pattern, or cut out intricate flourishes for something more complex. It’s up to you.

Not sure where to start? How about using a punch to cut out shapes that can be repeated on your background? Maybe you have some shape stencils that you can trace onto cardstock and cut out. Like to use your computer? You can print some shapes onto the reverse side of your paper using the computer and cut them out with an exacto or scissors. For the adventurous, draw something freehand and cut it out.

Digital Play: For those of you who prefer to work in digital, go ahead and try this technique with digital cardstock!

Get creative. Have fun. Show us what you’ve got!

To get you started, here are some examples:

Jennifer: I decided to do some intricate cutting and punching to make 4 patterned papers in circle shapes. I kept the layout clean and simple to keep focus on the photo of my son and the patterns.

Deborah: Deb went a different direction and made one giant piece of patterned paper with her cardstock that would match the other papers in her layout. She cut those shapes by hand!

Becky: Becky also made her background paper with a series of punched circles. She also went a step further and added fun flower shapes.

Alicia: Alicia chose to interepret the challenge with a "tone on tone" direction. She punched out circles in the same Kraft Color as her background. She folded the circles in half, crumpled them and then punched a small hole in the center and filled the centers with Black Stickles.

Jennifer's Digital Play: I used some digital cardstock from Traci Turchin to create a simple patterned paper for this layout. Swirls and journaling spot are from Rhonna Farrer's Free Love pack (downloaded from twopeasinabucket).