Challenge 1 - How I Did It

For my layout "Swim Class" I used a cardboard template (and a bunch of exacto blades) to make a pattern onto grey cardstock. Pretty easy to do, but it does take time to cover a large piece of paper. And uses a lot of exacto blades!

Here's how I did it. I was inspired by this fabric from a catalog I got in the mail. First, I sketched a rough circle, then drew triangular petals inside the circle. After I was happy with my sketch I cut out the shapes with my craft knife. And you can see the finished template.

To create the pattern, I placed the template onto my grey cardstock and ran the craft knife around the edges. I then lifted the template and finished cutting out the lines with my knife. When I was done, I layered the grey cardstock on top of black cardstock after taping a few pieces of red cardstock behind some of the cutouts.

I used a glass cutting mat underneath my cardstock and ended up using three exacto blades to cut out the shapes. You get a better result if your blades are nice and sharp!