Saturday, June 30, 2012

Mixing papers

Sometimes it is tough to know when and how to mix patterns of paper.

Here are a few quick guidelines that works well for me!

1) Try to stick to  a small/medium/large approach. Use 1 pattern in each scale size. For example - use a smaller floral, with a medium stripe and a large polka dot... or vice versa

2) Mixing colours to add contrast in the pattern - don't use 3 red stripes - use 1 stripe, 1 dot, 1 check in different colours ... you get the idea

3) Let the products work for you! Use what is made for it! Check out what the manufacturer sells - it is likely that they have already mixed the patterns in the pack - that makes it so easy to mix and match and make it work for you.

4) If you want to use a ton of different patterns - stick to a neutral background

On this page - I used all these guidelines to mix my papers and I happen to love the result:

using step #2 - mixed different patterns with different colours
 using step #3 - use what the product has! These die cuts are already to be used - just mix them up
 mixing similar patterns - but using different colors:
 And here is the final result - all in all - I think I used 14 patterns on this page ( if I counted correctly )
Supplies used:
Lily Bee Design - Bag of bits
Lily Bee Design mini alphas
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I hope you picked up a few ideas and find it a bit easier when making your pages. We would love for you to share your pages in our gallery or forum :)

As always, check out what is new on the LCOM shopping page HERE

6 comments:

Monique said...

Love this!! Thanks for the great tips!

Scrapper Myra said...

Beautiful work. Tks for the guide and ideas. :)

Stephanie Eaken said...

I adore your l.o. Nicole!! I also think mixing pp is fun!

Sherri said...

Love what you did with this collection. Great guidelines shared Nic.

Michelle said...

Absolutely gorgeous!

Denise Price said...

Great job mixing so many patterns!