I love patterned papers. I think it was the pretty papers that actually got me hooked to (digi) scrapping in the first place. So, when creating layouts with some of the beautiful kits the designers create, of course I like to have some of the patterns shine. Often, however, using patterned papers as a background of a layout can be quite distracting, and the journaling at times can become pretty much illegible when we try to write on patterned papers. Throughout the years of my scrapbooking journey, I’ve discovered a few ways of how to find a happy compromise between using patterned background papers and making them work on a layout. One of these little tricks I will share here with you today, and the magic word is …
Blending
Take this layout, for instance:
I used Dani Mogstad’s cute winter kit “Chill Out” for this, which has quite some pretty patterned papers, including the snowflake paper I used for the background. While working on the page, however, I realized that the pattern made the page look too cluttered, and the photo and element clusters lost their focus. But of course, this page was mainly about the photos and their story, rather than the pretty snowflake paper. So, my approach to solving this problem of not giving up entirely the snowflake patterned paper in the background was three simple steps:
- Adding a neutral solid paper,
- clipping it to the background layer,
- and blending it.
Step 1 | Adding a neutral solid paper
I chose a paper from Dani’s solid papers she included with the kit, that had the same shade as the background paper. I dragged it onto my canvas, right on top of the snowflake patterned paper.
Step 2 | Clip solid paper to the patterned paper
With the solid paper placed right above the patterned paper layer, I clipped the top layer to the bottom layer: Go with the cursor between the two layers you want to clip, press the Alt key and two overlapping circles will appear. Click once, and voi la! the paper clipping is done!
Step 3 | Blend the solid paper
The last thing I did, was adjusting the opacity levels of the solid paper in the Layers Panel (right side of my canvas).
Values depend on personal preferences and the intensity of the pattern you want to preserve. I chose a value around 50%, but you might want to play around a bit with the slider and see what effect that has on your background.
Tip:
For an even improved readability, you can add an extra layer with a slight brush of the same shade as your background behind your journaling, and your story is ready to shine on your page!
That’s all there is to this simple method of making sure your journaling is legible, and if you stay tuned, then hopefully by next week I’ll have part 2 of working with patterned papers and journaling ready for you.