Friday, January 13, 2012

Mixing patterned papers from different manufacturers

TGIF! I am so ready for the weekend! But first of all I would like to 'teach' you something'..............

I always love mixing patterned papers and I am not afraid to mix 'non' matching colors and patterns. But I do know that many of you have a very hard time with this.
So I will try and tell how you can start doing it without the feeling of being the worse designer in the world, LOL.
Let me start with this: It is all about your personal style and taste! Well, that did not really help, did it?
Okay, even though it is about personal style there is also a little thin line between a good combination and a total patterned paper disaster.

Many of the rules that apply in home decor also apply in scrapping. In home decor they say that you can easily combine 4 or 5 different patterns together, but many more will be too much.

If you have never mixed patterned papers from different lines or different manufacturers before you might want to start like this. Start with combining similar colors.

  • Go through your patterned papers and grab similar colors. 
  • Do not look at the patterns or hues of the PP
  • Do not overkill! Don't take 20 different PP if you normally only use two or three on a LO
And now: Just start scrapping!

Another way to combine papers is to go with patterns. Colors are not the main focus. What you are trying to do is find a couple of patterned papers, all with different patterns. 
Find some stripes, some dots, checkered, plaids and maybe some argyles or flowers. Even though your colors are not the main focus, it is necessary that one color comes back in every sheet of PP you picked. So, for example, your dotted paper can be having several different colors but one of those colors matches with your flowered PP. 

Now put the patterned patterned you picked out on your work space and start looking at the patterns, you can make three different categories: small patterns, medium pattern and big patterns. Pick one sheet out of every category and there is your combo! 

There are a couple of patterned that combine very easy with others. Those are: ledgers, stripes, dots and text. They can be used as you main patterned paper or even as your background sheet. 

You can get great mixing inspiration looking at the lines form manufacturers. They also mix their patters and they do that because they know some people do have a hard time with mixing. Well, they also want you to buy their whole line..........
NEVER never forget that the main focus on your layout should be your photo's, not your patterned paper. 
Hopefully this will give you a bit of trust to start mixing. And even when you do not feel safe to start mixing on such a big thing as a 12x12 LO, start small and make a card. Just do not be afraid of doing something wrong, there's no wrong in scrapbooking, every piece made is a piece of art! 

Last but not least I am going to show you a LO I did today with 6 PP (including my background sheet) from five different manufacturers. I combined reds and added a tiny black, all on a ledger background paper (there's the easy to combine pattern.........) 

Chipboard: Bo Bunny
Stickers: American Crafts, Making Memories, Adornit, Bo Bunny
Twine: Divine Twine
Safety pin: Queen & Co
Misc; sewing machine, hearty pins, puffy heart sticker, heart pins.

The heart pins were originally pink but I covered them with Tacky Glue and dipped them in fine glitter. All patterned papers were from my stash and the 7Gypsies one (the text book PP) is about 10 years old, still love it.......

Somehow the middle pennant of the banner looks sort of yellowish, but trust me, it is NOT, I think the scan made it look that way. But right now I do not feel like taking a regular photo of my LO, I just don't have the energy for it.

For those of you who need a scrapping boost: At Let's Scrap we still have the LOAD (layout a day) challenge going on, and we are busy preparing on of the largest blog hops ever, starting February 1st: Let's Scrap Leap around the World blog hop.

Thanks for popping by and have a great weekend!







11 comments:

  1. Hartstikke leuk dat je mee doet met onze dares! Je layout vind ik prachtig, de foto is leuk en je kleurencombinatie past er perfect bij (maar moet wel zoeken naar de link met onze dare???).
    Groetjes,
    Monique

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  2. Absolutely darling LO! So glad you joined us at UIT this week!!

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  3. As usual your page looks fabulous. Thanks for the tutorial. I have mixing envy every time I see your gorgeous combinations - you make it sound so easy...

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  4. It is a beautiful layouts, and the paper mixing tips are great! Thanks!

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  5. Debby I absolutely love this layout.... I love the colours everything all the details too....thanks for the tips on pattern paper it is a difficult one. Thanks for joining us at Use It Tuesday i hope you enjoyed using your stash!
    hugz
    irini

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  6. gorgeous work Debby!!! thanks for taking up the dare at daring you to scrap!

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  7. This is a great page, I love the colour scheme and that photo is just adorable!

    Thanks for linking up with Use It Tuesday's winter challenge and I hope you play again in the future. Don't forget to link your readers to our challenge blog by mentioning our blog and the site address. And we also love to hear about what hoarded supplies you used for the challenge! :)

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  8. Beautiful layout Debby and what a lovely photo. Thanks for playing along with us :)

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  9. gorgeous layout! love it all :)

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  10. this is adorable!!

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  11. Mooie lo, leuk dat je meedoet aan onze dutch dares, ook ik moet een beetje zoeken naar de link ...

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