Hey everyone! Its my turn on the CP blog. Here is the full
link. For the longest time, I hesitated in buying a die-cutting machine, even
after seeing the immense variety of background patterns that could be
created. It's expensive and I wanted time to think deeper as to whether
or not one was necessary. This resulted in me telling myself that I
could replicate the "look" on my own. So today, I will share some tips
as to how to create your own die-cut backgrounds with just your everyday
supplies and tools.
1.Masking & Misting Technique
If we look through our scrapbook
supplies, I'm sure that everyone owns a variety of mask templates. More
intricate and rounded mask designs are harder to cut with your craft
knife, so to save time and effort, I recommend locating mask designs
that have straighter lines and larger surface areas.
When getting started, a good trick that I
found is to first spray a layer of fine mist over the intended area for
creating your die-cut background. This is the area in which you'll be
cutting your design from. Now, select shapes to remove with your craft
knife. Leave some of the misted areas untouched so that they shine
through, creating a customized background pattern - something a machine
can't do!
Using the same masking and misting technique, here is another layout created using the older Maggie Holmes collection. It's the same mask, but look how different the background looks on this page compared the earlier one.
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2. Creative Templates On-Hand
For this next do-it-yourself die-cut
session, you'll want to find a few punch outs, a 3 x 4 heart journaling
card (Close Knit), some wooden veneers and a large chipboard heart. All
are potential templates that may be used to create your own die-cut
background.
Placing the chipboard heart on your sheet
of paper, trace around it with a pencil and use a craft knife to remove
it. Thereafter, position patterned paper behind the cut-out and adorn
it with embellishments.
Using
the same steps as above, cut out the heart shape from this 3 x 4
journaling card. There are dotted lines, which makes it all that' much
easier to go around with a craft knife.
Finally,
to tie together all the elements on this layout, I created straight
lines between each section. A simple needle and thread could enhance
these lines and that's exactly what I did. Simply draw straight lines
with a pencil, poke holes and sew away!
I hope this inspires you to get started on your own background die-cut
patterns. There are endless possibilities. Explore them, come up with
what works best for you and I'm sure the end result will be equally as
good, even without a die-cutting machine. After all, a machine can only
help quicken your scrapbooking process, but it's truly YOU that makes a
page worthwhile as it embraces your creativity and effort.
Leave some love on the CP blog today too..
Happy Monday!
