Scalloped 4 x 6 Photo mats - a few options

I love photography and wanted to make some card using my flower photographs. I wanted these to be simple but to have something to set off the photos. Since I just figured out a quick and easy way to make scallops using hearts, I decided to design a scalloped mat that would perfectly fit a 4 x 6 photo and could then be mounted on a premade 5 x 7 card.



When the mat is cut you will also have a perfectly even border leftover - if you are a frugal person you can make two cards by using this border for another photo - it will give the effect of a mat. Here is the border cut offset so you can see the design



and here is the card with the border placed at the edge - you can see that it gives the same sort of effect and nothing goes to waste!



The scallops are pretty on their own but then I decided to "fancy them up" a bit by adding small holes (particularly since the "threading water" punch is so popular these days - see my post from March 29th on the scalloped punched border).

Here are a few photos of cards with the scalloped mat with punched holes









I decided that the mat added quite a bit of weight to the card front once you add a photo so I decided to try a version that has a cut out in the center to reduce the weight - it also gives more design options.

Here is a photo of this cut on the mat - notice that the cut starts one half inch in from the top and side of the mat - you can try to place a 5 x 7 piece of paper in precisely the right position or use a slightly larger piece of paper to be sure that the mat is exactly the right size after cutting.



Here you can see the cut on a card



Finally, this is a card front using the "mat" and "Thank You" cut with the Cricut.



There are endless variations with various color combinations - I'd love to see what you do with these! There are three files to choose from (or try them all).

Scalloped 4 x 6 photo mat

Scalloped 4 x 6 photo mat with holes

Scalloped 4 x 6 photo mat with holes and center opening