Create your Own Background Papers

If you want to make your digital pages unique you can create background paper and elements from your photographs.  This page was for the fourth Layout a Day prompt - "greed" (as in the motive for a crime).  Since I am in ythe process of reorganizing my craft area and most of the cluttered spots in our house, I am keenly aware that I have a lot of "stuff."  So, my title and journaling should sound familiar to other crafters - how much do you "need" and at what point does it become "greed" to continue to acquire more?

I used these gems for a project last fall.  I was trying to find certain colors and sizes so I dumped them out on a white tray and looked through them in our sun room where I could see the colors clearly.

 The gems were for the birthday crown I made with my sister for her grandson (our great nephew).  You can read about that project HERE.

The gems looked so pretty in the sunlight.  I grabbed my camera and took a bunch of quick snapshots.  Then I edited the images and cropped them as squares.  This photo can now be used as a full page background for a digital layout or printed and used as the base layer for a paper layout.

Once I had my full 12 x 12 image, I could resize and rotate it to form some interesting variations.

A different pattern is created when the four images are rotated in the opposite direction.  I saved all of these variations as digital paper in a file within my StoryBook Creator 4.0 program.

Once I save the image as background paper, I can choose it to fill any shape that I am working with in the software.  I set up this grid of hearts based on the template i had saved after I created the Pie page that I posted yesterday.

I even tried filling some other shapes and giving them 3D edges - here are my experimental butterflies.

I used the original photo as the background on my LOAD challenge page.  The journaling says, "I am just like many of the crafters I know.  We "need" to have a space stocked with as many tools and supplies as we can fit.  You can easily turn into a collector instead of a crafter.  I have been trying to acquire less and craft more.  I don't know if I can ever "use it up!"

The page shows photos of some of my ribbons, punches, glitter and the background "bling."  I added some white shapes to go behind the photos and text and reduced the opacity to 75%.  This created a glow around the edges of the photos and made the journaling legible.

Does this topic strike a chord with you?  Do you have more than you need and find that it makes it harder to create since you have to pass by all of the unwanted items to find the "good stuff?" 

Are you finishing up any last minute Mother's Day projects?  I have a little more to do before Sunday.  I am determined to get my laundry room reorganized today - right now it is at the "it has to get worse before it can get better" stage.  Have a wonderful day!

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