Hi there,
I'm playing along with the Papertrey Senior Design Team girls today for their August 1 Challenge! This month, Nichole challenged the team to use at least 4 patterns (harmoniously! Ha!) on a project. I couldn't resist.....I love pairing fun patterns to achieve a unique look.
If you're stamping your own patterns to create your own multi-patterned card, select 4 or 5 colors to work with and make sure that all of your patterns and supplies use those same 4 colors. (Of course, you can do this same thing with patterned papers as well, if you choose not to stamp your own patterns.)
For my card, I chose to work with berry sorbet, dark chocolate, kraft & vintage cream. I pulled out card stock in those colors as well as a bit of bitty dot basics patterned paper in berry sorbet.
Next, I began pulling out background pattern stamp sets that I thought would compliment each other well. Keep in mind that your patterns should be various scales - you don't want them all to be the same exact size of patterns. However, also keep in mind how much of the pattern will actually show on your project. If you look at my card, only small strips of each pattern are visible, so if I tried to use a pattern that was really large in scale, you wouldn't get to see much of the actual pattern which might make it a bit confusing to the eye.
Another thing to remember when mixing patterns is to be sure and vary how much of each pattern is visible. Notice that on my card, I was using strips of patterns, however you don't see the same amount of each pattern. To make the card more visually interesting and appealing, vary the width of your strips so that some are wider and some are much smaller. I also 'grounded' the patterns by showing a bit of solid berry sorbet card stock at both the top of the card and the bottom, and by having a kraft border around the entire patterned panel, it cuts down on the overall busy-ness of the card and gives the patterns something to anchor to.
I selected Damask Designs, Background Basics: Retro, Polka Dot Basics II, Background Basics: Text Style, and Guide Lines II for my card. I also pulled out Mega Mixed Messages for the sentiment and In Bloom, to create that fun flower. Speaking of the flower, check it out! I took one of the small flowers from the set and stamped it 3 times in a circle....almost forming a sort of triangle. The result is one larger scaled flower that I LOOOVE!
And check out the flower's center as well! I found a button in my dark chocolate vintage button collection that only had one large hole in the center. I threaded the end of a strip of dark chocolate topnotch twill thru the button hole, tied a knot in it, and threaded the same end back down thru the button only leaving the knot on the top side of the button. Next, I punched a hole in the center of my flower and threaded both ends of the ribbon thru that hole, and positioned them on the back side of the flower, so that the ribbon tales give the appearance of leaves. I adhered them to the back of the flower with a glue dot.
With all of the busy-ness of the patterns and the large flower on this card, there wasn't a lot of room for a sentiment, but I found the perfect little spot to stamp a tiny 'Thanks' directly on the ribbon. Fun!
I hope you've enjoyed today's card and I hope you've learned a bit about how to mix and match patterns! Be sure to head over to Nichole's blog as well as the other girls on the Senior Design Team for their takes on Pattern Pizzazz!!
and Wendy Sue Anderson is playing along as well!!
Have a great day, Peeps!
{Thanks supplies}
Stamps: Damask Designs, Background Basics: Retro, Polka Dot Basics II, Background Basics: Text Style, Guide Lines II, In Bloom, Mega Mixed Messages
Other: dark chocolate vintage button, dark chocolate topnotch twill, berry sorbet topnotch twill, corner rounder punch
