Designer Details – Creating Frames

Hi again!

I am back to share a technique I use in many of my layouts lately. I tend to scrap only white cardstock backgrounds and I like to stitch along the edges of my layout to make sure your eyes don’t wander off the page. Lately, I’ve begun to add frames to my layouts so the edges are even more pronounced and your eyes stay within the bounds of my layout.

Here’s a page I made this week using the Vintage Vogue line and this technique:

I still get my white background, which I love, but I also get some extra color on the edges and a clear frame around my page. Creating this frame is very easy.

The first thing I do is take the paper I want on my outer edge. For this layout I picked the Eau de Parfume paper. I used my trimmer to cut out the inside of the page leaving only a 0.5 inch border.

You can also use a craft knife. I cannot cut straight to save my life so the trimmer works better for me.

I then turned the border over and adhered the trim to the back of the border so some of it was sneaking out and some of it was adhered to my border.

Don’t worry if your paper curls like mine did because in the next step, you will glue and stitch the border down.

So I then turned it over, adhered it down and used a contrasting color thread to do a zigzag stitch where the ribbon and the frame meet.

Then I decided I wanted more pink so I used a border punch to create and edge and then I cut it into a strip and adhered it under my purple trim. I created four of these strips and my border was complete. The next thing I did was to layout my title and then to color the wooden letters.

I like to use chalk ink because I like the matte finish and I love how quickly it dries. I then put the rest of my title, added some journaling and decided to finish off the edges with some small embellishments. Having elements on the edges of my layout is another technique to draw your eye to the middle of my page where the “meat” is.

I like to layer my embellishments so I picked one of the chipboard pops and put it on top of the paper rosette. I also layered  the chipboards on top of each other to make sure the colors matched my layout.

Here’s another set on the other side of the layout:

Here I layered the chipboard on top of the ephemera to make it less black.

And finally, here’s a look at the layering I have under the photo:

I used the ephemera to add a bit more interest and color to my photo. I also addded a brad on the spool button and a few more small chipboard pieces and my layout was done. Here it is again:

If you’ve never created a border for your layout, I hope you’ll give it a try. It works just as well on a pattern paper background. And if you do give it a try make sure to share it with us in the Live Pink! Gallery.