What to do with busy paper

A lot of scrapbookers don't know what to do with so-called 'busy' patterned paper. I understand the dilemma. You don't want the paper to compete with your pictures. It's a challenge to use busy paper but it's not impossible.

This month, I picked up hockey themed paper at Auntie Em's. The papers are from Karen Foster Designs. I made two pages with these papers. Here is the first one:

These pictures were long overdue to be scrapped! They were taken as my friends Diane (who still remains blogless) and JM and I were about to leave to go to game 1 of round 3 of the 2003 Stanley Cup playoffs. To say we were excited is an understatement. 

Notice that I used the busy paper on this page but I used it sparingly. I used as a background behind the black cardstock. I also used two of the pattern papers to make a horizontal border below the pictures, using two different border punches. I used pop-up tape to create dimension on the top border piece. I wrapped a red rick-rack ribbon piece around the top border piece. I finished off the borders with white brads at each end.

I glued the pictures on an angle and slightly overlapped. I then added a few of what I call 'manly' embellishments and a journalling box made of white chipboard.

To me, the best thing about this layout is the ticket stub. It's one of those minor miracles in life that I still had this ticket stub! I decided to pretty it up with the same red ribbon I used on the border and a large white brad. I find it cool for many reasons. I'll be able to look at it in future and see where I sat and how much I paid for the ticket!

By the way, the Ottawa Senators ended up winning the game in overtime. It. Was. Amazing.

I used a totally different approach to busy patterned paper for the page below. I used the busy paper as the background. I muted it a bit by framing it with black cardstock.

This paper was busy along the edges but there was a clear-ish space in the middle so it was perfect for a one-picture layout. This picture was also long overdue to be scrapped. Diane and I had our picture taken with the Stanley Cup in April 2002!

I decided to 'frame' the picture with a horizontal and vertical border. I used border punches and ribbons to create visual interest. At the intersection of the borders, I clustered some embellishments and added very short and to-the-point journalling.

I hope you liked my different approaches to busy patterned papers. I also hope that, if you shied away from them in the past, you try to use busy patterned paper. Experiment people. The results are worth it!


Happy scrappin'