January 19 - Cut Out Background

JANUARY 19: CUT OUT BACKGROUND

Welcome to the 19th day of MOC 8! Today's challenge is inspired by a paper scrapbook page by Sandra Dietrich. In the example below, you can see the page starts with a bold patterned paper with a repeat design as the foundation of the page. Sandra cuts shapes (five wonky rectangles) out of the patterned paper, turns & shifts them slightly, and then places the cut-out shapes back onto the page with a different orientation than how the pattern originally started. I love the added drama this creates! And the peek of all that watercolor underneath is really beautiful too!

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So with this paper scrapbook page as inspiration, your CUT OUT BACKGROUND challenge for today is to pick a patterned paper for the FOUNDATION of your page. Cut some shapes out of the patterned paper and then put the cut-out paper pieces back in a different way. You can shift the pieces, tilt the pieces, resize the pieces, recolor the pieces, over lap them ... heck you can even cut up the entire patterned paper and put it all back on the page differently than how it started. The pattern paper and cut-out pieces need to make up 95% of the page's FOUNDATION. The other 5% of your page foundation - can be some paint, stamps or other papers peeking out from underneath.

I gave this a try with a similar B&W pattern as the inspiration page. In my example below, I cut 8 pieces out of my pattern paper. I recolored the pattern, and then turned & shifted the pieces slightly and placed them back onto my page as the foundation with just a tiny bit of paint peeking through.

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Here's another example, where I went to town and cut the entire patterned paper up into pieces. I turned the pieces, shifted them and overlapped them. There are so many creative possibilities with this Cut Out Background idea.

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And ...here's some awesome inspiration from
@MiekSter

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and @Iowan

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and @SeattleSheri

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The rules for this challenge:

• you must cut shapes (of your choice) out of a patterned paper
• piece the patterned paper back together with your cut out shapes
• the cut-out shapes need to be turned, shifted, recolored, and/or resized and then placed back onto the page with a different orientation than how the pattern originally started.
• at least 95% of the page foundation should be the pattern paper (and the cut outs) - the other 5% can be some paint, stamps or other paper peeking through
• no templates allowed
• everything else is up to you!

Get creative and have fun with this! I can't wait to see how you all rock this one!

Remember: Your page must be a new page in order to count for the Month of Challenges. Your page must be posted in three places:

1. Uploaded to the TLP Gallery (not an outside hosting site).
2. Posted in your page thread you created in the MOC Layouts Folder. You should have one post per completed challenge page. If you complete all 31 challenges, your thread should contain 31 posts. Please do not comment in the participants’ page threads so we can keep them clean.
3. Posted in this thread. People can comment here if they wish.

Pages should contain at least 75% current Lilypad product (currently for sale in the store from either permanent designers or guest designers). Pages with just photos and/or journaling do not count toward your MOC pages.

 

This post is reserved for questions & clarifications to the instructions

Q: Do we have to use a photo?
A: No you do not - it's totally up to you.

Q: cut outs just one patterned paper allowed?
A: yes, the cut outs are done with ONE patterned paper please - 95% of your foundation is the pattern paper (and the cut outs you make from it) - you have a little leeway to add some color underneath with paint/other paper.

Q: does the BG paper AND the paper you use to cut out have to be patterned, or can the BG just be bold?
A: The 95% aka FOUNDATION of your page is made up of a PATTERNED paper - this is the paper you are cutting. It must be a pattern.
You can add something underneath - peeking though - like stamps, paint, other paper. You can leave it white. It's your choice. If you do add some paper underneath - it can be anything your heart desires. It should just be showing a tiny bit though - about 5%.

Q:You mentioned a bold pattern in your explanation, and all the examples are bold, high contrast patterns. Is a more subtle pattern acceptable? For example, can we use a tone on tone pattern with small dots in a slightly darker color than the rest of the background?
A: It doesn't have to be as bold as the inspiration piece. But it does have to be a pattern. It can be bold or subtle.

Q: can we use a cut file for our cut outs?
A: As the shape? Sure. The shape you are using to make your cuts is totally up to you. If you are using the cut file as "a shape" to make your cut outs - you will be fine.

Q: So, the patterned paper has to be the same for both the foundation paper and cut paper, correct? As in, I can't cut out the shapes and then clip a new paper to the shapes? You can still see that the shapes have been cut out of the foundation paper, but the contrast of the paper clipped to the shapes helps them stand out better.
A: YES, the pattern paper you chose will be 95% of the page FOUNDATION along with the cut out shapes placed back on the page. Both the cut outs and the foundation are from the same pattern paper - together they make up 95% of the page's foundation.
You are not clipping a DIFFERENT paper to the shapes. They need to be the same paper. You can recolor the pattern for contrast if you like but I need to see that the pattern is the SAME.

Q: is there a minimum number of cuts we have to do on our paper?
A: up to you! have fun!

Q: Can we clip another paper to the cut-out or should it only be recolored?
A: you are working with a patterned paper (ONE). you are making cuts in the pattern paper. you are putting those cuts back on the page slightly differently. (shift, turn/tilt, resize or recolor). so the pattern appears a bit different than it started.
you are not clipping another paper to the cut outs.

Q: a lot of questions about having different shapes - is it OK?
A: YES - feel free to play and have fun. different shapes is great! love it!

Q: some questions about different sizes for the shapes - is it OK?
A: yes - feel free to play and have fun. resizing your pieces is listed as one of the ways you can put those cut outs back on the page a little differently than how the pattern started.

Q: recoloring -
A: I'm Ok with however you approach recoloring if that is something you want to do - I just need to be able to see that the pattern is the same.

Q: can the pattern pieces be made into vellum
A: that's creative and I'm OK with that! as long as I can see the pattern is the same. It's recoloring by lowering the opacity right?

Q: can i add a stroke around my cut out shapes ?
A: yes, but just make sure I can still that the cut outs have the same pattern as the paper that they were cut from.

***Quick, very basic instructions for cutting shapes out of a paper and getting them on their own layer:

You have your patterned paper on one layer.
You have your shape/element on another layer.
Select the shape/element layer. Select> Load Selection to get marching ants around the shape. (on a Mac - I do CMD click on the layer thumbnail as an alternate method to get the marching ants around my shape. I think it's CTRL click on the layer thumbnail on a PC?)
Select your patterned paper layer. Layer> New > Layer Via Cut (shift, CMD + J on a Mac, so .... shift, CTRL +J on a PC)
*CMD J/ CTRL J just copies the shape to a new layer - it will not cut the shape out of the paper.

Here's a screenshot of PSE's workspace from @cfile (Thank you Christa!!) And it looks the same in PS too!

TIP: depending on how you work in PSE/PS if you pull in papers as smart objects - you can't cut them or make adjustments until you SIMPLIFY (in PSE) or RASTERIZE (in PS). It's the same thing - just called different things in the two programs.

Layer > Rasterize (or simplify) > Smart Object

- this will make the paper layer editable!

 

No you do not - it's totally up to you.

 

yes, the cut outs are done with ONE patterned paper please - 95% of your foundation is the pattern paper (and the cut outs you make from it) - you have a little leeway to add some color underneath with paint/other paper.

for the ones in my post with unique shapes cut out. they use an element ( ie party hat, butterfly, quote bubble) to cut out the shape from the pattern. you can use the Custom Shape tool too. Do a search for your program and you will find tutorials or videos for how to do a cut out.

 

The 95% aka FOUNDATION of your page is made up of a PATTERNED paper - this is the paper you are cutting. It must be a pattern.
You can add something underneath - peeking though - like stamps, paint, other paper. You can leave it white. It's your choice. If you do add some paper underneath - it can be anything your heart desires. It should just be showing a tiny bit though - about 5%.
Does this help answer the question? Let me know if you are good!

 

Jennifer! Yes - get some sleep girl!
You essentially make a selection (marching ants) around the element/shape. Go back to the pattern paper layer, cut it and paste it onto another layer. Then the shape is cut out of the paper - and on it's own layer, ready for you to play with it. There are a number of ways to do this in all programs - some non destructive ways with masks too.

 

Me too! I am totally a solid (preferably white or light solid) background kinda girl! This was a challenge for me too, LOL!

 

I bet you are using Ctrl J (CMD J) to make a new layer via copy. This does not cut out the paper. You can go back to the paper layer - with the selection active (marching ants around the shape) and hit delete to get the shape cut out of the paper layer.