Why It Works: Bold Paper Background

I love big and bold backgrounds!! I admit sometimes I get carried away. A fun trick to get the journaling to show up is to place a stroke around the text.
See:

 

Wow, thank you @IntenseMagic! It's something I hardly do, since it kind of scares me and mostly I find it jarring....So the compliment is extra nice!

 

I need to read the post again to be sure I've read everything, but...

Anniversary Dinner by klee73010 posted May 27, 2016 at 11:14 AM

Driving The Boat by klee73010 posted Jul 25, 2016 at 4:23 PM

Bath Time Paints by klee73010 posted Feb 24, 2016 at 1:40 PM

when I use bold backgrounds... I tend to offset with solid strips or piles of paper. I like to focus my elements/photos in one or two spots (maybe three for a triangle!) and try not to have a pattern that is going to direct the viewer's eye off the page... like arrows (I'd want those pointed inwards)
OR... use paint, brushes, or transfers to give me some journaling space.

 

Another journaling tip is to use a soft paint mask and write on top of that when you use a bold background.

 

Well, I've been digi-scrapping for over 10 years and have most of my layouts loaded onto a digital frame at work. I've been staring at it this morning off and on and I've realized that I don't do bold patterned backgrounds. Not a one out of hundreds and hundreds of layouts. I did see a few patterns peek thru, but then I plopped a more sedate background on top of it. Tons of painted backgrounds with my art journal pages, but no patterns. That isn't saying that my layouts aren't big and bold, because that is usually where I'm at, but no patterns. Wow! I never even thought about it... I'll have to see what I can do with some bold, patterned paper.

 

I do something similar for this... I make a mask of the same color as in the BG... then feather it out, and change the blend mode. This always ensures that I can read my journaling no matter the pattern. (Though I am not a usual bold pattern user!)

 

I too have almost never used whole patterned backgrounds. I too found it jarring and hard on the eyes. But this year I vowed to do different things.

This IS bold for me and I also toned down the altered green polka dots with a blending mode and lowered opacity. Still I find the background bold!

 

I completely understand "this IS bold for me!"

I'm not a bold scrapper, but I do use patterns a lot!

 

@IntenseMagic thanks Jan! Gina's papers are so gorgeous, I had to fit a few in there

 

Using bold patterns and colours make me all kinds of twitchy, but I am going to play along, being stretched out of comfort zones is a good thing.

 

Sooooo awesome @AnneofAlamo, I am so using this as inspiration for a scraplift and the tip about the stroke around the journaling is new for me. So using that as well. Thank you!

 

@Vrielinkie I can't wait to see it....your pages always amaze me. Please tag me..

 

Thanks for suggesting I share here @IntenseMagic

Grateful by KittyY posted Nov 15, 2016 at 11:29 PM

I used the new M3 here (sneaky peaky!)

I used a textured grey background - - but wanted color but didn't want to use the bold paper as the background. So I used the paint, expanded it and then clipped in the bright pattern. I also clipped in the journaling because I wanted it all to blend

*great thread!

 

I used a big bold titled paper as my background and as Courtney said, using a soft mask (clipped a lightly patterned paper to it) to write on, is what I did to make my journaling stand out a bit more.

 

So @jenn mccabe asked in the gallery if this page was for Why It Works so I'm adding it here.