Ribbon works well in any layout design, being very versatile in how you can use it. It can be used in it’s entirety or you can select pieces of it to use.
Resizing, warping, recoloring….these can all produce very different results thus providing a multitude of ways to use ribbons.
Resizing ribbon can change how much of an impact it has on your page. A small piece of ribbon tucked into a cluster or peeking out from under a photo may help direct your eye toward the focal point of your page. If you enlarge the ribbon, because of the size, it will likely stand out more on your page, demand more of your attention.
Selecting a portion of the ribbon to use works well with striped patterns, allowing you to split a ribbon into 2 or more strips of color.
Warping the ribbon can greatly manipulate the dimensions of the ribbon. It’s easiest to do this on ribbons with little or no pattern in them, as warping can stretch the pattern unrealistically. It’s best to use this tool with caution, only slightly warping. When applying a shadow to ribbon, warping the shadow can create some interesting shadow dimension.
Recoloring ribbon is very useful when duplicating ribbon and wanting to add variation to each piece and when used in conjunction with warping, can completely alter a ribbon shape. My two favorite ways of recoloring ribbon is with a hue/saturation adjustment layer or with a replace color adjustment layer, either can be used to completely color the ribbon or to isolate and color a specific color if the ribbon is multi-colored. Also, recoloring ribbon allows for it to be used in any color scheme, giving it great versatility.
By using pieces of a ribbon, you can create many different designs. Staple one or many to a banner or on the edge of your photo. Layer them in strips, line them up along the page border, arrange them in a flower shape or frame a photo with them. These are just a few ways to use them, I bet you can think of even more ideas. Layer a journal strip overtop a ribbon piece or accent a journal line with a thin strip of ribbon.
For my sample page, I demonstrated some ways to use ribbon.
- resize
- recolor
- cut out pieces
- puppet warp
- use as an accent under title
Here are the kits I used for the ribbon in my sample page.
Have I convinced you to play with ribbon now? I hope so. It’s a product I think everyone has in their digital scrap supply stash and is often under-used, so I’m hoping I’ve inspired you to use it more often.
Christina Wells says
What a lovely page and a good reminder to break out the ribbon in different ways! I really like the way you used a little piece under the title. And you have the most photogenic dog ever :) !
The Lilypad says
TY Christina….Taz is always fun to photograph :)
Danielle says
Love the use of ribbon! Nice.