Tips and Tricks Tuesday - Marvellous Matting

Good Morning! Today I want to let you know what all the fuss about matting and layering is. I LOVE matting and layering as a way to give photos or stamped images more definition, but what is it and how do you do it?!

Mats are simply pieces cut to size and building up layers behind or in front of your chosen image.

Take the card above as an example: I have glued on the Designer Series Paper (Birds of a Feather) onto the folded Island Indigo card base, leaving a thin border or blue all around the edge. This is basic matting. On the white card I have stamped the bird and cage, and then layered it onto the yellow Summer Starfruit card.

Here is a close up of a section of the white and Summer Starfruit panel. There are two reasons I chose to mount the white panel. Firstly, it helps the white panel to stand out on the page, making it more of a focal point. Secondly the white card is a little thin to stand up to being mounted on dimensionals without it bending, so by mounting it onto a mat of card, it is strengthened.

Generally when matting, I will measure the top layer with the image on it (in this case the white card stamped with the bird and cage), and then add either 0.5 cm or 1/4" to the hight and width - this leaves a lovely thin border. There are occasions where I will do something different though, such as a the bottom of the stamped panel, where I have left a much wider border, and then used decorative punches and dies on the edges.

Bigger projects such as scrap book pages may demand wider borders, or even multiple layers of matting, each getting larger. Have fun with it, and don't be afraid to experiment!

Happy Crafting

Becky