Let's talk patterns and papers

[KristinCB]

When it comes to choosing papers for your layouts what are you drawn to lately? Do you like pattern papers that fill the entire page, do you like a subtle pattern with just a hint of pattern.. do you like woodgrain.. painted/artsy papers?

I was just thinking it might be nice to have more discussions like this to see what people are after these days

[bienejen]

If possible I like to see 1 or 2 tight plaids in a kit and then I'm more into subtle patterns. I know there are people who like big and bold, but that's not my style. I always like your colored/subtle patterned woodgrains.

[Leablahblah]

I most often go for a white background. I love how it makes all the pretty pattern papers pop. So that said, I love all the pattern papers! lol The tone on tone, the bold flowery types, the striped, the subtle ones...

[3BluEyedBabi]

I love patterned papers! Lately, I like the ones with smaller prints and plaids.

[HeatherH]

I love artsy papers, the more unique the better! Also love big, bold patterns.

[HeatherB]

I love subtle patterns and tiny prints. I also like tone-on-tone patterns more. I find that I can use maybe one patterned paper that uses all the colours (plaid or tiny stripes please!), but the ones that are limited to one (tone-on-tone) or two colours are more versatile.

[Kiana]

I'm a pattern lover. I like them all. I'd love to see BIG florals from you. You do amazing florals.

I love big bold patterns, and tiny ones. I love plaids and chevrons. I love dots and stripes.

I love a good wood bokeh gradient and some distressed or artsy ones too.


I love patterns people...and I cannot lie

[HavaDrPepper]

I gravitate toward plaids. I guess about 95% of my layouts, I use a plaid paper for a mat around my photos. My background is always a plain paper with no noticeable texture since I journal right on it. Otherwise, I like subtle patterns to use as paper accents on my layouts. If there is no plaid, I like to use a small striped pattern to mat the photos. I'm not a big and bold person (in real life either!)

[Neverland Scraps]

I love plaid/stripes - they will always be my staple

I also love wood, but I'm trying to get away from that because I have used it for so long and all my base layouts "look" the same, at least to me!

[LynnZant]

I've been loving the smaller patterns lately. They show up better on smaller things like flags and thin paper strips.

[Kimberly27]

I love them all!! For backgrounds I prefer wood or tone on tone or solid but otherwise bring on the fun!

[AmieN1]

This! Kiana & I can start Patterns Anonymous. I call ALL the plaids/stripes.

Originally Posted by Kiana

I'm a pattern lover. I like them all. I'd love to see BIG florals from you. You do amazing florals.

I love big bold patterns, and tiny ones. I love plaids and chevrons. I love dots and stripes.

I love a good wood bokeh gradient and some distressed or artsy ones too.


I love patterns people...and I cannot lie

[cherrygutz]

I love pattern, woodgrains and plaids! So much!
Sometimes it goes out of hand when I'm making pages and the kits have woodgrain, and then I will realize that all the pages I made for a week has woodgrain. But I can't help myself!

[tjscraps]

If it's a big pattern I like it subtle, not too bold (if they are too bold they end up not used or just on a small snippet of paper). I always love stripes of any sort lol

[rach3975]

I tend to build my page around 1 small scale pattern that has all of the colors in the kit. My favorites are florals and stripes, but any small scale is a possibility. I usually combine that focal paper with a solid or woodgrain that covers a lot of the page and some subtle tone on tone patterns or more solids/woodgrains. I love the look of bold papers, but I can't pull them off. I either admire them without using them or end up shrinking them down so they're less bold and using them on a smaller area. Artsy papers vary so much that it's hard to answer. If they're too busy I find them hard to combine with other papers and probably won't use them. But I do use solids that have some artsy (tone on tone) touches or subtler artsy papers.

[nietis]

I love patterns so so much! Any types will do, the more unique it is the more drawn I am to it. Busy or subtle patterns are both great to me and I use them depending on what photos I am scrapping.

So, bring on all the patterns!

[Stefanie]

I love woodgrain as a background.
A cute stripe, plaid or mini floral that has all the colours of the kit, that would work to tie everything together.
I love tone on tone mini prints as a neutral, a single bold floral or bright pattern could work too. I also love your bokeh type papers.

[iScrap]

Like Kiana and the others, I LOVE patterns and I LIVE for color! I will usually use patterns as a background and mix and match other patterns on top of it, but I can always blend down a bold pattern to suit a background better, so it's easy to adjust.

I love a mix of large, bold patterns with smaller patterns as the smaller are great to mix and match. I can always scale down a large pattern, though, and smaller patterns don't scale up with the same quality. So, I prefer kits with larger patterns if a mix isn't present. Stripes are my favorite "basic" pattern in kits.

I also love woodgrain and gradient papers and use them for blending often with other patterns in the kits.

[allyanne]

I always, always look for a paper that can be used for journaling! Best case: graph type print or notebook paper with subtle lines. Next best, a non-textured white or kraft that goes with the kit. I always feel lost when there isn't a paper that works well for journaling, either because the texture is too pronounced or it's too dark. I realize I can change the text color to something lighter, but that's not my first choice! I will often resort to just recoloring the journal spot to some kind of light color that is used elsewhere in the kit, like a pocket card or word strip.

I also like large patterns that can be scaled down--like Jenny, I often resize papers to get a smaller pattern. Sometimes big, bold patterns are hard for me to use because as a template user, they get lost behind everything else! I LOVE your woodgrains and florals.

[Scrapcrazy]

I love ALL the papers. Plaid might be my favorite. I also like solids with a little grungy texture so that there is something there but it is not too much.

[lovely1m]

I tend to choose the most unique pattern in each kit. One thing I don't like is when the solid papers have a unique subtle pattern that is the same across each color so when I start layering them, it looks weird cause the pattern stays the same and the color changes.

[lorigaud]

Originally Posted by allyanne

I always, always look for a paper that can be used for journaling! Best case: graph type print or notebook paper with subtle lines. Next best, a non-textured white or kraft that goes with the kit. I always feel lost when there isn't a paper that works well for journaling, either because the texture is too pronounced or it's too dark. I realize I can change the text color to something lighter, but that's not my first choice! I will often resort to just recoloring the journal spot to some kind of light color that is used elsewhere in the kit, like a pocket card or word strip.

I also like large patterns that can be scaled down--like Jenny, I often resize papers to get a smaller pattern. Sometimes big, bold patterns are hard for me to use because as a template user, they get lost behind everything else! I LOVE your woodgrains and florals.

I agree with everything here - plus I struggle if there isn't some kind of white paper without a pattern that I can use for the photo frame.

I occasionally try to use a big bold background, but it's not my go-to. I usually use a plain-ish background paper but then layer patterns on top of it.

[lizziej]

I love patterned papers! I prefer smaller prints that fill the entire page so that a good portion of the design is seen when it's about 2 inches wide. I prefer patterns that aren't bold. I like the subtle patterns, as well as smaller stripes.

[Scrap-therapy]

Originally Posted by Kiana

I'm a pattern lover. I like them all. I'd love to see BIG florals from you. You do amazing florals.

I love big bold patterns, and tiny ones. I love plaids and chevrons. I love dots and stripes.

I love a good wood bokeh gradient and some distressed or artsy ones too.


I love patterns people...and I cannot lie

I feel the same!

[stasianary]

I love woodgrain, especially if it has some sort of texture on it like paint. I always use patterned papers that have all of the colors of the kit in them - I use these to pull all the colors of the elements together in the layout. I also like subtle patterns.

[stephc777]

I really like a variety of small prints (dots, stripes, small florals, plaid) and maybe one or two unique wood backgrounds. I also like having a graph/ledger paper of some variety that I can journal on. I like lightly textured solids that are not identical. I actually do like a bold bigger floral as well (this could be duplicated in an alternate color scheme). I have actually purchased kits because I liked the big floral paper.

[Lidia G]

I love patterned papers! Light coloured, dark coloured, small print, big print, it's all good. I also like solids with a bit of texture and some with almost no texture so that they don't all look the same.

[scrapchyck]

I love patterned paper but I really want them to coordinate and look right together when layering. A kit with just a bunch of random patterns does not really appeal to me. I want stripes, polka dots, plaids and then floral/themed patterns that go with.

Having said that, I also enjoy a painterly/already mixed media'd background with the edge work, paint and maybe some built up areas where it seems logical to put a photo or two.

[SeattleSheri]

When it comes to background papers, I gravitate to something that has a solid-ish base but also includes an element brushwork, paint, etc - meaning it's not too busy/patterned as to distract from the elements, but not completely solid either.

Beyond the background paper, I think anything goes, I do love it when there is a mix of patterns (some busy and others more subtle). I also really love it when all colors of the kit are equally represented in the papers

[Saar]

I love woodgrain backgrounds. And I love tone on tone patterns.
Oh and Kristin... your floral background papers are THE Best!

[bcgal00]

I'm not much help b/c I love it all. I like combining a pattern with a woodgrain or lightly textured PP. I like big florals. You create gorgeous papers.

[JillW]

I am drawn to dark woodgrain backgrounds - but on the other hand, I love light colored papers without much movement so I can add paint to them. When I am cropping papers, I go toward florals and plaids.

(Ha ha - how's that for being indecisive?!)

[JillW]

Originally Posted by bcgal00

You create gorgeous papers.

I agree 100%!!