mixing your patterns

Hey there! It's Brenda here with you today.

I've got a little card I whipped up for you using the Night Owls stamp set.

A couple of days ago while organizing my craft area I came across a some pieces of patterned paper that I had clipped together. I did that quite a long time ago during another one of my organization expeditions because I thought those particular patterns and colors went well together and I thought I'd like to use them together on a project one day. But that little stack of papers got shoved into a drawer and I never did make anything with them....until now.

I got to looking at them and thinking, hmmm...wouldn't that plaid paper make a great little paper pieced owl? And that dark grey paper could totally work as a night sky! And the yellow? That could be a moon, yes? And so I did, pulling out a couple more patterned paper scraps from my stash to finish it out. I used a total of five different patterns and colors on this card!

So, I thought why not share a little about mixing and matching patterned papers? Granted, most of you are probably already pros at this, but for those of you who struggle, maybe I can help you out.

For starters, I chose the pattern with the most colors/boldest design first. That was the green plaid one in this set. Then I simply chose other, more subtle, patterns to match, like the yellow and dark grey. 3-4 patterns is a good number to go for when choosing your patterns.

Keep the scale of the patterns in mind while choosing. In other words, the size of the pattern. Choose one that's larger/bolder, one that's medium, and one that's smaller scaled, for an eye pleasing combo. A nice tone on tone is easy to throw in as well if you're looking for another pattern to add without it getting overwhelming. In fact, a couple of the patterns I chose for this card are subtle tone on tone.


I hope that helps you out in your patterned paper pairings!

Have fun going through your stash of patterned paper scraps and finding great combinations to use! We'd love to see what you've made, so be sure to share it in the Market Street Stamps Flickr group or in the Neighborhood!