Make Your Own Stacked Papers

Stacked papers, paper stacks, pre-decorated papers .... you'll see them in lots of kits and they're SO useful. They're not quite a quickpage so you have more scope with placing your photos. Grab them with a kit when your budget allows but you can also make your own stacked paper background with any kit. I made these to go with the CatDesignz Spring Comes Softly kit.

This pack has examples of various styles so let's go through them:

Split Background

These split papers were easy as the paper in the kit already had a frame around it but if you want a double layer simply add another larger photobox underneath and fill it with paper. Either make the two sections slanted or use the grid and make them level. Just try not to have them a little bit out as it will give people a headache!

I added clusters in each corner but used different elements and you'll see that some of the flowers are under the paper layer top left.

Note how the charm peeks out of the cluster to give you something interesting to look at. Here's a page I made with this stacked background and a frame and extra elements from the kit:

Look what Yobeth Puckett did with split papers in her page and notice how she tucked the embellishment under.

Tipped Papers

Add two papers on top of the main background and slant them in different directions. You might need to try different angles to get the effect you like. Note this page has a very large cluster in one corner and in the other corner some of the elements are tucked under the paper and I added a few stray petals. It's also good to place an interesting paper like the newsprint so that it peeks out a little. Things we can't quite see add interest to a layout. Again a charm is peeking out from behind the flowers. If your kit has interesting and unusual embellishments make sure you use them!

Embellishments Tucked Underneath

There are two versions of this design. One is fairly formal using the framed paper and keeping it straight:

Yobeth Puckett used this to great effect in her page. You can see more of Yobeth's work HERE.

The other has two tipped papers on top and an extra cluster of flowers:

In both the idea is that the papers appear to be on top of a large collection of flowers.  When you make a page like this increase the size and blur of the shadow on the paper and move it so that the shadow is all around it, not just in one corner. The paper will then appear to float on top of the flowers. There are pictures of how to do this in Memory Mixer and My Memories in this tutorial.

Decorate one side

As you can see, I piled everything onto one side of the page. Choose an interesting paper for your main strip and a contrasting one - or more - to tuck underneath it. Note the ivy is tucked between the papers.

This layout allows for a special photo, in this case my Auntie Kit. I used a mask (from Pretty in Pink by Natali Designs) and added extra embellishments but the photo would look just as good in a frame.

Try it!

There are no rules for stacked papers. Try a few ideas and see what works!