Coloring Blocking with Black Mats

Hi everyone!!  My name is Erin and this is my first post with all of you, and I am so happy to be here!!  I would love it if you came by my blog Scraps of Reflections, I have lots of fun tutorials and tips that I post, so I hope to see you pop by soon!! 

Today I want to share with you a fun technique to me, color blocking with black.  I have seen this technique where almost every paper layer is matted in black, and I thought I can do that!!  It is really simple, all you need to do is create layers with your papers (cardstock or patterns) and mat them in black.  If you have fussy cut embellishments you can ink them in black to make it easier rather than cutting them all out again with a black mat.  It really creates a striking fun layout when you are done.  I love the black with all the bright colors, it really makes the whole layout just pop!! 

 

 

As you can see here, I also triple matted (2 times in black) my main photo to really make it stand out in the layout with all those bright colors.  I also created a journaling space below the picture to help keep the same length from the 3 square photos on the side.

 

 

 I also used fun little letter cut outs and instead of matting them individually I matted them as a block for each word.  This made it not only easier to put on my layout, but it also connected the individual letters together to make the word more unified especially with each letter being a different color.  The black help the letters stand out from the page instead of blend into the background with some many different colors.

 

 

Thanks so much for taking a look and I hope you try this technique some time!!

Enjoy!!

 

Erin R.