Tutorial Tuesday with Summer Fullerton

Today it seems so many people are turning to their Silhouette to create fun and unique patterns and embellishments for their layouts.  Let's face it, not every designer owns a Silhouette and not every Silhouette owner can cut the larger 12 x 12 designs.  I personally own the smaller Silhouette and cannot cut the larger 12 x 12 fancy background shapes.  I thought it would be great to create a cool patterned background with my scraps of patterned paper using using a few simple cuts with my exacto knife.

To create this fun background, cut a variety of your favorite Jillibean Soup scraps into a 1.5 x 3.5 inch strips.  I would start at least 15 rectangles.  You may add and subtract pieces once your pattern is all laid out.  I used all patterned papers, but feel free to use cardstock if desired.

I then laid out my strips into a vertical staggered pattern to get a visual idea of how I might want my final background to look.  This didn't end up looking anything like my final background.  I kept swapping out papers because I can never make up my mind.

Then, I cut my rectangles into parallelograms.  To shift the directions, alternate the sides you trim from your rectangles.  Please refer to the photos.

Then re-lay your parallelograms out on your background paper.  I used Jillibean Soup kraft paper for my background.  I kept swapping out and adding new patterned papers until I got my desired look.  I staggered my pattern and decided on color blocked strips of patterned papers.

This didn't end up as my final background.  I decided to pull out pieces of my cardstock and pop out some of the parallelograms color blocks.  Once I finalized my pattern, I thought it would be fun to add a few extra die cuts, stickers, and enamel dots to jazz them up.

The end result is a cool alternating chevron like pattern that is super trendy right now.  I like the idea of mixing all kinds of patterned papers that it almost feels quilt like. 

Tales From The Garden Layout by Summer Fullerton

Supplies:
Jillibean Soup
Kraft Cardstock
Patterned Paper:  Chilled Cucumber/Sherry Vinegar, Smashed Garlic; Fresh Vegetable Soup/Bite Size Bits, Baby Carrots, Chicken Base, Stalks of Celery, Mushrooms, Crushed Ginger; Irish Farm House Soup/Stewed Beef, Beef Stock, Parsnip, Sea Salt; Soup Staples II/Yellow Salt, Orange Salt, Red Salt, Pink Salt, Green Salt, Turquoise Salt; Country Pumpkin Chower/Cream Style Corn, Toasted Pumpkin Seeds
Pea Pod Parts:  Fresh Vegetable Soup, Irish Farm House Soup
Coordinating Shape Sticker:  Fresh Vegetable Soup
Coordinating Label Sticker:  Fresh Vegetable Soup, Chilled Cucumber Soup
Alphabeans:  Tomato Red
Soup Label:  So Thankful
Banner Bites:  No. 1, Hello
Hexies:  Memorable

Other:  Bazzill cardstock, My Minds Eye enamel dots, Martha Stewart butterfly punch, Stampin' Up scallop border punch, Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher.

This pattern can easily be done horizontal or vertical.  The base rectangle size can easily be changed depending on your desired look.  Other design ideas include:  altering the length of your rectangles to change up the pattern, add your journaling and/or title to one of the parallelogram blocks or use the design idea to create an entire full background.  The ideas are endless.

Thank you for joining me today for this super fun background tutorial.

Comments

[Jill Yegerlehner]

This is great Summer, thanks for sharing! Love the layout!

[Karen Nuce]

I really like this Summer! It turned out great and I love all the color & angles. I'll be trying this soon:)

[Nicole N.]

Yep, this is super smart and I LOVE IT!!

[Earlene Bost]

Great tip. TFS! Love the look.

[Jennifer Edwardson]

FANTASTIC layout Summer :))))

[Emily Muto]

Such a cool layout and technique, thanks for sharing!

[Sara L.]

Awesome layout! Thanks for sharing this tutorial. The outcome looks great

[Becky Williams]

This is incredible, Summer!

[Jeannine H]

Thanks for this great tutorial. I dont't have a silouette machine,although it is on my wish list, so this is a technique i can use right away. The results are spectacular. This seems like a great project for NSD!