Geek Lab: custom backgrounds

October 16, 2014 by danielledekonink 8 Comments

Hi everyone, it’s Danielle here with you today from the Geek Lab! As you probably know, each month you get some fabulous exclusive cut files with your kit. I’m a total cut file addict and I always try to get the max out of the cut files and not just using them as they were meant to be. Today I’m sharing with you how I like to make complete backgrounds with cut files.

Let me start with the triangle border cut file, which I used on the layout I’m sharing today. I fell in love with this triangle design right away and I knew it was perfect for my picture of the Transamerica Pyramid in San Francisco. I copied the border a couple times and placed two of them starting on the left edge of the paper and two on the right, as I didn’t want them to cover up the entire width of the paper.

I used white cardstock for my background and backed it up with the Ashland paper.

Of course it might be easier when I had cut out the borders with the Ashland paper and place them on the white cardstock, but for some reason I like this effect better. You just need to complete the design now by placing the white leftover pieces back into it. There for I place (don’t glue!) the borders back in the shapes to exactly know where to glue down the white pieces.

When every piece is in place, you take away the borders and your background is finished. At the end of this post you’ll find some more designs of backgrounds made with this month’s cut files, that you can easily create yourself.

 

And here’s my finished layout that I’ve made with this background.

What I love about these October Afternoon alpha’s is the two different sizes, especially with long titles. With this title I would never have enough A’s to do the title with only the bigger letters, so this is a great solution.

Besides the triangle background, I tried to continue the triangle theme throughout the entire layout. You can find them in the flair button, the paper behind the photo, the element stickers and also the Pinkfresh Studio wood veneer chevrons can be seen as triangles.

As promised here are some more examples of how to use the cut files as backgrounds. The first one is the same as I used above, but using it vertically.

For the second one I made a tribal background design, using the feathers.

The third one is made with the skyline border and all I did was melting two of them together and placing them at the bottom of the page. You have a great design for any city or skyline picture now.

And the last one is a background with the lightbulb cut files.

For all of these designs I just use the grid that you can select in the Silhouette software, I don’t measure anything perfectly. Have fun creating and I can’t wait to see what you will make with these background designs or with ones you design yourself

Thanks for stopping by!