Mosaic Layouts: Scrapping with Ease

Mosaic Layouts: Scrapping with Ease!

Do you love the look of Mosaic Moments but think it’s too much work? That it takes too much time? That it is too hard to do? I’d like to dispel some of those myths and show you how to do a mosaic layout and be scrapping with ease in no time!

1. Begin with a Pattern

If you want to be scrapping with ease you need to take some of the guess work out of what to do by beginning with a pattern. Have you visited our Pattern Gallery? If you haven’t let me begin by saying there’s so much there from which to choose. You can pick by styles, the amount of photo spots needed or die sets to be used. The options give you a great deal of choices and having a pattern to work from allows you to do so with a plan that will speed the process to finish a fabulous page you’ll be proud to call your own.

Scrapping With Ease: Pattern #120

Scrapping With Ease: Pattern #120

 

Scrapping with Ease: completed layout

Scrapping with Ease: completed

I thought I’d tackle one of two layouts that intimidated me when I first saw them. Pattern # 120 is a symmetrical layout. It is very balanced; a mirror image of itself and it uses just one Die Set…Set D. If you do not have the dies…yet…rest assured you can still manage to do this fairly quickly with Paper Tiles and even with a sheet of cardstock and photos. Let me show you a few quick steps taking a 12×12 cardstock and cutting to get mats and tiles for all the spots in this layout.

Four Steps to Cut Mats Easily

  • Step 1: Cut the 12″ x 12″ cardstock into two sections of 2 1/8″ and one of 6 5/8″.
  • Step 2: Cut the 2 1/8″ strips  into 5.5″ sections.
  • Step 3: Cut the large 6 5/8″ section into three pieces: two 3 1/4″ and one 4 3/8″ section.
  • Step 4: Cut the 4 3/8″ x 6 5/8″ section into 1″ strips.

 

Scrapping with Ease: Cut Mats: Step 1

Scrapping with Ease: Cut Mats: Step 1

Scrapping with Ease: Cutting Mats: Steps 2 and 3

Scrapping with Ease: Cutting Mats: Steps 2 and 3

Scrapping with Ease: Cutting Mats: all the pieces and leftovers you will have.

Scrapping with Ease: Cutting Mats: all the pieces and leftovers you will have.

Scrapping with Ease: Cutting Mats: Step 4

Scrapping with Ease: Cutting Mats: Step 4

Scrapping with Ease: Cutting Mats: Step 4 Using Mosaic Moments Lil' Chisler helps to lift pieces from the grid.

Scrapping with Ease: Cutting Mats: Step 4 Using Mosaic Moments Lil’ Chisler helps to lift pieces from the grid.

 

Scrapping with Ease: Cutting Mats: Filling the pattern #120 with all the sections.

Scrapping with Ease: Cutting Mats: Filling the pattern #120 with all the sections.

Let’s Get Started.

2. Use the Proper Tools

To begin your journey to scrapping with ease there are a few must have materials for optimum results. Nothing makes getting a job done harder than not working with tools appropriate to the task. A butter knife is a poor substitute for a screwdriver. For a Mosaic Moments page the bare minimum you need to have is a Mosaic Moments Cutting Mat, a craft knife, and a metal cork backed ruler.

 

Scrapping with Ease: Must have tools for Mosaics.

Scrapping with Ease: Must have tools for Mosaics.

The mat is the only one I’ve seen that marks off in 1/8” increments which is the KEY to getting your photos to fit properly to the grid. When I first bought grid papers I did not buy a mat. I was cheap. I thought I could make use of one I already owned. It took more work and not always a satisfactory result. I now own two MM Cutting Mats. You need sharp blades on a craft knife/X-Acto knife to cut and a cork backed metal ruler helps to run your blade along and the cork helps hold in place.

The next tools would be dot adhesive, Quick Glance Guide and Lil Chizler. The dot adhesive is one I use and Tami recommends because it is easy to use and remove. I use it to tack photos/papers to the grid to have a secure hold in order to cut without shifting. It is easy to roll off and clean up. It holds securely.

The Quick Glance Guide is so handy for planning where you want to trim your photos, and the measurements to fit the grid. Our Lil Chizler tool gets under your photos and paper that is tacked to the grid for a trim without a lot of effort and lifts without tearing. If you have placed a photo segment on your grid and it isn’t straight or it’s in the wrong spot or upside down, it will help to ease that piece up almost effortlessly and usually without damage to be able to correct your mistake. (Yes, I use this tool a lot!)

 

Scrapping with Ease

Scrapping with Ease

Supply List:

Mosaic Moments 12×12 Grid in Emerald Green
• Patterned paper 12×12 for mats Scotland Sightseeing #36418 by Scrapbook Customs
Die Set D
• 6-1×4 Paper Tiles for journaling
• 4-4”x6” photos trimmed to fit space at 2 1/8”x 5.5” or matted size: 5”x 1 5/8”
• 2-5”x7” photos trimmed to 6 5/8”x 3 ¼”or an additional 4”x6” photos trimmed to 6”x 2 ½” to use with a mat with a wider border.

For this page I have made it a table of contents type page. I have an album I’m working on that will hold all my layouts of photos taken on a trip back to Scotland a few years ago. Potentially I will include several of these pages for different sections of my trip. This one showcases six castles I visited, with the names on the 1×4 sections in the middle and a photo for each of the six sections around the page. Layouts of each castle will follow this page.

 

Scrapping with Ease: 1x4 Paper Tiles for center table of contents section

Scrapping with Ease: 1×4 Paper Tiles for center table of contents section

Paper Tiles, with no cutting necessary, will be perfect to fill in your center section if you want to make this area for journaling. A 5”x 7” photo cut to 1” strips will also do if you just want to have a photo that is tiled. I chose to print my castles names on an 8.5”x 11” cardstock then trimmed to fit into my cutting machine and centered each castle name in the 1×4 die then trimmed. Leftover pieces can be cut into additional Paper Tiles so waste is reduced.

 

Scrapping with Ease: Castles are printed on 8.5" x 11" cardstock and cut to fit using Die Set D

Scrapping with Ease: Castles are printed on 8.5″ x 11″ cardstock and cut to fit using Die Set D

Four of the photos will need to fit into the 2×5 sections and can easily be trimmed from your 4” x 6” photos or your true digital photos (4”x5.5”.) I have chosen to mount all of the castle photos on sections of a plaid pattern paper.

 

Scrapping with Ease: Using Die Set D and a 4"x 5.5" photo to trim to layered sized

Scrapping with Ease: Using Die Set D and a 4″x 5.5″ photo to trim to layered sized

Scrapping with Ease: Two photos trimmed to fit 2x5 block size using Dies Set D

Scrapping with Ease: Two photos trimmed to fit 2×5 block size using Dies Set D

Two photos will need to fit into sections of 3×6 blocks. This means without a mat you will need to have a photo that measures at least 6 5/8” tall to hand cut to 3 ¼”x 6 5/8”.

A 5”x 7” photo will work well here and the dies will make it a breeze to trim to fit the 3×6 area. I printed larger here and used a die to cut.

To use a mat in this section you will have to trim a 4×6 Paper Tile (there’s one in each set of Paper Tiles) or cut your own using cardstock with either with a paper cutter, a craft knife and Mosaic Moments Cutting Mat or with our Die Set D.

 

Scrapping with Ease: Die Set D stored in Crafter's Companion magnetic page/unmounted stamp storage system.

Scrapping with Ease: Die Set D stored in Crafter’s Companion magnetic page/unmounted stamp storage system.

If you want to use a mat, the die for layering measures 6 ¼” x 2 ¾” and is an easy and fast way to trim your photo to size every time. For these sections you can trim by hand your photo to 6” x 2 ½” from a 4” x 6” photo and have a nice border without printing a larger photo.

…and finally…

3. Practice!

Do you remember the first time you stood at the end of a diving board? Did you just jump in or did you stand staring into the water hesitating to take the plunge? Let me encourage you to just jump in to Mosaics. Like everything in life the more you practice the better you become at doing something. Mosaics are no different. Practice. Practice. Practice!

Start with patterns that are simpler and work up towards the more detailed patterns. Or just jump in a give it a try. Once you get your feet wet you’ll be scrapping with ease and loving it!

I hope you’ll share what you’ve been creating with your Mosaic Moments Grids, we’d love to see what you are doing!!

Andrea Fisher

MM_Scrapping with Ease