Doodling with patterned paper tutorial

Hello there, it is Lythan here with the second in our occasional tutorials. I'm going to share something I absolutely love doing - adding a little extra to patterned paper.

To do this you need to chose paper with quite a bold pattern. Papers such as those by American Crafts; the more modern K and Co; Sassafrass Lass and Scenic Route are good places to start. I am using Piggy Tales in these examples. I love these papers as they are so bright and colourful and also have a matching plain colour on the back. This technique works well for cards using punches and loads of white space. They often solve my problem of what to put on men's cards!

So here is what you will need
a variety of toning papers, some punches, distress ink, card stock, black and white pens. I use any old black gel pen but the only white pen for me is a Pentel Hybrid Gel pen (currently available in Smiths!)

Punch out shapes in a variety of sizes - I tend to use circles or squares. Flower shapes would work well too. Don't make them too small or the doodling gets tricky.
Choose to use some on the patterned and some on the plain side.
I then always distress the edges, this makes the shapes "pop" on white cards. You can see the difference between the one on the left and those on the right
then draw an outline circle - there are all sorts of ways of doing this, here are a few examples...then outline the patterns with black pen
You can leave them like that - I think the patterns look smarter and fresher with a bit of black added. But then if you add some white and some additional patterns...
you get a really individual look! Then just have fun in front of the tv doing some doodling.
And then assemble onto cards
It also works for larger pieces of patterned paper. This card would be quite nice...
but I prefer the look of this one!NB It is well worth washing your hands frequently while making these cards as distress ink and black gel pen transfer easily. Often my choice of where things go is dictated by hiding smudges - there were three on the above card...
So there you go - I would love to see your creations. Link them here in the usual way!