Boundaries, protection, infinity, the circular nature of time . . .
Circles are not only a great shape visually; they come freighted with meaning you can use to support page subject.
And one more thing about circles: they’re easy to make with basic scrapbook supplies. The next time you’re looking for a way to punch up your visual design or add embellishing, check out the ideas here and create with circles.
1. Make a circle of circles
Kelly Purkey says, “I like this layout because I’m circle obsessed. The focus point of the layout really becomes the clean title since it’s in the middle of the circle.”
Kelly’s “wreath” is made from a base of circles punched from kraft paper. These are topped by smaller patterned-paper circles. And then in between many of the circles are circle-punched photos.
The Beginning by Kelly Purkey | Supplies: Cardstock – American Crafts; Patterned Paper – American Crafts, 7 Gypsies, Studio Calico, Little Yellow Bicycle; Stickers – American Crafts, Sassafras; Buttons – My Mind’s Eye, Epiphany Crafts; Stamp – Studio Calico, K&Co; Embossing Powder – American Crafts; Pen – American Crafts; Punches – Fiskars
2. Make a cluster of circles
Celeste Smith balanced her oversized photo with a cluster of circles that spans her page. She made her digital cluster by drawing and replicating circles in Photoshop, placing them to abut one another. Once her circles were drawn and placed, she merged all of those layers and clipped white cardstock to the resulting single layer. If you’ve got an electronic diecut machine you could use it to cut these circles.
Topping the circles is a great opportunity to use lots of patterned papers. She added a few small embellishments and a circle journaling spot to finish it off.
Count by Celeste Smith. Kit: Natural Beauty by Jennifer Barrette at Sweet Shoppe Designs Template: Darcy’s I Love Me Some Celeste at Sweet Shoppe Designs; Fonts: Birch Std, AmerType Md Bt, Jane Austen (all from Internet)
3. Make a layered cluster of circles
Sara Gleason’s cluster of circles on “Love Always” has many differences from Celeste’s cluster above. The circles are small, delicately colored and layered on top of one another to create the foundation for her page about the correspondence she and her husband share.
Love Always by Sara Gleason | Supplies used: Correspondence by Paislee Press and Leora Sanford; font: Pea Gretchie
4. Record a travel route with circular photos on a map
Kelly Purkey used a map of her bike route on “Biking in Vienna.” Brads and string define the route on the map, and circle-punched photos show details from many of the stops.
Biking Through Vienna by Kelly Purkey | Supplies: American Crafts; Patterned Paper – Basic Grey, Studio Calico, Crate Paper; Stickers – Making Memories; Jewels – Making Memories; Punches – Fiskars, EK Success
5. Make a band of circles
Lynnette Penacho says, “One of my favorite tricks for filling the page is to create ‘homes’ for all of my embellishments–on this page, with circles. What I love about this technique is it takes the guesswork out of embellishing. As long as I start with a solid foundation, I know my elements will all make sense in relation to one another.”
Lynnette arranged circles in a vertical band bleeding off page top and bottom. Each circle is topped with a smaller patterned paper circle and little embellishing bits.
June Faves by Lynnette Penacho | Supplies: Full Throttle by Fee Jardine, Blissful Stitches: Curves by Traci Reed, Alpha from Birthday Girl by Zoe Pearn, Teeny Type Alpha by Zoe Pearn (retired), Choose Happiness by Kristin Cronin-Barrow and Shawna Clingerman, Everyday Moments by Lauren Grier and Jenn Barrette, Pumpkin Parade by Heather Roselli, Font is DJB Lynnette by Darcy Baldwin
6. Mist circles on your background
For the background on “Depth of Field,” Doris Sander sprayed mist through a toilet paper roll in several spots.
Doris says, “I was experimenting at the time and didn’t have photos or a design in mind. Once I finished the background and picked out the set of photos, the design fell into place. I love how that one inky drip goes down to the bottom of the page and leads the eye so effectively from the photo to the title and then the camera. The empty right hand corner made an excellent spot for my journaling and a little breathing room with the leftover white space. I would definitely recomment a little inky play to boost creativity.”
Depth of Field by Doris Sander | Supplies – mist and paint by Jenni Bowlin for Ranger, buttons by Maya Road, alphabet and metal banners by Pink Paislee, rhinestones by Cosmo Cricket, Stickers by Sassafras Lass and My Mind’s Eye, paper by JBS
7. Section a circle into “pie slices”
Kim Watson let her page theme on “Socks Rock” steer her choice of page accents. She says, “Symbolically, multi-patterned socks are expressed through the fun paper-pieced pin-wheel embellishments. The strong circle shapes perfectly ground the double page layout, balancing the mixture of photos.”
Socks Rock by Kim Watson | Supply list: Cardstock: American Crafts; Patterned paper, Chipboard, Die Cuts, Stickers, Alpha Stickers: Bella Boulevard; Buttons: Doodle Bug Designs, Punch: EK Success; Pen: American Crafts
8. Make circular negative space
Sue Althouse added curves to her linear grid-based design on “Mega Meet” by die-cutting circles from two of the squares defining the grid.
Sue says, “Using my Cuttlebug and Pinking Circles dies, I cut a pinked circle from white cardstock with a smaller die and a larger pinked circle from the yellow polka dot patterned paper. I put the squares together and backed them with a light blue striped paper.”
Mega meet by Sue Althouse | Supplies: Cardstock: Bazzill; Patterned Paper: Echo Park; Alphabets: American Crafts, October Afternoon; Stamps: Technique Tuesday; Inks, Mists: Colorbox; Tools: Cuttlebug, Nestabilities Small pinking Circles, Fiskars Border Punches; Stickers/Tags: Echo Park, Jillibean Soup; Ribbon/Twine: We Are Memory Keepers; Other: Basic Grey flower
Celeste Smith punched a 2 by 4 grid of circles on “Silly” and backed them up with patterned paper — except for one, which houses her photo.
Silly by Celeste Smith
Show us how you embellish your pages with circles with a link in the comments.
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