One of my favorite techniques is to repeat a basic shape throughout a design. I love the unity and visual interest it adds to a project. It’s a sure fire way to create high impact with minimal effort.
Right now one of the hottest shapes is the hexagon. The card below was easy to create with the Creative Memories hexagon punch. I just added some faux stitching with a white gel pen. The candies were made by printing labels and stuffing quilt batting into a small piece of aluminum foil.
Electronic die cutting machines make it easy to add repeating shapes to your design. There are tons of shape files available and many allow you to use the shapes themselves and/or the negative space they were cut from.
Shapes can create movement in a project, like the triangles in the layout below. I punched squares and cut them in half diagonally, then lined them down and across the page like arrows to move the viewer’s eye across the photos.
Sometimes I like to modify basic shapes to add a little extra interest. I rounded opposite corners of the squares on this page and then off set rows and alternated directions to create an interesting background.
I altered the circles on the card below to create concentric circles that echo the patterned paper on the right side of the card. First I punched a smaller circle, and then a slightly larger one and off set it a bit.
I hope these projects inspire you to try using basic shapes in your projects. Happy crafting!
