Sunday Helper - Using Stripes

Last week we talked about using banners in your layouts.  Today we'll be chatting about using stripes.  Sometimes striped paper can be very intimidating.  The stripes can be very big and bold making it seem too overwhelming to use in your layouts. But it can be very easy to get started.   Let's take a look at how Cheri's Dream Big Design Team uses stripes in their pages.

A gentle way to ease into using stripes is to make an outer edge border like Jennifer did.  The stripes add some wonderful colors to complement page.

Or you can use just one edge of the paper like Meagan did to make a vertical striped border.

And the border doesn't always have to run the entire edge from top to bottom.  See how Roxana has the striped paper going about 3/4rds of the edge.

When you are stacking multiple papers on top of each other, a striped paper adds lots of dimension as the middle paper.  Here's how Jennifer did that.

To add even more dimension and drama to the page, you can have a larger border of stripes on top and bottom like Jennifer did.  Because stripes are bold, you want to soften the page by using a solid color in the middle.

Here's another example by Brittany.  The cream colored paper in the middle looks lovely surrounded by the bold stripes.  Because the colors of the stripes match the colors of the elements, everything blends nicely.

Check out how brave Lynnette was!  She's got a striped paper for her entire background.  But with the oversized circle photo and all the beautiful clustering, the stripes do not overpower the page.

Another neat way to use striped is to add them in as a paper strip underneath your photos.  Melissa's page looks fabulous with the striped paper tucked under the snow pictures.

And here's one from me with a larger striped paper as a background behind the photos.

And lastly, when you have several paper blocks, using striped papers adds a nice colorful touch.  Meagan's page has several bold colors, patterns and stripes for her paper blocks.

Stripes can add lots of color and drama to your pages.  It can be fun experimenting with different patterns and textures.  I hope all these layouts give you lots of inspiration for adding stripes to your layouts.
Have a wonderful week!