When I first starting Scrapbooking, there were 2 ways to mat a picture;
- Put a colored piece of paper behind (single mat)
- Put 2 colored pieces of paper behind the picture (double matting)
Now, the options are wide open…paint, ink, chalk… even text!
Let’s look at some of the options.
Single mat: Put one coordination piece of paper behind the photo.
Width should be approximately an eight of an inch.
Double matt: Sometimes a picture needs 2 colors for more impact.
An easy way to double mat: Mat your first picture, then take the matted photo and place on your second color paper. Adhere, and glue around. I never use a ruler, just my eye, but if you are one of those “Detail” people, a general rule is the outer mat should be 2x the size of the inner mat. I generally like to make a very small inner mat (about 1/16 of an inch) with a larger 2nd mat of about ¼ of an inch.
Painting: Use Photo safe paint to brush the edges of your photo lightly. This is a nice way to add an artistic look and avoid the “matchey- matchey cutesy” look.
Inking: Inking the edges of your pages is a hot technique right now, espically for the all-popular distressed look. So why not ink your photos? It’s a great way to bring out your photo in a very subtle way. Just scrape the edge of the photo along a high quality ink pad (avoid cheap ink pads…they will just smear and make a mess).
Text border: Texting isn’t just for your phone! Highlight your photo and add interest by adding a hand written text around one corner or the entire lecture:
Don’t like any of these options? Make up your own! I offset this mat, just because I liked the look! Look at some of these variations:
Matting Offset
Matting Strips
Matting Strips - Offset
Why Mat?
To add interest to the page, or to highlight a photo.
Generally, I don’t like to mat every photo, but every so often, the design of the page calls for it. And when I do mat each photo, I try either the inking or painting techniques first. When this does happen, try to highlight the best photo…maybe double matt that photo, or add a text border around it.