Masking and Breaking Boundaries

Continuing with Papertrey's Peaceful Garden, let's explore the idea of breaking boundaries. Defining a space on a one-layer card can eliminate that so-called "floaty" design flaw many people don't like. I'm not put off by "floaty" images, necessarily, because there's a crisp simplicity to them, but it is true that grounded images are more pleasing to the eye.

Anyway, if you define a space on a card, you focus attention and ground your image. Today's card uses a large irregular circle from My Favorite Things Party Patterns set to do just that.

I wanted the bamboo to be defined across the bottom by the border of the circle, but I wanted it to extend beyond the top. This adds interest (I think) and can make a design feel less fussy.

To mask the bottom half of the circle, I stamped it on a post-it (sticky strip at the bottom) and cut out only the bottom half of the circle. Quite easy with a simple shape, don't you think?

Break some boundaries in your stamping! It feels good.

Supplies
stamps: Papertrey Peaceful Garden, MFT Party Patterns
ink: Hero Arts soft pool, Memento bamboo leaves, Memento Luxe rich cocoa
paper: Papertrey white
accessories: post it, scissors, rhinestone