Scrapbook Photo Matting

One of the easiest and most effective ways to make your photos stand out is with a photo mat that is being cut from a cardstock or a piece of paper.

How wide or thin or how many mats you would like to have is totally up to your imagination. Matting a photo for scrapbooking is a great way of adding that extra visual enhancement which your precious photos truly deserve.

What You Will Need to Get Started:

• A photo
• A cardstock
• A pencil
• A ruler
A paper trimmer
• Glue

Photo courtesy of dawnzy58

Scrapbook Photo Matting

After you have all the necessary things at your grasp the next thing you will need to do is the actual scrapping. You can have your photos scrapped in five simple steps so let's get started.

1. Firstly you will need to place your photo at one of the corners of your card stock and decide how wide you would like to have your border.



2. You will then need to take your ruler and measure the width of your border.



3. Take your pencil and ruler and measure and mark the same distance from your photo on the other two sides. For instance if your photo is one-fourth an inch from the top you will need to measure one-fourth of an inch from the bottom and the other two sides thus to ensure that your photo is placed at the center of the cardstock.



4. The next thing you will need to do is to take your cardstock and put it inside your trimmer to trim off the parts which you don't need. Some of the trimmers have built-in measurements which you can use.



5. Your photo mat is now ready and all you need to do is to glue your photo onto your photo mat.

After you become a bit more experienced at photo matting you will be able to judge more easily using your eyes the amount that you need to trim.

You might also want to add more than one mat to your photo by graduating each one in size which would really make your photo stand out.

A Few Things to Consider:

Use the paper trimmer with extreme care. The sharp edges might cause nasty cuts if you're not paying attention otherwise.

Remember to change your trimmer's blade once in a while, especially if you are chopping off thick papers frequently.

Keep a steady hand while using the trimmer so as to keep your edges straight.

Scrapbooking is a great technique to communicate your ideas visually and a fun hobby for many. From a design perspective there is not much to talk about as long as you design something which is pleasing to the eye. In the end all that matters is that you get what you want.

I hope this tutorial helped you out and your time was well used - happy scrapping.

For those of you that intend to give scrapbooking a try, or if you have made your own homemade scrapbook please Share photos of your scrapbook here and tell us what you learned and what your preferences are.