Picture This!

A beginner's guide to: Matting a photo for your scrapbook.

 1. Start with the picture. I picked one of my son taking a drink.

Measure your picture. I used my cutter to do all my measuring. This picture is 4x6.      

2. Cut your first layer of matting.

I used different shades of blue to mat this photo. For a bolder matting style cut your mat to give your picture a 1/2 inch border. That means you need to cut the mat 1 inch wider and longer than your picture. The first mat was cut  to 5x7. This process continues until you have the desired amount of matting.

I chose to have three layers going up 1 inch each layer. This is a very bold matting style, if you are looking for a more elegant style. Cut your mat to a 1/4 inch border by cutting your mats to be 1/2 inch wider and longer than your photo.

3. Dress it up.
 If you want to give your picture and matting some flair use a corner punch on all the corners. This little trick can really change the look and feel of your pages. Try different corner punches to get the style you desire.

 4. Adhere your photo to your mat.

The last step is mounting your photo to your mat. You can measure to get a precise placement. I usually just "eyeball" it and hope for the best. When you have your pictures matted it really dresses up your page, and makes your picture pop. It draws the eye of the viewer right to your picture, which is the whole point of a scrapbook right? 

Happy Scrapping!