Folded Circles Background "Friends" Layout

Recently I pulled all of the solid colored patterned papers from all of my Pink Paislee scrapbooking collections and have been dipping into that pile to make colorful layouts! I used my Folded Circles cut file to create a few hundred circles (I know, I'm cray cray - in my defense I miscalculated and thought they would be bigger! lol) from the rainbow of papers and used them to make a dynamic background.

Here is a start-to-finish process video so you can see how this layout was created:

I started by punching about (288) 1" squares from patterned papers from a blend of Pick-Me-Up, Turn the Page, Oh My Heart, Take Me Away, and Fancy Free. I placed one 1" square on each of the 144 squares on a brand new super sticky Silhouette mat - it's very important that it is a very new mat or else the pieces will slide all around and not cut.

In Silhouette Studio I shrunk down the Folded Circles cut file to slightly smaller than 1", turned on the grid feature, and filled up all 144 squares with circles. Then I let the Silhouette Cameo 3 do it's thing. Once the circles finished cutting I carefully peeled them off and then repeated the punching/cutting process so I had about 288 circles. Next I parked myself in front of the TV with my hubby and while we were watching Bones I folded the circles along the perforated lines.

The next morning I placed all of the circles on a robin's egg blue textured cardstock background using glue dots. I thought about placing them in one solid block, but then I felt like it needed some breathing room so as I worked my way towards the bottom I skipped a piece here and there. Also, I placed them in lines of rainbow order. I like how the papers are double-sided so the folded over edges bring an extra pop of color and create an almost floral shape when placed next to each other.

Once the background was finished I printed a pair of photos of Jane and her BFF and trimmed them down leaving a thin white border. I figured out where I wanted to place the photos and then to add interest to the background I splashed white acrylic paint in that spot. Once dry, I adhered the photos in place and tucked flower Ephemera Die Cuts from Turn the Page underneath along with a flower Chipboard Sticker from Pick-Me-Up. I dangled a tassel sticker from one of the flower die cuts using a jump ring. For the title I trimmed off the "hip" from a chipboard "Friendship" sticker so it just reads "Friends" and placed it below one photo. I dotted the "i" with a teal chipboard hear sticker.

To finish I typed, printed, and trimmed journaling into strips and adhered them at the bottom of the lower photo. I love how the background has so much texture and all of the colors and patterns make me smile.

SUPPLIES: Patterned papers from Pick-Me-Up, Turn the Page, Oh My Heart, Take Me Away, and Fancy Free; PICK-ME-UP: Chipboard Stickers; TURN THE PAGE: Ephemera Die Cuts; Die cut machine: Silhouette Cameo 3; Cut file: Folded Circles by Paige Evans; white acrylic paint; Textured cardstock: American Crafts; Font: Remington Noiseless; Smooth white cardstock: Bazzill Basics