Hi all, Silke here.
For this tutorial I was inspired by Yvonne’s layout using my Spirit Animal (by PapierStudio Silke)

The idea here is to add very subtle flower and foliage effects blended into the background. If you want, you can also add butterflies, watercolor paint effects and splatters/splashes with this blending effect to enhance your background!

Start with a simple background first. Choose a solid, neutral paper. Now add 2 photo mats (or even one) positioning them in the center of your design. Create 2 white rectangles to clip your pictures with a shadow (see below) OR opt for one or two frames.

Set the layer style to drop shadow for the picture mats with following settings

Then create a border around your page with flowers and foliage. Use only 3-4 items, and duplicate these as many times as you want in order to cover all the page edges. Use the blending mode MULTIPLY and the opacity around 20%.

If you want, add one more element with this semi-transparent effect behind the two photos. Here I added a cluster from the same bundle mentioned above.
Then go ahead and add the same flowers, foliage and other elements as you normally do. Like I did with the Spirit Animal Kit

I did a layout with my new kit/ collection Spring Bliss.  This time I used the blend mode “Color Burn” for the foliage. See below:

I’ve created a little border freebie for you. Experiment with your blend mode & opacity to get the effect you want, on your page.

If you are craving a little more, be sure to visit my store at the Studio: PapierStudio Silke. Right now both kits featured in this blog post are on sale for 30% Off!