So much to scrap, so little time. I’m incredibly behind on my scrapping. It’s one of those times I’m extra grateful to be digital scrapbooker. I can scrap one page and plop it into  multiple books, for multiple people. This page will go into a book for me, Tess, Lisa & Liz! We all went on a quick trip last fall and I’m just now getting around to scrapping the pages for a memory book. I love scrapping once, printing four times. I also love that digital scrapbooking lets me reuse my stash over & over. I’m recycling elements & saving the planet! Go me!

However, this time I did very little recycling because I saw a new collection by Tracey, TraceyB Creations, I had to add to my stash. It’s one of those I will reach for again & again, I just know it.  Autumn Wonder is filled with goodies & basics I just love. After so many years scrapping, I know myself well enough to know the pieces I will naturally gravitate towards once it’s unzipped and ready to go.

One of those things is masks. I looooooooooove masks! Usually I use them to show off my photo’s, today I used one to create an unique background splash for my photo’s. It was quick, easy & gave a completely new look to my layout.

I started with one of Tracey’s background papers from Autumn Wonder (tbs_aut-won_paper_04)

I dragged in an Autumn Wonder mask, full-size (tbc_aut_won_mask_03)

Making sure each new layer is above the previous layer, I dragged in an Autumn Wonder pattern paper (tbs_aut_won_pattern_pp_10)

To create my unique background splash, I clipped the patterned paper to the mask:

  • Make sure you are on the patterned paper layer
  • Right-click to get the pop-up menu
  • Click on Create Clipping Mask

Tada! An unique background splash ready to frame your photo’s!

I like my pages in a book to have the same frame styles for consistency. I borrowed from one of my own template sets to keep the look & feel uniform.  I used Her Story Duo Templates 01 (swd-her-story-template-1a). The photo layers in this template have a stroke & shadow style that I want to use on these photo book pages.

  • Select Clip Photo 1; and
  • Select Clip Photo 1
  • Drag into your active layout tab

I now have the “bones” for my layout and I’m ready to finish this page!

One of the things we loved on our trip last fall were the fantabulous ivy-covered walls on so many of the townhomes. They were especially spectacular in their fall colors. Tracey’s Autumn Wonder is the perfect fall collection to scrap these fall colors and let them shine.

I used:

You can find more tutorials & Quick Tips on Clipping Masks on our blog!