On Repeat: Creating Fun Backgrounds with Small Elements with Noemi

It’s no secret that one of my favorite techniques is repeating elements since I find it an easy and fun way to create backgrounds for my layouts. Repetition is a design technique, so it practically guarantees a well balanced project. I love using this strategy for various reasons: one of them is that I don’t always have access to a 12x12 paper printer, so I often work with letter sized papers that I print at home. Another reason is when I have small paper scraps from previous projects that I want to reuse to make the most out of my materials.

For this project, I used the Moonlit collection, which is inspired by concerts and summer nights, along with a set of star shaped dies that come in different sizes. The repetition technique works perfectly with basic shapes like circles, squares, hearts, and hexagons, but once you get the hang of it, I encourage you to try more complex shapes like foliage, arches, letters... the possibilities are endless.

Add a line of glue along the 3/8” uncut portion, then begin rolling the paper to make the tassel.

The next step was to cut out a variety of stars in different sizes and experiment with arranging them around the edges of my paper until the composition felt balanced in both size and color. I recommend starting with the larger elements to establish the foundation and then adding smaller accents to create visual interest. I often like to fussy cut the stickers to make adjustments when needed; in this case, I cut my titles from the journaling cards kit.

And here’s the result! I love how the abundance of stars creates a strong visual impact. To add a little extra texture, I included a tag with hidden journaling and finished it off with a touch of twine.

Moonlit Collection