Matting Methods
If you’re just getting started with scrapbooking, I can’t stress enough the importance of learning how to mat your photos. Matting photos for your scrapbook is just like framing a painting or piece of needlework to hang on your wall. Though it’s beautiful as is, with an extra mat between it and the frame, your art stands out more. The mat draws your attention to the painting-- or picture, in our case.
What is a photo mat? Typically, it’s just a piece of cardstock cut slightly larger than your photo, and its purpose is to frame your photo before you put it on your scrapbook page. The color of the mat will vary with each photo. You can stick with basic black or white, or pick out a dominant color from the photo itself. The size of the mat will also vary, depending on your layout and the proportions of the objects or people in your photo.
Basic Matting Instructions:
- Measure the photo that you want to mat.
- Decide how wide you want the mat to be. 1/8”, ¼”, ½”, etc.
- Cut a piece of cardstock that is slightly larger than the photo. If you’d like the mat to be ¼” wide on each side of the photograph, cut the paper to ½” longer and ½” wider than the actual photograph.
 The Single Mat
A single mat is just what you would imagine. A single frame around your picture, it may be solid-colored cardstock or a patterned paper, or even vellum, or specialty paper, etc. You can even get your favorite photo lab to develop your photos with a white border, saving you time if you like the traditional white matted look.
 The Double Mat
As logic would follow, if a single mat is one color frame, a double mat would be two colors. When double-matting a photo, I like to vary the width of the mats. In this example, the white mat helps to create a contrast between the photograph and the red mat, making the photo stand out.
 The Triple Mat
Use a triple mat if you have more dominant colors in your photo, or if you need that extra something to make the photo pop off your background page. In my sample, I wanted to tie in both the pink and peach from my daughter’s shirt, but needed that cream color to separate the two of them on the photo mat.
 Patterned Mats
Don’t think that you are limited to only solid cardstock for your mats. The busiest patterned paper that makes you cringe to look at can be made into a thin mat and look wonderful with your photos. Don’t be afraid to mix your patterns either. If the patterns compete too much, you can add thin solid-colored borders in between them to separate the patterns.
 Mitered Mat
This mat takes on the look of a wooden frame in its construction. The corners of the frame are cut at 45-degree angles and fit together. This look is especially stylish with corrugated cardstock.
A simple way to create a mitered look is to cut equal-width strips of paper to create a frame around a photograph. Hold the corners of the strips so that they overlap and create an “L”. In the corner where the two strips overlap, make a cut from corner to corner to create a 45-degree angle miter.
 Mosaic Frame
While somewhat time-consuming, this pieced mosaic makes a beautiful mat for a focal picture. Just choose coordinating shades of cardstock and randomly cut and fit pieces together leaving a “mortar” between them. You can create patterned designs, or keep a random look to the mosaic.
 Tiled Mats
Whether you use pre-made page-pebble-type tiles, or just cut them out of cardstock yourself, squares add some color and geometry to your photo mat. Speaking of geometry, don’t be afraid to try your luck with triangles or circles, too.
 Eyelet-embellished Mats
Try the traditional four-corner approach, or just pick one or two sides of your photo to adorn with eyelets, jewels, or brads. Take advantage of the different shapes and sizes they come in. Go wild--but remember, sometimes less is more!
 Broken Mats
This technique can be helpful if you don’t have a big enough piece of cardstock to mat a certain picture. That was my dilemma in the “Goofin’ Around” example. Cut your cardstock and space it out to create a fun mat. Adding embellishments to the mat can add an additional design feature as well.
For a basic skill, deciding when to mat a photograph really is quite complex. There isn’t a rule of thumb that will apply to every picture or every layout. I can’t say, “You must mat all of your photos,” because sometimes NOT matting really creates a stunning layout. I can’t say that you should always double mat your focal picture. While often that’s a great way to draw the viewer’s eye to your best photo, sometimes a single mat will serve that purpose while other times a triple mat might be in order.
As you can see though, when you mat your photos, the creative opportunities are just endless. You can be as simple or as elaborate as you would like. Your scrapbook may never hang on the wall at the Art Institute, but it certainly will be just as eye-catching to your family and friends when you start using some of these matting techniques.
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