Matting Your Layouts

After visiting an art gallery recently, I noticed something similar among the pieces of hanging art. Each piece, whether a painting, chalk drawing or photograph, was either matted or framed. The process of matting or framing gave the art pieces depth and space. With matting and framing, the art pieces became even more interesting. How often do we mat or frame scrapbook pages? The advantages of matting and framing are available to scrapbookers as well.

Matting a layout consists of starting with a solid border around your page and has several advantages including the following:

• Space. A matted layout appears in a defined space, which makes it easier for the viewer to see the textures and colors of the layout.
  
  
• Depth. Double-mounting a layout will give it depth.
  
  
• Flow. A matted layout can make a series of layouts flow better. When doing a series of layouts, consider matting them all the same so they flow easily from one to the other.
  
  
• Neatness. The layout looks neater when given a defined space. When the opposite page in your scrapbook is matted on the same color, it gives space and flow to both pages regardless of the topic.
  
  
• Finished Look. A mat on a photograph or layout gives it a more finished look.
  
  
• Separation. A matted layout can separate the layout from its background environment (table, desk, wall, etc.), giving it its own identity. The mat provides the separation from the background environment which helps emphasize the colors, size and texture of the layout.

Choosing a mat that best fits the layout can be easy and fun. In general, choose a color that is able to blend with any type of décor. For further suggestions and ideas on choosing a mat style, see the Scrapjazz article Matting Methods.