Recent digital scrapbooking trends have left my doily stash well supplied. But, what good is a heaping stash of doilies if I don’t have ideas on how to use them on my pages?
Good news. With the help of some of my digi friends, I’ve put together six fantastic ideas for embellishing with doilies. Check this out:
Doily Banners. Slice your doily in half and string up a bunch of duplicates. Add in the Shear filter to give the whole thing a little swag. How cute is that?
Doily Frames. Place a circular photo mask in the center of the doily. Clip a photo to the mask, then change the color of the doily to match the photo. Isn’t my Jackson a sweetie?
Doily Dress-Up. Clipping a doily to any tag or journaling card will instantly deem it dressy. Or, for an added look of realism, cut your doily slightly larger than the tag to emulate the look of it being wrapped around the edges.
Doily Corners. Cut a wedge out of a doily, stitch it to your page, and enjoy the look of a photo corner. You may be tempted to do this on all four corners, but less is more in this case.
Doily Stencils. Select the inverse of a doily, then use a Stipple brush to create a stenciled look. Try it on banners, borders, cards, or just a scrap of paper. No need to be picky. Imperfection is the key to realistic results.
Doily Stamps. Fill your doily with a solid color, then erase parts of it with a Rolled Rag brush. This creates a gorgeous stamped-on look. Just be sure to avoid adding a drop shadow.
Hope you’ve enjoyed these tips. Have a great week, friend, and happy designing with doilies!
Have a great week, friend.
Jen White
Note: The “Crochet” embellishment from Anita Design’s Two Hearts kit was used in each of the six design illustrations. The photos are of myself and my sweet puppy Jackson. No doilies were harmed in the making of this blog post.
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7 Responses
Anke Turco
These are fabulous ideas!!!
Nanci Radford
You and Jackson are both adorable! Thanks for the doilies “reminder”. I’m off to check my stash!!
Gale
Whats the easiest/best way to cut out or crop a doily? I have several that my grandmother made! I have spent hours trying to crop/cut out each little hole/opening!!!
Jen White
Hi Gale. Great idea to capture images of your grandmother’s doilies!
First of all, I’d start by starching the doilies and placing them on a highly contrasting colored paper. So, if a doily is white, you might consider placing it on a black paper.
Then, I’d start by trying Select Subject. The Selection Tools are meant to be used in tandem to get a good selection of something. So, after using Select Subject, you’ll likely need to use the Lasso tool to clean up the selection.
After the doily is cleanly selected, add a layer mask and save as a PNG.
If you need help learning the Selection Tools, I have classes for that. https://qwiklearn.teachable.com/courses/category/selection-tool
Hope this helps.
Barbara Hewitt
Awesome ideas Jen! I never know what to do with doilies.
Mary Ann
Hi Jen, I have never heard of a rolled rag brush, can you tell me where I can find something like that or a tutorial to make one?
JenWhite
Hi Mary Ann. 😀
You can find the Rolled Rag brushes in the Faux Finish Brushes set.
Enjoy!