Cheap Tricks! Printed faux-paper-pieced backgrounds

Edited to add:

So sorry to lecture, I just didn't want anyone else to get the wrong idea:

Having received some confused comments over this idea, I thought maybe I should be more clear. For the record, I never use anything I haven't bought or been given as a freebie. And this idea is intended only as a time saver, or a way to get more use out of your digital papers (bought or freebies). I always trust that my readers know I don't ever intend that anyone should take things that are not meant for use. (Such as previews that are online for that purpose only).

The idea here, if you're not scared away, LOL is to use digital previews that come with digi papers you buy (or get free) to get a quilted look but save yourself the time of cutting & pasting the different papers into a document.

Do you go gaga over the look of all those paper pack covers?

& &

Or the other kinds of packaging that sometimes comes with them?

Is it just me, or is there something about those little strips of
different papers all cozy together like a quilt?



I love them! And since they often come as a preview sheet
with most digital packs nowadays, I thought I'd try
printing them out for hybrid projects

Well, this is the digital or hybrid equivalent of
recycling paper packaging in your projects...


(Altering digital papers to make
faux paper pieced backgrounds)

You can go
from this:

click to check it out at JessicaSprague.com

to this:



I printed the digital snippet above at a percentage to make
it teeny to fit a card & then stitched it.



-It saves ink since you are only printing bits
-It's faster than cutting up bits of papers.
-You can customize it to the size of your project background.
-And for me it's a way to force myself to use
colours that aren't turquoise. ;-)



This might not work with all brands of digital preview pages,
since quality likely differs, and not all of the Cosmo Cricket packs come
with them, but I thought I'd share this since it was such fun.



(use photoshop to create digital snippets
of digital paper pack "covers")

Step 1) Buy a digital paper pack, or download a free one. Open the preview sheet in PhotoShop or similar software & use the rectangular marquee tool & control C to copy a snippet of it.



Step 2) Create a new document & paste the snippet in it. Alter it however you like. You can desaturate it for black or grey and white. Change lightness or saturation, or even change the colour.

You can even change colours or patterns by copying & pasting strips!
If you want more of one colour or pattern than the original snippet has.

Here's an example of a hexagon paper I made:


(This won't print since it's a low res Photoshop document, but if you'd
like help with how to make your own please just let me know.)

It uses these Cosmo Cricket digital paper packages
that I bought at JessicaSprague.com:

Clementine:


Hey Sugar:


Odds & Ends:


Honey Pie:


For a detailed tutorial on how to create custom patterns
& use them to fill, please visit this post:

For the hexagon template (free download),
please visit this post:

Hope this weird little tidbit is of use to some of You;
It just gives me the thrills! ;o)

P.S. I am not affiliated with any of these companies. This is just some stuff I bought & messed around with.