Perfect Circles

Perfect Circles with Jennifer Perks.

I love circles. They are the perfect addition to my usually very linear pages as they break up the hard lines and add visual interest and movement. For my technique, I'm going to show you how to create the perfect circle on your pages in order to create a focal point . 
It all starts with this:

What is it, you might ask? Why, a circle cut out of a piece of transparency!  It's one of my most-used tools, and one I happened across quite by accident. A while ago I had made a page with a bubble theme, using circle-shaped transparencies floating up my page. I had cut a bunch of circles out of a transparency sheet which left me with a lot left over and since I can't throw anything away, I set them aside on my desk. I don't know what made me think of it, but one day, I wanted to put a circle on my page and was looking for a template of sorts. Cardstock wasn't perfect, since I couldn't see through it and it made placement of the circle difficult (I wanted to be able to center the circle on my focal point). My circle cutter template (by fiskars) was sort of OK, but bulky and so thick, it wouldn't lay flat on my page. Then I had the lightbulb moment: my transparency circles! 
They worked perfectly!

For your technique:
Gather your materials: a piece of cardstock, your photo (preferably with a detail you want to highlight--for me this was my son's exploration of a piece of paper he had found), a pushpad, a paper piercer, brads, a photo cutting mat (or a surface you don't mind poking into), and your transparency circle (use your favorite circle cutting template and cut different sizes out of a sheet of transparency)

Initially, I was just going to create a focal point by circling the brads around my son's fingers (sort of like what I did with the "Novelty" layout about my daughter's monkey slippers). I knew that would look pretty cool and really draw the eye to that spot on the 
page. But then I thought, "hey, this layout is about my son exploring his world, and that circle looks like an 'o'...I could totally incorporate it into my title!" So before I adhered the photo to my page, I dug out some fontastics and played around with the placement of the photo and the "o" until I could get the title to fit on the page. By the way, the blue paper is 7x7. I knew I was going to mat it so I didn't stress out too much when the e's did not fit on the page. I figured I'd just let them float off onto the foundation page, which 
is 8x8.

After I got everything placed the way I wanted it. I adhered my photo and using my template and a paper piercer, poked evenly-spaced holes along the edge of the circle (I just eye-balled it--if you look closely, you'll see they aren't perfectly spaced).

I placed my blue paper on the 8x8 foundation page, again, making sure my title would fit. The blue paper is not perfectly centered on the olive, but that is OK. I thought it added some interest to the page. I adhered the blue paper and then began to poke my brads through the holes.

When I was all finished with the brads, I flipped the page and opened up the backs of the brads. I then flipped it back over and added my chipboard title...andthere  you have it! A perfect circle of brads that creates a focal point around my son's find...and that also becomes a part the title! Now all I need to do is add some stitching and my journaling and my page is finished.

Comments

[Christina]

WOW, that was a GREAT idea!

[Kristin Hayne]

Fantastic idea! You always ROCK the circles!!

[Kimberly Brock]

Great tip and awesome visuals!! THanks for sharing :)

[Heidi]

This is SOOOOOO COOOOL!!!!!!!!!!!! Love the way the brad circle looks as the "o" in the title!

[Jill]

This is awesome. Thanks for teaching us a new trick!

[Cheryl (mum-on-the-run)]

Great tip!! Thanks so much!!

[kissyj]

Ooh, love it!

[Carol B]

This is fabulous!! I love the way the brad circle looks as the "o" in the title!

Timeless Touches has some great circle templates that let you pierce perfect circles, and they are easy to use, which would be terrific for this technique.

[Michelle Klomp]

Prettly clever. I like it :-)

[Annie]

This is SOOOOOO COOOOL!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks for the inspiration!

[Anabelle]

Great technique, Jen! Can't wait to try it!