Oval mats and frames

I use mat borders around most photos on recent pages. Cardstock mats are cut larger and placed under photos. Many photos have a thin mat border, others have one or two wider bands. White, black, contrasting colors, or even matching the background color, mats also add dimension and depth. Ovals and rectangles are my most versatile photo and mat shapes. Most of my pages feature people, and I think people fit best in ovals and rectangles. Plus ovals seem more elegant -- think old portraits.

Frames are cardstock ........ frames........placed over photos to make them look........framed. Easy concept, difficult technique. I like frames, but that are not worth the effort unless I want to photos to specially look framed. Why not buy a package of cardstock frames at the scrapbook store ? I have bought a few packages, and the color, or size, or width, or number of duplicates never has fit my page. Never, ever.

Cutting mats and frames myself has been the only solution to fitting to my photos and my imagination. Rectangle mats are easy to make with my paper cutter, but rectangle frames require a separate system I would not use enough to buy. Another reason to love ovals is that my one cutting system cuts oval mats (one cut) and frames (two concentric cuts -- cut the outer edge to make an oval, then cut the inner edge that makes the frame and an inner smaller oval to use elsewhere). My Creative Memories Oval Shape Cutter has four plastic oval templates and three cutting knives that can make 24 different size ovals. I always have the right size oval.
I love Creative Memories tools. They used to be sold at parties, but now they have a website and representatives. A little like Avon.