Two ideas for overlays

First of all, I should probably address what an overlay is. Basically, it is something that you put over an element on your layout, usually paper, to alter it’s look. Overlays are often used to make the paper look grungy or worn. Here is one example of a paper overlay that is designed to make the edges of the paper look inked. It was created by Kim Hill.

The basic use of an overlay is to add it to your layout and place it in the layer just above the paper you want to alter. Here is what the inked edge looks like on a paper. I had to stretch it a bit to get it to fit even with the edges of the paper. The paper is by Mona Minnie.

The problem is that you often want overlays to add to the layout without being eye-catching themselves. To achieve this, I have two suggestions.

First, you can try to recolor the overlay. Alter the color just a bit to fit your layout. Second, you can adjust the opacity of the overlay. Allow some of the paper underneath to show through so that the overlay doesn’t stand out so sharply. If you don’t know how to do either of things in your program try googling for some tutorials.

To see some examples, look at some of my previous posts. I used a grunge overlay at a low opacity in the Thankful for layout of my hubby and son. Further back, I used a recolored inked edge in the ZZZZZ layout in the post about sketches.