Punched Paper Elements can add Impact

I created this layout to participate in a sketch challenge on the My Creative Scrapbook website. I wanted to add something different to the layout and decided to create the circle frame in this layout with punched paper swirls. I liked the effect when the layout was completed, the time consuming part was getting all of these small pieces of paper to line up in a perfect circle. I want to share her how I managed to achieve the circle without drawing any guidelines on my background paper.

I used a paper punch by "Punch Bunch", it is rather small but a pleasing shape.
I punched 10 or so shapes and laid them on a curve. I then estimated how many additional punched shapes I would need to complete a large circle. I went ahead and punched all the shapes I thought I would use. Since I was working from a sketch I tried to keep in mind that I should not stray too far from the original idea. When I decided on the exact size of the circle I went to my stash of "left over" paper items and checked to see if I had cut out a circle in the past that went unused in a project. Sure enough, I found a circle that was just the size I needed.

I placed the paper circle on my background paper and held it in place with just ordinary "Post it Notes." They are the yellow papers in the picture left. Since these sticky notes are made to lift off any paper, they can easily be removed witout harming the backgroud paper. I then started placing my paper shapes around the paper circle making sure that the curved edge of the paper swirl just touched the paper ring. Once I have all the paper swirls placed on the circle, I carefully glued each swirl down individually. It took some time to do this, but I felt the end result was worth the effort.

Here is a little better picture of how the shapes were placed against the circle.

I think this technique could be used successfully for many different paper punch shapes. I have already been thinking about some other shapes I might try.