Crazy For Circles!

How many different ways have you used your circle punches? Have you used them at all?! Well, you just might find a reason or two to pick them up after reading through this post. I came across a page in the July/August 2012 issue of "Paper Crafts" magazine entitled "Getting Creative with Circle Punches". On this page, Jennifer McGuire illustrates nine different ways to use your circle punches with cute, little 3" x 3" cards...so I decided I would do a few of my own to show you. They were a lot of fun, and I learned a few new ways to use my punches, too! Here are six of the ways that Jennifer suggests using your circle punches in creative ways:

1. "Create a faux scallop border". You can tuck full circles behind the edge of your cardstock, or cut your circles in half, as I did, and line them up along the edge.

2. "Highlight part of a stamped image". Here, I stamped the image in orange on my main piece, then stamped it in yellow on another piece. I used my circle punch to punch out the center of the yellow image, then mounted that on another punched circle to further separate the yellow center from the orange image. This technique is especially striking when you have an outline image stamped in black, then color the highlighted part with markers or colored pencils. Here's a really old example that I have of that:

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3. "Create a wave border by repeatedly punching half circles." Fun!

 4. "Stamp letters on circles for a unique title." (Lovin' that chevron background - sneak peek!!)

5. "Create rings by punching a circle within a circle." For this technique, be sure to punch the smaller, inner circle first - then you can position your larger punch around that circle to punch out your ring (I loved this technique!).

6. "Create a raised window by punching a circle and framing an embellishment." Be sure to mark the center of your cardstock on the back before punching for easier centering of your circle.


I hope you'll be looking at your circle punches in a whole new way - I know I will! Happy punching!