Paper and Chalkboard Backgrounds

What is in this collection

Papers include crumpled and flattened brown kraft, crumpled white paper, aged parchment, white handmade paper with pressed petal flecks, cold-press white watercolour paper and blue and gold combed marbled paper. Cardstock comes in blush with a linen emboss and in gold shimmer, and corrugated cardboard shows its flutes in neat vertical ribs. For chalk-style layouts there is a classic green slate chalkboard, a well-used black chalkboard with erased swirls and a wall of dusty pink chalkboard paint, plus a bare natural cork board.

Chalkboard, kraft and cork board backgrounds

Paper backgrounds work like a blank sheet: lay photos, frames and lettering on top and the template reads as a printed card or scrapbook page. Kraft paper and cardboard suit rustic weddings, craft parties and eco-friendly brands, and parchment suits vintage invitations and history parties. The white papers are the cleanest base for modern, minimal designs. A chalkboard background is made for chalk-style lettering: use the green slate for back-to-school, teacher appreciation and graduation, and the black chalkboard for café menus and dessert tables. The cork board background turns photo prints into a pinboard layout. For painted colour, see watercolor backgrounds; for wood surfaces, wood backgrounds.

Tips for using these backgrounds

• Use chalk-style lettering on the chalkboards. White or pastel text with a slightly rough edge looks drawn on. The black chalkboard's erased swirls give it a used look, so keep text large there; the green slate and the dusty pink paint wall are cleaner.
• Add soft shadows under photos. On kraft, cork and cardstock, a small drop shadow under each photo makes it look pinned or pasted onto the surface rather than floating.
• Shade added elements to match. Crumpled kraft and crumpled white paper are lit from the upper left, so if you add tape, tags or photo corners, shade them from the same side. For 2 x 6 strips, the even papers and cork crop cleanly from the portrait file.

Each one is an AI-generated image, not a scan of real paper or a real board. For colour washes to layer on top, see watercolor backgrounds.