Simple and Sweet, and Just Enough

Today, I'd like to present the idea of simple is just enough.

You may have noticed that I'm sort of a detail freak. I tend to really love adding lots of tiny details to my projects.  They just make me happy.  But I also find myself really admiring some of the beautifully simple pages I see out there.

For me, that look has been a bit difficult to achieve, but I think I may have stumbled on a recipe that works well for me so I decide to share it with you today.

Here's the formula that worked well for me.  Perhaps it'll fit with your objective as well.

1.  Begin with a high impact photo, printed at least 4x6, but bigger will always work as well.

2.  Choose one or two high impact elements.  These can either be large, arresting because of their color, or something particularly unique.

3.  Choose a large title word.

The way I made this work for me was to start with this beautiful photo I took of my daughter and her husband.  She had recently gotten the small tatoo of her wedding date and an anchor (tribute to her Navy man!) behind her ear.  She wanted an image that would highlight the new tat and her relationship.

This image was the result.

In this months Lucky Girl add-on are some wonderful stitching templates by Amy Tangerine.  I chose to use the word 'LOVE' for this page and knew exactly what the text would be which included this word.  I juxtaposed two versions of the word in different textures, colors and fonts to make a statement that this image is all about the love of my daughter and her husband.

Next, I chose two very high impact elements from the Charmed Life kit.  The feather is large and arresting in the context of a page like this.  I set it next to an image which I misted in a rainbow type effect using the Lucky Charm die cuts in by Dear Lizzy as a mask.  These two items create texture and color and echo the beauty of love.

The only thing left to do was add a border that sort of corrals the feather and misted image and a bit of hand written text under the photo.  There are only 7 things on this page and each one is minimal and makes it's own impact. Each piece is intentional and helps to convey the desired message.  

Have you created a simply but highly impacting project lately?