Behind the Page: Secret Be Told

Oh, how I would love to be a fly on the wall to see some of my favorite designers when they put together a page.  Do they get done and then see something not quite right?  Do they find a way to fix it and make it feel right?  Or is every page easy?

I was given a challenge this month from Webster's.  I was asked to reinvent an old school trend.  And I went blank.  I asked around and even went through some very old issues of Memory Maker's magazine.  Gosh, have scrappy times changed.

One thing that stood out to me was metal bookplates.  Back in the day, these would be positioned under a photo...just one, holding a title or a piece of vellum with a saying.  Raise your hand if you did that...

I decided to multiply them...like bunnies.  I imagined a vertical column of banner flags and substituted the metal bookplates.  That part came easily in my thoughts.  I laid it out and it felt right. 

How to balance the other side...that caused my struggle.  I had to add in the yellow and white in the left corner and the blue photo corners to close it all up.  Sorta reminds me of the sun.  Here is the page:

A funny thing happened along the way with this page.  I didn't really have a title.  Then I started using a bunch of patterns under those bookplates.  Well, patterns go with bathing suits too.  Word Association 101.  Hence, my title was born.  or should I say stumbled upon.

See the gorgeous blue Silhouette.  It was in the middle of the two photos.  I had the trim tucked underneath too.  But it was too heavy.  Too disjointed.  It tricked my eye.  So I moved it and then added in the green circle.  In person, the photo is ripped a bit so I had to put the trim over the edge of the photo.

The journaling, oh the journaling.  It was not as long across on my first go round.  It looked so funny to me and I had to fix it.  How when it is already on the page.  I studied the text I wrote and decided to add in some words to make the journaling stretch horizontally.  See the word "great" up there, it was added.  The words, "most definitely" were added.  The "happy you, and "try to shop and" came late.  Yep, sometimes it takes a few go rounds.

I used the gorgeous Palm Beach line here...it is so pretty and has lots of chevron with it!  And pink trim and that blue!  Yum!

Secret be told...this page didn't come together easily, but it came together just as it should be.  Words to remember.