Designer's Workshop Challenge with Lisa Dickinson

One of my favorite design tricks in my book, Designer's Workshop is to use directional lines to convey a feeling on your page. A horizontal line represents a feelingof rest or relaxation (like a sunset on a horizon) while a vertical line denotesstrength, growth, and even action.

My layout, New Lawn Boy, has predominately horizontal lines because of the borders I created with rows of circles from the embossed brown cardstock and the Target Practice patterned paper. I also used a piece of green grid from the Homespun Paper Pack and a strip of royal blue ribbon to complete the background that worked with the colors in my photos. I love the instant stability you get with horizontal lines - they always make a page feel balanced!

And while the strong horizontal lines definitely work here, I didn't want the page to look too restful or relaxed, as that doesn't work with the action photos. So I slightly tilted my photos to add diagonal lines into the mix (these lines almost always indicate movement!) and used a big, bold title treatment with the Mini Die Cut Label in red and the Black Ledger Alpha Stickers which I colored in with a green Sharpie. These details break up the horizontal lines and add a bit of motion and color into the layout.

The final embellishment was a pair of embellished butterflies in brown. I carefully removed the rhinestones on them and replaced them with vintage yellow buttons laced with twine. This Helmar adhesive is perfect for adorning anything with buttons and it dries quick and strong!

So now I'd like to issue a challenge to you: use lines (vertical, horizontal, diagonal, or all three!) to create a page with your favorite JBS products. And be sure to share what you create with a link here in the blog comments or in the Mercantile Gallery!

Thanks for the inspiration (and the challenge) Lisa!