elle's studio: the boys

when i sit down to create a layout, i often find myself drawn to some sort of "design element".  sure, sometimes i have a color in mind, or a "softness" in mind, but frequently i want to achieve some sort of "design" on my page.

 i started this page with the photos, title and journaling in the center of the white cardstock.  it looked nice and loved the grid of photos and words, but it needed something else to me.  i liked the way the woodgrain paper from the elle's studio saltwater collection looked with my photos and tags and i played around with different ways to layer it onto my paper.  when i laid the paper diagonally across my background i was in love!!  it made the center grid pop from the background and that was awesome!!

here's a look at my finished layout...

what about you? 

what draws you into your page?  do you look for a "design element" when putting your layouts together?  i'd love to hear how your pages come together!!

happy tuesday!

xoxo