Who said simple has to be boring? Sometimes understated is the way to go. Just ask our first Digital Discovery of the New Year, Rani Shah! Rani has an uncanny knack for bringing her photographs and pages to life through simplicity. Sometimes less is more, and Rani is here to prove it. No clutter, no cluster, no heaps and bounds of embellishments to sort through. Soft, clean and right to the point, but with a touch of class brought only through simplicity and sophistication.

It looks as though Rani uses placement as a huge factor in remaining clean and simple. It's not how much she uses, it's where she uses it. It's not about lines and piles in one corner; it's about the bare necessity. She shows a flirty style while maintaining an equilibrium; sometimes a little off-balance, sometimes using all that white space so often left behind.

Something else worth drawing attention to is Rani's use of angles. I'd bet she doesn't even know she does it, but in both photography and scrapbooking, Rani keeps everything a little off-kilter. Most find that this technique keeps things interesting while adding emotion and an overall cuteness to the idea. Take a look at her photos below; her little girl subject holds her head just off to the side, her little boy is photographed from above and her couple is filmed right up close. She also cleverly uses lifelike-wrapped ribbon, tilted hearts and buttons to keep her elements alive. These, kept with clean lines like frames, promotes harmony and balance on the page.

Well done Rani, and congratulations. We love your work, it's as cheery as you are!

You Are My Sunshine by Rani Shah

Digital Supplies: Garden Grow kit by Dora's Designs (Scrapstreet), Font: CK Ali Edwards Handwriting.

Design Notes: Cropping different elements can give you a whole new kind of technique and element to work with, like I did the framing with the ribbon. I simply erased part of it and used the rest.

Journaling: My only sunshine, You make me happy when skies are blue, You'll never know dear how much I love you, Please don't take my sunshine away

Skip To My Lou by Rani Shah

Digital Supplies: Papers, Eyelet, Tile: Beach Glass by Gingerscraps (ScrapStreet), Star, Frame: Old Glories by Handmaid Designs (ScrapStreet), Font: Century.

Design Notes: In this layout I changed the opacity of one of the backgrounds to blend with the other background, creating a subtle effect.

Journaling: SKIP to my Lou my darling!

LOVE by Rani Shah

Digital Supplies: Paper, Flowers, Frame, Words: You Touch My World by Jopke (ScrapStreet), Stitches: Old Glories by Handmaid Designs (ScrapStreet).

Design Notes: I used an element as the journaling, to complete the sentiment expressed.

Editor's Note: If you ever feel that your page is "missing something," try adding a circle - any size, any weight, any fraction of; you will often find that a simple circle can complete any page left feeling undone.