Colour My Day ...

So, I have been working on some new DIY wedding invitation designs and invariably when I speak to craft and stationery retailers they invariably want to see white and ivory - while these are "the classic" wedding invitation colours, I think that sometimes brides (and grooms) choose these time honoured neutrals because they are not quite sure were to start with colour.
I just love colour on a wedding day! Carry an idea all the way through from stationery - whether premade or DIY wedding invitations,  to bridesmaids dresses, to the flower on the MOB's hat, on past the flowers, the church pew ends and into the reception, on the tables, on the cake, with the favours, toiletry baskets - make it a scheme, rather than a single colour and create a wow with layers of colour throughout the day to make an impact.


Pick a Colour!
Article one in a series of colour theory for brides.

Some people are simply overwhelmed by the array of colour choices. All too often it's safer to pick a colour and stick with it - but let's mix it up and add some colour to your wedding day palette.
So first off - think it through! Sit down and think about colours you like, the season you're getting married in, the colour theme in the dining room at the reception, team colours, anything that will influence your decisions.
Make a list of all the things that you will be having on your big day - invitations, flowers, bridesmaids dresses, napkins, favours etc. Then pick a colour scheme - so how do we do that?
This basic colour theory is used by every designer - whether you are making websites, revamping wardrobes or planning a wedding.
So let's start right at the beginning...The Color Wheel!  The first color wheel has been attributed to Sir Isaac Newton, who in 1706 arranged red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet into a natural progression on a rotating disk. As the disk spins, the colors blur together so rapidly that the human eye sees white.

It is composed of your Primary Colors (Red, Yellow and Blue), your Secondary Colors (Green, orange and violet) and your Tertiary Colors which are a mix of a secondary and a primary (Red-orange, yellow-orange, yellow-green, blue-green, blue-violet and red-violet).

You may have also heard the terms shade, tint, tone and value.

Tint - Color + White (Red+White=Pink thus pink is a tint of red)
Tone - Color + Grey (These make pastels)
Shade - Color + Black (Red+Black=Burgundy thus burgundy is a shade of red)
Value - How light or dark a color is.
Colors are also classified as to their "temperature".

 Warm (or Aggressive) Colors are the yellows, oranges, and reds. These come towards the eye more (spatially) and are generally 'louder' than passive colors.
Cool (or Passive) Colors are the greens, blues, and violets. These recede from the eye more (spatially) and are generally 'quieter' than the aggressive colors.
There are 6 common color schemes:

MONOCHROMATIC - Monochromatic colors are all the hues (tints and shades) of a single color. The tints and shades add depth and highlights. Simply select one "portion" such as blue from the color wheel.

COMPLEMENTARY - Colors that are opposite each other on the color wheel are considered to be complementary colors (example: red and green). The high contrast of complementary colors creates a vibrant look.

ANALOGOUS -Analogous color schemes use colors that are next to each other on the color wheel.  Analogous color schemes are often found in nature and are harmonious and pleasing to the eye.  Choose one color to dominate, a second to support.  The third color is used as an accent.

SPLIT COMPLEMENTARY - The split-complementary color scheme is a variation of the complementary color scheme. In addition to the base color, it uses the two colors adjacent to its complement.

TRIADIC - A triadic color scheme uses colors that are evenly spaced around the color wheel.  Triadic color schemes tend to be quite vibrant, even if you use pale or unsaturated versions of your hues.  To use a triadic harmony successfully, the colors should be carefully balanced - let one color dominate and use the two others for accent.

TETRADIC - The tetradic color scheme uses four colors arranged into two complementary pairs. It offers plenty of possibilities for variation and works best if you let one color be dominant.

Obviously this is a lot of information to remember but with practice you learn to team colours together and instinctively recognise which colours work and in time you follow these colour theories without even thinking about.
Colour is fun - I think too often people play it safe and stick with neutrals but a little splash of colour can really lift things from "nice" to "wow"!
So take your favourite colour scheme and see if you can make it really pop ...

let them eat cake

This week's 3d challenge on papercraft planet is from the talented Adela and includes a gorgeous cake box template. Here's my take on the challenge - a chocolate and caramel confection topped with a fimo cupcake and one adorned with flowers and pearls. Even though I don't take part every week, I think the 3d challenge is my favourite - it makes me think outside the cardmaking box!

thanks for looking

Miss you Robot

Some days you just have to play .... and yesterday I got out some fimo and had a play. I made an Aoife version and a Brianna version but already small hands have decapitated Brianna and pulled all of Aoife's hair off - so only this one has survived to face the camera ... so here he is my "miss you" robot ...

Decided he needed a little embellishing so I added some pearls and a little glint in his eye .... plus I stuck Brianna's errant head back on :-)

celebration cards and kits.

Now I have my 5.5 by 7.5 inch die cut card boxes I'm making nothing but boxed cards this week - and these are 2 quick and easy cards that can be so easily customised for weddings, anniversaries and even communions (add the child's name and a chalice topper on a layered piece of mirrored card).
This card is available completed and personalised with printed insert from my ETSY shop or for cardmakers - a new option, as a kit.

Tilda writes a Letter

This post is especially for Catherine, she stamped me these little Tildas on the proviso that she'd be watching my blog to see what had done with them and today I got some time to play. Shamefacedly admit it must be more than 6 months since I last touched a promarker - so I really enjoyed my colouring session, although my attempt at a bright Tilda in orange wasn't too successful, I've 3 cute cards all finished. I've had a real problem with cute lately, I was just fed up with it but I've tried to keep it simple and I just LOVE my 4 inch alphabet letters .... thanks for the lovely comments too, I will be a better blogger, I promise!
Sorry about the sideways pics - tried three times to get it straight and I give up!

Plush Pals flower card

So, I was asked to make 6 - yep, 6 cards for the same wedding. By the time I hit number 6 I needed a fresh take on traditional wedding cards and I came up with this using the blue flower embellishment sheet from the Plush Pals cd-rom .... sometimes we need to dust off those old favourites and rework them .... I pinched the flower petals and layered with foam pads, added handcut flowers and a sentiment - and layered them into an oval aperture panel - then to make it into a keepsake, a navy blue box with the wedding details on top. Quick, easy (once I had the basic idea) and it was my friend's favourite - she kept it as the one to send for herself.

Clean and Simple Sunday Challenge

My first time taking part in this challenge but it really suits my current cardmaking mood - I've gone back to basics - layers and clean lines, lots of squares and rectangles and simple embellishments. I think I've had my fill of over exaggerated embellishments, inks and lace for now - my exception has to be ribbon and buttons, don't think I will ever tire of those.

Both cards are hybrid cards and use backing papers and images from the Plush Pals dvd. I kept the same colour scheme and design for both but changed the sentiments and focal point on each card for a totally different look. I just love the flower embellishment sheets on the Plush Pals dvd, when layered up they make fabulous 3d flowers and I've another card using the rest of the flowers on the sheet tomorrow.

thanks for looking.

Papercraft Planet Sat Sketch Challenge

Trying to play along with this challenge every week, I just loved this week's sketch - my kitchen was full of paper  from a papercrafting frenzy at the weekend and this sketch made great use of the scraps.
Sketch challenge SK040911

I used the cat image from Plush Pals, some simple layering and some pale blue polka dot ribbon. Minimal embellishments of punched card circles and papermania mini buttons.
Thanks for looking.

Long last - I'm back!

Would you believe it's April already? Decided it was time to give the old creativity a dust off and start making "more stuff "...
As a jump in point I decided to try a couple of challenges on Papercraft Planet - the sketch challenge from Susanna and last week's 3d challenge from Adela, as it just fitted in with something I wanted to try. So first up the sketch challenge
http://papercraftplanet.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/sk040211-300x300.jpg
and I have used the pirate card collection from the fantastic Boyz 2 Men papercrafting dvd rom from Ella's Design. I have to admit that I've been guilty of loving but not using this disc .... while impatiently waiting to see what her next offering will be! So it was time to play - my daughter is one of 3 girls in a class of 12 - so we have plenty upcoming boys birthday parties, so the Boyz to Men designs are just perfect for all your masculine card needs.
I made an easel card with the pirate map decoupage and distress inks, added the anchor covered with glossy accents and a brad and the Happy Birthday sentiment from the fishing card.

thought was the cutest template to make party treat boxes for a boys party. I used the boyz 2 men dvd rom from ellas designs to print both sides of the card, then overprinted the template and added the football topper from the same disc. Bit of ribbon and added glossy accents to the football. 

So there you have my first blog post of 2011!