I didn't mean for this color thing to have a Part II - but I used my new handmade color tool and I wanted to share my results. The layout I decided to try my color tool on was a cobbler layout - as in peach, cherry, blackberry.... My project is a scrapbook of my favorite recipes, family recipes and recipes from friends. I'm making two scrapbooks at the same time for my great nieces Emily and Rachel. I had a picture of a peach cobbler and my neighbor who has tried to teach me how to make cobbler. As the journaling says - I've not been successful making a cobbler though I tried several times.
I did a quick sort through the color combinations and settled on one of about three possibilities that would work with the pictures. Having made that decision so quickly was fabulous! Now that I had a pallet of 3 colors, (my green was a little more blue than the color swatch) I was able to choose a stripe and a floral paper that I would have never brought together had it not been for my color helper. Ever better - I found myself referring back to the color combination guide as I was choosing embellishments. I found that I made decisions quicker for the layout because I had a guide of three colors to work within. The color pallet helped keep me on track.
Carol W shared a comment in my previous blog post about www.Adobe.com/products/kuler. Oh yes that is an awesome tool! Thanks for sharing it Carol. I've only briefly played with it but I can certainly see myself using it to choose colors based on my photographs. Now I have two great sources for color!
Thanks for stopping by!
Color pallet - My green was a little more blue-green - but it still worked very nicely.
Some people are naturally blessed with an eye for putting colors together. Obviously, it comes in handy when you are a scrapbooker - maybe it should be a prerequisite to the craft. Fortunately, it is not, otherwise I would have been looking for another hobby. I don't like to play cards; I work on computers all day for my job, so I do enjoy time away from the rascals; movies put me to sleep and I don't live in a climate where I can play golf year round (at least not yet)! I wouldn't classify myself as being color challenged, but rather I lack confidence knowing if a color pallet truly "works." I may have stumbled onto a confidence building helper.
Last weekend I went to my second-ever crop. As I was leaving, one of the ladies stopped by my table and offered me a scrapbooking catalog. As I looked through it - not only did I drool over all the really cool products, but I also noticed color pallet combinations - dozens of them throughout the catalog. Creative brain cells #568 and #7889 kicked in simultaneously...I could cut these different color combinations out of the catalog, mount them on paper and put them into a form that would be more readily available when I needed to confirm "my" color pallets or when in search of a color pallet.
I also remembered that the March/April 2011 issue of Creating Keepsakes had several suggested color combinations for Spring. I decided to put the scissors to the magazine and add those to my new color confidence tool!
Did it bother me to put the blade to the magazine and catalog? Maybe, just a little. However, I knew by putting these color pallets into a form that could be quickly and easily referenced, the sacrifice was worthwhile. I'll store the color pallet samples in or near my picture storage box so I can hopefully pull together pictures and colors in less time. My normal layout routine is to decide on pictures then make several passes through paper possibilities. This can take me hours! Anything to make this task more efficient is worth a try!
Obviously, the color pallets I've collected here are for spring and summer - so more color combinations will be needed for Fall and Winter to make my color pallet tool complete. Color combinations change as well from year to year, so this set of colors may have a short life span - but it's a start to help me build color confidence. Maybe the best part of my homemade color confidence tool is the low cost! It's practically free!
Thank you for stopping by and visiting. Have a wonderful day. May something special happen today that will make a great layout - even if it's special because it's ordinary life!
Hello Spring Blog Hoppers! Thank you for visiting Destress Therapy. I am hopeful the project I completed will stir and awaken a wonderful spring memory you have. You arrived at my blog from Bec_Scraps' blog. She always has something wonderful to share and she's a tough blog to follow! If you didn't arrive here from Becky's blog, I encourage you to go back to the start www.lovejoypaper.com (Amanda's blog) and go through the hop!"
One of my favorite childhood memories of Spring is flying kites with my dad and older sister. Great memories - but there was a problem - no pictures. I invoked the first rule of scrapbooking and declared: "there are no rules - and the lack of pictures shouldn't prevent this wonderful memory from being recorded". I didn't want the layout to be void of pictures and decided to use pictures that unmistakably represents springtime. This was also a way to bring the past and the present together. The journaling serves the past; the pictures the present.
Having read the previous paragraphs you are now asking - "Where's the journaling"?
I used Ranger Distress Ink to color white cardstock for the journaling spot. My handwriting will never be a hallmark of any of my layouts, so it's best that it's hidden. Besides, what a fun find it will be for someone to discover my kite flying memories one of these years.
Journaling:
One of my favorite childhood memories is kite flying.
We could get the kites up so high in the sky we could barely see them.
A challenge with every kite was not letting go of the kite string when it was time to add another spool of kite string. We lost more than our share of kites to trees, electrical lines, roofs and, yes, the unfortunate disconnection between kite and kite flyer!
Kim, Karen and I walked to and from Orville Wright school each day, and walked home everyday for lunch. I don’t know how much time we had for lunch, but we had enough time to do a little kite flying – I do remember that!
Dad really enjoyed flying kites with us and we made many trips to the grocery store to buy more kites as ours succumbed to the aforementioned elements that destroyed our kites.
I don’t remember a lot about the different designs of the kites, but I do remember the ominous and forbearing skull and cross bone kites Karen like them - I did not. As a kid, I was sure how well the kite flew was directly related to what was printed on it.
The kite is a Silhouette file, but I used a little personal engineering to make it a journaling spot. I cut a notch extension that allowed it to be attached to the journaling section.
One of the things I remember about kite flying was making the tail. We thought the longer the tail the higher the kite would fly. Instead of making a traditional kite tail on the layout, I used another welcome sight of Spring - the butterfly! The butterflies are also Silhouette files. For the kite tail/stem, I moistened a piece of cardstock and twisted it very tightly and let it dry. There is no adhesive holding the twists.
Next was the challenge of attaching the stem/tail to the layout page. Adhesive didn't seem like a viable solution, so I punched small holes and made embroidery thread loops to hold the tail/stem in place. I tied the thread off on the back of the layout. The butterflies help to hide the loops.
My title was also cut from the Silhouette. The letter coloring was done with Ranger distress ink. The letters were Glimmer Misted to add a little pazazz. I found some printed paper in my stash that, with a little fussy cutting, became wind currents for my kite!
I am so blessed to have dogwoods, daffodils, redbuds and star magnolias blooming in my yard at spring! Ah! Spring
We all have memories that may not have the luxury of pictures to preserve them. Don't let them be forgotten! I suspect your journaling will create a picture - not one on the page - but one in imagination of the reader.
While creating this project, the thought occurred to me that I couldn't recall the last time I saw someone flying a kite. Tonight as I left work I saw a beautiful kite gracefully dancing in the warm spring breeze. Kites - timeless symbols of spring.
My Spring Blog Hop tease post focused on finding inspiration in a unusual place. If you are wondering about that you'll have to check back again. As I put the finishing touches on this layout, it became clear that piece of inspiration must wait for a future layout. Be sure to check back and see what it is!
Again, thank you very much for visiting with me. I hope you have enjoyed Ah Spring! and I hope your part of the world is beginning to bloom and come alive again!
It looks like I'm the end of the hop so I'll ask you to go back and visit Amanda's Blog to finish up your tour!
I'd love to hear about a memory you would like to preserve, but don't have the luxury of pictures. Please feel free to leave me a comment.