Selecting Color Themes for Your Projects – Monochromatic

Artful Adventures Monochromatic Scrapbook PageCompanies that make suites of products for scrapbooking, card making, papercrafting, etc.; have pre-selected color themes for you, so you don’t even have to think about what to use.  However, what if you are purchasing items individually, or have left over product?  What do you have that those things will coordinate with?  It’s all about selecting a color theme!  That’s why a company’s product line looks great, and that’s how you can select colors that will work for you as well!

In the last post we discussed how to use the color wheel and use a triad color scheme for a project or scrapbook page.  Today,  let’s talk about a different way to select colors – the monochromatic color scheme.  You may think that a monochromatic color scheme is 50 shades of the same color.  That’s true!  However, when you move up and down the spectrum, you find that there is more to a monochromatic scheme than appearing to be all the same color.

Monochromatic Theme

The open circle is the coral color

For this scrapbook page, I wanted to use a background color that was based on Calypso Coral, but I wanted it to have a little bit different look and feel than the other colors I normally use with it. I picked that color on the color wheel, and look at the other variations that are up and down that line of color.

Here are the colors that pop up!

Coral Monochromatic Scheme

Monochromatic scheme using coral as the base color.

For some reason, every time I have tried to upload this color strip, it seems to alter the way the original colors appear!  One color appears to be more gray than it looks here.

Using a color scheme as a jumping off point for your project, you can then use what you have and take liberty with adjustments as needed.  Here is a layout using this method.  You’ll see that the paged is not strictly made using only these colors, but you can also see that the majority of the page is based very close to this.

For an easy way to help you create a monocromatic color scheme, here is great website to use: kuler.adobe.com  (See below this next photo for a video on how to use it!)  Once you try this method and link up your project here or over at our Facebook Artful Adventures Group!

Artful Adventures Monochromatic Scrapbook Page

Selecting Background Colors for your Pages

Kristie Sloan Artful Adventures Background Color Selection

Background photo color can really make your photo pop!

Do you ever have trouble selecting a color for the background of a scrapbook page or maybe an art journal page?  If you have something that you really want to stand out, your background will really make a difference.  Often, we look for colors in a photo to pull out and use the same color or a shade of it, to pull colors from the photo out onto the page, so to speak. However, look what happens when you use a color that really isn’t a highly noticeable color in the photo.

You could argue there is an itsy, bitsy amount of blue in the sky in the background of the photo, yet it really isn’t even the color of blue used on the page background, or that there is blue in her jeans. Maybe you’d be right to think that is why it works. Anyway, there is no doubt about the fact that the little yellow Volkswagen in is picture practically jumps off the page!

Triad Color Scheme

Triad Color Scheme

The real key to this color scheme is the fact that when you look at a color wheel, one option for a great color combo is to use a triad color scheme.  That is where you use three equidistant points on the color wheel.  Take a look at the way this looks in this example, and notice that the triad color scheme has been completed on the page by adding the buttons in that third color.  The colors used on the page may be nudged a little one way or the other to get the look you want, but they are close enough that you can see the concept at work.

Notice how there is open space, referred to as “white space” (whether it is white or not!)  left at the bottom left.  Just because a page is 12″ x 12″ doesn’t mean you need to fill all 144 square inches of the page with everything you can think of!

Next time you really want a photo to stand out, try using a triad color theme, and see how your page turns out!  Come share it with us over at the Artful Adventures Facebook Group!

No Tricks, Only Treats Today!

I’m sorry you missed this offer!  Stay tuned for other free offers!

You can sign up in the box on the right for other free offers.

 

I’ve had so many people tell me that the buttons and bows on the digi page I did looked like a lot of work!  Guess what — it was!  I decided to gift you a copy of my layout!  All you have to do is sign-up in the box at the right, and press the orange button.  You’ll be taken to the page where you can download a set of the pages.

You’ll have a chance to select:

  • a set for My Digital Studio 2 (MDS2)
  • simple PNG file
  •  or even a set of layered PSD files.

How’s that for a ScrapAhead™?   Enjoy!

Here was what the finished pages looked like.   Add your own titles, text and photos and you have your own pages!   If you are not seeing the signup box, please click here:

 

Halloween Scrapbook Double Layout, Buttons & Bows, Take 2

This Halloween page uses the same layout on the left page that I showed you in yesterday’s post.  However this layout was done so each of the grandkids could have copies.  Having to have pages for more than one person of the same events is another great reason to do a digital layout!  Thought I would show you a double page layout so you could see the finished layout.

You can see that this actually covers two different years. By the time I got to the page on the right, I had decided the little black bows reminded me of bats, so I just added them onto the page with that intent.  Also, the white button is a “moon.”

Just take it a layout at a time!  Have you run across some favorite pictures from years ago that you want to get on pages?  

Halloween 3-Photo Scrapbook Layout with Buttons and Bows

Do you ever feel like you are behind in scrapbooking your pictures?   Don’t feel like everything has to be put into layouts based on a day-by-day, chronological order!

I ran across these cute pictures of our Princess 2 (granddaughter) and thought they would be so cute in a page all together.   Because of all the buttons and bows, it would have been quite heavy and bulky using real product, so this is a digital page.

With all the open space in the layout, you can easily get by with adding the different patterns of paper behind the photo mats.  In this case, the circles help pull together the design with the round buttons of the border.

Notice how some of the buttons are overlapping a bit and the shadows on the buttons are individually adjusted so that they appear more like they are overlapping each other.

The little black bows remind me of little bats – which was a happy accident!

What kind of happy accidents have you had in scrapbooking a layout?

This layout was done with Stampin’Up! My Digital Studio, (MDS).  I receive no compensation for mentioning it.