Tag Archives: stitching

Selecting a Tetradic Color Scheme for a Project

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Artful Adventures Kristie Sloan Always Happy Scrapbook LayoutWe have been taking a look at the color wheel and discussing some of the ways that color combinations can be made. One of the reasons I wanted to take you on this little artful learning adventure is to challenge you to stretch the way you look at the color combinations you use in your projects. Even if you know that you love a certain group of colors and they are your go-to colors, using a different method of coming up with a color palette, can introduce you to something new you may like.  I’m not talking about just going completely opposite of what you like, I’m just saying that you may be pleased with using a couple of your favorite colors and just using a different method of color selection.

Tetradic Color Scheme

Tetradic Color Scheme

One of my favorite scrapbook pages I made last month is the one shown in this post.  When I began to examine what type of color scheme this might be, I was surprised that it actually used a tetrad of colors – four colors.  Another name for this is a double complementary color scheme, since it is two sets of complementary colors. The four colors in this method form a rectangle and on a more simplified color wheel you see that the short sides of the rectangle have one block of color between the points of color.  Here is a look at this on the color wheel.  For some reason, when I upload this to my website, it just doesn’t look the same, so you’ll just have to look at it and get the general idea that the four colors are yellow, green, blue, and the purply-pink color.

Here is a closer look at the page. Everybody should have someone this happy in their life!  Even though this is a digital page, you can see how it would be so easy to create a similar page by stamping the background images, and then stamping the floral images.

Artful Adventures Kristie Sloan Always Happy Scrapbook Layout

Digital Paper: Katie Pertiet, Color Inspiration Pack 8.29.10
Digital Journaling Spot: Katie Pertiet, Painted Journalers No 1
Digital Floral: Katie Pertiet, Editorial Inspiration Color Rub-on
 

If you’d like information on other color scheme selection methods you might like to see the previous posts on using a  complementary, triadic, monochromatic, or analogous color palette. Do you have a favorite method yet?

Choosing a Color Palette for a Project – Complementary

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Artful Adventures Complementary ColorsWe often have color palettes we know we are going to use, and sometimes we need something new or different to try for a project, whether it’s a scrapbook layout, an art journal page, or anything we are doing with color. Have you ever wondered why certain unlikely colors look great together, or how a color combination became so popular for a holiday or season?  Let’s look at the old Christmas standby of red and green, and look at another method of selecting a color palette – complementary color schemes.

A complimentary color scheme is based on using colors which are directly opposite each other on the color wheel.  So, you can see that red and green are exactly that – complementary colors.
Color Wheel Complementary

In the case of Christmas, you can see that on a green tree or wreath, red makes a perfect color for decorating with green’s complementary color.

Sometimes a certain color or color scheme can elicit immediate connections because they are so familiar to us being used for the same thing over and over. It often makes us want to steer clear of a particular color scheme because of the immediate connection we have. For instance, in the United States, it’s hard to use a red, white and blue color scheme if it is not for a patriot theme (not that it is a complementary scheme, but you get the idea of how different colors schemes can become engrained in our thoughts). However, you can often use one of these combinations in a new way by varying the intensity of the colors.

Here is a scrapbook layout I did using green and red.  Not only is not Christmas, it’s a completely different season. Because red is the complementary color of green, it brings out the color of the vehicle and the summer’s green grass.

Artful Adventures Complementary Colors

Make a twist on a color scheme and share it by linking here in the comments, or share it in our Artful Adventures Facebook Group!

Previous posts in this series of methods to select a color scheme, discuss using a triad, a monochrome, or an analogous color scheme..

Selecting Color Themes for Your Projects – Monochromatic

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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

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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!

Halloween Scrapbook Double Layout, Buttons & Bows, Take 2

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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?