Choose Your Colour

Colour selection is just one of the things I love about Stampin’ Up! No matter what your project is, with the feast of coordinating cardstock and accessories available in the Idea Book & Catalogue, you know it will all tie together.

Nerida left a comment on my last post asking how I choose colours and stamp sets to go with my photos. Before we get into all of that, let’s look at the different types of photo’s, there are snap shots that are random moments captured like a birthday party or the kids blowing bubbles and stuff like that. Then there are portrait photo’s, where time is taken to set it up (and the kids get cranky, lol) and then there is photography that delves into the realms of art.  

To give the process of choosing stamp sets an analogy lets compare it to songs and moments in time (songs are the stamp set and the moments are the photo’s) I love looking through my catalogue deciding on my next stamp set. It’s amazing to look at the stamp set images in the catty and think of all the different ways that I can use it, try it this way, think of a song that has been on your favourites list for years….got it?….now let it bring back all of those moments in time that you and the song shared (These are your snap shots). Now since that song has already been with you for so long, it’s likely to stay on your favouites list, right? Now go and look at your favourite set in your stamp stash and grab a stack of photo’s and try the same thing, you’ll find youself thinking of different ways of using that set to create loads of layouts. Then as a challenge with that same stamp set, think of a page you’d love to do and then go about “setting up” a photo to make it happen, if you choose to challenge yourself please email me your layouts, I’d love to see them and I’ll send you a sample goodie bag.

When it comes to colour, I let the photo’s do the talking. I pick a focal colour from the photo as a starting point and start exploring from there. I don’t like to over power my photo’s, after all they are why the album is being made, the only hard and fast rules I have are coordinate and compliment. Here’s a few pic’s I’ve put in as samples and I’ll scrap them over the next couple of weeks, so check back to see the outcome.

Ah, my little helper This pic invokes memories of our time in Mt St Thomas, we had a bit of a potted garden at the front door to make a place of joy amongst the concrete.The page I want to do with this photo is not just about Billy watering plants, but a story a house and the things we did to make it our home. To tie the story to the page I am going with a neutral back ground of Sahra Sand. Then to introduce our garden I have chosen Old Olive, I have chosen Olive as it a great mid range for all of the shades of green in the garden. Now I can add some happiness with some flowers and accents in Perfect Plum, Pretty In Pink and So Saffron. How did I come to that combo? It’s not on the colour coach, but as I had decided on Old Olive and it is similar to Kiwi Kiss, I turned to my trusty In-Colour chart. My chart tells me that both Perfect Plum and So Saffron go well with Kiwi Kiss, so I tried them on Old Olive and they looked just fine. I still needed another colour for flower centres, so I went back to the Colour Coach for some cross checking and right there under Pretty In Pink is Plum and Saffron. Now funnily enough the other colour on that section of the colour coach is Mellow Moss. I could use that if I wanted but it would not express our little colour explosion by the front door. Now that probably sounds like a long drawn out process, when I first started scrapbooking it did take a while to get it just right, but that was all decided upon in only a few minutes. For the stamps I have picked out two sets, Cicle Circus and Seeing Spots. They coordinate well together and I can use my circle punches and scallop circle punch to create some funky flowers. Stay tune for a completed page.

This is of my Mum and I at her 70th birthday. This page is about the people in the photo, but it still has to take accents from the surrounds to keep a sense of balance and harmony. A photo like this is too easy. I don’t  even need a colour coach, I am going to use two of the blues from the Rich Regals colour family, Brocade Blue for the main colour and Bordering Blue as accent colours aswell as some Bella Bleu Designer Series Paper. For this layout, rather than use stamps I thought that I would use my Pretties Kit and some of my punches too. Ok, so the coulours for this page were a little to easy to pick as Mum and I just happen to coordinate with the kitchen, so I have set myself the challenge of no stamping on this page…Hmmm, is that really a challenge? Like I said, checckout the accessories section of your catalogue and you’ll see how easy project coordination is with Stampin’ Up!

Woohoo! Billy’s first ever game of pool, I was only about 12 months older when I played my first game. Now this photo is a bit more of a challenge. Mum and Dad actually had an extension built on their old house just to fit the billiard table. They’ve since downsized and it now lives in a very full garage. Here’s the solution…

That’s right, black and white with a little softening. The original photo was way to loud and chaotic (and I have an aversion to Glorious Green, lol) So now I can sigh, Ahhhh. Black and white photography is awesome as almost anything will go with it. I want to go with a bit of an olden days feel, so I have choosen the Windsor Knot Designer Series Paper, mixed with Chocolate Chip, Old Olive and So Saffron. I’m going to use the Wanted set and go with a saloon type theme.

I hope that answers your question Nerida

If your reading this and have any questions, click on the commemts tab at the bottom of this post and type your question in, I’ll do my best to answer them for you. If want to follow the journey of these three pages and you’d like to be notified when I update my blog, scroll up to the top of the screen and you’ll see a goldie glowing icon in the header image. Click on that and follow the prompts.

Live, laugh and dance!

Melanie Packham