Using Color Palettes to Inspire Your Layouts (Part 1)

If you spend any amount of time on Pinterest (…like I do…) you will most likely have seen a variety of color palettes in your feed.  Beyond the obvious eye candy, color palettes can be a very helpful tool for scrapbookers and paper crafters. Not only can they provide a wealth of inspiration, they can also help you formulate design decisions.

Starting today, I am bringing you a three-part series all about using color palettes in your scrapbooking and paper crafting. In this first installment, we’re going to look at how a color palette can inspire your product selections using the gallon/quart/pint theory. In part two, I’m going to show how different palettes can inspire design decisions and in part three, we’ll look at how color palettes can help solve paper crafting dilemmas.

How color palettes can help with product selection

I have always been inspired by color and love coming up with cool combinations to set off my scrapbook pages. Back when I was still using a lot of plain cardstock on my layouts, I often used the color wheel to help me find cool combinations. As scrapbooking products evolved and manufacturers added more pattern papers in coordinating colors, I let the pattern papers guide my color decisions and left the color wheel behind.

But I’m starting to sense that there is another personal evolution starting. I want to be more involved in the process again. After seeing so many inspiring color palettes online, I challenged myself to come up with some fun ways to make them part of my process.

For my layout today, I had these two photos:

photos for palette

Green is the dominant color, though the shades vary between the two photos. The other major color is that peachy red flowers. Rather than going to my stash of products to randomly search for something that might work, I went to my favorite color palette site to search for some inspiration. [Read more...]

Cards | Thank You

This week, Card Annex designer Susie Moore is here with your Monday card inspiration! Today’s card is all about die cutting – and Lori Whitlock!
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Susie used a digital die cut from the Silhouette Online Store called “Thank You Card” by Lori Whitlock. Paired with a patterned paper from Echo Park’s “For the Record 2″ collection, also designed by Lori, the die makes quite a statement! [Read more...]

Cards | Thinking of You

We finish off today with Card Annex team designer Yana Smakula. She brings you this hello that is full of sunshine (something we haven’t seen all week here in the so-called “sunshine state”) with help from some fabulous Pebbles products!

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I fell in love with the Pebbles Basics Pads the moment I saw them, and patterns like this yellow chevron are the reason why! They are so quick and easy – just grab a sheet and fold it to make a card! [Read more...]

Cards | Hello

Hi! It’s Card Annex team designer Terri Davenport. I’m here to share a fun way to say “hello” – and a quick & easy stamping technique!

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[Read more...]

Cards | Happy Mother’s Day

Today, we’re making a big announcement for National Scrapbook Day!

Please welcome to Scrapbook Update the Card Annex design team! The Card Annex team was founded late last year as part of another Nally Studios property, and is now taking up permanent residence at Scrapbook Update to strengthen our creative offerings here.

Our ten card designers will be bringing you content several times per week to highlight products and teach techniques. Today, you’ll be getting their first three posts for Scrapbook Update, but if you would like to see more, you can visit the Card Annex archives on our site.

First up today, Scrapbook Update’s Card Annex team designer Corri Garza is bringing us a card featuring the products of designer Lori Whitlock, but from two different companies!

The beautiful pink papers on this card are from the Valentine’s Day collection called “Love Story” that Lori designed for Echo Park Paper Company. Who said that you have to put away your seasonal products when the season is over? Lori’s beautiful feminine pink designs in “Love Story” are perfect for Mother’s Day, and would also do well for other occasions like birthdays and baby girls.

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[Read more...]