Paper-crafting and Color Selection

I get questions on a regular basis about how to choose colors that go together. If you're an art major, I know you study this in great detail. I am not an art major and so it helps me to have a few tricks up my sleeve. I have some tricks that I use when I am quilting but today I want to focus on color choices for paper-crafting. I have a few cards that I made this morning as examples of this.

The base of this card was part of a "Simply Sent" kit from Stampin' Up. The kit made very cute cards but I wanted to get a little bit more of a punch of color on it. The Calypso Coral isn't my favorite by itself but it does really make this card pop in combination with the Baja Breeze and Daffodil Delight. How did I come up with this color combo? I cheated! I have a handy tool called the Stampin' Up Color Coach. It is sort of like a deck of color cards.




Side note: If you aren't familiar with Stampin' Up, they do colors well, in my opinion. And they make it easy for non-art majors like myself to be able to put colors together. The Color Coach is one way. Another way is that they have different types of materials (ink, card stock, ribbon, brads to name a few) that you can purchase that are available in the different colors they offer. And you can be sure that the Baja Breeze ink is going to be the same color as the Baja Breeze ribbon, etc. Okay, back to the rest of my post...

The Color Coach has a large swatch of each color they offer on one side of the card with two suggested color-combinations for each color on the other side. I chose what they call the "Creative Combination" in this example.

Other companies have similar color-helper books. Pantone is another one that I have. This is what their book looks like:

For the other card I made today, I used the second color combo in the book. (Maybe it would be a fun challenge to try them all. Hmm. Something to think about.)

A very different look from my first card today - a bit more masculine. I didn't have any card stock in the lighter gray color. I think that would have made the card even better but I am still pleased with the results.  If you are someone who gets nervous about putting colors together, I hope this gave you a little more courage. When I get stuck, these can be a good way to get some inspiration.