Sunday, August 30, 2015

Color Blocking


I love color combinations and how some colors you think won't work together perfectly complement each other. (Kind of like some marriages!)  Our challenge this week the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge is to use a trio of colors.  You pick the medium and the colors you want to choose!


I am a huge fan of Project Runway and so happy it is on again and I get to watch every week.  One of the techniques they always talk about is color blocking and I decided to use that idea with my trio of colors.  I am going to walk you through my design process a little because it always goes sideways when I get going.

Here is my inspiration picture from pinterest with the color trio I started with:

You can even see my notes and what ideas I had. Sometimes I do this type of brainstorming watching t.v. and looking through magazines. (Gasp) I do love my magazines and flipping through old issues is one of my favorite things to do.

I liked the idea of the colors and the blocking so off to try it out... 


First I cut masks in the sizes I wanted my colors to be and used those to mask off sections along with other bigger scraps of paper.

Then I placed them over the areas to be protected and sprayed the sections the colors I wanted.

Here are all the different masks and papers I used in trying this out. You have to have dry pieces so they lay flat and cover and keep the edges sharp. The first sample you can see I had some bleeding of mist.  I must have done about 10 different versions of these with a variety of colors as I didn't like the colors I started with.
I even ended up with this version with a mix of mists using a stencil overlay.
After misting the sections I then came back in with the white gel pen to clean up the edges.  Then I played around with stencils. This was a failed attempt with a chevron using a pearls paint in the stencil and I didn't like how soft the effect was so I scrapped it. As well as the misting that bled into my coral area. :)
This was the original colors I tried and ended up messy so I tried stenciling over the top. I wasn't too happy with this either so back to the drawing board.
Finally I got several patterns with different stencils on the blocked areas that I liked.  I used embossing paste over the teal areas with a beautiful stencil.  I used the coral dye ink over the yellow areas with a stencil.  I used a coral dye ink over the lighter salmon color background and a stencil.  I finished the edges with white gel pen.
To accessorize I spritzed some paper and cut out some banners and butterflies.

For the pieces I didn't use they get kept and cut up for other projects if I decide in the future. I hope you enjoyed the wandering I did on my cards.


Products:   Heidi Swapp Color Shine -  Salmon, Patina, Mustard,      Wendy Vecchi - White Embossing Paste, Heidi Swapp Butterfly Stencil,     The Crafters Workshop Stencil - Mini ArtRanger Distress Ink - Abandoned Coral, Buttons, Simon Says Assorted Sequins,   Memory Box Butterfly Vine Stencil, Pearl,  Memory Box - Heartwood Stencil, Vellum, Stampendous Happy Birthday, Copic Marker - Yellow,  Memory Box - Vivienne (I see this is out of stock but there are so many gorgeous butterflies look at the Memory Box Die Butterflies and you will find another you fall in love with!)  I was lucky enough to be part of Dave's MB design team and all of his dies cut beautifully!

Come join in the fun and splash in some colors for a chance to win a Simon Says Stamp  $50 gift voucher!



Have a wonderful week!
Suzz

15 comments:

  1. Beautiful!!! Thank you for showing your process. Nice to know everything doesn't turn out perfect at first. You put a lot into this project.

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  2. Thank you for telling us about your adventure of wandering when creating. Sometimes it takes me a long time to do one card and I seem to waste things by trying it different ways. I try to be frugal with supplies, keeping what I think can be used later. It's good to know that a designer does this and I am not alone. The two cards you made turned out very eye-catching and interesting. The colors you chose to go together are so appealing. I want to follow the technique you have used here.

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  3. absolutely GORGEOUS :-) love the colours and whole design of the, so pretty :-)

    luv
    Lols x x x

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  4. Wow!! Just found your blog via SSS. What wonderful cards, colors, textures, and movement! I think that my biggest challenge is which color to put with another color. I subscribed to the Design Seeds blog which has helped me but it always seems I'm lacking a certain color and colors can be oh so tricky. Like the way you have an inspiration board and work your design. Thank you for the inspiration and details.

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  5. I love your colour combination, so gorgeous! Thanks for sharing your process.

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  6. Great colour blocking - it creates such lovely subtle layers. Beautiful!
    Alison xx

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  7. Beautifula card, love the different textures and your color combo!! barbarayaya

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  8. Pretty color blending and I love the texture!

    *mwah*
    Steph
    Simon Says Stamp!

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  9. Such beautiful cards! Suzz. The colors and texture are gorgeous :)

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  10. So cool Suzz! Love the patch work and the inspiration sheet! Hugs, Sandra

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  11. A fellow Project Runway fan! Yayyy! I am hopelessly addicted to that show and to Face Off. It is so fascinating to me to see masters of their craft in action. And speaking of masters of their craft, you nailed these cards! I love the color palette and you combined all those cool patterns just perfectly! Way to go-- you always make such amazing things that I bet you've never even had a "make it work moment,"!

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  12. Stunning cards Suzz and I love the patchwork backgrounds ~ they are so cool and work so well together! Just gorgeous... :)

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  13. I love your colour blocked cards Sue and all the textures. Beautiful colour combinations and great techniques as always.

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  14. Awesome cards! Love the colour blocking!!!

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