Saturday, May 28, 2011

STAMPIN' UP! COLOR COACH BLOG HOP

Today I am taking part, with six friends who are also Stampin' Up! demonstrators in Australia, in a blog hop.   You may have come from Ros Davidson's blog, but if you're starting here, that's okay too.  At the end of each blog post will be a link to the next 'stop', so just click on those links to make your way around all seven of our blogs.

Our focus for today's blog hop is Stampin' Up!'s handy-dandy tool called the Color Coach:



This is a fabulous tool to help with your creativity, and to stretch you outside of your comfort zone!  On the back of the swatches of card (in Stampin' Up!'s entire colour range), are suggestions of complementary colours, and of combinations that you probably never would have thought to put together!  My cards today are a case in point (of the latter).

As much of a 'green' girl as I am, I struggle to use Garden Green in my projects.  I was bound and determined to do something with this colour combination, suggested to me by the Color Coach:



Although I felt a bit uncomfortable at first, combining these colours,  I'm quite happy with the end results.  I have two cards to show you, so you can see these colours can actually work together (those gurus at Stampin' Up! really know what they're talking about!).



Stamps: Motorcycle, Extreme Elements, Occasional Greetings, Pocket Silhouettes
Card: Garden Green, Tangerine Tango, Whisper White
Ink: Jet Black Staz-On inkpad, Garden Green and Bashful Blue stampin' pads, Tangerine Tango and Basic Gray markers
Other: Blender pens, Stampin' Sponges, Crop-a-dile, Jumbo Pewter Eyelets, Top Note die, Square Lattice embossing folder, Scallop Oval punch (for mask to create clouds), paper snips


...... and one for a younger boy:



Stamps: Pun Fun, Extreme Elements, Seeing Stars, On Your Birthday
Card: Crumb Cake, Whisper White, Bashful Blue, Tangerine Tango, Garden Green
DSP: Tangerine Tango and Garden Green Patterns Designer Series Paper
Ink: Jet Black Staz-On inkpad, Crumb Cake, Bashful Blue, Tangerine Tango and Garden Green stampin' pads
Other: Word Window punch, Modern Label punch, 1 3/4" Circle punch, sponge daubers, Mat Pack and Paper Piercing tool



I also had a play with another colour combination.  I'd decided I wanted to use Cajun Craze, but not with the usual my autumnal-toned 'suspects'.  Here's the challenge I took up, from the Color Coach:





My first card turned out like this:

Stamps: En Francais, Friends 24-7, Trendy Trees
Card: Very Vanilla, Always Artichoke textured, Perfect Plum, Watercolour paper
DSP: Cajun Craze and Perfect Plum Patterns Designer Series Papers
Ink: Jet Black Staz-On inkpad, Always Artichoke and Perfect Plum stampin' pads
Other: Blender pens, Beautiful Wings embosslits, Crochet Trim, Word Window punch, sponge dauber, Whisper White taffeta ribbon (coloured with a Cajun Craze marker)


Before I show you my last card, I'll just issue a "purple alert"!  My usual tactic of subtle background stamping just flew out the window with this one.  Here is the second card I made using the same colour combination of Cajun Craze, Perfect Plum and Always Artichoke:


Stamps: Love & Care, Because I Care (both hostess sets)
Card: Perfect Plum, Always Artichoke, Watercolour paper
Ink: Perfect Plum stampin' pad and marker, Always Artichoke stampin' pad and marker, Cajun Craze stampin' pad and marker
Other: Beautiful Wings embosslits, Eyelet border punch, Basic Pearl, Scallop Oval punch, 1 3/4" x 7/8" Oval punch, sponge daubers, water spritzer


If you don't already own a Color Coach, I'd encourage you to get one; it has helped me out of many a 'slump', and I have had a lot of fun using colour combinations that at first seem a bit unusual.  It costs $28.95, and if any of us on the 'hop' today is your usual Stampin' Up! demonstrator, we'd be happy to help you out.


Now it's time to hop on over to my friend Kristine's blog.  She will no doubt have something gorgeous to show you!  If you lose track of who to visit, you can check back in here, as I've listed below all of the participants in today's hop.  Thanks for stopping by!



Ros Davidson

http://www.rosdavidson.typepad.com/


Christine Blain  (that's me)
http://www.christineblain.blogspot.com/


Kristine Thompson
http://www.inkspotcreations.typepad.com/
Di Dunk
http://www.stampartbydi.typepad.com/


Judy May
http://www.judymay.typepad.com/


Alisha Watson
http://www.ratherbstampin.typepad.com/


Margaret Knoops
http://www.purplebuttons.wordpress.com/

15 comments:

  1. wow, tonnes of eye candy, Christine! LOVE how you've used these two colour combos! I don't have the coach but perhaps I ought to look a little more closely at i,t eh?!

    ReplyDelete
  2. WOW, you have been busy. I love my colour coach as well. Beautiful cards.
    Rach:)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Gorgeous colour combinations to show off your goregous cards! I'm loving my "handy-dandy" Color Coach too! Thanks for sharing!
    Margaret Knoops

    ReplyDelete
  4. Fantast cards Christine! I love my colour coach too :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Seems I'm the only one who needs to invest in a Colour Coach lol.

    You are so right, those colours do look fantastic together. I'm most surprised by your first two cards, which look terrific. Love those little rockets.

    xox

    ReplyDelete
  6. You've been a busy bee getting all these ready for the blog hop. Great cards Christine

    ReplyDelete
  7. Well like usualy, I love them all, but I must say since I always struggle (like alot of other people) to make male cards, I love the first one and the kids bday card, such terrific boys cards

    ReplyDelete
  8. These all look so great. My son would especially love the rocket card and I think that my favourite is your third card. I simply love butterflies.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Dear Christine,
    HELLO! THese cards are awesome!! I love them all! Especially the guy cards and your last MORE is more on the purple background card!! THe colour coach is FABULOUS!!! Hey try the sweet set on River Rock, that's a tricky one!!!
    Hope you're well,
    SMiles SHarnee :)

    ReplyDelete
  10. Holy Byjingo's!! You have been one busy little beaver havent ya and I LOVE them all!

    Can you believe I only just recently got that colour coach and I do agree that its the bestest tool ever!!

    Luv K
    x

    ReplyDelete
  11. What great cards Christine. What a handy tool to have, "the colour coach" Well done. TFS Cheers Donna Zammit

    ReplyDelete
  12. Wow, what adventurous colour Combos Christine. Really love both the male cards, even though I'm not a fan of Garden Green!! Love the purple watercolour flowers on the last one too.

    ReplyDelete
  13. What a cute color combination - thanks for the inspiration!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Love all your beautiful cards, Christine. Love them all but particularly that last one. Your colour combinations all work so well together. xx

    ReplyDelete
  15. Great batch of cards using the CC Christine. I just love your cute little paper pieced rockets! Some of the CC combos seem very scary at first but work really well. Hugs :)

    ReplyDelete