Colour combinations

As a sewer and a crafter I am always playing with colour combinations and trying to come up with fabric colours that go with the theme. If I am sewing one of my childrens cloth books I will most often go with bright and uplifting fun colour combinations. The same with the fish I sew for the magnetic fishing games - bright colours to attract kids attention.

It is when I am making cards and sewing for adults that I sometimes struggle for the perfect colour combinations. Sometimes selecting the fabrics that give the look I want can take as long as sewing the actual item!

Over time I have come across some great sites and hints to make choosing colours so much easier.

1. Look to nature for wonderful colour combinations. They almost always work! For instance the pure white flower above with the yellow and hint of green - perfect!
The green leaves with an accent colour of the deep red works great too.

Purple and green is always a winner.
Shades of orange, yellow and green - citrus colours are a fantastic combo too.

2. Understand how the colour wheel works and carry one around with you when selecting fabrics, papers etc. http://www.colormatters.com/colortheory.html

Understand complementary colours, analogous colours, colour triads primary, secondary and tertiary colours.

3. Choose colour to go with the theme and mood. For instance when I am making baby nappy stackers I choose softer pastel colours over extremely bright ones. I choose pale blues and greens or pinks and soft mints.

4. Paint charts. All the hard work has been done by colour experts in the paint industries. Pop into your local hardware shop and grab some paint colour charts. Not only have they got every shade of colour you could possibly want but they have also got colour combinations worked out too. Play around with some of the paint sites online too http://www.dulux.com.au/ or http://www.taubmans.com.au/public/colour.aspx

5. Use magazines for inspiration. Interior decorating magazines are especially helpful.

6. There are no rules. Be brave with colour combinations and experiment with different textures and shades.

SALE SALE SALE

Just a reminder that all of my childrens cloth books are reduced to $20.00 for a limited time.

SALE On all Cloth Childrens Books

It is SALE TIME at Creative Wishes.

All of my cloth books are reduced to $20.00.

This is a huge saving of $5.00 off each childrens cloth book.

The cloth books are soft for little hands to hold onto. They are interactive, fun, educational and colourful.
There are books to help your little one learn his shapes.

Cloth books about the four seasons.

Delicious books to help with counting.
They make fantastic presents and are perfect for those times when you need your little angel to be playing quietly - in the car, at appointments, church etc.
Have a look over at Made It to see more photos of the pages in the books.

Elephants

In my last post I was saying how elephants should be the' in' animals since I think owls have had way too much time in the spotlight.

Well, obviously they are already popular! I must have been hiding under a rock or something because over at Made it there are over ten pages of elephants items for sale. From kids blankets, baby softies to cards and pillows.

I have had a look through and found some of my favourites.

Time for Tea.me has this lovely elephant journal.

Photo by Blue Dog Studios.

Magnetic Zoo animal bookmarks.

Baby's Room set of three elephants. Love the red floral material in these!


Robyn Lee cushion cover.

What animals do you want to see more - maybe penguins, now they would be mighty cute!

Handmade Cooperative 4 kids has some lovelies on display this week too. The theme is called Woodlandia. Check out the very adorable Father and Son canvas set. Perfect for a babies nursery walls.

My Creative Space

Busily working on some writing and card sets. Each handmade envelope stores six cards and six matching tags. The envelopes took a bit of fiddling with different patterns to get the right size and look I was after. I am happy with these ones finally.

These will be stocked at a lovely shop in Newcastle called Ciao Meow. If you are ever nearby be sure to drop by because it is full of arty, creative wonderful handmade goodies.
Tad excited to be putting my handmade creations 'out there' in a real bricks and mortar shop. This is something I want to do more of - although I have no idea how to go about finding real shops that may be interested in selling my craft. And no idea how to approach and market and sell myself! Any hints people?
I am going through an elephant phase at the moment. I think they should be the next big thing and shove owls off their pederstal.

Happy crafting everyone. Popon over to the lovely Kootoyoo site for more creative spaces.