Any tips for choosing paper colors??

[Carolc]

So, I was sitting at the table last night staring at three pictures from Crystal Palace. I must have struggled for an hour before I finally chose a piece of cardstock and a piece of patterned paper to use. There are just so many things that could be done! I could choose something with sky blue or yellow or green (to expand on the atrium theme), or something that matched the boldest colors in the photos (in this case, the characters - Piglet, Eeyore, and Pooh). I ultimately chose something that worked out well, but it seems like it shouldn’t be so stressful!

Does anyone have any tips for choosing which color paper(s) to use? Or, do you know of any resources (books or websites) that discuss such a topic?



Carol

 

[zooreturns]

What I learned in a class, was that we usually gravitate towards picking colors that are IN our photos. For example, if someone were wearing a red shirt, you might try to coordinate with that. But what that really does, is pull your eye to the shirt, when in fact, that is not your focal point.
What we should try to do instead, is to pick a complimentary color (one opposite on the color wheel) of your focal color. The example given in the class I attended, was that if you just love those gorgeous baby blue eyes, then you might want to go with orange-- blue's complimentary color. This will really cause those baby blue's to POP!!
Just a thought... of course, as in everything, rules are just guidelines.. and aren't meant to be followed to the T all the time!

 

[BlessedMomOfTwo]

Carol,

I am not sure if this might help you or not. Several months ago I received a demo disk from Bazzill Basics Paper for a new computer program. I believe it was called Blueprints or something similar. I haven't had the time to try it out or experiment with it as I just recently switched to digital from film. However, it appeared that you could upload your pictures to it and it would give match colors for you and recommend which colors would be best and you could see them on screen to see which you preferred.

Has anyone else tried this out that might offer well how it works? It looked pretty cool and I thought it was a great idea.

Please note, I have no affiliation with Bazzill other than loving their paper.

Carol

 

[huge mickey fan]

I usually choose the back ground paper first then the color cardstock to match. My paper choices usually coordinate with the photo. Like a picture with Pooh would probably be Pooh paper maybe with a red cardstock. When I did my last Disneyland trip I took all my pictures and sorted them by page then I laid them out on the floor and took my huge Disney paper statsh and started assigning background papers. It made choosing easier. Then matching cardstock just worked out between the pics and cardstock.

 

[Carolc]

Some interesting ideas, thank you.

Did the computer program cost anything? (or did you get it free with a paper purchase?)

Now a class is an interesting thought that I haven't considered. Where did you take the class? (at a store or a junior college or something like that?). I'd like to do that if it helps me scrap better! (and wasn't just a big sales pitch). I'm basically a beginner... and a frustrated one at that! I want to redo some of my pages because they just don't flow well. But I'm very slow... I seem to spend 3 or 4 hours on just one page!

I've purchased four different books on scrapbooking, and they are amazingly all different (some are more helpful than others). But none really talk about color and how to select it... (aside from stately generally about the color wheel). You'd think there must be a book out there that goes into more detail...

Thanks again...
Carol

 

[huge mickey fan]

Most of the classes offered around my town are at the LSS. I believe one was called choosing color or something like that. Check with your local store. They usually have several different classes a month. I have also seen some beginner classes in my community education program that were relativly inexpensive. It might be an all day saturday type thing I don't really know. As far as the amount of time it takes you will probably get faster with time. Don't loose heart quite yet. Sometimes the longest part of doing a page is the organization and thought process. I also think going to a local store and scrapping with others helps. They can help you or guide you in a good direction. These discussion boards also are very helpful. If you are really stuck you can private message me and I would help as best I could. Before you know it you will be helping out some other new person who needs it.

Huge Mickey Fan

 

[latharia]

I usually choose color based on the mood of the pictures. If they are fun & playful, I'll go with brights, even if it's for adults. If it's more subdued & serious, more muted colors. Evoke the emotion & you'll be on the right track!

 

[Lisa]

When I first started scrapbooking, I tend to rely on a color wheel for color schemes. It helped.

 

[lbarnes]

I tend to pick backgrounds that are themed toward my pics. Like for my pictures at SW, I used lots of blues and water-type colors. For my pictures around our resort (Beach Club), I used soft, beachy, oceany colors. For my Halloween pics, I used black scrapbook pages and they turned out really cute! I got some Cinderella pages from www.mousememories.com, and used them for castle pictures. I just mess around until I get a look that I like.