Inspiration is Everywhere!

Last night I was relaxing with my husband and watching Designed to Sell on HGTV. On this episode, the only real help the couple needed was redecorating a guest bedroom and fleshing out a living area on their large back deck. What surprised me was the colors the designer chose to pair with the goldenrod wall color that has been popular for almost a decade.

She chose a patterned fabric that was off white and a blue that immediately made me think of Baja Breeze from this year's InColor Collection. The room also featured an area rug at the foot of the bed that pulled some brown in with these two colors, using a floral motif.

I was intrigued, so I made a mental note to check this out IRL to see if my eyes would confirm what I'd seen work onscreen. I pulled out More Mustard, Baja Breeze, Very Vanilla, and Chocolate Chip. It looked good! I had Pocket Silhouettes on my desk, and it hadn't seen much ink. I wanted the VV to play a dominant role in the design, in order to keep it light and airy. That meant that the ink was going to be what I used to portray the color combination.

The first card is minimalistic. The images and the petite font used for the phrase "friend to friend" really pair well. I added some texture by stamping the grass from Inspired by Nature on the More Mustard mat, but it's pretty hard to tell it's there. The weaving of the 5/8" Chocolate Chip grosgrain brought this card together. I figure that I don't need to make something complicated. Simple works!

This second card was inspired by some I saw in the SCS gallery for this set. I layered the stamps and the colors using the same three images from the first card. This created a sort of "meadow". I used the second sentiment stamp in the set, "thanks so much", for this card's message. I had fun using a tiny detail from each of the three stamps on the sentiment strip, further tying everything together. The ribbon is Close to Cocoa 1/4" grosgrain, and I like the more muted color within the same palette. The stripes at the bottom repeat the stripe element.

I think this is a very striking, yet soothing color combination. Be on the lookout for colors that work well together. I suggest keeping a notebook so that you don't forget before you get a chance to try them out.