Friday, February 22, 2013

Bathroom color inspiration

You never know where you'll find inspiration for a card. The cover of a book, a magazine ad, a child's toy. Anywhere, really. Personally, my eye is often drawn to colors, from the serene hues of a misty morning on the beach (Mother Nature never makes a mistake with colors!) to the bold, bright packaging of a product in the grocery store. Yesterday I made cards inspired by two color combinations I found in, of all places, my bathroom.

My first inspiration was the group of bottles in my shower caddy. I knew I had to try this combo soon -- before the bottle second from the right was empty. (It would look really different without the yellow, wouldn't it?) The colors are: Pumpkin Pie, Lucky Limeade, silver glimmer paper, Summer Starfruit, Tempting Turquoise. They aren't exact matches, but they're close. I was a little skeptical at first because I didn't think Summer Starfruit would work at all with the bright colors, but I discovered that in this grouping Summer Starfruit looks a lot brighter itself.

And here is the inspired card:
Supplies (all Stampin' Up!®):
Stamps: Bring on the Cake
Card stock: Basic Black, Whisper White, Pumpkin Pie, Lucky Limeade, Summer Starfruit, Tempting Turquoise, silver glimmer paper
Ink: Jet Black StazOn, Pumpkin Pie, Lucky Limeade, Summer Starfruit, Tempting Turquoise
Accessories: Petite Curly Label punch, rhinestones, Dimensionals

What do you think? I noticed after I made the card that even the way I used the colors -- not just the colors themselves -- was inspired by the bottles. Each of the four pennants features one main color, just like the bottles. I decided to keep the colors in the same order as the bottles (except for the silver, which I moved to the background) because I really liked how they looked in that arrangement.

My second inspiration was the shower curtain I bought at Ikea last fall when we moved into our new place. Honestly, I would have expected myself to pick a flowery shower curtain, but I immediately loved the colors and funky graphics in this one. And the rest of my bathroom is very, very white, so the bold colors are perfect. The colors are: Real Red, Pumpkin Pie, Pear Pizzazz, Ballet Blue, Basic Gray, Going Gray. (In the photo, the blue card stock looks pretty different from the blue in the shower curtain, but in reality, they are close to a perfect match.)

Here is the card:
Supplies (all Stampin' Up!):
Card stock: Textured Whisper White, Real Red, Pumpkin Pie, Pear Pizzazz, Ballet Blue, Basic Gray, Going Gray
Ink: Basic Black marker
Accessories: 1" square punch, corner rounder, rhinestones, Tombow Mono Multi liquid glue

On the shower curtain the colors are spread around and repeated, so I took that approach with the card, too. The card is 5-1/4" square, and all the margins are approximately 1/4". I added the faux stitching as an afterthought, and I'm not sure I would do it again with this layout. But I love the clean and simple design that really lets the colors speak for themselves.

I'd love to know what has inspired you lately. Thanks for stopping by!

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