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The Color Purple

August 10, 2014

Our friend and frequent guest designer Judi Kauffman is back with a tutorial she’s calling
“The Color Purple” – interesting ideas, lots of inspiration as always!

Thanks, Joset. I gave myself a pastel challenge a few weeks ago, but I’m always happiest when using bright and quirky color combinations – especially if purple is in the mix. Royal purple, lavender, amethyst, violet, plum, mauve, lilac, orchid, I even like puce!

Instead of projects with detailed instructions, this blog post is devoted to having fun with the color purple. And my not-so-hidden agenda is to encourage everyone to use color combinations that are way outside of the comfort zone.

Purple can be the star of the show (vases, a dress).

Purple can be an accent (wings, a background or border.)

Whether you use a lot or a little, it’s a color well worth exploring in depth.

If you’re a novice just gaining confidence with your color choices, allow me to posit a few questions:

What do you notice about my color combinations?
What do you like, what do you dislike? Why?
What do you think influenced my color choices?

To answer the last question first: Everything I see is a potential source for a palette, but for these projects I looked at flowers (Mother Nature has the super jumbo assortment of markers in her studio!) and at art history (two of the color combinations have roots in Impressionist paintings).

How did you answer the other questions?

Color is a matter of personal taste. I find it fun to reach for orange, pink, red, purple and olive, someone else might find that combination jarring.

Could you learn to enjoy colors that aren’t what you usually use? Would adding them to projects one at a time make sense, or would it be more fun to jump off the deep end, make a big splash?

I asked you to take note of my color combinations so you can use them as shown, select only some of what you see, or reject them altogether and go in a totally different direction.

Spend some time with the color purple this week!

Play with markers, pencils, paint, spray mists, paper and cardstock (patterned and solid colors). If you wind up with finished cards or a calendar that would be great, but it’s not necessary. The projects aren’t as important as taking time to experiment. Outline peel-offs in Black make it easy and fun.

Keep going:

Pick a different color for each of the next few weeks. With budget in mind, add to your collection of pencils, pens, and other supplies a few items at a time. Many manufacturers sell open stock so you can buy only one marker or one sheet of cardstock and then buy more when you find favorites.

SUPPLIES:

Elizabeth Craft Designs –

Outline peel-offs in Black
2560 Owl Circles
2556 Dragonfly Ladies 2
2565 Dragonfly Ladies in Circle
2566 Flower Cuties 1
2516 Asian Vases
2552 Balloons

Dies
728 Bunch of Flowers 1
758 Berry Branch
803 Metal Adapter Plate

Shimmer Sheetz
SS0216 Amethyst Gemstones
SS0218 Fire Opal Gemstones

Embossing Folder
E113 Hearts Entwined

Letraset –
ProMarkers in various shades of Purple and other colors

Worldwin Papers –
ColorMates Smooth & Silky 90# cardstock in White

Other –
Patterned papers and solid color cardstock, foam tape

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  • aking42 August 15, 2014 at 5:06 pm

    I love all of them!!! I love purple and use it a lot on my cards. But never in any way as interesting/exciting/fun as what you’ve done! Because I seldom “stray” very far from the box, your challenge will help! Getting my “Cuties” out and getting out of the box! Thanks as always for the inspiration!

    • Judi Kauffman August 18, 2014 at 5:30 pm

      It means a lot to me to hear that you’ve found inspiration in my projects!

  • Mary Prasad August 12, 2014 at 6:53 am

    Nice colors and fun! I especially like the owls.

  • Chris Boldovici August 11, 2014 at 4:46 pm

    Love all your PURPLE Projects, all are wonderful! Very Creative….

  • Bibi Lindahl August 11, 2014 at 5:15 am

    Beautiful, Judi!! I love purple in all kinds of hues, so these were very appealing to my eyes 🙂

  • Judi Kauffman August 10, 2014 at 12:33 pm

    Thanks, Sandy. I’ll be making some birthday cards with those balloons. I’ll be guest designing again later in August.

  • sandy halliburton August 10, 2014 at 10:06 am

    love all of these, but especially the “out of the box” balloons! clever!

  • Karen Gausman August 10, 2014 at 9:00 am

    I really liked the calender idea. I don’t use much purple but this gives me some good ideas.

    • Judi Kauffman August 10, 2014 at 12:32 pm

      The little calendar pads are from Vippies and they’re very reasonably priced, Karen. This project has an easel backing, but I usually punch a hanging hole at the top.

  • Marge Burns August 10, 2014 at 8:18 am

    Purple is my favorite color and has been since I was 10 years old. Beautiful projects, love everything about all of them.

    • judi kauffman August 10, 2014 at 8:53 am

      Thank you, Marge! I think that I was also around 9 when purple took center stage for me. Before that my favorite color was red (still high on my color palette top ten list).

  • Rita Edwards August 10, 2014 at 8:15 am

    What a great challenge to ourselves! And I love all your wonderful projects you’ve created! So beautifully done!

    • Judi Kauffman August 10, 2014 at 8:49 am

      Thanks, Rita. I didn’t list the dotted background paper I used for the Dragonfly Ladies in Circle cards because it’s an ancient, discontinued cardstock from K&Company I wanted to use up, but BoBunny has some fabulous dotted designs that are current!

  • Raquel Mason August 10, 2014 at 8:12 am

    Purple is my favorite color! Beautiful projects, the Shimmer Sheetz flowers are so pretty.

    • Judi Kauffman August 10, 2014 at 8:46 am

      Thanks, Raquel. I’ve always been amazed at how many people love purple – such a rich and regal color. The Shimmer Sheetz for the flowers was dappled with several alcohol inks before I die cut them, that’s why the surface looks that way.

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