Choosing the Right Colors for Your Scrapbook Project

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When it comes to scrapbooking and color choices, the final decision will always be yours and yours alone. However, there are some valuable tips and trends that may influence your choices. Then again, if you have a favorite color that you consider your signature, use your scrapbooker's prerogative and create what feels right and makes you smile. If you feel like you could use some assistance, understanding a bit about the way colors complement each other and create harmony in certain combinations can certainly help you weave your own magic into your scrap book projects.

Since choosing your base color is always the first step in creating a scrapbook with a sense of balance and connectedness, let's consider some of the possible methods that might help you get started:

• Style trends-A clean, minimalist look created with neutrals and restrained colors is going to be popular in 2011. But also expect to see lively, eclectic ethnic mixes and mash style patterns. Shadowy dark colors, perky reds and pinks and earthy colors will be used for stripe/polka dot combinations and Paisleys with geometric circles.
• Current color trends-You may not be a trend follower, but the folks who produce scrapbooking paper and supplies are, and they will be bringing a lot of Honeysuckle pink to stores this year. There will also be an abundance of turquoise, the most popular color for 2010. One way to be fashionable is to choose a patterned paper featuring one of these two colors and then draw out the matching solids for your own scrapbook.
• Choose the favorite color of the person featured in the scrapbook and build around that.
• You might pick a base color around the theme of an event such as red/green for Christmas or orange/black for Halloween.
• Look at your collection of photos for a common color that seems to jump out at you.
• Consider the location of the photos you want to include. Green countryside, grey-blue ocean or sandy beach colors can tie your scrapbook together.
• Choose a color that expresses the personality or emotions of the person or project.
• Red-bold and sassy
• White-pure and innocent
• Black-sad or powerful
• Brown-stable and earthy
• Green-young or reserved
• Blue-sophisticated or masculine
• Pink-delicate or feminine
• Yellow-happy
• Orange-energetic
• Purple-mysterious or regal

You may also choose to play with the artist's best friend, the color wheel. Learning a few simple rules will help you choose harmonious colors like a professional. The following combinations always work well together:

• Analogous colors sit next to each other.
• Complementary colors are directly opposite and contrasting.
• Split complimentary colors are the two colors on either side of a complement and its opposite.
• Triadic colors are any three equally spaced around the color wheel.
• Monochromatic color is one color with black or white added to create different shades of tints. Just move in or out from the center of one color.

Once you decide on your base color, use one of the above techniques to add in attractive second and third choices. Remember, there is no one perfect color scheme and more than one will work for your project. Experiment and have fun. That's really what scrapbooking is all about.