A lot has happened this month already. This week I am going to keep it short and sweet as we have the holiday weekend ahead. This week I'll cover our last survey and a discussion about doing a tribute project for Sunmeadow's family. Thoughts and opinions needed on both subjects.

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Community Survey #3: Results Report

In looking at the last survey responses, it's fun to see how COLOURlovers use the site in different ways be that from your desktop or laptop or mobile device.

We had about a 107 entrants to the survey, double what we've had before - Thanks to everyone who got involved. I will be skipping a survey this week in leu of the Easter weekend and the Moo contest.

I will be accepting open suggestions for the next survey which will be based on Groups. Anything and everything Groups related. So suggest away!

The Sunmeadow Project: A Tribute & Family Gift

As a dark cloud shrouded the COLOURlovers community with the sad news that one of our dearest members had passed away, the mass of ways to show our love, life celebrations and tribute to dear Sunmeadow as a wonderful artist and person, have been happening all over the site. It's touching to see everyone surround her passing with such compassion and devotion.

Suggestions have been coming my way to put together a physical tribute for her family. The best suggestion came from, Penina of the COLOURlovers on Spoonflower Group - a book (possibly a Blurb-style book).

This book would include her works of art on COLOURlovers, but I also thought it might be nice to also include notes of tribute from her fellow community members and closest friends on COLOURlovers as her father had expressed an interest in being able to come back and read through all the wonderful things members had to say about her.

Tribute submitted by COLOURlover hana* located on page 2 in the APC Group Tribute to Sunmeadow

The COLOURlovers Team is in support of a project we could gift to her family as a colorful piece of Sunmeadows artistic expression on COLOURlovers.com.

Will any other members in addition to Penina, be willing to assist in organizing this project? With over 6,000 palettes, 10,000 colors and close to 800 templates it will be quite the undertaking to filter through what to include and in what order.

I am also up for alternate  suggestions for a tribute piece. A quilt has crossed my mind, but I think a book would certainly be able to fully encompass all her beautiful works and messages of love and support by members. Thoughts?

Another wonderful tribute piece of Sun's palettes by COLOURlover, hana* in the APC group on page 3

Sunmeadow was such an intensely defined COLOURlover that the reality of her loss was so great to many who knew her well and even to those who did not. Let's give the gift that Sun gave us, to her family to cherish and treasure as well.

*Sunmeadows wonderful works of art and account will remain online.

Group Tributes List to Sunmeadow

Sunmeadow: Colors | Palettes | Patterns | Templates

A tribute in Artist Palette Challenge (APC) - One of Sun's groups, now administered by WordofMouse.

FFP - SUNMEADOW, a tribute in the Freeze Frame Project Group administered by Gasp365.

Sunmeadow was honored in the March 2012 Remembrances, in the Remembrance Group administered by ketisse.

Sunmeadow Memorial HPP in the Haiku Palettes & Poetic Patterns dedicated to the memory of Sunmeadow, also administered by ketisse.

Sunmeadow Fields, a tribute section in The Anythings Group administered by American Women.

And lastly, a look back at Sunmeadows moment as CLAD (COLOURlovers Artist of the Day Group), also administered by American Women.

*Please let me know if I missed any.

Spring is hitting some of us big time! Are you feeling the soft pastels or bursting-budding colors? Have you gotten the bug to create even more flowery floral patterns and shapes?

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This week I'd like to highlight an amazing piece of artwork in the shapes division...

HeringDevotee created this beautiful lotus flower using Seamless Lite - a true piece of art and must have taken some amount of dedication. Her commentary about creating this in Seamless Lite:

I just kinda "sculpted" this using circles, triangles and lines in Seamless Lite. 

Although she doesn't necessarily recommend this method, because it creates such a large "file" type to do a repeat load from your saved shapes, it's still amazing! I think it's a great example of not limiting yourself with the tools you have at hand. By squishing, bending, mashing, rotating and a good eye, HeringDevotee was able challenge what she had to work with to create a work of sketch-like art. Quite impressive!

Speaking of challenges, the CreateMixedMedia Template Challenge came to a close last week with some great submissions. I will Love Note all winners, participants and commenters on April 1st announcing live showcase. Winning templates will be showcased on the homepage during the first week of April (days 1 through 7) over at CreateMixedMedia.com.

Suggestions for the next survey: Contests & Voting

Another big, congratulations to COLOURlovers OrigamiMei and Pennington for winning the FLOR contest! I am interested in ideas from you guys on how we can run contests where it doesn't feel that the most popular COLOURlover(s) seem to win.

I honestly don't feel that either winner won because they might be popular (as they both have attested), but we do see that you may want more attention to how the voting is filtered and submissions displayed on such large-scale contests. You recall a previous contest with Betabrand (lisadale69 and her plaid shirt palette) where a new COLOURlover won (new in that she registered in order to play in the contest), so such is the balance of the matter.

I have to admit, both winners are fantastic, active members of our community and are very talented and well deserving - Maybe next weeks survey?! Give me some ideas on how to make voting more fair and/or easier. I see some great suggestions in the FLOR winners post.

Lastly, our community surveys are getting some nice feedback showing us what you guys feel and think as a majority. The last survey really showed the need for some Seamless Studio (and Seamless Lite) tutorials and a huge interest in those tools. So thank you for the feedback and the extra little comments have also been helpful, I read each and every one.

This week I decided to keep it simple and find out how mobile some of you are as I've suddenly received an amount of questions about the COLOURlovers site and using it mobile, both for contests like we recently ran with FLOR and with creating pattern templates using Seamless Lite. Interesting feedback so let's find out how everyone else uses COLOURlovers, I am curious how many of you are trying it out on the iPad, iPhone, Android devices and such.

Last weeks T-Shirt winner is NorthShoreShells, COLOURlovin since December 2011. Congratulations and thanks for the survey entry and extra input!

Fill out the Community Survey #3

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This week we are re-featuring the pattern template contest we initially posted last Friday. The challenge is to create a numbered pattern using any number one through seven (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 or 7) with the month of April in mind (see more on the theme, below). Also, each number must be its own pattern template.

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Createmixedmedia.com features an artist each week on their homepage in "THE WEEK AS ART" as visualized by the artist who creates that weeks days as art. This week on createmixedmedia.com there is a wonderful display of numbered art four through ten (4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10) each very rich in color by artist, Denise Brown (inkstitch.net).

source: createmixedmedia.com homepage, week of march 4th through 10th (THE WEEK AS ART)

Create Mixed Media will place each winning COLOURlovers template as a colored version by the creator, on their site the first week of April in THE WEEK AS ART. The image on the site will link back over to the winners pattern on COLOURlovers.com.

Seven Winners - You win exposure and a great prize!

This fun opportunity offers you as a creator, exposure on your design skill and a prize of $25 to spend in the North Light Shop which has tons of books on mixed media, color, anything art, craft, hobby and technique.

The challenge rules:

Template must be created using any single number one through seven (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 or 7).

You can submit as many versions and numbered templates as you like.

Please submit a colored version along with your original grayscale template.

A loose theme of "April Fools" and/or "April Showers" will give you more weight in winning, but you are not limited to this directly (i.e. in the current weeks artist on createmixedmedia.com, her work is simply colorful and organic which will work too).

You can use any extra design elements (shapes, lines, etc) you would like within the template, but the number does need to be noticeable.

This is a template contest. That means you will need to use either Seamless Studio or Seamless Lite to make your initial submission.

Remember, you must only put one number in to one template as the template is referring to a day of the week.

CONTEST ENDS: Wednesday, March 21st, 2012. Submit designs in the comments of this post.

Happy Friday COLOURlovers! Today we are going to do something a little different for Community Day. First up, we have an awesome template challenge we've organized with one of our wonderful craft authors, Tonia Davenport, who comes over from CreateMixedMedia.com.

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Secondly, each week I am going to feature the first of many community surveys. They are only going to be between 3-5 questions to help us understand what you lovers would like to see on the blog, on community posts, contests, you name it. Let's just call it a quick raise of hands on some topics. I'll promise to keep them short. In turn, we'll give one participant at random selection, a COLOURlovers T-Shirt each week.

This week's survey topic: What do you want Community Day to be about?

I can guess all day long what you guys would appreciate being featured on Community Day, but why not ask you? So let's show a raise of hands...and remember, one person will win a t-shirt!

CreateMixedMedia Template Contest 

This is a template contest. That means you will need to use either Seamless Studio or Seamless Lite to make your initial submission.

The challenge is for you to design some numbered templates - a pattern design. These will be showcased for the first week of April, days 1 through 7.

• We will need a template for numbers: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 - That's SEVEN WINNERS!
• You may include graphics within the template as long as the number you chose is legible (see how it will preview on createmixedmedia.com below).
• The theme to base your design on is "April Fools Day" and "April Showers" - combined or singly.
• Seven different winners will get a $25 gift code at the NorthLightShop (applied at checkout). 
• Winners will be chosen by CreateMixedMedia. 
  

CreateMixedMedia.com does an artistic feature on their homepage showcasing the days of the month, coordinated one week at a time - see below.

Days of the week shown on createmixedmedia.com

You will have from today (March 2nd) until Wednesday, March 21st to submit designs in the comments of this post.

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In this weeks Community Roundup we will be posting the results of the Carnival Challenge, put together by Sunmeadow. Also featured is the Shamrock Challenge, as it continues and some great groups about song lyrics, Spoonflower and even a group feature from another community, deviantart.

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I've also pulled together a small collection of flower shapes to feature. If you have been trying to figure out pattern template design or want to better your skills, I think taking a study of different shapes in their simple form is a great start to figure out how COLOURlovers are layering and assembling their patterns.

Winners: Carnival Template Challenge

The challenge had 17 participants and 27 templates submitted. If you missed it, please join the Carnival Template Challenge group for next years challenge! They are all so well done and very intricate, which is your favorite?

#1 rubyvillasenor - MARDY GRAS MASCARADE

#2 jeremycole - mirabilis jalapa

#3 o2bqueen - Venetian Mask

#4 jjolmie - viva el carnaval!

#5 A tie between:

alffaroba - Folia

and incal - carnival mask

Since we I started the featuring of these holiday themed challenges, I've noticed we need to work out a couple kinks in the blog scheduling. I apologize to the Carnival Template winners for the feature of your works going up today instead of on Feb. 21st. as we did not do a Carnival-based post that day. 

Member Hosted Challenges Going on Now

Pattern templates are designed by members using Seamless Studio(Mac/PC desktop) or Seamless Lite (free / web version). If you have questions about Seamless you can contact me or your fellow COLOURlovers.

Shamrock Template Challenge hosted by o2bqueen & rubyvillasenor :: NOW until March 16th 2012

St. Patricks Day is fast approaching! The challenge is to design a template that includes a shamrock shape. This challenge has already started and ends March 16th 2012. The top five designs will be featured on COLOURlovers blog and Facebook page.

Reference Tag: STC12

Learn About Tags & Tagging Here

Great Groups

Colorful Song Lyrics & Remembrance 

Louis Armstrong by Wordofmouse | Amy Winehouse by LilyPrap | Whitney Houston by ninko | Etta James by WordofMouse (all but Whitney Houston came from the same thread)

This is a double feature as the groups at one point intertwine with the remembrance theme. The Colorful Song Lyrics Group has different focal points with songs and artists, but one discussion thread is themed for rememberence.

Remembrance Group: You are invited to share your respectful tributes to honor those who have recently passed away...Most discussions will be organized by month. Occasionally, badges will be posted to announce the passing of a well-known person." 

COLOURlovers on Spoonflower

Simply put, this group is for any COLOURlovers who also have a Spoonflower account... or if you're simply interested in surface and textile design in general.

• Post your profile info so we can connect on Spoonflower
• Share your creations
• Share tips and discoveries
• Explore surface design with the CL community

This group will be working on both digital and physical projects. If you remember the recent post, Collaborative COLOURlovers Project: Spoonflower Quilt for a Queen, this was one such project. Join in the fun to get involved for the next big thing.

COLOURlovers on Deviant Art

This is a feature to a newer, fresher group on deviantart.com. It currently boasts 58 members, so if you're also a member over there and want to join up an active group here you are.

In looking through the group, I found this inspirational art piece, I loved how COLOURlovers palettes inspired it.

Antivenom by Kuromu on deviantart

Found myself on COLOURlovers the other day, and decided I wanted to paint Venom. I searched 'Venom' and the first palette to come up was one called S & M, and then I wanted to add Matthew into the mix, so I searched 'Antidote' and I found another palette which you can find here!

Matthew was much harder to paint because of the palette, than Venom was because of hers. Her palette just made her palette just made her look like she was under green lighting. Matthew's was impossible to do anything like that with, but it sort of works. - A note from the artist

 

Notable Site Updates

You can now add your deviantart profile to your COLOURlovers profile. In your Account Settings, scroll all the way down to the bottom and you'll see this area called, Identities:

 

If you would like more information on working with your identities, refer to this past post on it.

Creation Corner

Do you recall back in September we announced that you can create, save and view shapes in Seamless Lite? Each week we feature a theme of shapes in your Huesday Newsletter, this weeks theme was, "flowers."

left to right:

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 

6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 

11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15

I am constantly amazed how COLOURlovers test the limitations of Seamless Lite. And you recall the Creative Market Announcement, a tool that will make it easier for all the fantastic creators at COLOURlovers to sell their creative content. So keep up the great work!

To search for a theme of shapes:

In the top right of the site, simply enter the item you want to search and it will pull up anything tagged "flower" for instance. So make sure you tag your shapes and work!

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I'm going to wrap it up for now. More awesomeness to feature next week!

Welcome to the Community Roundup! Each week I will be pulling some great stuff from the nooks and crannies of COLOURlovers to feature here on the community forefront - the blog. You can expect everything from member-hosted games and contests to some fun finds you might otherwise miss. So let's dig up what's happening.

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Member-Hosted Contests

We are lucky to have some very motivated COLOURlovers in our community. Here are a couple of great contests going on with plenty of time to join up and play.

If you are new to COLOURlovers, pattern templates are designed by members using Seamless Studio (Mac/PC desktop) or Seamless Lite (free / web version). If you have questions about Seamless you can contact me or your fellow COLOURlovers.

Carnival Template Contest hosted by Sunmeadow :: NOW until Feb. 21st 2012

The festive and colorful season of Carnival is now in full swing. Carnival is celebrated by over 10 million people worldwide from New Orleans (Mardi Gras) to Carnival in Rio de Janiero, Brazil and all through the carribean Islands. Group leader, sunmeadow, is hosting a Carnival Template Challenge. All are welcome to partcipate, from beginning template makers to seasoned pros. The challenge started this week and closes on February 21st, when five winners will be announced and featured on the COLOURlovers blog and Facebook page.

Reference Tag: CTC-1

Shamrock Template Challenge hosted by o2bqueen & rubyvillasenor :: NOW until March 16th 2012

With the month of March approaching, we have St. Patricks Day fast approaching! The challenge is to design a template that includes a shamrock shape. This challenge has already started and ends March 16th 2012. The top five designs will be featured on COLOURlovers blog and Facebook page.

Reference Tag: STC12

Learn About Tags & Tagging Here

Along with posting on the blog, I will actually post each template in their fully colored state (as those are more exciting than a grayscale template). So make sure to include a nice colored version with your submissions.

Please feel free to contact me (mollybermea) if you have an organized challenge you would like posted to this community announcement.

Happy Valentines Day! Our community has created and named millions of user-named colors that help us create, innovate, and celebrate the joy of color itself.

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Some of the “most loved” include "Dutch Teal" by Skyblue2u, "Haunted milk" by alpen, "Vitamin C" by GreenLantern, "Chartreuse" by oeln, and "Juicy Pink" by MetteBB. It is almost too obvious to say that WE LOVE COLOR!

Color is infused into every aspect of our lives, especially those in our color bubble, so we thought it was time to devote a big Valentine to Color itself! Although we couldn’t include all the colors in the rainbow, here are some colors that really touch our hearts on Valentine’s Day.

Unique Valentines Day cards are booming everywhere! Give something fun to a secret crush, your grade schoolers classmates or your life-long love. There is something for everyone from easy DIYs, quick printables and a few fabulous Etsy card inspirations.

Finish off your Valentine's Day Cards with a matching sticker printing order to seal up the envelopes. Find great deals at Next Day Flyers.

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source: Fortune Teller

Activity cards can be fun for all ages. Present your valentine with a fun fortune telling card. This DIY card could get really creative! The fortunes on the inside could go as far as presenting fun things to do with your day/evening when you give it over... if you have made mystery plans for your crush or loved one, you could let them choose their fortune of events such as dinner, dancing, drinks, foot rub, shots, wine, make-out... you get the picture. ;)

Wallpaper of today is definitely not what it used to be with the installation process and the choice of patterns or images available. Ghastly florals and patterns of the past are replaced by reinvented, contemporary florals, patterns and palettes of the present.

This article is presented by InkShuffle.com offering you beautiful Easy Off Wallpaper – perfect for renters. Millions of designs in categories like vintage, cityscapes, and room openers.

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We recently published a post about wall stenciling, also a booming trend and a more budget-worthy route than wallpapering, but could also be more work, depending on what you chose to paint. Wallpapering can also almost ensure a very clean, accurate and even more elaborate finished wall as well. At the end of the day, both have their pros and cons like anything else, it's just a matter of budget and preference.

source

I'm falling fast in love with Kreme wallpaper patterns. Very Moroccan-inspired design work with fabulous palettes. The example above is one of their more minimalist designs called, Painted Gate.

"Painted finishes, although great in some spaces, don't equate to the luxury and opulence a few rolls of wallpaper can provide." - Cadee Wilder of Kreme

Sourced from slideshow in Kreme Wallpaper California Collection 2012

Contemporary wallpapers are sometimes so graphically reinforced with such dramatic design work. This type of pattern design is so intricate that paint just couldn't replicate (or could, but with a lot of effort).

Love is most often associated with the color red. Be that by conditioning of incessant advertising or that we are drawn to it by nature. Secondary to red is of course pink, in almost any level of saturation.

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Red is one of those colors that possesses the strongest Ying and Yang of its theoretical definitions. Between love and hate, rebirth and death, the human relationship in any combination, could literally be summed up in the meaning of the color Red. Pink has what I would describe as a temperamental scale, more based on softness versus loudness than the extreme left or right end of the spectrum.

"Red is the color of fire and blood, so it is associated with energy, war, danger, strength, power, determination as well as passion, desire, and love." - paper-leaf.com // COLOR THEORY poster freebie

As we know, colors can generate a wide variety of emotions. Red might be the most diverse and along with pink, a tag-along little sister, many other colors in tow can lend a visual message of love a great big pop!

Falling in Love by Etsy artist,  DJEMBE & CANVAS

"Cranes represent longevity and grace. The flocks ascend our champagne symphony, where love is blessed upon those who simply believe." - posted by artist at the listing

The artist gave us a wonderfully light feeling with this palette and the birds adding further motion. I also like how the painting balances the realities of "love" with a little bit of darkness in the bottom right corner. What do you think of this palette and representation of falling in love?