The suspense has been high between two layers of voting and over 2,000 participants - the Betabrand Palette-Sock Contest has finally come to a close. So without further adieu, the winners are...

Luna Rose "Urban Nature" | Northern Dancer "80 proof socks" | earlgrey "Good Morning"

These striped palette-socks will be sold in packs of three together in time for the Holidays over at Betabrand.com.

 

A big congratulations to these three ladies! They will each receive a $100 Betabrand gift card, their username on the sock packaging, five free sock three-packs and recognition on the Betabrand site in photos/videos (when able).

For the rest of you, Betabrand is offering great pre-order savings on the winning shirt and socks. And a special 20% discount on everything else at Betabrand.com. Click either of the links below...

COLOURlovers Striped Socks: $33 $25 Pre-Order Price

COLOURlovers Plaid Flanel: $80 $60 Pre-Order Price

A Look Back at the 30 Finalists & COLOURlovers Votes

Enjoy a looksie at the 30 most loved striped socks in phase one. Again, great job everyone, thanks for participating!

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For the past decade, the libraries we knew as children with the Dewy Decimal System and the Card Catalogue have been approaching the brink of extinction. We live in an era where the Kindle and the iPad challenge the need for physical books, and libraries and bookstores face the daunting task of attracting the readers’ attention just to stay in business.

From the sketchbook of, Kelcey Beardsley Portland, OR, United States | "Things found on restaurant napkins"

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Granted, those who are surviving have found some sort of niche to keep the interest going. For example, the bookstore Barnes & Noble has always had a sort of coffee-house atmosphere where people actually go to enjoy an experience. Amazon.com, already online and a threat to physical bookstores, quickly became a source for digital media along with its physical media. So, how about the local library? What has changed to keep it in the running?

From the sketchbook of, Kelcey Beardsley Portland, OR, United States | "Things found on restaurant napkins"

The Brooklyn Art Library is not exactly a traditional library, but more of a co-op gallery. It does provide a library-type experience, but with so much more. The library acts as a physical extension of Art House Co-op, a library featuring artistic talent from around the globe encompassed in sketchbooks.

Folding Sketchbooks - source

Art House opened its doors in December of 2006 initially as a pay-to-play gallery, but it didn’t do so hot. Scrounging for ideas to keep the business going, the co-op started the first ever, “A Million Little Pictures,” meaning a million photographs and one cross-country exhibition.

“A Million Little Pictures is a community-supported exhibition of snapshots captured around the world. By joining together thousands of specific moments to create a single immersive environment, A Million Little Pictures imagines a communal story from the images of our lives.” - arthousecoop.com (A Million Little Pictures)

The exhibition did okay, but it didn’t help fully support Art House’s gallery. The one thing it did do was give birth to idea of “The Sketchbook Project”—a traveling library of artists’ journals that is open to anyone around the world. The Art House gallery has had three locations and finally resides in Brooklyn, NY, as the Brooklyn Art Gallery—the home of many sketchbooks from around the World.

Art House Co-op & The Library

The library acts as the physical extension of Art House and is home to the Sketchbook Project. The walls are lined with shelves of sketchbooks from The Sketchbook Project. Visitors can check out a pile of books or simply peruse sketchbooks from around the globe. How amazing it must be to sift through so many varied mediums and talent.

The Brooklyn Art Library

Sketchbooks are individually catalogued and bar-coded so that they can easily be found (by artist name, location and theme). Authors can also choose to have their books digitalized, which means they are scanned and become available online at the Art House Co-Op online in their Digital Library.

The physical library is also a storefront for, you guessed it, sketchbooks, notebooks, art supplies, stationary and vintage trinkets.

From the sketchbook of, Jackie Mangione Williston, VT, United States | Storybook

The library’s purpose is to connect artists from all over the world and encourage the Art House community to interact with one another face-to-face, while showcasing members’ artwork to the local Brooklyn audience. The library hosts readings, discussions, workshops and performances. (source)

A West Coast US location may be opening up in the San Francisco area. Participants in the 2012 exhibition would be included in the launch of the West Coast hub.

The Sketchbook Project

When you sign up for participation in The Sketchbook Project you will get to pick from 40 themes. Themes are there to give you a little boost in the creative direction of your sketchbook and are not restricted to any specific rules. Basic participation costs $25 (USD). This gets you a sketchbook and helps in the expense of the entire project overall. Other optional expenses include requesting that your book be scanned for online viewing ($20 USD) and/or a Sketchbook Project t-shirt ($20).

From the sketchbook of, Gení§ay Aytekin Istanbul, Fatih, Turkey | 

From the sketchbook of, Jackie Mangione Williston, VT, United States | Storybook

I signed up for the Category, Monochromatic and plan to either stick with a single color in many different mediums to create my sketchbook artwork as a whole or use a different hue in single color creations for each page. I am considering a way to incorporate COLOURlovers color swatches.

From the sketchbook of, Jane Kim Los Angeles, CA, United States | Coffee & Cigarettes

Unique Folded Sketchbook - source

Take note that these sketchbooks are not restricted to the format of a regular book either. Creative foldouts, popouts and any type of mixed media is acceptable with a warning to adhere things strongly since these will be handled and viewed from people all over the world. Your book will be well traveled.

source

What a great outlet to work on your creative style and promote your name as a creative individual be it Graphic Design, Illustrative Design, Mixed Media Artist and any type of singular art such as drawing, sketching, painting, inking, stamping and so on. I am looking forward to participating and experimenting in varied mediums.

source

Apparently themes fill up fast with over 10,000 people in participation. You must sign up no later than October 31, 2011 in order to participate for the 2012 exhibition. Deadline to turn in your finished sketchbook is January 31, 2012 (postmarked by) and the Tour starts in April 2012.

Pitter patter I hear a lot of palettes waiting to be worn on your feet! We recieved over 2,000 entries in the Betabrand Striped Sock Design Contest! Here we are in the final round - 30 finalists have been determined with the highest LOVES. I can't believe only three will win?! The winning sock designs will be sold as a 3-pack and ready for the Winter holidays.

Voting ends Tuesday, September 27th at 5:00 pm Pacific. Only THREE entrants will win and you only get to vote once! Additionally, FIVE lucky voters will win a prize from the Betabrand product line! So get your bunz over there and make it count!

Also, Betabrand is giving everyone a discount code:

"StripeSaver" is good for 20% off until the end of the September.

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COLOURlovers spend countless hours creating amazing Patten Templates using Seamless Lite. Today, we are happy to announce some amazing new feature updates to the in-site seamless pattern design process.

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Along with the new features, Seamless Lite has been given some big love and a smoother, speedier designing experience should be noticeable.

How-To: Custom Shapes + Shape Gallery from COLOURlovers on Vimeo.

How-To: Custom Shapes + Shape Gallery

"Save as Shape" Tool

You can now save individual elements using the newly installed “Save as Shape” tool. This will allow you to keep those wonderfully complicated design elements you have been creating for a single Pattern Template. Only NOW, you can re-use those awesome pieces in any number of Pattern Template variation by using, “My Shapes” located in your Shapes Library on Seamless Lite (when you are logged in).

 

 How To Use "Save as Shape"

In Seamless Lite, create a shape from multiple shapes using the preexisting shapes in the Shape Library. Select all layers that make up this custom shape. No need to group these either, when you save the shape as a single element it will automatically group it and give it the name you give your shape upon saving,

Select your shape layers and click, Save as Shape" in the layer tools area. 

Preview your shape element, give it a title, description if you want, tags and then Save Shape.

That simple! At this point, shapes cannot be shared with one another (unless you do that privately - it's your choice).

Shape Galleries: A Place to Show Off  Your Abilities!

A new gallery for all of your custom shapes, will be added to your profile page the moment you create and save your first shape with the "Save as Shape" tool.

 

Gallery element for your Shapes (above)

Gallery view of your shapes allows the same filter-view options as other creations on the site.

Each shape has its own information page just like the other creations on CLCOLOURlover.com. Everyone has the ability to LOVE, FAVE and SHARE this shape made by you! Additionally, you have the ability to download the .SVG file, located under the, made "with Seamless Lite" link and DELETE or EDIT the shape profile under the OPTIONS drop-down.

Shapes will also stream on to the homepage of COLOURlovers.com as they are being created. So let's see what you got?!

The Quick Response Code, better known as the QR code, has come a long way since it's start in 1994 as a tool for the automotive industry. This two-dimensional barcode was originally created for tracking vehicle parts and was ideal because it could hold a lot of information and could be read at high speeds (source).

(source)

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A basic QR code is not limited to, but generally made up of black and white square clusters, almost like a very pixelated looking vector image. It looks like a funky blob to me, but apparently it can do quite a few nifty tricks!

(source)

The Many Creative Uses of QR Codes

Because the creation of the smartphone seems to provide us with endless possibilities, it only seems natural that QR codes have become prevalent everywhere and used on everything. I've seen them used most commonly in magazine ads, mainly for website URLs or store locations. Upon scanning the QR code with my iPhone it takes me to Google Maps showing me their location nearest to me. 

Here we are again COLOURlovers! Get your Color Caps on and start putting together some amazing palettes for some way cool, striped socks by Betabrand! Just think about it, this Winter you, your fellow COLOURlovers and the rest of the world could be wearing one of your palettes on their feet!

We were stoked to work with our friends at Betabrand on the COLOURlovers Plaid Flannel Shirt and we're even more stoked to get the chance to work with them again on these awesome socks!

Browse the Contest Gallery | Create a New Entry Now!

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The Striped Socks Contest ~ 3 Winners!

The contest will be open one week, from September 14th - 22nd at 12:00 AM PDT. The 30 most LOVED entries will then move on to further voting at Betabrand.com.

Each COLOURlovers member is LIMITED TO THREE (3) ENTRIES... The entry submission page will let you know how many you have left. P.S. There's no way to change your entries so choose wisely! :)

Entering the Striped Sock Contest:

You can either browse through the most wonderful palettes you've already created and enter one of those... or get freshly inspired to create a new perfect palette to hug some toes.

Use a Palette You Already Created:

You can easily submit a current palette in your collection by going to your palette's information page.

Notice on the RIGHT column there is a nifty pair of socks just chill'n out with your palette on them. Just click the button, "Enter Betabrand Sock Contest."

You can even edit your palette before submitting. *I changed one of my grey's to white (above).*

OR Create a New Palette - Live Preview:

Go to the Striped Socks Entry Page, and when it loads all you need to do is click one of those gray squares under the socks to start making your masterpiece. Each time you select a color the sock template will refresh with your new color to give you a live preview of what your finished product will look like. You can even drag the color squares (right-left) to rearrange the colors to get your stripes just perfect.

When you're done deciding on a palette and layout of your stripes. Fill out the title and remaining information (optional) and hit the CREATE ENTRY button.

And there you are! Give yourself a high-five and LOVE your design. We've provided additional social tools (twitter, Facebook, Google and StumbleUpon) to help you share your creation with your friends and boost your loves… remember that since the 30 most loved designs will move on to the finalist round over at Betabrand you'll want all the love you can get!

Don't forget we're all about the LOVE, so feel free to cruise around and love some of the other designs in The COLOURlovers Striped Socks Gallery.

3 Contest Winners Receive:

Winners will receive a $100 Betabrand gift card, their username on the sock packaging, five free sock three-packs and recognition on the Betabrand site in photos/videos (when able).

But you don't have to wait until the winners are announced to start building your COLOURlovers wardrobe. Betabrand is letting people pre-order both the CL Plaid Shirt & CL Striped Socks at a very nice discount… Click either of the links below.

COLOURlovers Striped Socks: $33 $25 Pre-Order Price

COLOURlovers Plaid Flanel: $80 $60 Pre-Order Price
 

The business world of app development is huge. With so many tools at our fingertips, I am constantly discovering new apps. Be it for iPhone, iPad, iTouch, Android, Blackberry and so on, I'm sure you're all like me when find I would be lost without some of my favorites.

I'll be researching and picking (at random) an app I feel is worth mentioning each month. This month's selection is by Dear Future Astronaut AB and a bunch of fun so far. What initially caught my eye was their color-wheel style logo. I love the colors and layout of the finished infographic too! Very clean and fun to look at. Kudo's to the developers!

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PHOTO STATS APP - 1st Infographic Creator for iPhone.

If you use your phone to take a lot of your point-and-shoot photos, and you really like to take photos, this is definitely for you! I've recently been playing around with it and it's pretty fun! At a base, .99 - totally worth the fun.

photostatsapp.com

If you haven't caught wind already, 'Elements' by Lisa Clair (lisadale69) is our winner of the Color-A-Plaid Shirt Contest by Betabrand + COLOURlovers. 

To be noted: I [mollybermea] am not responsible for Lisa's palette combination. I simply needed it in palette form for a badge in this post.

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Congratulations to Lisa for her fantastic design!

Here's what she gets:

- A $100 Betabrand gift certificate.
- Recognition on our Web site.
- A Betabrand plaid flannel shirt based on her design — the very first of the batch that we're selling this Fall! Each shirt will have her name on the label (see below).

 WOW, 5,000+ Submissions!

Betabrand wants to thank the COLOURlovers community for the more than 5,000 design submissions they received as well as a big thanks to everyone who voted - five (5) voters also won something special.  Check out Betabrand's announcement here.

"We love collaborating in order to bring new expertise and fresh perspective to Betabrand's daily commitment to invention and this has been one of the most satisfying collaborations we've been involved with to date. We can't wait to see the finished flannel shirts this Fall and we're looking forward to keeping in touch with the COLOURlovers community." - Jared :: Head of Design at Betabrand

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If you're just now tuning in, check out the initial contest post, plus here were our nine (9) finalists. That about covers it. Looking forward to the next one!

A few months ago, we released ColorSchemer Touch, the official COLOURlovers iPhone app, on the Apple App Store. We spent a lot of time making it super-simple to create palettes, sync creations with your COLOURlovers account, and take the incredible COLOURlovers community with you wherever you go. And thousands of downloads later, we've been blown away by the positive response we've received from everyone who's used it so far.

But that's still not enough! We want everyone - even people that have never visited COLOURlovers before - to see how easy it is to share their colorful ideas and inspirations from a coffee shop, a car, or even a hiking trail in the middle of nature.

That's why starting today, the ColorSchemer iPhone app is now FREE in the App Store!

So what are you waiting for? Download it today to see why thousands of other COLOURlovers think it's the best way to browse, comment, Love, Fave and interact with the COLOURlovers community at home and on the go.

(And we haven't forgot about you Android users. We're talking with and looking for a great developer to port the app over. If you know somebody we should be talking to, let us know.)

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Getting Started: Create a Palette in a Snap!

One of my favorite features is the PhotoSchemer tool within the ColorSchemer App. Take a picture (or use one from your image library) and start picking colors for a palette. Super fast!

Betabrand, an online-only clothing company that produces limited-edition batches of clothing and accessories, recently paired up with COLOURlovers in the contest, Color-A-Plaid Shirt Contest by Betabrand + COLOURlovers. The contest turned out to be a huge success with over 5,000 entries!

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To enter the contest, COLOURlovers simply had to color a pre-picked plaid pattern - Betabrand2, which had been created by one of our very own Lovers, sec9586. After coloring the pattern it produced a plaid shirt mockup of the finished product.

VOTE HERE AT BETABRAND

The contest is closed and nine finalists were chosen by the Betabrand design team. Voting on these nine selections will be open until NOON (12pm PST) Monday, August 22, 2011.

The Finalists

Betabrand chose the finalists not by the amount of LOVES each pattern/palette got. Simply because this would have been unfair. COLOURlovers had added the ability to LOVE the designs and share them for the fun of the contest.

"Our design team narrowed it down to 9 finalists not based on the number of loves on Colourlovers - because patterns that were created at the beginning of the contest would have an unfair advantage to those created toward the end. As for not picking a winner, but rather narrowing it down to 9, we decided to do that because we were so thrilled with the volume and quality of submissions that we wanted to keep the love going!" - Jared @ Betabrand

The nine finalists in no particular order...

Hipster Plaid by bcrider

cloud nine by martino

*colour hunter* by Sunny21327