Color + Design Blog by COLOURlovers

Creative Ideas from One Artsy Mama

2013-05-06T11:04:49Z

If you're looking to learn a variety of new craft projects, One Artsy Mama is a site you definitely have to check out. One Artsy mama is the brain child of Amy Latta. On her site, she shares a variety of creative projects including home decor, kid's crafts, sewing, jewelry, and more. She recently published her first e-book Crochet 101, and it's absolutely fantastic and a must-read resource for anyone looking to get into Crochet.

Amy has tons of awesome DIY and craft projects that I'm absolutely in love with. I've selected some of my favorite projects and posts from Amy's blog that I think you'll fall in love with.

First of all, if you're interested in learning how to crochet, Amy is an expert. Be sure to check out Crochet 101 and get started today. Amy provides you with all the resources and tools you need to get started.

Create Crazy and Colorful Coasters with Amy: I love this project that Amy came up with. It's so cool, creative, and easy to make.

You Are My Sunshine Framed Art: I absolutely love this project. It's perfect to put around your house or use as a gift for a loved one.

Ever wanted to throw a Lego Party? Amy shows you how to through the perfect lego party complete with Party Favors, a Lego cake, and tons of Lego fun.

Tissue Paper Cherry Blossoms: I love this idea for decorating my apartment. It's absolutely gorgeous! I really want to set aside a time to get this done!

Shabby Chic Jewelry Organizer: Make a jewelry organizer with Amy. I absolutely love this gorgeous jewelry organizer.

I hope you've enjoyed these awesome craft tutorials from Amy Latta on One Artsy Mama. Be sure to connect with Amy on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.

Colorful Scrapbook Pages

2013-05-03T09:09:47Z

I've always wanted to come up with unique ways of saving my memories, and scrapbooks have started to become my creative outlet. I can spend hours a day just choosing different patterns and clip art to combine to really make my memories come to life in the pages of a scrapbook.

I searched the web to find some of the most colorful and creative scrapbook pages, and I hope they inspire you to create awesome projects.

If you're looking to create some colorful scrapbook pages and paper printables use these awesome papers and graphics from Creative Market:

Paint Chip Pals - Saving the World from Blah

2012-11-14T13:46:55Z

Paint Chip Pals is a recently launched Kickstarter project and brainchild of Andrea and Cliff Currie, the creative minds behind HandMakeMyDay.com. Think adorable, paint-chip inspired, plush characters designed to add a bit of colorful personality to the everyday world of blah.

Andrea and Cliff are trying to raise enough money so they can bring one of these inquisitive characters to life, and backers get the chance to choose which one it will be. Check out their project video to learn a little bit more about the people and ideas behind Paint Chip Pals.

Pretty cute, huh? According to the Kickstarter page, each of the 7 Paint Chip Pals possess a unique set of colors and creative powers that help fill the dullest corners of your life with a burst of happy hue.

I don't know about you, but I think my office could use a little more Raad. :)

Don't forget to visit the Paint Chip Pals Kickstarter page to read more details on how you can embrace your inner child and help these creative little creatures become a reality. Cheers!

Colorful Round-Up + Links From Around The Web

2012-05-11T14:57:49Z

It has been quite a fun week over here at COLOURlovers. Between our iPad contest with Zazzle, book review on the new Smashing Magazine book, Redesign The Web and so much more!

FAVORITE BLOG POSTS:

Some of our favorite blog posts from this week are crafty projects you can do with magazine pages and some fabulously colorful digital art by Andy Gilmore! Also, Zazzle is hosting a COLOURlovers iPad Design contest! If you haven't entered, now is the chance, the winner will receive a $500 cash prize.

CMYLK by DESIGN MILK

Design Milk (one of our fave blogs over here at COLOURlovers) has created a brand new column called "CMYLK". Each week, they round up some images – products, interiors, and art – and their associated COLOURlovers color palettes to inspire and delight. This week, features some fabulous paintings by Kristy Gammill. Check out the blog post for more palettes!

Do you "like" us on Facebook? Well you should be because we post awesome photos like those below all week long!

A few weeks back we held a Betabrand sock design contest! The 3 winning designs are now listed for pre-order on the Betabrand website! Pre-order your pack now!

LINKS FROM AROUND THE WEB

LINKS FROM AROUND THE WEB:

The entire process of creating and building this colorful little room is posted on Design Milk Megan Geckler for Bobble.
House Beattiful shows us 6 Cheery Yellow Bathrooms. This is great inspiration for those of you looking to spruce up your bathroom for the summer.
If you haven't had the chance to get yourself a few Pantone Coffee Mugs, now might be a good time to go grab them.

Have any colorful posts you have seen yourself? Share them in the comments below! See you next week with some more colorful round-ups!

Crafting With Magazines

2012-05-10T08:00:47Z

A bit ago we posted about crafting with paint chips. Today I wanted to post about another product you probably have laying around your house that you could turn into totally awesome art.

Have you ever tried to find a use for magazines and catalogs that you finished looking through? Throwing them away feels like such a waste sometimes, doesn't it? Well today we are posting about various art projects you can do with those old magazines to repurpose them and bring those pages to life, for the second time. These projects are also a great way to give your kids something to do, using only products you already have in your home.

The magazine sunburst is probably my favorite piece of magazine art yet. All you have to do to create such an art piece is a roll up magazine pages and paste them together. Check out how she did it. Next to this fun DIY is a cool magazine clock that you can get off Etsy.

Source: Sunburst, Clock

I know the holidays aren't upon us for quite a while, but here are some fun things you can create for the season. Creating bows from magazine pages is super easy and a fun touch that you can't find anywhere else.

Source: Ornaments, Bow

Magazine jewlery! Want to find something unique to wear? This is definitely a good route to take, and you can even make it yourself which is even more impressive.

Source: Bracelet, Necklace

Here are a few fun ways to add a little bit of magazine crafting into your home.

Source: Frame, Coaster

Now this is one incredibly awesome vase! Even without flowers, this is such a statement piece for you home.

Source

This is a fun craft project for you and your kids! And they make for great storage after the fact.

Source

What are your favorite pieces? I would love to see the color palettes and patterns you all can create with such fun inspiration. And if you have the chance to craft with magazine paper, I would love to see pics of what you are coming out with.

Easter Favorites for a Colorful and Festive Holiday

2012-04-07T08:00:44Z

So many fun things can be done to make Easter a little more festive. From crafty decorations to different ways to dye eggs, these ideas will get you excited for the Easter festivities.

Craft up this yarn garland using balloons, glue and yarn. Check out the DIY tutorial.

These bags and tags are perfect for finding and gathering Easter eggs.

Source: Tag, Bag

Have you heard of cake pops? I'm sure by now the answer is yes. The fabulous Bakerella has thought of how to turn everything under the sun into a fabulous cake pop, and these easter eggs are no exception.

Source

Looking for fun ways to spruce up those eggs? I guess traditional egg dye isin't the only way to make eggs look awesome. My personal favorite are the neon dipped eggs. Oh how I love neon at the moment.

Source

Happy Easter from all of us here at COLOURlovers! We hope you enjoy your weekend!

Community Day: A Tribute Project for Sunmeadow & Latest Survey Report

2012-04-06T09:28:14Z

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.

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.

The Lost Colors of Crayola

2012-03-27T08:00:04Z

Crayola has been the standard for crayons, and at least partially responsible for bringing color naming to the mainstream for 126 years now. The crayons and color names have come a long way from the standard 8 color crayon box of black, blue, red, green, brown, yellow, violet, and orange.

Over the years they've added plenty of new colors to their line of wax crayons but not all of those can still be found today. Some of those colors have been discontinued or renamed, for various reasons, and since 1998 they've maintain a core collection of 120 colors, (check out our post 'All 120 Crayon Names and Color Codes' here in the COLOURlovers blog to see them all and grab their digital code equivalents).

The retired colors.

Retired colors are tucked away in the Crayola Hall of Fame but that's no place for color! So here we look back at those colors that are no longer at our finger tips but can live forever in our digital coloring books. Click on the colors to grab their digital equivalent from the COLOURlovers' library.

Header image from Wikipedia

Graffiti Hotel Room

2012-03-19T08:00:33Z

Hello everyone! Chloé from Plenty of Colour here and I'm thrilled to have this new opportunity to pop up on the fabulous COLOURlovers blog a couple of times a month. What an incredible community devoted to all things bright and colorful.

This week, I wanted to share a rather unique hotel room in Au Vieux Panier hotel in Marseille, France that caught my eye. The 'Panic Room' was created by artist Tilt and features one half of pure white and one half soaked in layers of colourful graffiti.

I also love the round mirror with just a hint of colour.

Check out the bed fabric!

Source (photographs via my modern met)

It is quite a fascinating design that feels at once sterile and artfully chaotic (and perfect for a COLOURlover). Perhaps some might find it less than restful but I imagine it would feel like living in an art installation! The Au Vieux Panier has five rooms redone every year by different artists which is such an intriguing idea.

What do you think? Would you book the 'Panic Room' on your next vacation?

Community Day: CreateMixedMedia Contest & COLOURlovers Survey

2012-03-02T10:42:23Z

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.

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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