Hello again! Today is the exciting day that we get to announce the winners of the Betabrand Argyle Sock Design Contest!

First of all, we want to thank Betabrand for allowing COLOURlovers to design the next product on their website. As I am sure you know by now, Betabrand has some pretty awesome clothes to choose from. The question to yourself won't be whether to buy, but instead, which color or pattern should you pick.

As you know, Betabrand chose 9 finalists and for the past week we have left it up to you guys to vote for your favorite design. Now comes the time when we announce  which designs had the most votes. First, let's refresh you all on the prizes for the winners:

The Prizes:

The Betabrand design team will select three winners, who'll receive the following:

• $100 Gift Card to Betabrand
• Recognition on the Betabrand website (photos/video/optional) & COLOURlover username printed on the sock packaging
• Five Three Packs of the COLOURlover socks bundles for free

So now, let's get down to business and announce the brand new COLOURlovers sock collection!

Congrats to Magg, Michaelann3, Faith4faith! Thanks to everyone who entered and voted in this contest. We hope to have Betabrand here again soon as you COLOURlovers can help them create something else just as awesome!

We are back with an update on the Betabrand Sock Design contest we have been running on our blog for the past week. Submissions are officially closed for the contest, and it is time to get your vote on and help us pick the winning designs.

Betabrand is one of those really cool clothing companies that is sure to keep the men dapper and the women trendy at all times. Their latest release is a cool pair of shorts with a black & white design (with a hint of turquoise) that I think is pretty awesome. And in case you haven't heard this enough, COLOURlovers even has a collection of our own on the Betabrand website.

So let's get down to business. Submissions are now closed for the Betabrand contest. Thank you to everyone who has entered and voted!

Out the top 30 most-loved palettes Betabrand chose 9 design finalists and from there 3 will triumph as winners. The three winners will be bundled into a 3-pack and sold on the Betabrand website.

Voting is incredibly easy. All you have to do is head over to the Betabrand Contest Page and click to vote. You can only choose 1 to vote for, so make sure your choose your favorite. And to make things even more fun, 5 lucky voters will be randomly selected to win a free 3-pack of socks as well!

Good luck to all and happy voting! We will be back on Monday to announce the winners!

Ready to put your color-matching talents to good use? Betabrand is offering you a chance to design their next set of socks. They have created the argyle design, and you get the chance to color the coolest sock you can and possibly have YOUR creation sold by Betabrand. How cool is that?

Betabrand is an online-only clothing company based in San Francisco that produces unique designs in limited-edition batches every week. They make tons of hip clothes for both men and women. And look, there is even a batch of COLOURlovers pieces including 2 flannel shirts (here and here) and some cool sock designs created by COLOURlovers.

The Prizes:

The Betabrand design team will select three winners, who'll receive the following:

• $100 Gift Card to Betabrand
• Recognition on the Betabrand website (photos/video/optional) & COLOURlover username printed on the sock packaging
• Five Three Packs of the COLOURlover socks bundles for free

How It Works:

Create an entry: Get creative and make a palette to design this argyle sock however you choose. You may create up to 3 submissions.

Once you have created the coolest palette, time to get votes. Share your entry with your friends and try your best to get lots of love on your sock. The 30 most-loved submissions with be considered for the top 9 finalist spots. Check back on Tuesday April 24, to see the top 9 finalists and to vote for you the one you want to win.

Once you have created your entry, check out the designs other people are creating and vote for your favorite. Good luck and happy coloring!

When I first started this site 7 years ago, it was a quick and easy decision to call it COLOURlovers: It was all about color for people who loved it. But now with 1.5M members from around the world who have loved, err, liked more than 10,000,000 pieces of shared content... I think we can all agree, that's just too much love!

It's also worth noting that in the current state of the world with ongoing wars, political tension, financial implosions... What the world really doesn't need is more love. That's why I'm super excited to share with you the new & waaaay better COLOURlikers!

It's just like the old COLOURlovers, but now without any of the love. What has love ever done anyway?! You're all probably used to liking things on Facebook anyway, so this should be an easy transition.

Start Sharing the Like!

So go check out the profiles of other likers. Go like some palettes or patterns. Share the like!

Don't worry, we're kidding. Happy April Fools. We still love you.

Life is a fragile thing and it always hurts the heart when somebody passes well before their time. We're deeply saddened by the loss of one of our active, loving, creative & supportive members; sunmeadow. She leaves many friends here in our community and we're incredibly honored to have the privilege to continue hosting & sharing her creations with the world. We may have 1.5 million members now, but every single one is important to me and is greatly appreciated. We love you sunmeadow and thank you for all you shared with us and all the inspiration you will continue to share.

A close friend of hers let me know of the sad news. They also noted that she was a very private person and that she would appreciate her personal details not be shared here. I will respect her wishes and ask you to do the same.

Her last palette randomly created was entitled "Wings To Fly" and I believe she has them now. I can't possibly honor all that she shared here with us in one post, but I'll share some of her most popular creations below... and please feel free to share yours in the comments.

Sunmeadow: Colors | Palettes | Patterns | Templates

Sunmeadow also created hundreds of beautiful pattern templates. Here are just some of them:

Thank you Sunmeadow. Rest in peace.

Color-blocking has become all the rage in fashion these days. As far as handbags go, designers are following suit by offering their most popular designs in a variety of hit colors of the season. These choices allow you to spruce up any look, and add that pop of color in any of your favorite outfits.

These bags are not the only ones to fall in line with this new trend, no matter the price point, the designer or the look you want, you will find a variety of colors popping up in your favorite bag. With spring just around the corner, this is a great piece to lighten up your winter wardrobe.

Source: Balenciaga

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.

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.

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.

Erin Loechner is a writer, stylist and designer. She is a quirky girl with lots of style and a great swagger about her. Everything she publishes on her site, Design For Mankind, pushes the envelope just enough to keep you interested and excited about trends and styles. She has graced the pages of many magazines all the while keeping up with trends and colors on her HGTV.com segment.

First up, why don't you tell the community a bit about who you are, what you do, how long you have been doing it, and your background. 

I'm Erin Loechner, a 28-year-old freelance design writer and blogger (DesignForMankind.com). I dabble into styling, consulting and rearranging the furniture of any willing party! I'm also an online personality for HGTV.com.

Fashion trends generally change by the season as opposed to by the year, but here we will highlight some of the top trends of this past year along with what we can expect to see this coming year. And we have some good news on the color front.

Things are brightening up in the fashion world this year! For the past few years we have seen a growing trend in brighter colors hitting the market and becoming fast trends. Spring 2011 we saw lots of orange hitting the runways, such as these orange pieces below.

Source: Refinery 29, 

2011 was also a great year for the bowtie. This trend hit fast and heavy in 2011, and we can definitely expect to see a lot more of this trend in 2012. And as far as colors? No color or bright pattern is too awesome to match with your outfit.

Source