Color of the Week - Ballet Pink

This week's color is Ballet Pink - a pastel pink perfect for adding a sweet, calming touch to any bright color!

For a typical Parisian or Ballet-inspired color scheme, pair ballet pink with white and black or a dark navy blue.

Fun facts about Ballet Pink:

1. The color's name comes from the typical pink shade of ballet tutus, leotards, and slippers worn by female ballet dancers. Traditionally, male dancers wear white or black ballet shoes, though many modern ballerinas of both genders wear nude-colored slippers to give the illusion of dancing barefoot.

2. The art of ballet originated in the Italian Renaissance courts of the 15th century, eventually becoming very popular in France and Russia.

3. Many flowers come in ballet pink shades, including carnations, roses, tulips, orchids, daisies, hydrangeas, and dahlias, as well as the blossoms of many flowering fruit trees.

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Color of the Week - Lime

This week's color is Lime - a bright yellow-green color associated with neon and fluorescent hues!

Lime is a great color for summertime because of it's high saturation. Pair it with another bright color for an exciting color scheme!

Fun facts about Lime:

1. The first recorded use of "lime green" as a color name in English was in 1890.

  

2. Lime is a color three-quarters of the way between yellow and green (closer to yellow than to green), so named because it is a representation of the color of the citrus fruit by the same name.

 

3. To prevent scurvy during the 19th century, British sailors were issued a daily allowance of citrus. Though lemons were more effective (due to a higher quantity of vitamin C), West Indian limes were easier to obtain on Britain's Caribbean colonies, and British sailors thus aquired the nickname of "Limeys" because of their heavy lime intake.

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Shameless Plug Time: Love this color? Looking for custom stationery made to match this color (or whatever other color combinations you're using for your event)? Visit Invites by Andrea to view more samples, download a catalogue pdf, or fill out a design request form. Or shoot me an email to ask me your questions or learn more information.

Color of the Week - Teal

This week's color is Teal - a dark greenish-blue hue!

Teal is a beautiful, rich color that's perfect for anchoring light, bright, spring-and-summer candy-colored hues like watermelon pink, apple green, and turquoise. Alternatively, pair it with a neutral like snow white, icy silver, or jet black to create a sophisticated cool color scheme for winter events.

Fun facts about Teal:

1. The first recorded use of teal as a color name was in 1917. The name came from a type of duck native to Eurasia - the "Common Teal" - which has the distinguishing feature of dark blueish-green feathers around its eyes.

2. The post-2004 redesigned version of the U.S. $100 bill features teal as its primary background color.

3. The basketball team the Detroit Pistons used teal as one of their primary colors from 1996 to 2001.

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Shameless Plug Time: Love this color? Looking for custom stationery made to match this color (or whatever other color combinations you're using for your event)? Visit Invites by Andrea to view more samples, download a catalogue pdf, or fill out a design request form. Or shoot me an email to ask me your questions or learn more information.

Sunday Sample Spotlight: "King's Cross"

Today's stationery set is all about subtle beauty.

"King's Cross" Invitation Duo (invite & reply card) with matching Save-the-Date

When a guest receives this invitation, they first see a closed white petal envelope...

...And when they open it, they see the invitation and reply card, safely nestled inside.

The reply card stands alone - an elegant and timeless design printed on white cardstock. The text is calligraphic and all in traditional black, and a thinly-lined lace-like gold pattern fades in and out of the otherwise white background to add a hint of dimension.

But for the invitation and save-the-date, another layer was also added.

A thin sheet of sparkly white vellum was overlaid on top of the invitation and save-the-date, held in place just at the top with three small silver brads. The text is mostly readable through the vellum, and it's easy enough to lift that top layer to see the words even better - and all the details in the pattern.

The vellum's sparkles were a little difficult to capture with the camera, since they were so transient in the light, but you can get some idea of the iridescent specks sprinkled throughout the vellum with the above image, as well as the image below, showing the vellum laid on top of the save-the-date.

 

All white, with a hint of black and gold, is a classically elegant color scheme that will never go out of style. It's perfect for formal events like weddings because it harkens back to a fairy tale time gone by.

Next week's Sunday Sample Spotlight: The perfect birth announcement stationery for a baby girl


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Shameless Plug Time: Love this invitation (or others featured on this blog)? Want something similar (or something completely custom) designed for your event? Visit Invites by Andrea to view more samples, download a catalogue pdf, or fill out a design request form. Or shoot me an email to ask me your questions or learn more information.

Valentine's Day Color Combo #1 - Ballet Pink & Black

Pale pink and black is a classic color scheme for Valentine's Day because it's become associated with two very romantic things - the unitards and tutus of ballet costumes, and the City of Love, Paris. (Just try to find a cutesy notebook adorned with the Eiffel tower and French poodles that doesn't use this color scheme - I dare you!)

This color combo brings out the little girl in all of us, reminding us of our childish dreams of becoming a ballerina (or princess) when we "grew-up." Play up this nostalgia with feather boas, flowers, bows, and polka-dots - or take this color scheme into a new, grown-up level of sophistication with sexy black lace, damask patterns, or forever-stylish "French bistro" white and black stripes, and then inject calculated doses of hot pink to liven the mood.

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Shameless Plug Time: Love this color combination? Looking for custom stationery made to match these colors (or whatever other color combinations you're using for your event)? Visit Invites by Andrea to view more samples, download a catalogue pdf, or fill out a design request form. Or shoot me an email to ask me your questions or learn more information.

Floral Quilted Wall Hangings

This past holiday season I hand-sewed three different "wall hangings" to give out as gifts to my mother, mother-in-law, and grandmother. 

Buy these floral fabrics here: http://www.spoonflower.com/profiles/ideasbyandrea

All of the fabric swatches (except for the solid light green around the edges) were printed at Spoonflower - a website that allows you to upload your own designs to be printed on fabric! The images you see are photographs of flowers that I've taken in the last several years (including pictures of roses and bouquets purchased at supermarkets, the flora around my grandmother's house, and professionally-designed gardens and landscapes in Barcelona, Paris, Southern Italy, Croatia, and Upstate New York). Many of the photographs were slightly altered/desaturated in Photoshop to give them a slightly vintage/aged/faded look. 

All of the photographs have a similar color scheme (shades of light greens, pinks, yellows, whites, purples, and oranges), and are intended to work together as a collection, making them great fabric choices for patchwork projects like these quilt-inspired wall hangings! 

There's no shortage of photographs of the finished project, so keep scrolling down!! :)
 
 

Shameless plug time: Love these wall hangings? Head over to Spoonflower to purchase my fabrics! :)
 

Photo Inspiration: The Colors of the Sea

I hope you've enjoyed this month's photo inspiration color schemes! Today's picture was taken on the Greek coast in 2011. I loved the different blues, greens, and neutral browns that were churned up from the sunlit water rippling over the rocks just offshore!

Why these colors go together: Blue and green are analogous on the color wheel; here they're both not quite the bright, saturated colors we're used to. The blue is darker and grayer, while the green is a little lighter and grayer. Add in two shades of light tan for a great beach-inspired set of neutrals and near-neutrals.

How to use this color scheme: The emphasis on neutrals and ocean colors make this a great color scheme for beach house interiors - or any interior space that you want to give that relaxing beach feeling (bedrooms and bathrooms in particular).

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Photo Inspiration: Purple & Yellow

Today's photo was taken in Positano, Italy - a little town along the Amalfi cost - in 2010. Though I featured a purple and yellow color scheme just last week, this one is different enough in tone to merit a new post. :)

Why these colors go together: This blue-purple is much happier than last week's, which had some grayish undertones. The purple, pale yellow, and pale blue are all fairly pure (color + white, instead of color + gray), giving them that peaceful feeling that all pastel colors share. For the neutral color, I pulled out a green so dark that it's almost black, to give this otherwise pasty color scheme sophistication and depth.

How to use this color scheme: What couldn't you use this color scheme for? The pastels are all classic wedding colors for any time of year (especially the winter, spring, or summer), and here those  traditional colors are given a modern twist with a bit of dark black-green. Use this color scheme for a relaxing living room or bedroom inside your house, a nautical/beach themed room or a nursery.

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Photo Inspiration: Neutral Olives

Today's photo was taken at an outdoor olive market in Thessaloniki, Greece in 2007.

Why these colors go together: They're all so dark that they act as neutrals - you could find any one of these colors (khaki green, gray, navy blue, and rusty brown) on a pair of dress slacks. Furthermore, since they all come from different kinds of olives, they have a common heritage that links them together.

How to use this color scheme: This rich group of neutrals would be great for a sophisticated office or library, although I can also easily imagine it for a modern kitchen or living space in a warehouse-style loft in the city, with concrete floors and stainless steel appliances. Seasonally, it would work best in autumn, when the nights are just starting to get longer and darker and the leaves are changing to rusty reds.

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Photo Inspiration: A Hint of Neon

Today we continue the look at photograph-inspired color schemes that we started last week. This picture was taken in Barcelona's Parc de la Ciutadella in 2010.

Why these colors go together: These tints of blue-violet obviously go together, since they all have the same base color. I particularly love the blueish icy feel of the lightest tint! Then, for a touch of excitement, I pulled out the neon acid-yellow that was created from the sun shining through the background foliage. This acid-yellow goes with the blue-violet shades because yellow is purple's complement on the color wheel - and because it has the same icy feeling as the lighter purple shades.

How to use this color scheme: This funky modern color scheme would be great in a living space decorated with contemporary Ikea-esque furniture, a nursery/child's bedroom (who needs stereotypical pink and blue when you can have blue-violet and acid-yellow??), or a fun, unique event. The icy undertones lend itself obviously to winter weddings, but I think this color scheme could work just as well in any season - the neon yellow is perfect for spring or summer, and the richness of the darkest blue-violet pairs perfectly with the yellow for an autumn wedding, as well.

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Photo Inspiration: Candy Shop

Today's photo was taken inside a large candy store just outside Montpellier in the south of France, which I visited as a high schooler in 2005.

Why these colors go together: The pink and blue colors of the candy wrappers go together because they're both tints (lighter shades) of primary colors - created by adding white to either red or blue. Adding the green (found in the darker candy wrappers on the next shelf up on the left side of the photo) is a great way to relate back to the pink and blue, since green is pink's complement and sits next to blue on the color wheel. For the last color to pull out of this photo, I chose a neutral tan. Neutrals go with everything, and are a great way to add some depth without introducing a fourth eye-popping color.

How to use this color scheme: This color scheme would be great for a winter or spring wedding, since the pink and blue tints have a bit of an icy feel. It would also be ideal for a baby shower or for decorating a nursery, since it features the quintessential "baby" colors of pink and light blue. Perhaps less obvious are other fun choices like valentine's day parties, the interior of bakeries or ice cream shops, or a unique, modern living space.

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Sunday Sample Spotlight: "The Marble Index"

Almost exactly a year ago, my husband and I traveled to the Greek islands on our honeymoon. It was his first time in Greece, but I'd been once before, when I took a "Mediterranean Cultural History Tour" study abroad trip back in 2008.

We met up in Zurich, Switzerland for a quick orientation, and then traveled through Italy (spending a few days each in Venice, Florence, Rome, and Naples) before taking a boat from Brindisi to Patras, Greece. There, we took a bus around Greece for a few days (stopping in Olympia and Nafplion), took a boat to Crete (Greece's largest island), and then returned to the mainland to visit Delphi, the monasteries at Meteora, Thessaloniki, and the capital city of Athens. It was definitely one of the highlights of my college years, and I loved Italy and Greece so much that I returned to Italy in 2010 and Greece in 2011.

Today's Sunday Sample Spotlight is based on a photograph I took on Crete's Matala Beach - famous for its cliffside caves right off the beach.

 

"The Marble Index" - Invitation Duo (invite & reply card) with matching Save-the-Date and hotel information sheet

For the envelopes, I chose an ivory linen paper because I liked the almost handmade texture they had. I added to this feeling by using textured brown cardstock to back each stationery item, and by lining the inside flaps of the petal invitation envelope with scrapbook paper that had an implied marble texture printed on it.

I picked these textures to play up the history of Greece. The marble scrapbook paper (which I also scanned in and used softly in the background of each printed stationery item) obviously calls to mind ancient marble sculptures, while the linen texture of the envelopes and cardstock felt like old paper while looking like the color of sand - bridging a gap between the past and present of Crete.

The image of the beach chairs and umbrella were traced from a photograph I took on Matala. I used Adobe Illustrator's pen tool to turn the photograph into a fun, modern graphic that hints at the casualness of a beachside wedding and adds a nice balance to the formality of the linen and marble textures.

Many public Greek beaches have chairs and umbrellas for rent right on the beach. You just sit down and relax, and eventually the owners will come around and collect a few euro coins. I wish more American beaches had lounge chairs and large umbrellas for rent! :)


Next week's Sunday Sample Spotlight: I'll bring the beach-theme a little closer to home, with an illustration of Grand Haven, Michigan!


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Shameless Plug Time: Love this invitation (or others featured on this blog)? Want something similar (or something completely custom) designed for your event? Visit Invites by Andrea to view more samples, download a catalogue pdf, or fill out a design request form. Or shoot me an email to ask me your questions or learn more information.