Purple Phase: purple with plum, fuchsia and cream

Hi, hi.

I completed all my pages for my Learn Something New Every Day journal at the weekend, which I'll share here later in the week but before then I thought I'd use one of my pages as the inspiration for today's 'using purple with ...'  colour palette. So here it is:

I really like this combination as it's an extension from the idea of using purple with neutrals which I've talked about already. Here, the cream helps lend an additional warmth to the plummy shades and the bright pink which could have easily been the base of a cooler colour-combination.

Imagine this page minus the touches of cream running diagonally from top left to bottom right:

I think it would still have worked, but it would have been a cooler scheme where the blues would have been more predominant.

btw: You should know that I didn't plan any of this before starting my page, it's just how it evolved. As you may have gathered by now - especialy if you read the post I did showing a page from start to finish -  I'm fairly free and easy with my journaling approach, things get torn, splattered, smeared and splashed around with my main concerns being telling a story/creating a theme  ... and enjoying myself. So don't imagine I'm sitting there chained to a colour-theory book!

My use of colour on all my LSNED pages came from two key things:

• the colours in the papers I'd glued down in advance of starting the individual pages; and
• the colours within the main images and wording I'd selected for the page.

These are the things couldn't be changed: I couldn't peel off the base layers without spoiling the book and I wasn't willing to use an image which didn't really fit my theme solely because the colour matched. Therefore I used additional accents of colour to help pull the scheme together.

Whether on a journal page, a scrapbook layout etc or in an outfit you're wearing, repeating the colours across the scheme always helps the overall look appear cohesive.

Notice how:

• the red + white patterned strip [from a security envelope] mirrors the red + white of the space rocket:
• the light blue ink splatters lift out the paler blue of the rocket flames and the blue/green areas on the little face below;

Then, once I'd added this face sticker [because it fit perfectly inside the spacesuit] I wanted to repeat the use of purple somewhere else on my page, to tie it in. So I added a purple heart:

And finally, that splash of plummy/pinky/purple Shimmerz Spritz at the bottom was a way to repeat the colour of the "now why no try something new?" wording I'd cut from a magazine.

 [I apologise it all these comparisons mean you've been scrolling up and down like a crazy person!]

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Even if you're not interested in art-journaling, I hope the palette itself is useful to you, whether for a craft project, a home decor idea or an outfit you put together:



And if you're stuck with how to combine several new shades together:

• Try out the idea of repeating the same shade in a few places across your project or outfit.
• Whatever colour you add [eg. purple!] - make sure you add it again, somewhere else, too;
• Even a tiny splash of the same colour elsewhere, [eg. earrings, gloves, bag-charm, paper flower, sticker etc] will bring surprisingly impressive cohesion and balance to the whole scheme;

If I sound evangelical about this .. it's because I am!

• It's the single most important colour-rule I follow.
• I rely on it when I'm introducing new colours to any existing scheme.

... and I'm sure it can work for you if you give it a go ... it even works with purple! ;-)

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Don't forget you can:

• save/pin the palette ... if you like it; 
• check out the Purple Phase Pinterest board for more inspiration;
• refer to the Purple Phase post list  if you think you've missed any purple posts so far!

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I'm going to be back here tomorrow with a 3DJean Design Team project complete with a 'sign' and then later on in the week I'll post the remainder of my LSNED journal pages.

And to everyone who left a supportive comment on my 'from start to finish' post - thank you!And thanks for your thanks!

Julie :-)