Category: Everything Else

These blogs don’t talk about cards, specifically. They can be about organization, highlighting a company or product, or discussing a artistic material.

Color Chart #07

Featured

How about an updated chart?

“How about an updated chart?” This has been a question posed to me many times over the last few years. Well, let me fix this!

As you may have heard, Stampin’ Up is going to complete a color refresh this year. We are saying goodbye to colors we have loved, and saying hello to new and dearly missed colors. Before we can welcome the new, let us see where we have been.

First, what is this chart that I am writing about. Well, it is essentially a color wheel of a subset of the known Stampin’ Up colors. It is a tool that you can use to create your own palette of colors for a card, scrapbook page or another project. [Please check out the Instagram posts, blog #05 and the next blog (#08) for more discussion on how to use it.]

Next, when were the colors available. Each chart will have the years indicated on them, so you can know a range when they have been available. Now, personally I have only been able to get the inks and cardstock available during my time as a demonstrator, and these items have let me assess the differences and similarities of the colors. Therefore, colors that were available in the summer of 2017 and later have been included with confidence in the charts. My blog post #05 shows the closest approximation at the time for the earlier colors.

Now, let us look at previous versions of this tool. In this Instagram post, I shared the colors available during the 2020 – 2021 Annual Catalog. (I had demostrators across the globe help me revise the German and French versions.)

Last year, I shared this version on my Instagram page. It shows all of the colors I have been able to use to create cards and other projects, since I joined as a demonstrator. As of this moment, this is the current chart for the available and retired colors of Stampin’ Up, since the winter of 2017.

Now, that we have seen where we have been, let us see what the new catalog will bring us.

This is the 2017 to 2023 Hex Chart that has the retired Stampin’ Up colors faded. All of the colors that are seen completely are the ones that are currently available in the 2022 to 2023 annual catalog.

With the new 2023 to 2024 annual catalog, we will be saying goodbye to eleven core colors, and the five 2021 – 2023 In Colors. These sixteen colors have faded in the chart above, which shows all the colors from 2017 to 2023.

Let’s take a moment to appreciate these wonderful colors. We know that we always have to say goodbye to the In Colors, after they have had their two years. Evening Evergreen was the wonderful dark green that allowed us to stamp sentiments that were easily read, and it also paired well with many colors. Soft Succulent was a soft, grayish green, that truly reminded me of some of my favorite succulents, and it paired well with the Simply Succulents Bundle. Polished Pink was a very bright pink, and it was a wonderful color to stamp cards for my little girls. Pale Papaya was a delicious soft peachy-orange color, and I loved to layer it, in cardstock and ink forms, with current and retired peachy-orange colors. Fresh Freesia is a color that we must say goodbye as an In Color, but did you know that it will be returning? Why, yes, it will be in the new core colors! I have loved it as a layer and within DSP, but have you tried stenciling and ink blending with it? It is stunning!

For the eleven core colors, we will be sad to see them go. They have been wonderful members of many, many different palettes. Mint Macaron was the soft, grayish, almost true green that was wonderful subtle color in our creations. Bermuda Bay was the very bright teal that stood out; I personally loved it the most, because teal has always been my favorite color. Pacific Point was a great blue that just popped! Rich Razzleberry was a gorgeous reddish-purple that was the lighter shade of Blackberry Bliss. Merry Merlot was a rich, darker red, that made so many wonderful Christmas cards for my family and friends. Blushing Bride was a soft pink that had orange-red undertones; and I loved to ink blend it. So Saffron was the soft, pale yellow-orange; I loved to pair it with many colors, and layer it with the other yellow-orange colors. Mango Melody was the bright yellow-orange that had dominated many of the cards that I have sent over the years; and it was the absolute favorite of one of my daughters. Pear Pizzazz is the toughest to say goodbye to; for it has been my favorite color for plants. (It was amazing how many plants have been featured on my cards!) We also must say goodbye to Sahara Sand, which was a wonderful gray with orange-yellow undertones. It played well with the browns and yellows. Soft Suede was the middle brown, which had red undertones. It was featured in many, many palettes that I used for my cards.

Please check out my Instagram and YouTube channel for the creations I have shared, and you will see some of these colors featured.

Now, let us look at the new and returning colors that Stampin’ Up is giving us with the new 2023 – 2024 annual catalog. We will see seven previous In Colors return to become Core colors. We will have four brand new colors entering the Core colors. Also, we get to have a new set of In Colors. [And yes, I know the names of these new and returning colors, but I will not share them here until Stampin’ Up has announced them.]

I have created a new hex chart with these new and returning colors, which features the colors from 2017 to 2024. I have left the hexagons blank for these ten new colors. [I have seen and featured six of the previous In Colors in my previous Hex Charts, but one is brand new to me. So it is left blank on this new chart.]

So above is the new chart in photo form, where all of the hexagons are not filled with their respective colors. You can print this photo, or you can print the PDF file below. These will remain on my blog, but I will update them in my next blog post (#08). When you return to see the new post, I will discuss these new colors and how to utilize this chart. You will see this chart filled in with all of the wonderful colors available between 2017 and 2024.

Now, when you print this file, you can color it in with your own preferred method. When you use the inks and cardstocks, that you have purchased from your favorite Stampin’ Up demonstrator, you will be able to see the actual hues that you have available to use to create. (So if you have the retired colors, you can see them and work with them on your own projects.)

Your printer does matter. I hope that your printer can handle cardstock. When you print on Basic White cardstock with a laser printer, you can use that chart with any colorization method. If you have a laser printer, you can print the chart on a transparency, so you can overlay it over the colorized versions, and not have the names hidden. When you print on Basic White cardstock with an ink-jet printer, you can use it with all options, except for the Stampin’ Blends.

I would recommend a few methods to colorize it. On your laser printed cardstock chart, you can color with the Stampin’ Blends in your collection; note that not all colors had a pair of Stampin’ Blends. On your printed cardstock chart, you can fill-in or mark the hexagons with your Stampin’ Write Markers. You can find a small image from your favorite Stampin’ Up set, and stamp each ink in the respective hexagon. (I would recommend using a photopolymer stamp, so you can make sure you place it in the correct hexagon.) Last, but not least, colorization option is when you punch (or die cut) appropriately sized pieces of cardstock, and then glue in the respective hexagon. In my recent Instagram post, you can see these options on my 2017 to 2023 version of the chart; I had colorized them last summer, but failed to share them on social media back then.

Now last but not least, here is the awaited black and white 2017 to 2024 Hex Chart, without the names for the new colors, as a PDF.

hexchart_sucolors_yr17to24_blank_onlycolorssince17_notnew_pdf-1Download

I hope you enjoy these charts and that you can utilize this tool. I have enjoyed making them!

Until next time,
— Breina

Cardmaking Journey #06

Wow, it has been a few years since I have added to my blog. I have been enjoying my journey creating cards for family and friends. Most of the time, I never get the chance to photograph them. So, most of the cards I have made have already left my home, and they never grace the public sphere. The few have made it to my YouTube channel, and even more have graced my Instagram. (I have liked being able to just list the items to create the card.)

I have enjoyed the ability and option to customize cards for the individual, and just make something unique. For example, my mother loves embroidery, and so I had purchased the Needle & Thread Bundle and Needlepoint Designer Series Paper (DSP) from Stampin’ Up in the winter of 2019, but this set has been retired for a few years. I was happy with this card, so I shared it on my Instagram page. (See below.)

Another fun card I made featured these adorable pigs. I used the Alphabest and This Birthday Piggy stamp sets; Artistic Mix Dec. Masks; Very Best Trio Punch; Basic White, Coastal Cabana and Crumb Cake cardstock; Petal Pink and Coastal Cabana inks; Memento Ink; various Stampin’ Blends. At one point, there were coordinating framelit dies, but I missed them at the time, so I cut this cute piggy with a pair of scissors. Most of these items are actually still available, but not for long due to a new annual catalog beginning in a handful of weeks.

You are welcome to check out my Instagram page. You can see all that I have shared there! You can also check out my YouTube channel. Below is the link to a video I made for a non-traditional color choice for a Christmas card.

I hope to get back into the swing of sharing what I am making. Please subscribe to get notifications when I upload anything new!

I hope you have a wonderful week, and get to create something that brings you joy!

Stampin’ Up Hex Color Chart #05

Hi Everyone!

Since rediscovering Stampin’ Up this fall, I have enjoyed seeing all the new colors and stamp sets that they have created. After watching many YouTube videos from demonstrators in and outside of Stampin’ Up, I knew I wanted to know what Stampin’ Up colors worked well together.

This June, Stampin’ Up is going through a color revamp. We must say goodbye to a few, but hello to a few more colors!

So in light of this, I started playing with color swatches to help me understand these colors. I discovered that a hexagon color chart is a very helpful mode to compare colors, so I created not one, but two charts. In the smaller chart, I have the colors that will be available effective June 2018. In the larger chart, I have most of the Stampin’ Up colors since about 2005.

Chart 1: Current Stampin’ Up Colors effective June 2018

Chart 2: Stampin’ Up Colors since about 2005 (retired and current)

These are color Hex charts. As you go around the ‘circle’, you go from blue to cyan to green to yellow to orange to red to magenta to purple and back again. As you go from inside to outside, the colors go from pale/“subtle” to vibrant/“bright” to dark/rich/“regal”. I have also put the neutrals near to their undertone color on the outside. (The Basic Black and Whisper White technically should not have any undertones, but when you look at the hex code they have a slight undertone.)

In both charts, the outlines tell you when they were available. The solid black outlines hexagons are currently available today and after the new catalog opens, or are brand new with the new catalog. The hexagons outlined with extra long dashes are returning In Colors to join the Core colors with the new catalog in June 2018. The hexagons outlined with really far apart dots will be retiring with the end of this current catalog. The hexagons outlined with close together dots have been retired for a bit of time. Some of these colors were available prior to 2005, when they were retired.

One way to utilize these charts is to discover colors that can be stamped in multiple layer stamped images, such as Stampin’ Up Baby Bear. You want to find colors that line up in a row, where there is an ombré type of transition. For example, the blues (Balmy Blue, Pacific Point, Blueberry Bushel and Night of Navy) can be stamped between the three layers of Baby Bear; you would just have to choose either Pacific Point or Blueberry Bushel for the middle layer. An example that connects a row of adjacent colors in a different direction is a set of pinks (Flirty Flamingo, Lovely Lipstick and Merry Merlot).

Another way you can use this chart is to help find neutrals that play well with your selected other colors. You can see that Basic Gray, Smoky Slate and Black plays well with the blues and purples, due to their cool undertones. They also will play well with the purple pinks (Fresh Fig, Rich Razzleberry, Berry Burst) and the aqua teals (Coastal Cabana, Call Me Clover, Pool Party, Shaded Spruce, Tranquil Tide, Bermuda Bay).

The last feature that I’m going to mention for this post is the ability to match up colors. Say you forgot to label a bit of spare cardstock, you can print this chart out and compare to figure it out. (I’ll be working on a blank chart that you can stamp inside or color with your Stampin’ Write markers.) Another similar idea, say you have DSP that has a retired color, and you really want to stamp in that color family, but you don’t have that particular color anymore. You just look near that color in the chart and pick a color that you feel is appropriate that is adjacent to it that is in your stock. For example, you have Hello Honey in the DSP, and you stamp in Crushed Curry.

I hope you find this helpful!

I would like to thank my inspiration for the chart idea from Sandy Allnock’s Copic Color Chart. I would also like to thank Linda Cullen for providing the hex color codes for the past Stampin’ Colors. I also would like to thank my Stampin’ Up demonstrator friends that allowed me to share with them the initial chart; I appreciated your opinions and advice!

The Journey Begins

Thanks for joining me!

This blog is where you can see how I make the cards I have created.

I value all companies, and I will not be exclusive to any particular company.  I really wish that you buy and support your local businesses.  They can be physical brick & mortar stores, independent consultants or individual artists (who may not be local to you).  I do sometimes buy from the chain stores for the consumables, but when it comes to the stamps, dies and other tools, local stores have the best quality.

As for the items I use, I will list them, and where you can find it.  Note, some items I use are retired or unidentified (garage sale finds).  You just need to look in your stash to see if you have a similar item.  If not, you can check out the places and items I have suggested.  I value a good deal, and I will share it with you.

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton

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