Handmade by Natty

Morning folks!

Well it’s the first of July which means we’re now turning our attention to the Fall 2017 Pantone trend colours and here’s a preview of the shades they include:

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Not so very different from Spring, but there are some deeper shades of colour to explore.

While we’re supposedly in the middle of summer and on a roll with pinks the past two months, I thought we might as well see how we can pair up Ballet Slipper with other fresh tones.

Here’s the prompt for July:

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As you can see pink does indeed love mint and other metal shades like gold and silver.

My one big tip:

If you’re a stamper, one of my big tips for this month’s prompt is to look to your ink collection and think a little out of the box. I have a stamp set in mind that I want to experiment with and also use an alternate colour scheme for to those colours I’d traditionally use. If you’re a fan of Lawn Fawn inks then you’re off to a good start as they have a corresponding pink called Ballet Slippers and a mint called Minty Fresh plus additional darker shades in the same color palette.

In addition to the colours think about some of the shapes and elements in the prompt image:

• Do you always make square or upright cards? Well look at the shelf above the bride, it made me think about rotating my card to make a card in landscape format that either opens at the top or on the left.
• The chevron is back! If you have cover plates or stencils, or even paper designs with a bold chevron print now is the time to get them out!
• Those little square earrings remind me of enamel dots or even enamel shapes, I still have some enamel dot packs that have square dots in them. If you don’t ave any enamel dots then pearls and jewels will do just as well. Or even Nuvo Drops?
• The angular print at the top reminds me that just a border or line of pattern is all you need to showcase a greeting on a clear and simple card design.
• The wall behind the bride is a good reminder that we can make our own backgrounds in a water colour or distress ink style with blending and other techniques
• The tear drop earrings remind me that I have a stamp set for featuring individual petals of a similar shape that you can stamp to create a flower – you may have something similar or a simple leaf die that you can stamp or arrange to create a graphic look that isn’t necessarily a flower.
• Lush ready-made paper flowers, DIY die-cut flowers, and stamped flowers will never get boring – so if you have any in your stash and haven’t used them for a while, show them some love!
• The garland of ribbon is the perfect prompt to feature bunting or other elements stringed along your card.
• As always, weddings, new babies, and Christening cards are great occasions for these colours.

Well, I hope that’s a little food for thought to get you started. 🙂

Happy crafting!