Tuesday Huesday: Non-Traditional Christmas Colors

Are you as addicted to Pinterest, as much as we are here at Plaid? Over the past couple of months we have started to hear from other pinterest fans, about their love for this site. It is very easy to become addicted to browsing all the wonderful images found here. There are so many great things on display. I recently visited Pinterest to gather some ideas for Christmas home decorating. I came across the image above, and it immediately caught my eye. This image was pinned by Centsational Girl. Often times I feel that there is an unwritten rule that states, all Christmas decorations must only be in traditional red, and green colors. I know there is no real rule, but I seem to always gravitate towards the traditional colors. Well this year I have decided to shake things up a bit, and be non-traditional when it comes to my Christmas colors. I love the use of jeweled toned hues. I definitely plan to incorporate fuchsia, electric blue, and more metallics in the mix. Have you used non-traditional colors in your Christmas decorations before?

This palette was created using FolkArt acrylic paint colors: #2233 Parisian Pink, #724 Evergreen, # 944 Nutmeg, and # 2578 New Leaf Green.

Tuesday Huesday: An Elegant Halloween Wedding

Usually when most people think of weddings, Halloween is not the most common time people choose for their big day. Although it may be an uncommon time of year for a wedding to most, many people do get married on or around this holiday. Halloween can be very elegant, and decorations don’t have to include spiders, monsters, or ghosts. Take a look at this reception room, that was decorated for a Halloween wedding. This is very nice, and unique. If you are looking for new and different Halloween decorating ideas, use this room as inspiration to plan an elegant event during Halloween. Do you know anyone who has gotten married on or around Halloween?

We created this color palette using FolkArt Acrylic paints, #938 Licorice, #440 Violet Pansy, # 2480 Metallic Royal Gold, #413 Pink, and # 427 Ivory White.

Tuesday Huesday: Fall Fashion Must Haves

Do you ever stop to realize just how similar fashion color trends, and craft color trends tend to relate? The craft and fashion industries both draw inspiration from one another. Since fashion week is currently going on in NYC, I thought it made sense to create a paint color palette using this season’s 5 fall fashion trends as the inspiration. While you may not be quite yet ready to trade in your summer maxi dress, for a cable knit sweater dress, at least you can be in the know of what fall fashion trends will be in style this season. Make sure you resist the very trendy items, and stay with these 5 fashion must have pieces. If you do that, you will definitely be on trend for the fall. The 5 must have trends for fall 2011 are, lace, polka dots, jade green, tartan, and chunky sweaters.

 

We created this color palette using FolkArt Acrylic colors, #961 Turquoise, #414 Cardinal Red, # 419 Teddy Bear Tan, and #479 Pure Black.

Tuesday Huesday: Fall Into An Autumn Themed Room

Yay! I don’t know about you, but I am so glad that summer is ending, and fall is fast approaching. The summer weather here in Atlanta for the past few months has been unbearable. The fall months will definitely offer a much needed cool down for us. With my anticipation for the fall season, I began to think about fall themed interiors. There are such wonderful color palettes to create from fall themed colors, and use in a room. A palette that caught my attention was from this living room I found on a home interior decorating blog called, Well Order. I really love the mixture of light and dark colors. This room definitely screams fall. It is vibrant, yet soothing. I hope this palette inspires you to add some touches of fall to the room of your choice.

We created this color palette using FolkArt Acrylic colors, #405 Parchment, # 2557 Moon Yellow, #462 Burnt Umber, and #503 Yellow Citron

Tuesday Huesday: 2011 Fall Fashion Colors

Autumn is fast approaching , and with a new season comes new fashion trends and colors. This year there are several new fall color trends. This fall fashion palette from the Pantone Fall Color Report, is a nice mixture of warm colors with cool metals. The mixture creates an even balance between the tones, and there is also a hint of romance that can be seen in this palette.

Bamboo, a surprising fall hue, brings a warm, exotic flavor to the season. Bamboo is a standout yellow with a subtle green undertone.

Emberglow, a traditional autumnal tone, emanates the warmth of a glowing fire – the perfect panacea to the crisp air of fall. Add a spark with shoes or a handbag in Emberglow, or perhaps a patterned scarf combining purpled Phlox or Deep Teal.

Honeysuckle, adds a bold punctuation point. This playful, reddish pink works with any other color in the palette. Flirtatious and festive, Honeysuckle produces a healthy glow – great for cosmetics and holiday soirees.

Phlox, a magical, deep purple with a hint of mystery, is an outstanding statement when worn on its own.

Cedar, is a versatile, mid-tone neutral green.

Deep Teal, a strong, blue-toned green, suggests ocean depths and the color of the sky as daylight descends into darkness.

Coffee Liqueur, brings a sense of elegance to fall, and is a savory alternative to basic black.

Nougat, is a deliciously warm camel tan.

Orchid Hush, a unique tone of gray with complex orchid undertones, blends well with any other color in the palette.

Quarry, a reliable medium gray that is a dependable staple.

We created this color palette using FolkArt Acrylic colors, Lemon Custard # 735,  Graffiti Pink #2504, Tickled Pink #319, Violet Pansy #440, Italian Sage #467, Teal #405, Bark Brown #2560, Country Twill #602, Boardwalk Blue #2487, Skyline #2499.

Tuesday Huesday: Turquoise and Orange Living Room

During the summer, I become easily inspired to mix and match colors together, that at first glance may not have been thought as a good fit. Turquoise and orange is certainly not a go to pairing, but looking at these colors together definitely put a smile on my face. These colors together can lift the energy in any room. It can be used in so many different design styles, as you can see from the living room above. Adding a pop of color to any living room can instantly alter the vibe. The palette below has such a summertime vibe. It is energetic yet soothing at the same time. What do you think of the turquoise and orange color pairing?

We created this color palette using FolkArt Acrylic colors, Tangerine # 627, Calypso #542, Wicker White #901, and Sunny Yellow #509.

Tuesday Huesday: Terra Cotta Pot Garden

It seems like Summer time weather can often be one extreme or the other — wild and rainy every day or dry and hot. This pot garden shown in Better Homes and Gardens magazine suggests a patio set up that is flexible enough to weather the season no matter what. Having a wet week? Bring the pots inside and spruce up the house. Want your patio to look less parched in dry weather? Then bring the plants out. (Don’t forget to water them!) If you’re like me and have a black thumb, you can still enjoy the colors of this scene without claiming lives of innocent greenery.

We created this palette using FolkArt acrylic colors Linen, Mushroom, Terra Cotta, Rusted Pipe and Hauser Green Medium.

TGIF: Holli’s Ballard Inspired Wall Plaque

I was recently looking through a Ballard Designs catalog and saw a great wall decoration.  What caught my eye was the soft color palette, which I immediately converted to Folk Art in my head!  So, I got out some Folk Art paint chips and started referencing colors and design and came up with this!

I gathered my supplies, the Folk Art colors, a Plaid surface that’s a cute wood sign with nine squares set inside the wood frame, which, I thought, was a perfect match for the wall hanging I saw in the catalog, and a Peel & Stick painting stencil from Simply that had some great images on it to make patterns.

I basecoated everything and set the wood squares in order as I wanted them in the frame.    Easy enough, right?

I also played a little with the stencils, and figured out where I wanted to place each image from the stencil.  This made things much easier when I started the actual painting of the project.

I dipped my #10 flat brush into water and side loaded into the Cinnamon color.  Then, I just followed the outside edge of the wood square and shaded the sides like this.

I used a very light touch with the stencil brush to basecoat the butterfly on the center square and lightly added the Cinnamon this way.

I also added a slight dry brushed edge to some of the squares on the outside edges and with an all over brushed effect on others, using Ivory White.

These Peel & Stick stencils make it very easy to make all over patterns with the smaller elements on the sheet.

I used a ruler to mark the half way point of the outer edge of the frame so I could center the stencils I used on it.

I tried to make everything look soft by using an almost dry brush to stencil with.  I also shaded the images using this technique.  This way, I kept a continuous look throughout the project.  I love how it turned out, don’t you?

Finally, I used E6000 to place the wood squares back into the frame and let it dry for the day with a fan blowing on it to be sure everything stayed in place when it was hung on the wall.

Here they are side-by-side. What do you think?

My Secret Addiction

by Holli Long

I have a secret addiction.  There are only a few people who know about this secret of mine… until now.

Tuesday Huesday: Feminine with an Edge

When I was a little kid my mom decorated my bedroom from top to bottom in pink. I hated it. I was too young to know it at the time, but when I look at pictures of the room as an adult, all I can think is “Pepto Bismal.” (In fact, my mom took a picture of me in pink overalls, holding a doll wearing a pink dress, standing in the middle of the pink room. The look on my face is crazed. I still tease Mom about it.) Had it not been the early ’80s and had my mom known about Traditional Home magazine back then, she might have designed a slightly cooler room for me, like the one shown here. The room includes all the traditional girly elements: pinks, toile, flowers and fancy pillows. But I would never walk into this room and think “Pepto.” I would probably walk in, smile, crank up the stereo and get comfy on that armchair.

We created this color palette using FolkArt Acrylic colors Vintage White, Ballet Pink, Graffiti Pink and Licorice.