Inspiration for Christmas Colors – 2016

I love playing with colors – and Stampin’ Up! gives us the best colors to play with as we create beautiful cards for every occasion.  Today I’m sharing a new look at some great, traditional Christmas colors.  There are also some amazing non-traditional colors for Christmas (the crisp blues, the shiny grays, the neutral neutrals), so I’ll share a couple of those, too!

Since there is larger variety of greens in the current Stampin’ Up! color family (but only a few Christmas-suitable reds), I created four charts to pair those greens with each of the reds.  I hope these will give you some good ideas about how you might want to pair-up your greens and reds this Holiday season:

Cherry Cobbler.  Cherry Cobbler is the most formal of the reds.  It’s rich and regal and filled with beautiful depth.  While this rich red complements the dark greens, it really lets the softer and brighter greens shine.

Real Red.  Real Red is the bright and shiny red in the current offering of colors.  Real Red is Santa’s suit and the red you’d find in children’s wrapping papers for the holidays.  It’s fun, flirty and vibrant.  Like Cherry Cobbler, Real Red pairs well with all greens – it pulls out different elements from each green.

Rose Red.  I wouldn’t say that Rose Red is a traditional red for the Holidays (Cherry Cobbler and Real Red share that title equally), but it really does make for some elegant combinations of colors.  I think it would be perfect for Victorian-themed cards.  Don’t count out Rose Red when you sit down to make your cards this year.

Melon Mambo.  Melon Mambo is, in no way, a traditional Christmas color.  Side-by-side, it’s only a bit brighter than Rose Red, but it definitely has a different appeal.  It looks mighty beautiful with green, though, so why not?  Your Christmas card doesn’t have to be sassy to feature a pop of hot pink.More than Green and Red. Christmas isn’t restricted to greens and reds.  Some of the most popular Designer Series Paper prints from the past several years have included Crumb Cake and other neutrals.  I don’t think we can ever get away from warm browns at the Holidays – that’s why I’ve included a big chunk of Crumb Cake with these other non-traditional colors.  And the blues – always a perfect choice for a Holiday card.

I hope these charts can help you to settle in on color selections this year.  Whether you are looking for rich and formal or fun and festive, I’m sure one of your combinations can be found here.  Please feel free to save these or add them to Pinterest for future reference.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Brian

Mystery Grab Bag.  During December, I’m giving away bundles of Designer Series Papers, ribbon, embellishments and finished cards for every $50 you spend with me.  What you receive is a mystery, but I know you’ll love it!  Click below to read more: