Tuesday 12 May 2015

What goes with... our new In Colors? (2015-17)

Check your mirrors, I feel a U-turn coming along!

Conversation with my downline Donna last week:

Me: I don’t like the new In Colors.
Donna: You will.

Yes, I confess that when I first saw the new In Colors, I was underwhelmed. I thought they were ugly and, worse, didn’t even go with each other. Surely the whole point of a colour collection is that they go together well? “Bang on trend?” I think not (cos I’m an expert, you know). And off I hurtled, full speed ahead in the direction of “In Color Rejection”. 

But you can’t keep forging forwards without looking out of your side windows occasionally, and I kept seeing fabulous creations made by more organised demonstrators who have actually started using their pre-order items, instead of just looking at them. 

Then I received a press release at work about the hot new colour for interiors… mint. “Hmmmm…” I thought, stroking my beard (must deal with that). 

Despite my misgivings, I decided to do my now-annual colour combination charts, suggesting ways to team up the new colours with those from our existing range. In the interests of honesty, I confess that I was largely motivated by the fact that last year’s post went - in All Things Stampy terms at least - “viral”, giving me loads of blog hits and Pinterest re-pins.

So I did some research, to check out what goes with these “hideous new colours” and, first surprise: these colours ARE bang on trend. That mint press release was right, of course. And what’s even more on trend than mint on its own? Mint with mustard… mint with watermelon… mint with taupe… you get the idea. 

Naturally, the more I paired them up with other colours, the more I grew to love them. Tip Top Taupe was a doddle - it goes with absolutely everything. In fact, I was tempted simply to copy a previous chart and just change the first column to Tip Top Taupe, but decided that would be lazy.  Mint Macaron is another - so pale as to be almost neutral, you can team this up with whatever you like. 

Anyway… enough waffling about my oh-so-predictable U-turn, here are the charts. They are sized so you can print two to a sheet of A4, cut in half vertically, should you wish. All I ask is that you leave on my blog details and that you pronounce “Mint Macaron” correctly. Which is Mint MacarOn, not OOn. That would have two Os. Exaggerated French accent optional. 

PS: Amended the Watermelon Wonder chart to replace Certainly Celery (long retired) with Pear Pizzazz. Thanks to Judy C for spotting and discreetly letting me know!
PPS: Updated Delightful Dijon chart because I spotted a duplicate.
PPPS: Thanks to Jean Fitch for spotting a mistake on the Dijon chart - fixed now. (This is why you should never proof-read your own copy!)







22 comments:

  1. This is awesome!!! Thanks for sharing!!

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  2. You're welcome - have fun trying them all! ;)

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  3. How many yellows, oranges and greens do we need ? #Disappointed :(

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    1. Sorry to hear that, Sue. They wouldn't have been my first choices but, as you can see, I'm warming to them. Hopefully you will too :)

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    2. Hope you're enjoying the new colours now, Sue - happy you joined me on the U-turn ;)

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  4. I'm sure they will grow on me, especially when I've seen them in the flesh.... but I was hoping for some more uplifting colours this time....... in other words colours I like ;) ;)

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  5. I love your charts thankyou for making my life easier

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  6. Very nifty chart that you made there using MDS! Another sad loss for SU! Glad to see that they incorporated the new in colors before they discontinue it. How did you get the new in colors into MDS? I will have to ask DS! They did a great job recreating these colors in RGB for digital reproduction, they look very close to the paper version. Thanks for being so honest about your thoughts on the new in colors. I thought I would love Tip Top Taupe and hate Watermelon Wonder, but when I got the markers to do a swatch test, I actually loved the WW and didn't like the TTT so much. I do love the Mint Macaron paper next to the Lost Lagoon paper, its my favorite new color combo as far as the paper goes, but the MM is not my cup of tea as an ink. Btw, just for reference, its actually not "maca-ron" either, its actually "mah-kah-rhon" with the last constant being almost silent. Thanks so very much for putting in all the hard work to share with all of us!

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    1. Thanks for your comment, Kathy! To get the colours in MDS (and yes, I asked DS!), take a screen grab of the In Colors in the online catalogue, then use the "color picker" to pick up the colour. You can then save it to your favourites so that they're always there. Unfortunately I haven't found a way of labelling them, but as I only have five favourites at the moment, they're pretty easy to work out. But it means we can keep using MDS and adding new In Colors as they are released. Incidentally, I'm pretty sure we're pronouncing "macaron" the same way; I've never been any good at writing things phonetically. Just add a sexy French accent!

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    1. You're welcome! Have fun creating lots of projects!

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  8. Thanks for the info on how to add the new in-colors to MDS Helen ~ didn't even think of that. Kinda bummed that SU is doing away with MDS :(

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    1. No I didn't think of it either - but it's obvious once you know how. Am a little disappointed about MDS going but I never bought anything to add to it, so if I'm typical, I suspect it wasn't worth SU's while paying to support it

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  9. Thank you for putting this together! All of the colours look fantastic to me now! ;)

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    1. So glad you're coming round! I have been playing with the colours for a new blog feature starting tomorrow and I'm in love with them now!

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  10. This is so fantastic! Thank you for sharing! I, too, have been struggling to like these colors, except for the Watermelon one. Will try some of these combos for sure.

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    1. So glad they've helped, Beth. Cucumber Crush was my sticking point but, as soon as I teamed it with Night of Navy, I was hooked!

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  11. Helen, thanks for the charts they are great. FYI On the chart for Cucumber Crush, second row, Tip Top Taupe color is showing up as white.

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    1. Thanks for spotting that, Bridget - I've fixed it now!

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  12. This is so awesome. Thank you VERY fun!!!!

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Thank you so much for taking the time to comment.

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