Do you have trouble choosing colors for a scrapbook layout? An understanding of the color wheel may help you choose the most appealing color combinations for your projects.

Understanding the Color Wheel

Color wheel

Colors on the color wheel are divided into primary, secondary and tertiary categories.

  • Primary – Red, yellow and blue. These are the basis for all colors.
  • Secondary – These colors are created when you mix two primary colors together. Red + yellow = orange. Yellow + blue = green. Red + blue = purple.
  • Tertiary – These colors are created by mixing a primary color and an adjacent secondary color. Blue + green = teal (blue green).
  • Neutral – White, grey or beige.

Reds, yellows and oranges are warm colors. Blues, greens and purples are cool colors. All colors have some degree of lightness or darkness (value) and intensity (saturation).

Types of Color Schemes

How do you know which colors work best together and which ones don’t? Again, the color wheel is our guide.

  • Monochromatic – The use of one color or shades of one color.
  • Complementary – These colors are directly opposite each other on the color wheel. When these colors are used together, they create vibrancy. Red/green and blue/orange are examples of complementary colors.
  • Triadic – These colors are at an equal distance from each other on the color wheel. Purple, green and orange are an example. These colors create a high contrast on a project, so you may want to adjust their lightness or darkness when you use them.

Choosing a Color Scheme for a Scrapbook Layout

Here are some things to consider as you select a color scheme.

1.  What mood are you trying to convey? Think about the symbolism associated with each color.

  • Red – passion, excitement
  • Orange – youth
  • Yellow – warmth
  • Green – life
  • Blue – soothing
  • Purple – exuberance
  • Pink – energetic

2.  Use the colors in your photograph as a guide. Choose colors that complement your photos, but don’t overwhelm them.
3.  Limit the number of colors you use. I adhere to the Gallon/Quart/Pint rule. The “gallon” is your main color. The “quart” is a secondary color and you don’t use as much of it as you would the main color. The “pint” is an accent color. You only need to use a bit of it.

Applying the Color Wheel to a Scrapbook Layout

Here’s the a color wheel using Close To My Heart’s cardstock and ink colors. In the layout below, my color scheme is Wisteria (blue violet), Charcoal (grey), Mulberry (violet), and Mint (light blue green). Since Wisteria and Mulberry are next to each other on the wheel, I would call my color scheme mostly monochromatic with Charcoal being the neutral color.

Here, you can see that Wisteria acts as my Gallon color, Charcoal is the quart and Mulberry is the pint.  You could include Mint as a pint color, too.  It’s very easy to choose color combinations when you use a color-coordinated paper packet because all of the color selection is done for you!

Snow Much Fun scrapbook layout, cropcandy.net

Snow Much Fun scrapbook layout, cropcandy.net

Snow Much Fun scrapbook layout, cropcandy.net

Where to Find Color Combos

Check out Adobe Color, a digital color wheel where you can input a color and get matching combinations.

For more color wheel ideas, check out Love of Color, the ultimate color companion book of different combos so you’ll second-guess your color choices again!

Watch the “Color Schemes for Scrapbook Layouts” video series.