How to Create A Stampin Bends Color Chart - And Why You Want To!

 Hello and welcome to my blog; today I am going to share with you how to create a color swatch chart for your Stampin' Blends and why you will want to!  There are many reasons why artists create color swatch charts for their supplies; so, I am going to share with you some of those today.  

Color swatching is basically the process of laying out your coloring media in a grid so you can see it.  This also allows you to actually see the true color of the media.  Because we all know that the caps or tip on the media my not look the same as the ink, paint, or marker.  

So, first off let's go ahead and talk about the main reason you will want to create one of these indispensable tools.  One of the main things that color swatching helps with is it will help you improve your color knowledge of the supplies you have.  Meaning that you can use this tool to find colors you may have to coordinate with new papers, cardstocks, ink and more to create projects with.  

Another reason you want to make color swatches especially with your Stampin' Blends is:  You can see what colors are are close in value and hue easily.  Plus you can find very interesting combinations of colors that you can use for 4 color and 3 color blends.  For example using my color swatch chart I can see that I can use Purple Posy Light and dark and blend it it Highland Heather Light and Dark for a 4 color blend.  I can also see that I could use Mint Macaron Light and Dark and pair it with Just Jade Light and Dark for a 4 color blend.  I would have never thought of the Mint with the Jade combo without swatching the colors.  

My Color Swatches: 

Here's a look at my color swatches that I made during the video.  I wanted to show you what the end process will look like.  I would say you could download them and print them out but the only problem with that is that the colors are not going to be the same as if you swatch them yourself with your Stampin' Blends.  

For example on my second page of my Stampin' Blends swatches a few of the greens didn't come out as bright as they showed up on the Basic White Cardstock.  By the way I always print off my swatch sheets on Basic White Cardstock or whatever paper I use with that media.  It's very important to always print them off on the substrate that you use to get a true representation of how the colors will look when you stamp out your image and color it.  For example if you have a warmer toned cardstock the colors will not look the same as they do on the cooler tone of the Basic White.  

How to Make Them: 

Color swatches are super easy to make.  Especially with my FREE PDF Download that you can pick up here today.  You just simply color the rectangle in with one color and then write the color name either at the top or bottom of the rectangle.  You can start your chart by either doing them by color family or (the way I prefer is) starting with my yellows, and working down to the greens.  I do it this way because I can see all the hues and values of the same colors that I have and I can see the range of colors I have to work with.  Which is another reason you want to make a color swatch chart.  

Video: 

If you are viewing this post by email you may have to click here to view the video.  Thanks for dropping by today.  I hope that you find this post very helpful and that you are inspired to make your own Stampin' Blends Color Swatch Chart.  To download my FREE Color Swatch Chart PDF you can click here to do so. 

Happy Stampin' 

Rick Adkins