Hey Everyone! Dacia here with your Theory Thursday (and a mini-challenge)! This is my first entry on the official ScrapMatters blog, so hopefully I’ll be able to teach you something helpful and fun to use on future layouts (and not bore you in the process!)

I wanted to talk about Color Theory. I am a HUGE fan of color and thought it would be fun to share some of the tried-and-true color theories/combinations.

Have you ever looked at the colors on a scrapbook page and just thought “Wow, that works!” or “Whoops…that doesn’t work.” Well, there is a method to the color madness and the colors you choose will make a difference in the mood or emotions you’re trying to express.

Let’s begin with a basic color wheel. The primary (base) colors are red, yellow and blue. By mixing 2 of your primary colors you get your secondary colors, orange, green, and purple.  Then to make it even more complicated, we’ll add the tertiary colors, which you get by mixing a primary color with a neighboring secondary color.  As far as black and white go–they are on the value scale. The farther from the center you get, the more white is in a color, or the lighter it is (like a pastel yellow would towards the outside of the circle). The closer you get to tht center of the circle, the more black gets added, or the darker it gets (like a navy blue or brown-which is a relative of orange).

So with that foundation, let me share some of my favorite color combinations that I think everyone should know. 

Monochromatic Colors. A monochromatic color scheme uses one color, but 3 different shades of that color. Example: Light, Medium, and Dark Blue. 

Triadic Colors. A triadic color combination comes from using 3 colors that are equally spaced (3 spaces) apart on the color wheel. This could be purple, green and orange or it could be blue, yellow and red etc.

Analogous Colors. You get an analogous grouping when you use three colors that are all next to each other on the color wheel. For example, blue, teal and green or green, yellow-green and yellow etc. This example was done using blue, green and teal-all colors next to each other on the color wheel.

The above example is another analagous color combination - green, light green and yellow - done by Stacy (shutch) I think those colors look so great with her sepia toned photo!

Complementary Colors. Here is another analagous color combination done by Kristie (krisser12). She used blue, green and yellow. She skipped every other color on the cool wheel, which is just another variation of analagous. The colors look great with her black and white photo and all the squares.

Next are Complementary colors, which use different shades across from each other on the color wheel, such as red and green, or yellow and purple or blue and orange (like this example using Britt-ish Designs Dreams Do come true kit).

Split-Complementary Colors: This is a grouping of colors that uses a color and it’s complement’s neighbors. So instead of using red and green, you would use red and yellow-green and teal. This example was done using Ellie Lash’s Ladybug Picnic kit- blue, green and red-orange.

Note* Here is another helpful tip for color combinations that consist of three colors: The 60-30-10 rule. Choose a dominant color and use it for 60% of your layout.  Then pick your 2^nd color (not necessarily a “secondary” color) and use it for 30% of the layout. Lastly, choose your 3^rd color (your accent color) and use it for the remaining 10% of your layout. It helps keep things on your layout more balanced.

Hope that helps and wasn’t too long and boring. Try joining in on the mini-challenge by making a page or two using one of the color combinations. Submit your entries in the gallery, describing how you chose your colors and leave your link in the comments here on the blog. Next week I’ll pick my favorite and also randomly choose a winner to receive one of Britt-ish Designs fabulous kits! Good luck and happy Scrapping!