Inspiring Colors // Solid Color Pop

I am a fan of super simple blogs.  You can check out the design I did for the Weekend File & this DIY blog design to see what I mean.  If you're not a fan of creating a color palette or perhaps you just can't settle consider going the route of a pop of color.  Take the DIY blog design up a notch with a cool Caribbean blue or a lovely yellow. (You could even use a fun font instead of the Serif one I used to make it more playful!)  One color can do it if you throw in a few shades of gray for text & links.

Here are some solid colors I'm loving:

here // here // here

Here's how the My New Life DIY Blog Design would look with a pop of color & a cursive font:

Just one color can do it!  What are your favorite colors?

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Inspiring Colors // 3 Different Styles

As we're sweating away making the house look picture perfect (I can't wait to show you!) I thought I'd share with you some color palettes that may look better on your blog than on your walls.  I don't think we're going to paint the house but I sure do have color on the brain.

Each Saturday this Blogtober I want to share with you some colors I'm loving & I'd love to know the colors you love too!!

Hope you've found some color inspiration this lovely Fall day in October.

Why did you pick the colors for your blog? What do they say about you? Do you change it up?

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Fan Friday #68 // Color Me Wonderful

Happy Friday!! I am so excited it is Friday!! Zach & I are going to get Chinese food for dinner & it's apparently amazing....so I can't wait for six o'clock to roll around!  Since I've moved, it's been a bit weird. I've pretty much stayed cooped up in the apartment because there's not much to do.  I don't really like it!  Besides going to get some work done at Starbucks, I don't really leave the house :( If any of  you have moved in the past, what did you do to get to know your town better? How did you pass the time??  I'm struggling here!

Any way, I've been typing away at the ebook & guess what...it's so close to being finished!! I hope to finish it a week early just so I can go back through & double check.  If you want to grab a sneak peak at the ebook, make sure you sign up for the newsletter.  I would hate for you to miss out!  The ebook will be released on September 1st & I just can't wait.

Here are the things I am loving this week:

Found here

The colors of these wallets are just gorgeous.  I am loving all three! Color has been a bit absent from my life lately & I need to get back to discovering, pairing, & all around loving color.  Perhaps I'll make a Pinterest Color Palette for a pick me up.

Speaking of color, this super fabric designed by A Beautiful Mess has me drooling.  I love the patterns, the colors, the bold print....love it all!!  It's got me feeling inspired, oh yeah!

via

Again with the colors.  Loving the way these neutrals come together & it shows the difference of the colors.  This is perfect to show a boyfriend or husband who thinks that brown is brown & white is white. :)

I guess this is leading up to something because as I type I am getting so excited to play with these & other colors.  I am looking to add a few more blog designs to the shop & these might be winners!

This grand hand drawn poster by feature sponsor Diana of Livy Love Designs. Pick it up in her shop & check out her cool blog header.  Wowza! Amazing, right?  I actually have a print of her's that I am hoping to share with you all before the end of September.  I reeeeaaallllyyy wanna get it up in our new house!  Hell, I just want to get into the new house!  I get to see it for the first time on Saturday.....I know I am going to fall in love!

Links Loved

++ Erin from Carosello makes a beautifully bold statement in her recent outfit post.  Could she be any more trendy? I love it!  I die over that denim shirt++

++Katie paints us a lovely picture of the happy life of her grandmother.  A sad, heartfelt, yet uplifting story of a woman's life & a granddaughter's struggle to move forward.  It is truly beautiful++

++Kristin opened up the Nook Store & it's darling.  I have a pair of earrings from her & I do love them...they will be in an outfit post soon!  So go pick up a pair++

I hope you're having a wonderful Friday!

What are your plans for the weekend?

Fan Friday is a weekly feature showcasing lovely things from around the web often focusing on the awesome content Five Sixteenths' sponsors post throughout the week.  If you think there is something awesome out there that I need to see, let me know!  If you're interested in sponsorship, please click here.  Want more Fan Friday inspiration?  Click here!

Connect on Twitter // Follow on Pinterest // Peep me at Hello Cotton

Pinterest Color Palette // This Week

I decided to mess around with the Pinterest color palette tutorial I did a while ago & see what my colors were for this past week.  I see I did still stick with some neon colors like that green-citron color.

It's pretty fun to do this once in a while to see what colors I am digging.  Usually I come up with something unexpected.  When I first did the tutorial, I could see that I tended to like the same color schemes either when pinning or actually creating my color palettes.  The same themes sort of jumped out at me.

I think I'll continue to do this (or try to continue this) over the next few weeks to see what happens.

Edit: I was looking through my nail polish colors & found that I have nearly this exact same palette!

ps.  April's newsletter is almost finished.  Don't forget to subscribe for some super awesomeness!

Have you tried the tutorial? Did you notice a color pattern?

Pinterest Color Palettes // Identifying Themes

Creating an online directory of all the lovely things you've ever even thought about liking isn't the only Pinterest is good for.  The other day while scrolling through my pins, I realized that there were definite color patterns that emerged!

Apparently I've been obsessed with color lately & I love finding ways to document color.  While scrolling through my pins, I realized that the things I pinned on certain days (or weeks even) all had a common color theme.  This is great for discovering your style.  If you are planning to redecorate a new room, looking for a color for your wardrobe, or (my favorite) planning a blog design, creating a color pallet from your pins is a great tool.

You can do this in your specific boards, too. You don't have to scroll through your entire pins like I did.  If you know you want to redecorate, why not focus on the board with Home Decor inspiration.  If you want to discover a great color for your wardrobe, scroll through your Style pin board.  The possibilities are endless.  In fact this would be great if you couldn't decide on your wedding colors! Oooooh, I am going to plan my wedding right now even though it is no where in sight :)

I am going to share with you a few palettes I've noticed through my own Pinterest boards.  I just scrolled through & took a screen shot when I noticed a color scheme that emerged.  I then used my fave website Colour Lovers to make the palettes.  Throwing them into my Photoshop Elements program I came up with some lovely themes:

All images can be found by scrolling through my pins here

This exercise is great if you want to get a feel of your aesthetic.  Identifying the colors that you are drawn to will help you keep your style or tastes in mind. You should see a theme emerging!  You can print these color palettes out or even pin the preview of your color pallet to throw in with your inspiration boards.  Doing this every once in a while will also show how your tastes in color have changed. You may see that colors change for the seasons, by your mood, etc.

Learning more about your visual style is a great afternoon activity, it helps me to stay true to myself & keep with my style here on Five Sixteenths & in everyday life.  Pinterest is a great way to get to know yourself better!

How do you use pinterest to identify your style? 

Boost Your Blog // 3 Ways to Create a Color Palette

When thinking about blog design, the first thing I do is create a color palette (or five!).  Color palettes help give you an easy starting point to launch a blog design.  Before getting wrapped up in the time consuming actual designing, its a fun exercise in discovering what your going for in your next design.

A great resource for making color palettes is Colour Lovers, an online social network for color lovers!  You can create a profile, like other peoples colors, patterns, & templates, and create a stock pile of lovely inspiration for yourself available whenever you need it.

This simple tutorial for creating color palettes on Colour Lovers will have you inspired for a blog redesign really quickly!  When I first discovered this site, I was addicted! I get lost on there sometimes creating pallets.  

If you have a good sense of yourself then finding a color palette won't be that hard.  If you aren't quite sure as to what inspires you the most, I suggest to go through your Pinterest boards & find the images/things that make you the most excited.  

3 WAYS to CREATE a COLOR PALETTE

Clicking Create

On the website, there is the magical green CREATE button.  Once you click it, a drop down menu appears (magical!) & from there choose palette.  You'll be given a random color to start with.  You can just have at it there & make a monochrome palette or change all the little sliders for a diverse palette or just click around to get acclimated to the program. 

Searching Colors

Another way I like to find interesting colors is the search tool.  Searching not just with terms like yellow, green, & turquoise but with terms like vintage, kiwi, star, even the word computer led me to some nice colors.

Uploading a Photo

The more advanced option is to make a palette from a photo! They provide you with a random photo to start with but you can also choose one from their gallery.  If you know of a photo online, you can paste the url (be sure to give credit to images though, it's just nice!) & create a pallet from there.  Click the colors suggested on the side & add to your palette at the bottom of the screen or use the dropper tool to select your own colors from within the image.

How else can you use these color palettes?

Colour Lovers offers a few options to download a palette for your iPhone or desktop background & you can even turn it into fabric!

Why not use your current favorite colors as your desktop background? Keep it up for some color inspiration.  It's a simple addition to your work computer desktop to add some color to your cubicle.

How do you use color palettes? Have you ever used a site like Colour Lovers?