by Holli Long
I have a secret addiction. There are only a few people who know about this secret of mine… until now.
I love catalogs!
I go through them over and over, pulling out pictures that catch my eye for all sorts of reasons. I put the pictures in to piles, separate them by color, and study them. I love to see the trends of color and design in them. It makes me happy.
I peruse Ballard Designs, anything Pottery Barn, the Company Store, American Country, and Soul Flower. I scour Blair, Terry’s Village, and this new one I found, CB2, that has some great color combinations. To be honest, any catalog I can get my hands on is fair game for reference. But every catalog is a chance to turn on that part of my brain that has the need to create something.
I found a consistent color trend of sorts with these pages and went to work looking through my color chips of Folk Art Paint colors to find a bright, crisp palette that I can’t wait to do something summery with; new colors Moon Yellow, and Pink Melon, and some of my old favorites, Tangerine, Light Lavender, and Ocean Cruise.
Not only did I find a great color palette out of these pages, but found inspiration in the Ballard Designs catalog using the nine canvas wall art picture there on the right of my color chips. Come back on Friday to see the project I made from this inspiration. For this palette, I chose: new colors Cinnamon, and Buttercup; Forest Moss, Sky Blue, and Battleship. I love the soft colors here, don’t you?
There is so much reference to find in new catalogs for fashion, home decor, and gifts. Bedding catalogs have great patterns and color ways, also. If you’re wondering how I gather these many catalogs, I’ll let you in on another secret of mine. www.catalogs.com is a great website where you can sign yourself up for many free catalogs on just about every subject imaginable. I get an email every month or so from them with new catalogs to request and it pleases me. After a few weeks, I receive a treasure of catalogs that keep me occupied for days! So, grab some catalogs and start looking for what makes your creative brain fire up. You’ll be surprised with what you find. A little warning from me, though… it is addictive!
