MONOCHROMATIC TECHNIQUE CARDS

Happy Sunday to you! The above card was in the Color Spotlight a few weeks back for a monochrome challenge, over at The Outlawz Challenges. If you haven't joined this site yet, you should! It's really a really fun group of creative people & terrific challenges- if the link isn't working, copy & paste into your browser - http://outlawzchallenges.ning.com/

Okay, so monochromatic technique, in the strictest sense of the word, involves using ONE & ONLY ONE color on the entire card! If using only one color seems boring to you, or scary, let me assure you, it is neither of these! The secret to a great monochromatic card lies in the design.

As you can see in the blue card above, I centered the main image (large butterfly), but kept everything else on the card OFF-CENTER. Note that the medium blue CS in the background is wider than the light blue CS, the "Just a Note" phrase is stamped to the right of the label and the smaller butterfly is placed in the upper left corner, facing outwards, to the right. Also, the smaller butterfly is raised up with pop-dots, to add dimension and make the card more interesting.

Monochromatic, in a more liberal sense of the word, involves using MAINLY ONE COLOR, with just a little of another color added, as seen in the following card: mainly shades of purple, with a little white (my apologies for the crooked image).

Again, the secret to a great card lies in the design. Here I've used a medium purple background on a white card, dark purple matting around the image, purple & white in the main image, added a bit of sheer white ribbon, and stamped the phrase in purple. The ribbon adds texture & dimension, and tearing the purple CS to expose the white card makes the entire card look more interesting.

I hope you experiment with some monochromatic cards of your own! Some great color choices are greens, yellows, pinks, purples, blues, browns/tan, black/grey, reds & oranges. Have fun & I hope I've helped to inspire your creative side today! Smiles, Laura