For the Love of All things Black

December 26, 2014 by alizadeutsch 4 Comments

 

Hi, everyone! It’s Aliza, again. Yesterday, I shared my process for editing photos with my favorite phone apps. Today, I am excited because I will share even more about the January kit itself. Here’s what I love about Amy Tangerine; In addition to her lovely lettering and whimsical embellishments, I have noticed that she liberally uses black and shades of gray. Those happen to be two of my favorite colors.

I work in a preschool, so I often get asked, “What’s your favorite color?” by my little students.  Their world is full of bright and shiny favorites like green, pink, purple, blue, and yellow, so they seem a little surprised when I tell them my preferences.  But, what can I say, a pretty shade of gray can take my breath away. And, to me, small doses of color look even more beautiful when they are contrasted by black. When mixing different colors and patterns on a scrapbook page, I feel a strong sense of visual calm when those elements are grounded with some black borders.

I don’t know if any of the above is supported by anything in the world of science or design. I just know that it’s how I feel.

All that is to say that I love all the black, white, and gray patterns in this month’s kit.

Allow me to demonstrate:

I began this layout by cutting out the strips in this patterned paper, and laying them on a white background.

I liked the general layout, and figured it was a good start. But, I thought some elements would be more defined in black,

 

or surrounded by black:

I added some more elements, and framed those with black too.

 

To finish up, I matted the whole layout onto black cardstock. In the process, I swapped out the bottom set of triangles for some hearts, creating a  nice little visual triangle of orange hearts.

 

If you are interested, here is a little background to this story; My son is a few weeks away from his Bar Mitzvah, and one of his new responsibilities will be to wear Tefillin (phylacteries, in English) during morning prayers. This is a photo of the first day he wore them; a significant milestone for him and our family.

Thanks for joining me again today! Have a great weekend!