I’ve never been one of those “colour adventure” people. When I used to knit, I picked projects that required one colour or could be made with skeins of varigated yarn. I never felt comfortable picking colours to mix together from different manufacturers. I had been admonished to buy “enough yarn of the same dye lot” because the colours could be slightly off and that might be off enough to - gasp - be a problem - and no one wants blues that are slightly off colour in an afghan, right?

However, I realized that I was in a “colour rut” when I went through my latest batch of LOs - blue, blue, green, blue, white, blue, green, brown, orange, blue, and blue. Except for that bit of orange, it was pretty much a blue/green world!

So, I’m suggesting a challenge - if you feel up to it [because I’m not sure I’m up for it, but I’m gonna try it] - go outside your “colour comfort zone” sometime this month.

If you usually have backgrounds of blues and greens, go to the other side of the colour spectrum - pick oranges and reds. If you usually have a solid background, try a patterened paper. If you usually have lots of colour, pick one colour as your domanant colour. Maybe make your elements more colourful - maybe a big red heart or red rose on that white background; or a bright orange flower on a dark blue background.

If, like me, you feel “colour challenged,” here are some suggestions:

• look at advertisements for inspiration. I went through a magazine and noticed how the colours in some of the ads were combinations I’d never consider using together - lime green and bright orange, maroon and forest green, and turquoise with plum and brick red.
• next time at the hardware store, grab some paint chip samples. I’ve seen some “new” samples that have colours for rooms on them, opposed to shades of the same colours.
• do a search for “Kuler” and look at their colour samples. You need CS 2 or 3 to download the themes, but for those who don’t have those programs, the themes can still spark some creative colour ideas.
• look in the RAKScraps Gallery for inspiration. There are a lot of talented people posting to the gallery with lots of different colour combinations.

This isn’t a RAKScraps contest with a prize, but it’s more of a “doing something outside your comfort zone” type of challenge. Have fun doing it - and even if you aren’t happy with the result, at least you tried something new. Enjoy, have fun, and if you post your LO in the gallery, leave a comment here and I’ll look for it - and leave some gallery love for you!

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