Hello there! It's Inspiration Friday at The Greetery, also known as TGIF, and it's my turn to share!
After working with the new Large Leaves Monstera dies for the Urban Jungle release and adding some fun pink veins to my monstera, it got me to wondering if I could use the same dies to create some coleus and caladium inspired leaves! It's no surprise that I love coleus and caladium plants. We grow many different varieties every year and have done so for at least a decade or so now. I love them because they're a fantastic way to have color in your flower pots all summer -- including PINK -- without relying on flowers which may not be continually blooming! Another great advantage is that pests that can plague flowers, tend to leave coleus and caladium alone! I share lots of our plants daily on Instagram, in case you want to see some of the plants that inspired my projects today!
So, one of the really cool things about coleus and caladium is allllll the different color variations there are. And any one leaf may have 4 or 5 different colors on it! Which makes it really fun when it comes to recreating some of your own paper versions! The sky's really the limit when it comes to colors! I mean, of course you can use your imagination and create any fun color combos you can dream up. But there are loads of really spectacular real-life versions to inspire you, if you want them to be a bit more realistic. A quick google search may surprise you on how many different color combinations exist in real life, and will surely give you tons of inspiration to get you started!
To create mine, I opted to have a little fun and let them be loosely inspired by some of our actual plants and then played a bit with the colors I used. I die cut the monstera leaves and veins in really fun colors and added some shading to the center portion of the leaf with some ink blending. Then, I glued the leaf onto another piece of card stock and simply trimmed it out around the edges, not cutting into the gaps that would make it a monstera. It's super simple to do, but the results are so fun!
I just played making leaves first, not worrying about a specific card color combo. Then, once I had my leaves made, I built some color combos around them. I really wanted to use the same layout, but show you three distinctly different cards -- one more realistic and neutral, one more dark and moody and one more bright and cheery!
Each one features additional die cuts using the Large Leaves Fern and Palm dies, as well as a Woven Cane die cut in the background.
PRO TIP: In the case of both the fern and palm die cuts, they're long enough that they would stick out the bottom of the coleus leaf if I hadn't trimmed them. By snipping them shorter, it removes visual clutter hanging out the bottom of the focal leaf, and also allows me to position the tops exactly where I want them, rather then being limited to where they would fit. Remember.....make those die cuts work for YOU, rather than letting them be the boss and dictate how and where you use them! If something is too big, cut it up and use just what you need!
Each card also includes a Little Labels sentiment.
PRO TIP: Notice how the sentiment strip goes off both sides of the card, however it's much more left-justified. This gave me room to fit the leaf and the sentiment next to each other (overlapping) and provides a bit more visual interest and balance.
{Coleus Inspired-Traditional supplies -- click on thumbnails}
I love how this one just has such a summery, almost citrusy feel! And look how many different colors we've used here! EIGHT!
PRO TIP: Really play with your background color selections!! Let's say you want to go really neutral. You still have a MILLION different ways to go neutral! Keep your focal leaf handy, so you can see how it plays with your background colors and then select your color for your cane background. Go ahead and die cut it from whatever neutral you like and then play with laying that cane die cut on top of several different neutral options! The results may surprise you! You could take that light gray like I used on my first card, and lay it on white and then try laying it on kraft and then lay it on black or navy or even a super dark, earthy green or brown. In every case, you're still going to be creating a neutral background, but the dynamics of your background will change -- in some cases, pretty dramatically -- with each color shift! You'll see what I mean if you try it!
Then, do the same thing if you want to create a really cheery, sunny background. Start with your cane die cut and lay it over lots of different bright options. Even try it on ones you don't think will look good, because you might stumble upon a really spectacular combo totally by accident! And then, of course, do the same thing with your moody colors!
It's a really fun exercise that will stretch you creatively and ultimately, it will help teach you about how colors work with or against each other, and that will help you down the road with future cards!
{Coleus Inspired-Bright supplies}
Here's the moody version. I could have even gone really moody with the leaf colors, too, if I'd wanted to!
{Coleus Inspired-Moody supplies}
I hope these cards give you loads of inspiration and help you to get even more mileage out of your monstera dies!! And I hope they get you to thinking about color and experimenting and trying new things!
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Tell me....which of today's cards is your favorite? Neutral, bright or moody? I'd love to hear!
Have a great weekend!
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