Design Medley: Black, White, & Red All Over

An embarassed skunk.
A sunburned Penguin.
A Zebra with diaper rash.
A Nun rolling downhill.
A Newspaper.

Remember those silly jokes when we were kids? The ones we loved to tell but never got the punchline and delivery quite right? The ones grown-ups cringed during but laughed at anyway, causing us to aspire to be the next Bob Hope or Eddie Izzard?

Well, this Blog may not be about one of those jokes but it sure resembles them in a chromatic sense.

I've recently fallen in love with the color combination of red, white, and black. Its simplicity yet stark contrast lends itself well to a variety of mediums - home decor, scrapbooking, quilting, fashion, product packaging, etc. Here I've chosen to highlight some of the cards I've designed following this color palette.

My first two examples are made from embellished pre-fab cards. The same silver-striped notecard was used as the foundation for both. The first thank you card uses my ever favorite ribbon in red and a black & white printed paper in a large diamond motif. The fine lines of the striped card and diamond motif contrast well with the bold wideness of the red ribbon. The second thank you card was inspired by the card's sentiment "Thanks a Bunch" from a rub-on transfer I had. The large black & white floral print is positioned at an aschewed angle to make the striped card more pronounced. A red bejeweled floral charm was added to the flower bunch provided in the rub-on transfer. It adds a touch of elegance, inspires a three dimensional element, and ties in the large floral print a bit better.

Undertaking a mixed media approach, the third example I'm calling "Baroque Greeting" also takes advantage of the black, white, & red color combination. Although its difficult to distinguish in the image, the black and white background is actually achieved by weaving strips of paper together. I then layered on red accents made from paper, red jewel charms, and bead-strung wire. I used black ink to distress parts of the card. This was also my first attempt at hand-lettering on a card. I prefer stamps, rub-on tranfers, or computer generated text, but overall I am quite pleased with this card.

The final card in today's post is my favorite in this black, white, & red design medley series.

Look for future posts about my Design Medleys! Like Inspiration, I anticipate posting occasional montages that adhere to a design theme: color, pattern, shape, theme, etc. Sometimes I love a pattern or a fabric or a design element so much, I can't stop using it. It would be unprofessional to post the same thing over and over again... That's where Design Medley comes in!