Always quick with a smile from beneath one of her signature hats she lights up any room.

Pat is always perfectly put together but today her bright pink suit, print hat and matching wrap along with burgundy suede boots looked so cute I just had to snap a picture to share with you.

I liked that she chose the burgundy suede rather than the more expected black.  Her hat and wrap had that yummy pink, soft burgundy with accents in soft brown and blue leaning a bit towards green all on a black velvety fabric.  I think it created an interesting combination.

It come from a post Julie wrote today on creating a December fete where the mood is festive- yet nothing is quite as it seems.  Her inspiration began with designer Caroline Gardner’s not so typical holiday palette and a deer motif that feels more ‘optical illusion’ then ‘yuletide cheer’.

This is an unusual combination of color especially for the holidays but shows how unexpected combinations can be so much more interesting than typical combinations.  Would you find this paper nearly as interesting if if was red, green and white?  Or even different hues of blue and silver?  I’m not sure I would have even given it a second look.

When choosing colors for a wardrobe there is a rule of thumb many people go by– If the style is quite unusual best to stay with classic colors but if the style is classic unusual or bolder colors are much more interesting.  I think you could say this same idea works for just about anything.

Don’t miss all of the items Julie found.  They are a fun blend of fantasy and festivities and can be seen on her post– An Inspired Holiday Event. Enjoy!

I like the combination of colors she chose and decided to take a closer look at the palette that has a youthful energy with grown up appeal.

Here are a few more designs by Carolyn Gavin.  I think she has an incredible sense of color.  Each of her palettes is just delightful and anyone of them could inspire me.

This is a close up of one of her designs on a notebook that I found at Journals and Books.

Visit Lilla Rogers Studio where you can find Carolyn Gavin’s portfolio, bio and pictures of her studio.

Learn more about Printsource: The World of Textile and Surface Design

Happy Friday,

I took a section of his blog and created the color palette shown below.  I think the colors work great for his blog header but couldn’t you just image this color scheme in an interior of an apartment or knitted into a favorite sweater?

These aren’t the exact colors perhaps but when I paint a landscape I work to capture the feeling of the scene in colors that please me rather than worrying about whether or not they are the exact hues.

My thought process is much the same when I develop a color scheme from something that inspires me and I hope it is your approach as well. No need to worry about getting the colors exactly but rather focus on putting together colors that please you.

And just in case you were wondering here is what the full banner looks like.

Better yet why don’t you check out Paul’s blog Half2Know for yourself.

There are lots of great post on “color, business, culture & fun.”

PS- I started to write about a photo I had pulled as an example of colors that could work well in a kids room this morning and to my surprise discovered it is a variation of this same palette. See the post on Color for Your Home.

Yes the coffee is great but even more important is the fact that I like their colors. The light blue green of their logo and on the signage in the interior of their stores is a color that appeals to me. In fact it is vaguely similar to my signature color H2-Ahh!, which is the color of my office shown below.

Since I usually take along my laptop and work for an hour while enjoying my morning coffee the color connection seems to make it especially comfortable to me.  Add to that store manager Kenny’s friendly personality and I’m there most mornings when I’m in town.

Recently I have been traveling and while I was away they set up their holiday displays.  I walked in the other morning to find gift packages and items in a color combination I think is a perfect holiday scheme to say Caribou Coffee for the holidays.

The combination is used on the gift cards, holiday packaging, signage and of course the cups and looks great.  

Only one small problem.  I now have to buy a medium coffee instead of my usual small and can you guess why?

No the answer isn’t that I’m exhausted from traveling and need more coffee.  I can have all of the coffee I want when I purchase the small.  And no it isn’t that they discontinued the small size or ran out of small cups.

Yup, it’s the color!  The small holiday cup is brown, the medium blue and the large one is red.  I looked at the choices, and in the same instance that I saw Angelica reach for the brown cup I knew I wanted the blue and immediately told her to make it a medium instead.   I just couldn’t help myself.  It was all about the color.

Today was day three of enjoying coffee from a blue cup.  I actually thought I might go back to the small  but I just couldn’t do it when it came time to place my order.  I wanted to drink my coffee from the blue cup.  Not the brown.  Not the red.  It may sound ridiculous but drinking from the the blue cup just makes me feel good and I’m sure I’ll be paying an extra .20 every day from now until they run out of holiday cups so that I can have the blue.

Today, I even brought my second cup of coffee back to the office with me.  See how great it looks on the vintage Buffalo China salesman color sample that I use as a coaster on my desk.

So if I go for the blue cup for the next say 45 days– what’s that?  An extra $9.00?

Some might see this as a waste of money.  I see it as a small price for happiness.