Ideas for July, August & September 2020

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Ideas for July, August & September 2020

I just had a request that we get the palettes and themes set for a bit farther ahead since people are home and looking for things to do. Leave your ideas below for colors and themes!

July-Nautical?

August-Beach Theme?

Sept-Friendship?

Generic Wedding?

Ice Cream/Frozen Treats?

Baby's First Year?

You can definitely ignore my theme suggestions! Just thoughts... I do love these palettes though! Can't wait to see others ideas!

Love the frozen treats and the July Nautical swatches.

I like the nautical theme and palette too.I'm normally not a fan of pink but I love the contrast of navy blue and hot pink, especially for a nautical theme.

Here is what I was able to come up... if someone is better at blending shades than me please by all means post a different one lol

With so many people starting gardens, getting chickens and looking to be self sufficient for the first time in their lives what about a garden/homesteading/chickens/hobby farm type theme lol

Maybe add some oranges blues and/or pinks to one of these palettes? Or maybe someone else has an amazing palette that would fit this theme!

or this

Jennifer> Love both, your take on the nautical and of the 2nd, the more elaborate one.

For July

For August

For September

or

Dawn, I like the theme Santa Fe and the first palette you have for it. I grew up in the desert Southwest. That could be a really fun theme! If we do it though, I think some greens need to be added for cactus and ocotillo and palo verde trees to go along with the artsy stuff and tribal stuff.

Here's another palette I had laying around with the label of farm or homestead

I suggested these last time, but they weren't picked, so here they are again. I'll probably come up with some more in the next few days, but these I had ready to go.



Here's Dawn's first Santa Fe palette with the greens added and gamut checked

Amanda, I like the palettes for Laugh with Me and Make a Friend. What are your thoughts on interpretation for Laugh with Me? I'm having a hard time envisioning how that theme could be interpreted but it sounds like it could be fun.

The Dress in Blue could be interesting, maybe even a little challenging since I can't remember ever having a true monochrome palette before on the blog train. It could be a fashion theme or even a "My Favorite Comfy Blue Jeans" so I guess I kinda like that one too but in a "it's a challenge way" rather than "ooohhh pretty colors" lol Not that they aren't pretty colors, I just tend to lean toward "more colors to choose from the better" lol

Here's Rachel's Frozen Sweets palette

I can do other palettes if anyone wants, just let me know. I just did the ones that people have mentioned they like. I don't mind doing them.

Hello!

I love Rachel Martin's 1st palette and the Nautical theme for July
I would like to have a Beach kit on August, and I love also Rachel's 2nd palette for this
For September I like Jennifer Morgan's 2n palette (the one with black and red with the house picture) or the one of Dress in Blue with Amanda Holyoak's palette. Let's make a kit with less colors, please! smiley

In my opinion, here at pixelscrapper there is people around the world, not only from the USA, so kits like Santa Fe are totally out of my reach! I mean, I don't know how to make them or which elements to include...

I think that more general themes are better, but of course this is my opinion!

Sonia, I understand where you are coming from however I do disagree with the notion that we should not do American themes just because there are people from all over the world on DigitalScrapbook.com.

Some people have never been to a beach. Others don't have children by choice and never plan to have any. There are people who have never planted a seed in their life or everything they try to plant dies. I don't think we should exclude beaches or kid themes or garden themes just because we all bring different life stories and experiences to the table for the blog train.

Years ago, when I was new here, we did a blog train with an all things British theme. It was a lot of fun even though a lot of people had never been to England. I've been a lot of places but I've never been to Australia or South America. A little research though and I'm sure I could find some inspiration. Also, if I liked the colors but not the theme, I could always take my own interpretation on it.

Santa Fe is well known for its fine arts festivals and community. There is also skiing nearby, hot air balloon races, Historic Route 66 runs through Santa Fe which opens the theme up to hot rods and car trips. It is in the high desert and the scenery is just gorgeous. Just some pictures from a Google search ought to give at least some inspiration. BTW, I've been to New Mexico several times, but I've never been to Santa Fe. Only seen pictures of the area, seen the turn off signs for Santa Fe on the interstate a couple hours to the south and what I could Google to gather some ideas on which this theme could go.

Not trying to start an argument or say either of our opinions is better. I just wanted to offer a counter perspective on themes about places one has not been too.

Oh and about the picture that you and Bina commented on, I ran a gamut check on it and it was hopelessly out of gamut. Only 5 of the 12 colors are in gamut at all. It would be a pretty different looking palette if I tried to correct them all. I did try. Sorry about that, I will go ahead and take it down. I'll try to find one with earthy tones like that picture that will work.

Jennifer, I think the "Laugh With Me" might have been one of Sonia's theme suggestions that I created a palette for. I mostly see it as a cheerful, fun theme, which feels generic enough that people could come up with ideas for it.

I agree with the idea of having at least one challenge palette, just to shake things up a bit. It'd be fun, I think. It doesn't necessarily have to be the blue one, either (I know Sonia previously suggested a black and white theme with some gold and people's choice of one accent color).

Maybe next year the blog train themes for each month should focus on different parts of the world. That could be fun to do. And always, with themes like "Santa Fe," you don't necessarily have to stick to the theme, just do something with the colors. smiley

Jennifer, which picture is hopelessly out of gamut? The colorpalette.org one with the barn? I only see two colors as out of gamut in Photoshop on my end, and I've set the color profile to the recommended one for print-designing (Coated FOGRA39). If it's a different one, I'd be interested to see it, based on past conversations here about gamut and how your computer's color profiles affect that.

Ok, here are three more I put together. You can probably tell I like bright, jewel-tone colors (which is why I like the idea of a monochrome challenge).

A brightly-colored take on a summer/beach theme:

Something heavy on the oranges, possibly for early fall:

One inspired by a galaxy photo, that could probably work as a lullaby/nursery/naptime theme:

EDIT: and here's the color palette for the picture with the barn, adjusted for gamut using the color profile I have set:

I do agree with Sonia about less colors. I've noticed that with the LARGE color swatches people definitely pick some colors to just leave out, and then I feel like the blog train doesn't look as cohesive. As a designer myself, I find large color swatches very difficult to wrap my head around. 6-8 colors seems about right.

I'll probably steal my swatches back if they're not chosen! LOL you know us scrapbookers covet our color swatches! smiley

My "Sante Fe" title was to convey the desert southwest, I just thought Desert Southwest as a title didn't really work. This covers things such as Kokopelli, clay pottery, desert cactus, desert flowers, desert animals, beautiful southwest Indian designs (they have such beautiful textiles with amazing patterns). When you add in the suggestions Jennifer made about their hot air ballon festivals, historic Route 66 and the beautiful art I think there are numerous ideas to use. Maybe "Sante Fe" makes the theme seem to narrow? Would "Desert Southwest" be better? I just really love these earthy tones and since I've been here at DigitalScrapbook.com for several years (about 8 I think), a theme like this hasn't been done.

@Sonia, I remember doing the "England" theme a few years ago (as Jennifer mentioned). Though I have never been to England, and seriously doubt I would ever go, I still enjoyed researching a little and putting a kit together. Just because I would never use the majority of that blog train, it isn't just about what I would personally use; there must have been enough people interested in it to make it one of the blog trains.

I do understand that there are people here on DigitalScrapbook.com not from the U.S., but there are a lot of people from the U.S., and I think they would definitely appreciate the Sante Fe/Desert Southwest blog train. When I've come up with a artistic block in my interpretation of a theme, it has been suggested to just make some generic elements/papers, and I have found that to be a good suggestion because there is always a need for generic graphics to go with any theme. This is only my opinion.

Since the majority of people here on DigitalScrapbook.com are from the U.S. I would like to see more blog train themes, once in a while, that do pertain to our holidays such as 4th of July, Halloween, Mardi Gras (though didn't we just do that one?) etc. because for many scrappers here on DigitalScrapbook.com this is their best opportunity to get good quality kits for free. Just because some of us post kits using these themes in the Kits Section or in the Commons Section, not everyone can get those kits because they are limited to just getting single graphics, so the blog train is a great help to them. Again, this is just my opinion.

I think it would be great fun to do holiday/celebration themes from other parts of the world. I don't know about others, but I kinda like challenges like that, much like the England theme. Anyway, I think I have given more than my "two cents".

@Jennifer, thank you so much for adding the greens and fixing gamut. I meant to fix any gamut issues, but forgot to before I uploaded. Thank you also for eliminating some of the colors. I always do too many colors and believe it or not, before posting the palette I reduced the number of color options by probably a third or more. smiley

I've got my fingers crossed for my Castles & Dragons theme, too, since it encompasses a fantasy theme. With princes, princesses, wizards, dragons, knights, etc. I think it would be versatile and fun. Okay, I'll quit cheering for some of my themes...promise...at least for now. smiley

P.S., I always love a beach theme. Rachel's "Salt Life" (I love that for a title) palette is gorgeous.

P.S.S. Amanda's "Galaxy Dreams" palette is gorgeous, too, and the theme has lots of possibilities as she suggest.

P.S.S.S. I also like Jennifer's idea for a barnyard/farm/gardening/etc. theme

Oh WOW I don't envy Marisa's tasks of choosing themes to be voted on.

Not feeling Santa Fe or the desert AT ALL.... but love Salt Life, Bold Summer, Picnic Days and Dragons and Castles. smiley

@ Amanda - Thanks for doing the in gamut version of that barnyard picture. I tried but I think it might have been too late at night when I was trying and my brain just couldn't wrap around how to do it without losing the feel of the colors entirely. You did an amazing job though! smiley

@Dawn the only ones I eliminated were the ones that came up out of gamut completely. There were so many left that it didn't feel like it was missing anything so that how I chose which ones to remove lol. And I pulled the greens from your dragons and castles palette actually.lol

No worries about forgetting to check for gamut, I did it too. smiley

I like doing the research for themes too. Especially when I have a few months before the kit is due and I can really dive in. It is not uncommon for my husband to shake his head at the number of browser tabs I have open when I'm looking for inspiration and doing research lol.

Jennifer, I can't really take credit for that. I just took the image you posted and dropped all twelve colors into the palette, then checked gamut (it showed three off, I think?). My fix for that is to convert the image to CMYK, which shifts the colors to the nearest in-gamut ones Photoshop can find (some shifts are barely noticeable), and then back to RGB to save. I've yet to have it really throw off the colors.

Like I said, I wonder if the color profile you're using is more restrictive, if so many colors are showing as out of gamut? Not a criticism, more curiosity.

Rachel, I'm totally using some of my unused palettes for my own projects if they don't get picked for blog trains (same with ones that I suggested last time that weren't chosen). I've got ideas bubbling around for some of them.

Sorry Amanda I missed your second post. Yes it was the colorpalette.org picture that showed wildly out of gamut for me. I was set to "U.S. Web Coated (SWOP)" under CMYK for some reason. I must have changed it at some point while working on another project and forgot to change it back. I changed it back to Coated (FOGRA39) and now it is much less restrictive. smiley I didn't even think about my color settings because I don't remember changing it but apparently I did at some point.

I really like your around the world theme idea. I think that could be really fun. I might do that even if we don't do it here. I homeschool my youngest son right now and making some papers and clipart to go with his studies or in his notebook could be useful and fun. Hmmmm... smiley

Thanks for explaining Laugh with Me. That does sound like a fun theme and I do like jewel tones too.

Jennifer, I didn't say not to make American themes: in fact, in the past I suggested to make a Country Wedding, and I love American themes like July 7th, for instance. I have never planted a seed and I agree with a "Farmestead" theme, I don't have children and I made a "Nursery Rhymes" kit. I don't travel a lot and I made an "Around the World" kit...

Maybe, if the title of the kit were "Desert Southwest" as suggested by Dawn, a more general title, I wouldn't have say nothing! I just was surprised for the name "Santa Fe". Now that you have been so kind to explain more things about this idea, I must say I'm a fan of native American art and I have always willing to make a kit with succulents, kokopelli,etc.

So please don't be so severe! It was just an opinion!;)

That said, I love Amanda's 3rd palette for Farmstead and Rachel Martin's Salt Life palette for a beach theme

@Sonia, I will apologize, too, if you feel I was being too severe. I really do try to be gentle and positive when stating my opinions, but sometimes the words on a comment seem too harsh. Again, I do apologize smiley

You all are so sweet! I love this place! Everyone goes out of their way to make sure each person is completely understood, so much can get lost in a voiceless typed out question or response!

I also completely agree with thinking poor Marisa will have a hard time deciding how to go about choosing! There are a LOT of great palettes and theme ideas here! So super excited to see the outcome!

I 100% agree that there are so many good palettes and theme ideas to go through. smiley

Some of the ones I've seen so far that really stand out to me are Rachel's Nautical and Frozen Treats palettes, either Farmstead one from Jennifer's photos, and the gamut-checked Santa Fe palette. But yeah, I definitely don't envy Marisa the job of picking which palettes go up in the voting thread, and I know she often makes improvements to the color scheme if it's perhaps lacking a little something.

I could probably make and submit palettes all day, but I'll wait and see if anyone else has some to suggest. smiley

Sonia, I'm sorry if I came across as harsh. That really wasn't my intended tone. I was just sharing my opinion as well as it seemed to be the opposite of yours. I'm sorry if I misinterpreted your opinion or if I hurt your feelings. That was not my intent at all. smiley

Ladies, I am also very sorry, this is what happens when someone is not an English native-speaker like me: sometimes (well, usually) I misundertand things, I know you don't want to hurt me, so don't I!

I agree with you: poor Marisa! I am really thankful that you explain the intention of the kit, the ellies that can be made...and if you finally choose that Santa Fe kit, of course I will google and try to find more about it, I always do it, in fact, when there is a kit theme or title I don't understand!

Please, please be safe! This community has many beautiful people like you! The most important thing is that we meet an agreement and that we are all together in these times!!

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