For those who want to become more confident scrapbookers, especially when it comes to design, a good grasp of color relation principles can really help you feel more confident about your color choices.

You can see how colors relate to each other by looking at a color wheel.

You can find this color wheel on Amazon (affiliate link)

If you notice, in the center of this color wheel, there are four shapes superimposed over each other: an isosceles triangle, an equilateral triangle, a rectangle, and a square.

Basically, if you turn the wheel so one corner of a shape rests on a color family, the color families at the other corners of the SAME SHAPE will work well together.

For example, if you have one corner on the blue color family, you can create pages that are blue, red and yellow; blue, red-orange, and yellow-orange; blue, violet, and yellow-orange; blue, red-orange, and green; blue, red-violet, yellow-green, and orange; blue, violet, orange, and yellow; or blue, red, orange, and green. As long as all the colors have similar amounts of white and/or black in them (their color value) they will work together.

You don’t have to use all the colors in each group when you’re combining colors, but I don’t recommend using colors from different groups.

The most important thing to remember about a color wheel? Don’t try to match the colors on a color wheel with the colors on your photos or in your papers. The number of times the colors will actually MATCH? Infinitesimal. This is more about thinking about how colors are related than matching specific colors.

Don’t believe me? Try making a page, and choosing your products based on a color wheel. I think you’ll really like how your colors all work together.

This may be my favorite page made using a color wheel to choose products. What do you think?