Double Take | Letters and Thickers

Hey Sweet readers! Today’s Double Take is going to be a fun, messy, therapeutic crafting session!! I recently watched this video by Celine Navarro (a very inspiring mixed media scrapbooker) and was SO inspired by her use of old thickers that I decided to make that my theme for these projects.

If you’re anything like me, you have packets of old thickers in your stash – you know, the ones where the adhesive is starting to get weak, or where you’ve used all the “good” letters and just have a bunch of Qs and Zs left. Well, we’re going to put them to good use today, so get out your collection!! Here’s a look at the ones I took out:

The first thing I did was to choose letters that would actually work for a title – I spelled out “Happy Days,” using an assortment of styles and fonts, and even cutting up my stickers to make the letters I needed if I didn’t have them. In the end, everything will be covered up, so the differences won’t be very apparent. After my title was laid out, I chose all sorts of random letters to scatter about my page, making sure to leave a space for my photo. It was really SO fun and therapeutic to get these thickers down on a project, because they’d just been sitting in my stash for a while, and it felt good to use them!!

With all the letters down, it was time for the messy (aka really fun) part – painting over ALL of it with gesso/white paint. Make sure to cover your work surface when doing this!! By the way, I knew that my paper would get covered in paint, so I just used an old sheet of cardstock that I didn’t like… in fact, I taped TWO sheets back to back, just to make it sturdier for the gesso. In my head, I’m using up paper that would never get used anyway, so it’s a win-win!

While the paint was still wet, I spritzed different colors of spray ink and blended it into the paint with a foam brush. If you’re interested in this process, you should watch Celine’s video, because she walks you through the whole thing! I can’t even explain how FUN this was!! You really should try it sometime… there’s a sort of freedom in being artsy and messy with things like paint and mist :)

After that’s all done drying, I was able to quickly finish my layout with some strips of washi tape and some random embellishments that were sitting on my desk. I also stamped some sentiments from the new Monogram It set as well as the cute arrow from Made By #2 to add more contrast and interest to the background. The great thing about this technique is that you’ve put so much into the background that you don’t need a lot of embellishments to finish your project!

I loved this technique so much that I decided to do the same thing for my card. Here’s a look at the first step, with random letters stuck down to and old scrap of paper:

And then after some good old gesso and mist:

Then some stamping from Monogram It and Wheely Like You, and it was complete!

These projects are a very different style than I normally do, but it was really fun and inspiring for me to try a new technique. I hope you enjoyed seeing my process with it, and if you’re inspired to try it out for yourself, be sure to leave a link in the comments!! And if you think this technique might be a bit messy for you, you can easily recreate a similar idea with the new Monogram Alpha stamp set - check out these posts by Nicole and Dana for some inspiration!

I’m sad to say that this is my LAST Double Take post for Sweet Stamp Shop… for now at least! Of course, I plan on continuing to be a part of the Sweet family here because it’s been really awesome!!! A big THANKS to Nicole and Danni and all the other wonderful Sweet designers I’ve had the pleasure to work with!!

A quick reminder... the Holiday Extravaganza is only a couple of weeks away!!! I'm so excited to share what I've prepared, and I promise you won't want to miss it!! ;) Here's a little sneak peek, which you might have seen if you follow me on Instagram.

Have a great week!!

*Sweet Stamp Shop* - Double Take | Monochrome

Today's Double Take is going to be all about monochrome!! I'll be showing you how I made the following projects:

First, let's start with the layout. I picked out a few photos of a recent adventure I went on with some friends where we took some archery lessons!! It was really fun, and a PERFECT opportunity to use that bullseye stamp in the Wheely Like You set (really, could there be a set MORE perfect for this occasion!?) I was so excited that the theme worked so well that I went crazy and stamped it repeatedly, and then punched them out with my 1" circle punch - so glad the images fit perfectly in the punch, so I didn't have to fussy cut all of them, haha!

Before laying them down on my page, I decided I wanted something in the background to make it more interesting and to add texture. I pulled out some acrylic paint and mixed up a grey color with little splashes of blue (which I decided would be my one other color to concentrate on besides black and white). I thickly brushed the paint through a mask.

While the paint was still wet, I pressed some of the bullseye images into it - it saves the step of gluing them down later!

After that was all dry (I left it overnight), I started layering up some papers behind my photos. One thing that is really great about making a monochromatic project is that choosing your supplies is SOO easy - just pull out whatever is black and white, as well as your focus color! Since I didn't really have room to journal on the background, I made a super simple journaling pocket to stick a tag in. *TIP* Instead of trying to cut that indent in the journaling pocket, just use your circle punch!

With just a bit of embellishing later, my layout was done!

For my card, I pulled out my gelatos - I only have one set and it has three shades of blue, so I knew I just had to use them for this monochromatic theme!! They've been feeling a bit neglected anyway. ;):

Here are some pictures of the card, and if you want to see the full step by step pictures, visit my post over on the Sweet blog!

We're making our way into November now, which means that there are only a few weeks left until the Holiday Extravaganza!! I'm working hard on the project I'll be sharing with you, so keep your calendars marked!! I hope you're as excited as I am. :)

Have a great day! :)

*Sweet Stamp Shop* Double Take | Using a sketch

Hi! In today's Double Take post, I will be using a sketch to create the following layout and card. :)

If you've never used a sketch before, I highly recommend trying it out. It's great for beginners to give you a place to start, but it's also great for more advanced crafters because it can challenge you to do something you might not have thought of. AND, since we're doing a double take here, there's also the bonus of giving you a general layout for BOTH a layout and card, so you can get two projects done at once!! I made my own sketches for these projects - using one general layout, but changing it up as needed (sentiment for a card, but title for a layout; focal point for a card, but photos for a layout, etc.) Here is what they look like:

You might be able to tell from the sketch that I won't be doing a traditional 12x12 layout today, which is the norm for me. Instead, I thought I'd give an 8x5x11 layout a try, especially since the proportions are so much closer to a standard card size. Although if you wanted to translate the sketch into a 12x12 layout, you can of course!!

So let's get started on the layout... First, I took a white piece of cardstock and started cutting some triangles out with my craft knife. I wanted to create a confetti-like effect, kind of like the triangles were falling from the top of the page. I backed each cut triangle with little scraps of patterned paper. After that was done, I wanted just a bit more dimension, so I stamped some Triangle Style stamps onto vellum, cut them out, and sprinkled those around as well.

Then I started creating the diagonal stripe across the page. I took a few pieces of patterned paper strips (scraps, branding strips, and washi tape are perfect for this - use up that stash!!) You can see that I also stamped a really fun border using another stamp from Triangle Style. After that, I placed my photos down and layered a bunch of embellishments and stickers from my stash. You can see in the picture below that I used yet another DIY die cut embellishment that I premade. I think my absolute favorite way to use them at the moment is spraying them with Gold Color Shine. LOVE that little bit of shimmer it adds!!

The next step was to add my title. I decided to do some fun calligraphy (I admit I might have been procrastinating at work...) for my title, and then I made it into a cut file for my Cameo. If you want to download it, you can do so here!

Finally, I added my journaling (which there was a lot of this time) and some splashes of gold mist, and my layout was complete!

For my card, I decided I wanted to do the same triangle border as my layout, because it came out so beautifully. Again, I took some paper strips from my desk and made that diagonal line. Super simple and easy. I also embossed a sentiment from Super Mom onto one of the strips.

Since I had that stamp set out, I decided to make my focal point using it, too. I stamped the "Mom" stamp, and then that great explosion stamp (using another "Mom" stamp that I cut out and used as a mask)

I decided not to use little triangle confetti pieces for this card, but some circular elements instead. That's another great thing about sketches - they're open for interpretation, and you can change whatever you want as you go along!! I used some enamel dots and sequins, but some other great ideas are gems or stamping the sequin stamps from Easily Distracted. That was all that was needed as the final touch to my card!

Here are the stamp sets I used in my projects:

I hope these projects have inspired you to use a sketch (maybe even the ones I made!) on your next project... or maybe you're inspired to do TWO projects at once using the same supplies. Either way, I would LOVE to see what you make, so leave a comment with a link to it in this post.

Just in case you missed the October release, make sure to check out the post here where there is tons of inspiration from the fabulous design team showing you just a few ways to use the new, versatile, AMAZING sets!! And if you haven't checked out the new flair in the shop, you really MUST - they are so cute. Here's a little peek at one of my favorite sets, which I think it super trendy:

:) Michelle

*Sweet Stamp Shop* - Double Take | Circles

Hey! I'm here today with one of my favorite parts of the month – Double Take!!! Today we are going to be focusing on a very basic and versatile shape – circles! I love being able to turn a simple shape into something awesome – it makes you think a little more creatively to find ways to use it!

I decided I wanted to make a confetti-like effect for my projects. And of course, since this is a Double Take, I wanted something that would work for both a layout and a card.

One of the best ways to get double duty out of your supplies and projects is to use BOTH the positive and negative shapes of die cuts/punches. I designed a fun background with circles, which you can download here, and cut it out of some watercolor paper that I had painted on very subtly. I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to use on top of that beautiful rainbow paper from Crate Paper, because it hides some of the busyness of all that color! I love this effect, because I looove color, but sometimes think it is too overwhelming for my pictures; this way, I get to see some of that lovely design, while still focusing on what’s important on the page.

After that was done, I went to work adding lots of layers under my photo and then going crazy with my Sweet stamps. I used sentiments from Triangle Style as well as Made By #2. My layout was about how I love to create things, and about the first skirt I sewed, so I couldn’t have thought of more perfect sentiments to go along with my story!!! Here are some close up shots of the page and the stamping and the final page

Oh, and those cardboard/chipboard stars - same, easy DIY concept as my last Double Take!

So after my layout was finished, I had a bunch of those circles left that had been die cut.

I thought they would be perfect just scattered on a background with a bold background. They kind of looked like bubbles, which I thought was really fun! To add more interest, since the watercoloring is very faint, I added some dashed lines and mounted some of the circles up on foam tape, making sure that the circle with the sentiment popped up the most.

That was all I needed to make a fun, yet easy card with leftovers! Don’t you LOVE when that happens?? It’s like getting a bonus project from almost nothing!!

How will you use circles in your next project? Maybe you could make a garland of circles, or make a fun bokeh effect by stamping the super cute small sequins and circles in the Easily Distracted set… or try some fun confetti… the possibilities are endless! Be sure to link up a project using circles if you decide to make one – I’d love to see what you come up with! And if you enter it into this week's Use What You Have Challenge, you can even win something sweet!!

*Sweet Stamp Shop* - Double Take | DIY Chipboard embellishments

I’m super happy to be here today for my second installment of Double Take for Sweet Stamp Shop!! The focus of today’s projects is something that I'm really excited about – DIY chipboard embellishments!!!

Making my own embellishments is something that I love doing very often, because it’s a fun way to do something creative when I don’t feel like starting a whole big project. And also, let’s face it, pre-made embellishments can be quite pricey, and sometimes I just want to use some basic supplies and some Sweet stamps and get a similar effect for much cheaper!!

Okay, so when I said I was making my own chipboard embellishments, I didn’t mean the super thick, layered kind of chipboard. I’m thinking more along the lines of some thin cardboard (NOT corrugated), like an old cereal box. One, it is easier to cut and work with, and two, I can layer tons of these embellishments later and my project won’t be too bulky. I’m SURE you have some old packaging or cereal boxes, so grab some and follow along with me!

The first thing I did was to cut out a bunch of basic shapes with my Cameo (You can download the cut file I designed for this project here). You could also use some basic punches – hearts, circles, stars, and butterflies would all be great. Or, you can even try your hand at hand cutting if you don’t have these tools and are patient enough. I like to cut out a shape and then cut a circle around it, because this way, I get double out of my cuts, and it also gives me a bit more variety. As you can see, I have a LOT of embellishments cut out. I’m probably not going to use them all on my projects, but I wanted to have room to play and mess up if I needed to.

Then I grabbed some acrylic paint – white because I plan on adding stamped layers on top after – and I knew I would be using gold in my projects, so I added just a tiny bit of Gold Color Shine (L.O.V.E. that stuff).

I brushed the paint on top of the chipboard pieces, trying to make it as smooth as possible.

I let it dry for a bit (you can speed up the process with a heat gun), and then prepared a whole bunch of materials for experimenting. I grabbed some ink pads, Versamark ink, and a few colors of embossing powder, as well as some Sweet Stamp Shop sets that had sentiments I wanted to use as textures. I used Triangle Style and Wheely Like You, but I can imagine this would work beautifully with the sentiments from Austen Obsessed or a shape stamp like Drops Background.

My favorite effect was the gold embossing, so I went with that for most of my embellishments. You can see in the picture below that sometimes you can’t read the whole sentiment, or that some embossing powder will get stuck in the strokes of paint. That’s okay!! The embossing element is really just for a fun texture, and you’ll be layering them up later anyway, so you don’t have to be perfect!

In addition to these chipboard embellishments, I decided to hand cut some paper leaves to add more variety to the textures and shapes. I machine sewed down the middle of some and watercolored accents on others.

I made another quick cut file to cut out my title and then backed some of the words with gold glitter tape (another product I LOVE).

After layering up all my embellishments, I was done with my layout:

P.S. Just LOOK at those streaks of gold Color Shine... is that not the most gorgeous thing you have ever seen!?!?

Thanks so much for following along with me. Send me to a link to your project if you decide to make some of these fun embellishments! I’d really love to see what you create! :)

Now you can head on over to the post at Sweet Stamp Shop to see the card that I made using my leftover pieces!