Create: A Quick and Easy Sign

The other day I felt the need to create nudging at me, but I didn’t have a lot of time to mess around. I decided to make a quick and easy creative sign for my studio {True story – my “studio” is half of a room, including a lovely bay window, separated with a room divider, but I’m manifesting lots of big things here!}.

I looked around at what I might put together and saw a custom cut chipboard in my favorite font, waiting to find its purpose – my sign would remind me to “Create!”

The need to create strikes me often and feels as natural to me as hunger or thirst; when the feeling hits, I need to make it happen. However, I also experience creative blocks {like most artists} that I have to work my way through. I think it’s important that others understand that even Creatives get blocks and need to work to get through them.

Artists also get really busy with other things and need to make the time to do our craft in all the busy that life throws our way. I am always urging others to make time to be creative – it’s part of my mission to inspire creativity and teach. my sign is the perfect reminder for me to not only do the thing, but also to walk my talk.

Deciding what I would do

So I set out to do this thing and decided to keep it pretty simple, keeping the focus on that word. most of my other mixed media canvases and projects have a lot of depth and interest, loads of background material, texture and embellishments – I wanted to keep the focus clearly on this word, “create”. I had some circle scrap chip board pieces there, too, so decided to use those for just a little interest on the background.

I started by laying out my circle backgrounds to see where they might look best. My first thought was to heat emboss all of the circles teal, but they got lost. I decided to add some white over it for a distressed look. 

For my word, I wanted my style to really shine through since it is a reminder for me. In my pieces I use a lot of teals and other colors, as well as stamping, shading. I always heat emboss whichever chip boards I use. So why not bring that all together on this chip board word?

Making it mine

After priming my “create” with white gesso, I used some distress inks to add touches of color here and there. The colors faded, but that’s okay – I love the Rustic feel of it as it turned out. Next, I took a script rubber stamp and stamped at random using black archival ink.

To add more interest on my word, I used a teal Tombow dual brush marker to emphasize the calligraphy with some shading. Afterward, I used a black sharpie to outline the sides to make it more dimensional. The last step was to heat emboss and seal it all together! Heat embossing it with ultra thick embossing enamel was the winning choice.

I glued it all down using Fabri-Tac glue and VOILA! We have a sign. I’ve actually already had a request to “create” one for a friend, so maybe these signs will be a hit! {By the way, if you’re making mixed media and haven’t tried Beacon brand Fabri-tac glue yet, you’re missing out. I have tried loads of other brands and this is definitely my go-to. It’s permanent, it’s strong – there are none like it. }

I am so happy with the simplicity of this project and I look forward to doing more like it.

Scrapaholics scrapbook supply offers high-quality laser cut chipboard embellishments for all occasions and will work with you to create your custom ideas. 

disclaimer: this is not an affiliate link, no proceeds or commissions are received by me when you purchase.