Trendy Tuesday – Speech Bubbles
By Colleen Harshaw
Instagram, anyone? What about FaceBook, Twitter or Pinterest? Social media has reached epidemic levels, to the point that many of us have panic attacks if we leave the house without our mobile phones or devices. As a society, we seem to be connected 24/7. This trend of using technology for just about everything has segued into the use of speech bubbles and thought bubbles in paper crafting, in décor and in life. I was surprised at the plethora of images, projects and ideas that are available in keeping with this theme. It was super fun to poke around and see all of the ideas!
I am going to begin today by sharing with you some of the supplies that are available which incorporate speech bubbles and thought bubbles. This first image is from Spellbinders Shapeabilities Collection. Spellbinders has an extensive line of Shapeabilities available, but I had no idea (until recently) that they have speech/thought bubbles available as die cuts! These templates can be used for both cutting and embossing and the set is called ‘Say What’.
Image credit to www.scrapbook.com
This next image is of speech bubble rub-ons from Jenni Bowlin Studios. It’s cute how the speech bubbles have been combined with another theme that we have talked about here at Trendy Tuesday….the arrow. Stars are also popular right now and it seems that Jenni Bowlin is staying on trend!
Image credit to www.scrapbook.com
This next product is by Studio Calico. They are Speech Bubble Chipboard Sticker Shapes. This product seems to be fairly widely available, as I was able to find it listed on several websites via a Google search.
Image credit to www.google.com
Next up are some wood veneer speech bubbles sold by American Crafts.
Image credit to www.google.com
The next product that I have to share with you is from My Favorite Things. It is a Die-namics die speech bubble frame called ‘Insert It’. My Favorite Things has a website through which you can order directly. This is what I have always done however, I was surprised to see that this die is quite widely available through other websites as well. I guess My Favorite Things has expanded their distribution!
Image credit to www.officesupersavers.com
This next product is a 12 x 12 sheet of speech bubble stickers called Mister Huey’s from Studio Calico.
Image credit to www.overstock.com
Now, we can’t have a product list without any paper, can we?! This image depicts 12 x 12 paper from Imaginisce. It is called Chalk Talk from the Geek Is Chic Collection. It also is available through many websites.
Image credit to www.createforless.com
With the popularity of digital scrapbooking these days, we have to have a digital speech/thought bubble product too! I found these super cute Clipart digital speech bubble embellishments on Etsy. They actually have a glossy or reflective appearance to make them look 3D! They are available for instant download through The Digital Candy Shop on Etsy.
Image credit to www.etsy.com
This last product that I have to share with you today is also from Etsy. They are neon coloured speech bubbles made from photo safe cardstock. They are advertised for use as customizable cupcake toppers, smash book/scrapbook embellishments, table confetti or lunch box notes. The possibilities are many! This product is available from Elves In The Attic via www.etsy.com
Image credit to www.etsy.com
OK, now onto the projects. There really were some super cute projects using speech/thought bubbles! I could have gotten lost online (can you say, Pinterest?) for hours!
I found a sketch (I love sketches!) that incorporates a speech bubble into the design. It is a basic sketch, but you can feel free to dress it up however you like.
Image credit to www.moxiefabworld.com
Now I have a card to share with you that uses the sketch recipe from above. This would be a great card for a teen/tween!
Image credit to www.moxiefabworld.com
This next card uses both a speech bubble and another trend…the fishtail flag. It is a really colourful, cute card with lots of layers and a great use of pattern mixing.
Image credit to www.blog.perfectpapercrafting.com
This Happy Birthday Dad card shows how you can use speech/thought bubbles on a masculine card. Masculine cards always seem to be the hardest for me, so I always appreciate seeing examples from other crafters. Personally, I love the ledger paper background! Ledger paper and notebook papers are very popular right now too.
Image credit to www.2.bp.blogspot.com
Next I have some scrapbook pages to share with you. This first one by Jennifer Matott, really makes good use of speech bubbles, with several of them placed over a background paper of text. I love this layout as it does such a good job of capturing the frustration of hearing ‘mom’ hundreds of times per day! You could probably superimpose any mother’s photo onto this layout and have it be accurate! 🙂
Image credit to www.debbiehodge.com
There were so many great scrapbook layouts to choose from within the framework of this trend! This next layout once again uses journal/ledger type lined paper as the background (love it!). Leah Farquharson also manages to use banners as well as speech bubbles on her trendy layout.
Image credit to www.debbiehodge.com
My favourite thing about this next layout by Michelle Houghton is that she actually hand drew all of her speech bubbles! This illustrates how easy it can be to incorporate this trend without spending a lot of money on new supplies. All you need is a pen, some scissors and (hopefully) a few drawing skills!
Image credit to www.debbiehodge.com
In this next layout, Emily Pitts cleverly uses speech bubbles to depict a conversation that took place. All of Emily’s journaling is worked into these speech bubbles. Her use of patterned papers in contrasting colours divides her page, helping the viewer to see which person is saying which words.
Image credit to www.debbiehodge.com
When putting together these articles for you, it is always my goal to show you a variety of projects. It is nice to see cards and scrapbook layouts but I get extra excited when I can find other complimentary projects to include! Today I found this mini album. Mini albums are very popular right now, with many classes being offered at events like CKC, for mini album projects. The nice thing about them is that they make great gifts and they don’t take a ridiculous amount of time to complete. You can complete one and feel like you have accomplished something, instead of having another unfinished project to return to. (You should see my pile of unfinished projects!) This Love You To Pieces mini album was completed from a kit. Check out that fun cover!
Image credit to www.alissafast.typepad.com
This next photo has nothing to do with paper crafting, but instead it comes from a party planning website. This creative lady used speech bubbles to personalize place settings for a party. How cute is that?!
Image credit to www.youaremyfav.com
This last project is so cute. Once again, it isn’t paper crafting related, but it is a very creative use of speech/thought bubbles. These DIY chalkboard speech bubbles can be made at home by following the tutorial provided at the link below. This would be great for a shower or birthday party. I think it would be fun to hang one of these on each of my children’s bedroom doors to share thoughts and messages.
http://ohhappyday.com/2010/08/diy-chalkboard-talk-bubbles/
Image credit to www.ohhappyday.com
Well, that was a bit of a marathon, wasn’t it! Phew! I am finally coming to my conclusion. I am sure those of you who have stuck with me this far are thankful. 🙂
I hope you have fun poking around online to find even more inspiration. Be careful of Pinterest….once you get on that website time ceases to exist! Until next time, happy crafting!
I’ve been using quite a bit of these shapes lately, too. Fun to work with, especially when the sentiment fits right in the shape you have!
These are so much fun. I’ve seen a lot of them, but you always manage to come up with lots that’s new. I love the Tuesday Trend round-ups, even though I don’t consider myself a trend follower. This is one I could easily grab on to, though.
Loving the speech bubbles. I have not gotten into them yet but it might be time I did.
Love these speech bubbles, I had purchased a scrapbooking kit a couple of years ago from Club Scrap “Comics” and the star of the kit was of course speech bubbles. I loved working with them and putting together pages with the kit. I have been using the “Fish Tail ” for a couple of months now mostly on cards so far and I love that added demension of color. Thanks for sharing.