Brayer Some Atmosphere onto Your Stampin Up Cards

I had the best fun the other night getting my fingers dirty and playing with abandon with my lovely Stampin' Up!® Classic Inks and a brayer.

Some of us are a little afraid of the brayer, but it really is a wonderful tool and it makes card making really quick and colourful. 

For these cards I worked on Glossy White card stock. The first example is named "Bushfire Haze" as it reminded me of driving through the bush after a fire had swept through and blackened everything. The method I used is to swipe the glossy card with the Embossing Buddy (very important when using black emboss powder) then stamp all the images with Versa Mark ink and finally pour Black Emboss Powder over the image. Make sure you have a good coverage and ensure you give the card a good flick with your finger to remove any stray embossing powder

Heat the embossing powder until glossy.

I added some additional sponged colour in some areas to enhance the colour palette. To create the moon just punch out a circle (any size that suits your design) on a sticky note. Ensure you have some of the sticky portion in the circle and stick onto the card where you want to place the moon. 

Then brayer away happily until you achieve your desired effect.

HINT: Always start with your lightest colour, and remember that the colours will be blending into each other so do not place complimentary colours next to each other unless you want to end up with neutrals. 

The ink stays moist for a while on the glossy surface so continue the brayering motion until blending occurs. This may take some practice, but one of the wonderful things about using a brayer is the serendipity - you never quite know what will eventuate.

The second card is framed on Basic Black card stock. The moon is masked before any ink was applied so a white circle was left. I sponge additional ink on the moon area to create depth and to soften the shape a little.

This card uses a different colour palette  and was a little dark so I added highlights with a white gel pen. You need to wait until the ink is thoroughly dry before attempting to use the gel pen, but it gives the composition a lift  when using these darker colours.

The Stampin Up stamp set used is a very versatile silhouette style stamp called "Serene Silhouettes". I also used this set for a lot of my Convention swaps and find it quite delightful to use as a stand alone image or as multiple stamped images as I've done here.

Hope you like the cards. I'm making a series of them for the upcoming Canberra Craft Fair.

If you would like to order any of the products used in these projects, please have a look at the catalogues and try placing your order on-line via my new on-line store. This is a new and easy way for you to obtain your Stampin Up products. If you would prefer me to place your order then just contact me and I'll be happy to help

Until Next Time

Stay Crafty!