One Layer Magic

Sometimes you make a card that you just fall in love with.  The idea or technique is magical, and you want to make more but with a twist.  For me that’s the best time to make a one layer card – especially with a brayer!  When I use I brayer, I feel like an artist with a blank canvas.  Here is the result of my fun playtime in the studio.

This card is the result of a full sized layered card I made a week ago.  I kept going back to my card because I just fell in love with the three colors brayered together – Bashful Blue, Pool Party, and Island Indigo. Each color lent a vibrant layer to this masterpiece.  And that’s really the word to use with brayered cards.  The colors begin to blend together forming a new hue.  The end result can never be duplicated as you’ll never remember exactly how many times you rolled each color and exactly which position – truly creating a one of a kind masterpiece with each new card.

For this simple but elegant card, I tore a piece of scrap paper and used Dotto adhesive to temporarily hold it over the white areas of the card.  I left only the area I wanted color deposited on exposed.

  • Start off your paper with your brayer, slowly moving toward the center.  This way you stay in control of the depth of the color you are working with.
  • By stopping a bit short towards the center, you can give the illusion of light by keeping some of the white there and depositing the least amount of color with your brayer.
  • Keep your brayer on the work surface to get that even watercolor effect, do not lift it – that’s how you get start/stop uneven marks. 
  • Begin with your lightest shade working to the darkest.
  • Experiment with two complimenting colors on the brayer like Pool Party and Island Indigo, start with the lighter and then add a little of the darker.

Here you see my original card from my Artistic Snowflakes post and the one layer card I made to compliment it.  It makes a cool set together!

And one layer cards are nothing if not cost effective.  All you need is a half sheet of White cardstock for your card (I recommend a good cardstock though, like Stampin’ Up!’s Whisper White, don’t use a cardstock that is too porous, you won’t like the end result )– the rest I leave up to your imagination.

Creatively yours –

Ingrid

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Stamp Sets – Snowflake Soiree (127925), Sweet Essentials (128315) Paper – Whisper White (100730), Midnight Muse (126843) Ink – Midnight Muse (126860), Island Indigo (126986), Pool Party (126982), Bashful Blue (126961), Not Quite Navy (126971), Night Of Navy (126970) Cool Tools –Brayer (102395), 1” square punch The Perfect Finish – Stampin’ Dimensionals (104430), Rhinestone Basic Jewels (119246)

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Artistic Snowflakes

When I think of winter I think of snow.  Maybe it’s because I feel the most at home in the mountains – especially on a wintery snowy day.  Yes, that’s totally my element.  So why do you live in Florida, you may ask?  Well, my husband is not at home in the snow.  So I will have to make due with a winter vacation each year and the memories of living in New York, Utah and California – well, skiing there.

So what does that have to do with stamping you may ask?  I have fallen in love with the stamp set Snowflake Soiree from the Holiday Catalog.  You can probably tell, I can’t stop using it!  This morning I wanted to have the feel of that crisp chill that you feel on a cold snowy day.  So I took out my brayer and got to work.

First I brayered a quick layer of Bashful Blue.  I tried to keep some of the white in there as well.  I then added a layer of Pool Party, a color that really has the hue of water.  For a little depth I topped it off with a quick coat of Island Indigo.  This is the end result:

I added the three smaller snowflakes from this set in Not Quite Navy, Midnight Muse, and Night of Navy.  I kept quite a bit of distance between the flakes, because snow falls like that – it’s not always clumped together.  To help the background keep its lightness I added a 1 1/16th mat of Whisper White before matting it to Midnight Muse.  I played with a few sayings and ultimately I wanted something thin so that it wouldn’t take away from the beauty of the brayered background.  A quick thin banner popped up on dimensionals is the perfect finishing touch along with a Rhinestone Jewel, snowflakes after all do sparkle!

The Midnight Muse is a bit dark to write on, so I added a quick card front to the inside with a snowflake.  These photos just do not capture the beauty of the background like in real life.  I encourage you to take out your brayers and have a little fun today!

Creatively yours –

Ingrid

To Shop 24/7 in the Creative Store – Click here!

Stamp Sets – Snowflake Soiree (127925), Sweet Essentials (128315) Paper – Whisper White (100730), Midnight Muse (126843) Ink – Midnight Muse (126860), Island Indigo (126986), Pool Party (126982), Bashful Blue (126961), Not Quite Navy (126971), Night Of Navy (126970) Cool Tools –Brayer (102395), 1” square punch The Perfect Finish – Stampin’ Dimensionals (104430), Rhinestone Basic Jewels (119246)

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