Mini Brayer Tutorial

I've had quite a lot of comments asking me how I made my less is more card this week, well more specifically how I created a mirror image of the cats.  It's actually quite an easy technique - all you need is a brayer and a steady hand.

First apply ink to your image and ensure its on a stable surface.  You need to use a very fresh ink pad so the ink stays wet a while.

Starting just off your image (left or right depending on which hand is your preference - I'm right handed so work right to left) in one smooth movement roll your brayer over the stamp while the ink is still very wet.  This should give you a perfect image of your stamp on your brayer.

Again, in one full and smooth movement, roll the brayer with the stamped image in one direction (doesn't matter which) onto your cardstock.  What I would say is that it's a bit tricky to get it where you want it, so always start with your "mirror" image first and add the normal one after.  It's quite tricky on a one layer card - you may need to "trim" to fit the space you wanted (here I used a full sheet of A4 folded in half and cut it to size after - quite a bit of wastage so perhaps a better technique on a layer you can cut out (or perhaps someone else knows a trick I'm missing for getting the brayer lined up where you want it!)

Now add your "normal" image where ever you want it - as the ink transferred from the brayer will be lighter, its best to take off the excess ink from your stamp before stamping it out - I forgot here so you can see my normal image is much stronger than the mirror.

Decorate, add your sentiment - et voila - mirror image - in the words of the meercat "simples".

I expect to see lots of mirror images from the LIMettes now!

Tara x

Carnation Tutorial

One of the LIMettes asked me if I could do a quick tutorial on how to make the carnations I used on my third LIM entry this week - so here it is - hope you find it useful Lorraine 

You don't need much equipment - a scallop punch, a bradawl or poky tool, a brad (any colour as you don't see it in the finished flower) and a mini mister.  I keep a spare eraser on my desk to put underneath things when I pierce holes so that's in the photo too.  Punch your scallops from PAPER not card.  Different thickness will give different effects and will need different amounts of water so play around and see what effects you can get.  For this flower I used 5 layers - in yesterdays I did 7 - again depends on the size and thickness you want - I would say 5 was a minimum though to get the effect.

Line your layers up and make a small hole in the center.

Put your brad through the hole and fix behind but leave a little slack so the papers don't pull off the front in the manipulations stages later on (you can tighten it up at the end if needs be.

Put your fingers behind the first layer and gently spritz with water.  Allow it to soak into the paper until it is pliable (the thicker the paper the more water required and the longer it takes to soak)  Take care not to over wet it though.

Scrunch the edges into the middle - the more you scrunch the more natural the finished flower - you make need to "open" and re-scrunch the middle layer to get the right effect.  Spritz the next layer as before and scrunch again.  Repeat the process until you run out of layers.

Once you get to the end you'll have a carnation "bud" (sorry for the blurry photo here).  Keep it scrunched until it begins to dry.

Open up the layers, and manipulate until you are happy with the shape.  You can stroke an inkpad over the edges carefully to get that striped edge effect that some carnations have, or add some stickles for extra sparkle..  Fix to your project with silicon glue on the open bit of the brad.

I've also seen these done with card, where the layers of card are pulled apart to reveal the fibres.  You cut the shapes, then ribble them twice, turning 90 degrees in between.  Then you wet them, then you should be able to carefully pull each layer into 2.....   Not tried it yet but I'll show you if I get chance to play with it later.  In the meantime I hope this was useful.

Happy crafting.

Craftilicious x