Flying Into The Night / End of the Week Technique #44 - Brayering / The Great Pumpkin Blog Hop

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*Don't forget to check out this post for my Blog-Versary - Give-Away. It will be open until Midnight August 23, 2012.* 

Hey y'all. Happy Humpday. :) That always makes me giggle. It always makes me think of how we learned to spell Mississippi. ( You know I just spelled it that way in my head to spell it correctly, Right?) I know, I'm such a kid. Anyways, my work-week is half-way done, I hope yours is too.

I know it's a little earlier than normal for my EWT, but I've got another Halloween card for you today that I want to put on The Great Pumpkin Blog Hop so I figured "Why wait". I made this a few weeks back and just haven't gotten around to posting it yet. I'm trying to only do one Halloween and Christmas/Holiday type card each per week. Of course that's in addition to my Challenge Cards and EWT's, and C&S, and Masculine, oh and let's not forget MDS...There's just not enough days in the week!!! Lol! Here's today's card-

Clean & Simple Halloween Card featuring
Toxic Treats, Howlstooth and Scaringbone DSP

What do you think? I'm so happy with how it turned out. It's actually a pretty C&S card, at least as far as layout goes. As far as details and time involved...not so much.

I started with a base of Wisteria Wonder. It's hard to tell in the picture, but there are some areas on this DSP  where the grey plaid appears a little purple, like Wisteria Wonder, so I thought I'd use it.  I layered it with a piece of Very Vanilla that I sponged with W.W. and adhered with Tombow. For the central panel I used another layer of W.W. and topped it with some Howlstooth and Scaringbone DSP. I sponged both pieces and then I adhered them with Tombow. I took my White Organza Ribbon (2 pieces) and sponged it with W.W. until I got the color I liked, a soft purpley-grey. I wrapped one piece over the top of  both layers and secured it beneath with SNAIL. I then made a bow with the second piece and adhered it with a Mini-Glue Dot. This whole panel was then secured with Dimensionals.

My focal point took a little more time. 

I wanted my figures to being flying off into a night sky so I needed to try and get some colored layers going on. I sponged a sky recently, but wanted to try something different. I brayered Wisteria Wonder and Perfect Plum to get the color you see. (Tutorial to follow.) Once I felt happy with the coloring I let it dry. Your colors will lighten up and appear more blended once they dry.  Since I didn't want the words from this particular stamp, just the image I had to ink this up with my SU markers. However, I wanted to emboss it so it would stand out a little more so, using my SAMJ, I inked up and stamped first in Classic Black, then again with my VersaMarker. I added clear embossing powder since I was out of black and using my heat tool set it. It's so pretty and glossy in person. I used my Labels Framelets (2nd smallest) and my Big Shot to cut out the image. This was then also adhered with Dimensionals. 

Here's the inside-

I decided to have it open up, book-style for a little change.

Inside of Halloween Card featuring
Toxic Treats Stamp Set

I stamped the sentiment from the same set in Elegant Eggplant. I used my SU markers to ink the cauldron and bubbles using E.E. and Lucky Limeade. A little Dazzling Diamonds makes the perfect accent for the bubbles rising from the top, don't you think?

Now for your EWT- Here's what you'll need-
A Brayer, Ink Pads (I used Stampin Up), Card Stock and Grid paper or other paper to cover your surface as you brayer.

Disclaimer- This is a technique that takes time to master and I have definitely not mastered it completely. I recommend you do a You-Tube or Google search to view some videos on it. Michelle Zindorf is Amazing and France Martin also does some nice brayering including videos. My instruction if of the most basic type on this particular technique. I've include two videos at the the end of this to help get you started.

Here's what you'll do-
1- Ink your brayer well by rolling it across your ink pad. Make sure you roll it firmly in One Direction Only. If you roll it back and forth you will only get one portion of your brayer sufficiently inked.
2- Once your brayer is inked completely, roll just the very edge, both of them, (at an angle) on your grid/scrap paper. This will help you to avoid getting harsh lines of color from the edges on your project.
3- Roll your color on. Different people do this different ways and I think it kind of depends on the look you are going for. Some people start in the center and roll to the edges from there, leaving a more concentrated color in the center. Some start off the paper and roll across. This is the technique I used. I found I had a more even coverage this way.
4- Layer your colors, lightest to darkest and always remember to you can always add color to make your project darker, but you can't take it away once it's there.
5- Once you feel you have the colors and shading that you want, let it dry so you can see the final coloring. It will appear different once everything has dried. It won't take long at all to dry. The colors will soften up, so if you have any areas you are afraid are too harsh, go on to another part of your project, let it dry and then check it out before tossing it. :)
6- Stamp or embellish as desired for your finished project.
7- Smile when you see your completed project and smile even more when you think about the smile it will bring to someones face. :) (I always love that part the most!)

Here's a few videos I found for you-

That's all I have for you today. The Great Pumpkin Blog-Hop is at the bottom of this post. Don't forget to check it out and play along. You can see all the entries from my site. Don't forget to check out my Blog-Versary page and leave me a comment to be entered in to my Free Give-Away.

I hope you liked today's card/technique and I hope it inspires you to try something new today. As always if you try this technique I'd love to see what you come up with. Let me know and I will be glad to feature it here. I love hearing from you, so if you have comments or questions about today's card/technique I hope you'll leave me a message. I read all of my comments and they really do make my day! If you'd like to +1 or Pin today's card I've put the buttons here on my blog for your convenience. Friends and Followers are always welcome too! :)

Thanks so much for taking time out of your busy day to stop by my little corner of the world. You are very appreciated! I hope you'll come back soon. I've got a card & matching 3-D project still to come this week.
Till next time-

Remember- Life is often more about the storms than the peace they seek to overwhelm. It's not about Waiting for the storms to pass, but Learning to Dance in the rain.

Be Safe,

Shan

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