An easy brayer card for the August Pals Blog Hop

Welcome to the Pals Blog Hop for August. This month we are showing off our favorite crafting tools – those Stampin’ Up! tools that we just can’t live without. We hope you enjoy our projects!

You may just be starting the blog hop or may have come from Kelly DeTommaso at Kelly’s Creative Corner on the Pals Hop. If you get off track at any time, the full lineup below will help you move along from blog to blog so you see all of the amazing creations.

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This card was born out of the leftovers for my card for the Pals swap at the 2014 Stampin’ Up Convention.  I had a bunch of half-inch-wide Whisper White paper strips that I had trimmed off to make 4″ x 5.25″ pieces for the front of my cards, and since there were like 40 of them I didn’t just want to throw them out.

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See how great this card is for the lazy brayer-er!  No need for carefully blending colors or putting on the different inks in delicate layers!  Just load up the brayer with Crushed Curry ink and roll it on one side, then do the same think with Bermuda Bay and Island Indigo.

This card is just full of mistakes: hard lines, splotches, blank spots when I didn’t get the pieces lined up right when I was brayering.  Even the fold is a mess, because I totally misjudged where the fold should go and scored in the wrong place and ended up with a rounded half-circle-y effect from three score lines about 1/8″ apart rather than the traditional crisp professional fold that encourages those who see it to admire and buy bone folders.  But whatever!  Mistakes add character!

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Also, I would like to point out that everything that went wrong with this card is not entirely my fault!  The comedy of errors continued after I put it in the mailbox, at which point it apparently was rained upon so vigorously that the ink with which the address was written smeared, and had to be deciphered, and consequently it took over a week for this card to travel about 12 miles to its recipient.

The next stop is Shannon Hokanson at Paper Works by Shannon on the Pals Blog Hop! Thanks for visiting and I hope to see you next month.

  1. Sue Becker at RnR Stamping
  2. Beth Beard at My Little Craft Blog
  3. Susan Lankford at Stamp and Create With Susan
  4. Brian King at Stamp with Brian
  5. Rae Harper-Burnet at WildWestPaperArts.com
  6. Debbie Mageed at Secret Stamper
  7. Diane Roberts at Score at Four and a Quarter
  8. Jackie Diediker at Stampin’ Jackie
  9. Kelly DeTommaso at Kelly’s Creative Corner
  10. Amanda Merrill at Inkflair
  11. Shannon Hokanson at Paper Works by Shannon
  12. Amy Williams at Stamp and Spice
  13. Kerry Willard Bray at Peonies and Paper Chains
  14. Michelle Gleeson at Stampin’ Mojo
  15. Nicole Watt at Pixel Maven’s Retreat
  16. Peggy Noe at Pretty Paper Cards
  17. September Gray at SeptemberGray.com
  18. Shannon Jaramillo at EZPeasy Cards
  19. Natalie Bradley at Natalie Bradley Events
  20. Susan Itell at Simple Stampin
  21. Wendy Klein at Doggone Delightful Stampin’
  22. Lynn Kolcun at Stamping with Avery’s Owlery
  23. Nancy Gleason at My Stampin Space
  24. Sherrie Gross at Stampin’ Sunshine
  25. Becky Gifford at The Social Stamper
  26. Kalyn Shubnell at The Stamping Chronicles
  27. Lisa Ann Bernard at Queen B Creatons
  28. Martie Pollard at The Crafty Bandit
  29. Amy Hoptay at Inking of You!
  30. Kim Jolley at Stampin’ Artfully
  31. Donna Kopenski at craftycardmaker.wordpress.com
  32. Katy McGloin at Just Fun Stamping
  33. Maggie Mata at Maggie Made Cards
  34. Jane Knudsen at www.seejanestamp.com
  35. Candy Ford at Candy’s Blog
  36. Dawn Tidd at Tiddbits from Dawn
  37. Katie Ferguson at Cottage Paper
  38. Liz Gautreaux at Kind Deeds Stampin
  39. Mary Fish at Stampin’ Pretty

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42 Responses to “An easy brayer card for the August Pals Blog Hop”

Read below or add a comment...

  1. Kim Jolley says:

    I absolutely love everything about this card…nothing looks like it was a mistake. It looks artistically wonderful and your story-telling ability is just as good! Gave me a chuckle this morning.

    • amanda says:

      Thank you, Kim! After a few of my mess-ups I was getting discouraged and thought, “Well, I’ll just finish this one so I will know what mistakes to fix on the REAL version of this card I’m going to make after.” And then this one ended up looking better than my “perfect” card!

  2. Mistakes? I did not see a one, rather I saw a stunning card. I have a brayer and it intimiates me. I too have mountains of scrap strips. You have totally inspired me to jump in and make some mistakes. I hope my turn out as beautiful. Great job Amanda,

  3. Debbie says:

    Oh, Amanda, don’t ever feel like your work has mistakes! Our handmade cards are just born from our artistic eye with what we have on hand. I love your card! I just bought a brayer (my first one was showing its use and age from decoupage projects) so I will give this a shot. I too hold onto scraps for just this type of project. TFS

    • amanda says:

      For me, one mistake = wailing and gnashing of teeth, fourteen mistakes = ART! I’d love to see what you come up with!

  4. judi says:

    I LOVE your card…and your narration! I have sharpie fine lines (permanent) that I address all my cards with as it is so humid in FL. Love that they come in so many colors now.

    • amanda says:

      Thanks, judi! And thanks for the sharpie tip–I will have to keep that in mind for avoiding further mail misadventures!

  5. Brian King says:

    LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this Amanda! The best ideas come from the biggest mistakes. There were no mistakes here – it’s gorgeous!

    • amanda says:

      Thanks, thanks, thanks Brian! Also, if you want to see it in person, Pam got a version of this a couple days ago.

  6. Anonymous says:

    Yes I did get this in person! And I’m so glad to know how it was made. I also know a little secret….there’s more on the inside of the card. Great job Amanda!

  7. Anonymous says:

    Very original, Amanda! Love the colors!

  8. Sorry! Forgot to leave my name on the previous post!

  9. Katy McGloin says:

    Amanda, your swaps always have such an artistic flair and, apparently, so do your leftover bits! Love how you arranged this card!! You approach your photography in much the same manner. Lovely, sweet Pal!

  10. Windy Ellard says:

    How creative you are with left over. I hoard too much paper! Love the colors together!

    • amanda says:

      I hate having leftovers and I never want to throw anything away because I think I might be able to use it for something. So I try to think of some use for them, and make something new out of them…which means I need to use more paper and supplies, and have different leftovers, and then the cycle starts again…

  11. Sue Becker says:

    Proof that there are NO mistakes in paper crafting – it was all intentional! The error absolution is appreciated!

    • amanda says:

      Sue, my solution to papercrafting mistakes is to just keep digging myself in deeper, and eventually I get to something I like!

  12. This card seriously makes me SO, SO happy!! Love this!!!

  13. Rae in Reno says:

    Amanda, Amanda…. I love this card riddled with hiccups. I wouldn’t have known unless you told me. It’s AMAZING! Love your sense of style AND humor! Awesome!

  14. I love how this card came out! You absolutely made lemonade from the lemons. 🙂

    side note: I love how the newletter pop up came up in the lower right corner and not mid screen stopping your user from continuing. You will have to PM me how you did that. 🙂

  15. Donna Kopenski says:

    Amanda…this card is so unique! No one would ever know about your “mistakes” if you didn’t tell them. You are correct in saying it adds character. I really like how this card turned out!

  16. Great way to turn scraps into a beautiful card that looks like you fussed & cut and re-arranged and glued back together. The color combo is stunning!

    • amanda says:

      Thank you, Nancy! I am all about the making of cards that look impressive but are actually the result of my laziness 🙂

  17. Diane Roberts says:

    Amanda, this is very striking card. Love the colors!

  18. YAY! Bright colors and a great sentiment! There are no mistakes in stamping, just opportunities for embellishments!

    • amanda says:

      Are you guilty of sticking on sequins in random places that just happen to be on top of ink blotches, too, Martie? 🙂 The card I made has a couple more sequins than I originally planned….

  19. Amy Hoptay says:

    There’s no “mistake” about it, this is a stand out card! Love it!

  20. Jane Knudsen says:

    I have forgotten about the brayer! Thank you for bringing it to my attention again! Great card!

  21. This card is gorgeous, Amanda! I absolutely love what you did.

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