Oh I love brads…so quick and easy to use! Love the mini ones…they are fabulous in all kinds of uses, especially in numbers. But I must say…they cool new brads that are so hot on the market right now…well they have me at hello. Ever seen the movie, Jerry McGuire? You’ll know the quote I’m talking about if you have. Anyway…I see them and I’m hooked. Any kind of fun and unique brad…I’ll buy it. So…..when “Mrs. Boz” suggested a unique brads challenge…I jumped right on it! I know we’ve done brad challenges before on the Way’s to Use it Challenge but this time…it is unique brads. Use corduroy brads, ornate brads, jumbo brads, build-a-brads, embroidered brads…I tell you I have them all…well, almost 😉 and it was quite a decision on which ones to use. If you want to do more than one design, go ahead. Make a design with a different unique brad every day for the next week. Should be fun! Join in and play along…all are welcome at WT140.
Vintage Crackled Bridge
This is my first time trying out this new Thomas Kinkade Cobblestone Bridge stamp from Cornish Heritage Farms. So gorgeous! I simply stamped it with my Burnt Umber ink pad by Stewart Superior and sponged the edges with the same ink. I’ve had this ink pad for a while but I have to tell you…it is a beautiful brown and I just love using these ink pads. After inking it, I pulled out my Ranger Crackle Accents and decided to try out a very crackled, vintage look on this design. I’ve had this product for months and have only tried it once so I really wanted to give it another whirl. I love how it turned out! A very fine realistic crackle, it is fabulous. Now I will admit…it DOES take longer to dry than a cracked glass technique but the results are so fine…I love it. Another great use for this product it on embellishments and solid surfaces such as a journal cover that can’t be twisted and cracked by hand. This product does all the work for you. 🙂 Cool, huh?
For the rest of my design, I decided to pull out my Cosmo Cricket Hey Sugar patterned paper line again. I love Cosmo Cricket! For this design, I used two of their beautiful papers that are very subtle and vintage. After sponging their edges, I adhered them to my 5.25″ square Chocolate Chip cardstock base. You know how I love to sew, so I just had to add a little freestyle stitching frame around my design in brown thread.
For the embellishments… a scrap of May Arts ribbon was tied through eyelets set with my Crop-a-dile at the top left corner. Now this challenge is all about unique brads so I used one of my ultra favorite embellishment brads from K & Company. These brads are from the Hannah line and are simple stunning. So unique. I just had to set it into the center of a special flower as well. The flower is stitched suede by We R Memory Keepers…love its warm look! Oops just about forgot the quick tip I wanted to add today!
Quick Tip: These suede flowers by We R Memory Keepers can be difficult to push brads through. I use my Crop-a-dile to first punch a small hole in the center. After than…it’s easy!
Have a great day and hope you find some time to play along with the challenge!
