Two Blue Brayered Scene Easel Cards

Last time Angela and Janet came to me for a card making afternoon they rummaged through my card stash to find the next card they wanted to make.  They selected this blue brayered scene easel card that I'd made at Joanne's ages ago - July 2010 in fact!  I keep it 'cos I love it and I wanted to make more but I never got around to it.   Thanks to Angela and Janet I had the push I needed to have another go at brayering a scene!  I no longer have the stamp set I used on that card so I made a new version using the SU! Just Believe set.

As it's been such a long time since I'd brayered a scene I couldn't remember which way round I did the brayering when I made the original card - light to dark or dark to light.  I think it was light to dark but I tried both ways while making this card and I found I much prefer going dark to light.  I found it easier because if you start with the darkest ink at the bottom it doesn't matter if you then brayer over the top of it when you ink the next part as you're using a lighter ink - and you only have to have one paper strip on the panel at any time.  I had a piece of kitchen towel on the desk and I made sure to roll the brayer thoroughly over that quite a few times before inking the brayer with the next colour.  I found that working on top of a thick magazine resulted in smooth inking with no brayer lines. 

I made a 4 1/4" square Marina Mist easel card base, cut a 3 3/4" square white panel and a 4" square Midnight Muse mat layer.  To make a mask for the moon I punched a 1" circle from a Post it Note and adhered that to the white panel.  I tore a strip of paper, placed it on the panel and brayered Island Indigo ink onto the bottom of the panel.  I tore a second strip of paper, placed it on the card and brayered Marina Mist ink onto the centre of the panel.  I removed the paper and brayered Soft Sky ink onto the top of the white panel.  I removed the Post It Note circle mask to reveal the moon, stamped the birds over it and then stamped the silhouettes at the bottom.   

I stamped more silhouettes on the bottom of the card in Marina Mist ink and added a Midnight Muse CS strip.  To make the stop for the easel, I stamped a silhouette in stamped off once Marina Mist ink, stamped the 'just for you' over the top in Midnight Muse ink and cut it out with an oval punch.  I layered onto a Midnight Muse scalloped oval and popped it up.

Here's the back of the card and the front of the envelope.  I am glad to say Angela and Janet really enjoyed making this card when they came for their card making afternoon!

I happened to mention that I was making a brayered scene easel card to my friend Jan and she said she remembered doing it years ago at Joanne's but wouldn't remember how to do it now.  I asked her if she wanted to come over to make the card herself and Jan said yes but then added that she'd want her card to be a Christmas card.  Winter trees at the bottom instead of silhouette flowers, a Santa and sleigh image over the moon and snowflakes and a 'Merry Christmas' easily turned the design into a Christmas card!  I used the same measurements and colours of CS and inks and brayered the scene in exactly the same way.   There are some differences  -  I used a narrower Midnight Muse CS strip at the bottom and I inked the edges of the white panel with Island Indigo ink at the top and Midnight Muse ink at the bottom - plus I added sparkly glitter to the trees on the brayered panel.  

Here's a close up of the scene so you can see the glittered trees.

Here's the back of the card and the front of the envelope.  Happily, Jan also enjoyed making her brayered scene easel card!

Supplies for 'just for you' card:
Stamps:  SU! 'Just Believe' set, Hobby Art 'Flock of Birds'
CS: SU! Marina Mist, Midnight Muse & Whisper White
Ink: SU! Island Indigo, Marina Mist, Soft Sky & Midnight Muse
Tools: SU! brayer, 1" circle punch, plain & scalloped oval punches, Stamp-a-ma-jig
Embellishments & accessories: SU! Dimensionals, Post-It Note

Supplies for 'Merry Christmas' card:
Stamps: SU! 'Lovely as a Tree' & 'Morning Meadow' sets, All Night Media 'Santa & Sleigh', PSX 'Snowflake Medley', Hero Arts 'Joyful Christmas Season' cling set
CS: SU! Marina Mist, Midnight Muse & Whisper White
Ink: SU! Island Indigo, Marina Mist, Soft Sky & Midnight Muse
Tools: SU! brayer, 1" circle punch, plain & scalloped oval punches, Stamp-a-ma-jig
Embellishments & accessories: SU! Dazzling Diamonds glitter, Dimensionals, Post-It Note