Two Easy Sponge Brayer Techniques: Quick Color and Inky Folder

I have three cards to share with you today – and all of them involve the sponge brayer! First up, this pretty anniversary card made with the True Love Designer Series Paper and the Always In My Heart Bundle. Dimension for this card can be found below by the list of supplies.

The True Love Designer Paper comes in black and white, as you can see in the top photo (click the photo to go to my Stampin' Up! online store to see all of the patterns). But it is easy to custom color it with the Sponge Brayer! I used Magenta Madness ink pad. I wanted a darker concentration of ink on the two ends, and lighter in the middle. So I pressed harder when I rolled the brayer and pressed a bit lighter in the center.

The Sponge Brayers are inexpensive ($8) and you get two handles with 4 sponge rollers in the box. The sponge rollers can be washed and you can change ink colors. However, with very intense colors (like Magenta Madness) I tend to just keep that roller for all of my darker pink and red colors. I have another technique below with these handy little rollers!

Before we look at the next two cards, here is a peek at the inside of the card. All of the dies and stamp images are from the Always In My Heart Bundle. I love this edge die that cuts the little hearts!

Inky Folder Technique time! This card is a great example of the "Inky Folder" technique with the sponge brayers. The card uses the Old World Paper 3D Embossing Folder – doesn't it look just like an ocean with white caps?! I have a video below walking you through how to make this awesome background and the card dimensions are at the bottom of this post by the supplies for this card. If you subscribe to my free weekly project sheets, this was one of the free project sheets that you received in this mornings email. You can subscribe to my weekly project sheet emails HERE.  This great masculine card features the Sailing Home stamp set and the Smooth Sailing dies. This card was designed by demonstrator Terri Walker, I simply changed the greeting for my version. Thanks for the inspiration Terri!

Depending on which side of the folder you ink up with the sponge brayer, you can get very different looks! For the Sailing Home card I inked up the side that did not have the Stampin' Up! logo on it so that I had the "white caps" to make the card look like a rough sea.

In the video below I took the same folder that I used to make the Sailing Home card, did not add any more ink, and sent another piece of Basic White through to get this lighter background. I die cut the Butterfly from the Butterfly Bijou Designer Series Paper using the Brilliant Wings dies and added it to the front of the card. The "Happy Easter" sentiment is from the Springtime Joy stamp set. A few of the Artistry Blooms sequins (they already have adhesive on them) finished off the card.

In the video I did not get my card stock in exactly the same place as the first time – so I got a darker line of ink on one edge. To avoid that – just rub excess ink off of the folder with a paper towel before you send you paper through.

Here is the video with all of the tips and tricks on doing the Inky Folder Technique!

I hope that I have inspired you today on new ways to use the Sponge Brayers – they are a great addition to your paper crafting tools! If you would like to place an order, you can click on any of the products shown below to go to my Stampin' Up! store. I'm splitting the products into two different groups for the two different techniques. Don't forget to sign up for my weekly free project sheets for more inspiration, you can sign up HERE.

Thanks for stopping by – happy creating!

Susan

Quick Color Card Dimensions:

Basic Black 5-1/2" x 8-1/2" for the card base

Basic White 4-1/8" x 5-3/8" for the layer under the True Love Designer Paper

True Love Designer Series Paper for the card front (daisy floral pattern)

Basic White 4-1/2" x 4-1/2" for die cutting the floral heart

Basic White 2" x 5-1/2" for the greeting banner

Basic White 4" x 5-1/4" for the inside portion of the card

Basic Black 3/4" x 4" for die cutting the heart edge

Magenta Madness 1/2" x 4" for the layer behind the heart edge

Magenta Madness scraps to die cut the tiny hearts

Supplies used for the Quick Color card:

Inky Folder Technique Card Dimensions:

Supplies used for the Inky Folder Technique cards: