A return to brayering

I think it was seeing Barbara Gray on CnC this morning that made me think of doing a spot of brayering.   The brayer has been gathering dust for quite some time so it was with some trepidation that I brought it out.  For once I got myself organised,  brayer, ink, stamps, blending mat... cleaned glass cutting mat as I didn't want any unexpected bumps!   With all that done I was ready to go,  well I was once I'd masked the card. I wanted to use the barge stamps,  they've not been used in quite a while either.

So I laid out my scene,  where I wanted the sun, the river, and the barge.  Once that was done out came the brayer.   The blending mat makes life much easier, I'm not using a splodge mat,  just a blending mat but in my opinion it does the same thing. The colours were easy, light blue, dark blue and green, oh and some yellow for the sun, along with some promarkers.   I have at least got the knack of spinning the brayer now, and with the blending mat doing all the work it is so much easier. I first stamped the barge,  then used a mask to protect it when I did the sky.    I did some second generation inking for the reeds,  I was going to use the crane that came with the set, but instead went for this swallow that is in the Get Stamping kit.   Yep, very happy with my return to brayering!

So I was on a roll,  I decided to get out another favourite, and use the wooden hearts as a template.   I drew round the heart on white card.   I cut a 2.5 inch circle to act as the moon,  and stamped a mask for the main image as the trees would need to be 'tucked' behind it.    This was just a case of using blue for the brayering,  I didn't cut the heart out until the brayering was finished.   I hoped in doing it that way I wouldn't get an 'edge', and I didn't.  Once it was all done then I cut it out very carefully,  and just edged it with a black marker pen.

I tried a few other ideas.  Barbara showed a trick with scrunched up paper and gilding flakes,  so I had a go.  I was a bit heavy handed with the glue, but it did work.  What you do is scrunch up some copy paper,  release it slightly, then dab it in some flitter glue,  dab it round the card,  and apply the gilding flakes.  It does need a light touch as I found out, to be fair Barbara didn't have much time to demonstrate it so I hope she does it in the next show/classroom.   Talking of the classroom I bought the next stamp set as it was on flexi pay,  and got some more adirondiacs at the same time.  I did wonder about getting some of the clarity stamp handles, but they do also work on acrylic blocks.  Oh the next set is the

These are the stamps I bought.  The set offers so many possibilities,  which is why they are so enticing.   The flexi pay was a bonus,  I hope they do it again with Clarity stuff.  I also spotted the dolls house stamps,  at first I thought the 'dolls' house was part of the kit, but it wasn't... though I have a feeling it may well be  next time round! 

I've been thinking about starting my clock, and I may use this kit as a centre piece. 



It has been a very lazy weekend,  which is what I needed.  Resting has helped the knee to calm down,  but the wrists and hands are still very sore.  My body has decided it doesn't like the strong ibuprofen tablets,  it caused a bout of IBS on Friday.   I've been taking the stuff that is supposed to protect the stomach but it isn't working.   I got some of the liquid tabs yesterday, I can take those without too much bother, so it is back to the GP armed with the box.   I can't take the trammadol as it will conflict with my anti depressants.  This is what costing cutting is like in the NHS,  your GP now has a list of medicines he/she is not allowed to prescribe as they cost too much.  We're back to the bad old days,  thank you so much Mr Cameron!   Was watching the documentary on the Coronation year,  interestingly it said that Britain was bankrupt after the war, but it didn't stop the government from spending its way out of trouble - and it worked.   And what do the present lot do, they just cut, oh sorry they make 'savings',  grrrrrr.  Meanwhile MPs are on a nice little earner with cash for questions!

I hope this nice weather keeps up,  it could just be a tad warmer,  but the summer togs are out.  And I've lost almost half a stone!   I'm very chuffed,  nope, no silly diets, just sensible eating, which includes stuff like strawberries and ice cream, oh and chocolate,  alls I am doing is using my little trim bike. 

I hope you all have a lovely week, and thanks for stopping by.