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Inked Brayer Backgrounds with Chubby Mermaid

January 18, 2019

Hi, everyone! I'm back with another video using the Chubby Mermaid stamp set from Kindred stamps! You know me .... I love building my own backgrounds! Recently I purchased a brayer and I love how quickly I'm able to create distressed inky backgrounds! Make sure you scroll to the bottom of this post to watch my process video!

I loved making the backgrounds so much that I made three cards to share with you today! Each one is a little different, but I love all of them!

This background turned out much differently than I had envisioned, but it's probably my favorite! I added a bunch of ink and pressed so hard! Haha! You really don't need to press and roll as hard as I did, but I'm not exactly a gentle person lol! I think that's why this background looks so smooth and chalky - I really really pressed and worked the ink into the cardstock. Watch my video to see my technique, but basically I just grabbed my brayer, rolled it back and forth onto my ink pad, and then back and forth onto my cardstock. I used Cracked Pistachio, Peacock Feathers, and Faded Jeans ink for this card. I started with my lightest, moved on to my middle, back to my lightest, then my middle, and the dark, and just kept repeating and repeating. I lost the distressed look I wanted, so I decided to just go for it and add a bunch of ink! And I did! Haha! Once the piece was all inked up, I centered it under the Swirl Stencil and pounced on some white pigment ink with a blending tool. I added quite a bit of white ink, but I absolutely LOVE how it dried back and blends in with the chalky Oxide inks!

I watercolored the mermaid and starfish from the Chubby Mermaid stamp set with my Staedtler felt tipped markers and cut them out and popped them up with foam tape. I added some sequin bits from the Unicorn Hair shaker pack and white heat embossed a sentiment to finish off my first card.

My second card is much simpler and much more what I was trying to do with my brayer! I love the distressed edges! I used my Shaded Lilac Distress Oxide ink and went back and forth short ways and long ways on my cardstock, but not so much that I lost the distressed look. The key is to just put the brayer down! Haha! Put it down! I know it's hard - it is for me! But seriously ... just put it down. I flicked on some Wilted Violet Oxide ink and I love how it reacts with the ink blending, but not the plain white cardstock on the edges of the card!

I again finished off this card with a white heat embossed sentiment, a watercolored mermaid and starfish, and a scattering of sequins from the Owl Post shaker pack.

Here's a bonus card! I didn't show the creation of this card in the video, but I used the same brayer technique using Carved Pumpkin, Picked Raspberry, and Seedless Preserves Oxide inks. I brayered back and forth keeping my inking towards the center of my panel. I didn't get it completely centered, so I trimmed down the side of my panel and put it on a card base letting the white card base peek through on the edges. Again I heat embossed a sentiment, added my images, and finished off with some sequins from the Tart shaker pack! Watch the video below!