January 9, 2013

A little note (tutorial)

Karen

Hello Artful Delight Readers! I'm a clean and simple crafter at heart and love all the embellishments that come with the Artful Delight Card Kits each month. Sometimes I don't like to have a lot of layers on my cards, but still want to use each and every embellishment, like the brads. Today I have a quick trick to show you how to get the most use out of brads without adding the additional bulk or layers to your cards-it takes literally less than a minute to transform them.


The January kit contains these big beautiful brads with patterns that match the papers included in the kit. Essentially, we are transforming the brads into buttons! First, turn the brad upside down and begin bending the pegs back and forth until they simply snap off. 
Discard the pegs.
Sometimes you are left with some sharp metal edges leftover from the pegs. Simply take a file (like a crafter's file, a metal file, or even a nail file) and sand down the sharp edges.

Adhered the "new brads" to your project using glue dots or foam squares-you now have the option to use them directly on the card base as I have done here! No need to worry about tucking the pegs behind a layer of patterned paper or leave an ugly mess inside your card! This idea would work well on scrapbook layouts too, I'm all about reducing the bulk of the final album...

Please make sure you stop by Karen's blog here!

7 comments:

Maria@Crafty Cre8tions said...

Great tip!!!!!!

Julie Tucker-Wolek said...

What a fab idea!! I loveeeeeeeee it!! Beautiful card!! I loveeeeeee the colors and the design!!

Ashley Horton said...

Great tip Karen!! And I love your card! It is gorgeous!

Kelly Griglione said...

What a great tip from Karen! I often hesitate using brads because I don't want to "clean up" the other side. Thanks, Karen!!

Erin (Homemade Cards by Erin) said...

Way to upcycle... or repurpose? Love how just a bit of paper adds to all that white, scraps anyone?

curlyqmosaics said...

I love this card! I love the pop of color and design! :)

June Houck said...

Brilliant idea, Karen! Love this tutorial (and your card, of course!)