These days the ubiquitous brad can be used for so much more than just attaching embellishments or bookplates. They are embellishments in their own right and can be used in a multitude of creative and fun ways. Here Suz has used a heap of different coloured Love You More flower brads as blossoms in a Tattered Angels GlimmerGlass tree. She has centred each of the 'flowers' with Hero Arts gems for extra detail and sparkle.
Brads are perfect for enhancing the patterns in our patterned papers! This layout, by Nic Howard, is a perfect example of how stunning brads can look when used en masse! Nic cut a large flower from a BasicGrey LilyKate paper and used it as a central embellishment. She followed the lines in her paper with Queen & Co mini sprinkle brads to add amazing dimension. The row of Queen & Co trio brads under the title finishes the layout nicely.
Nicole highlighted the centre of selected flowers of the Crate Paper Sweet Branch die cuts with the matching brads. Adding brads to the centre of these elements gives this adorable layout the lift that it needed. These little touches of cute colour can give soft colours a bit of punch.
Caz has used brads as both a decorative accent (the wave) and as part of the title on this groovy page about her Daughter's participation in the State Dance Camp. She drew the wave on a piece of paper, marked dots along it spaced fairly evenly apart in pencil, and then poked holes through all the layers of her page using a pointy poker thingy. This made inserting the brads evenly a cinch.
Brads are extremely versatile and can be used in a variety of ways. For this layout Mel has chosen to showcase the Basic Grey Archaic brads and has used them to create the dots in the letter 'i' for her title and also as an accent poking them through the layers of ribbon and patterned paper. They're lovely, glazed and can add great texture to a page.
*Tip* If you do have several layers of papers etc.. on a page, create a hole first with a needle and then ease the brad through gently.
And another gorgeous example of enhancing the patterns in our paper with brads from Nic Howard. This layout has used a mix of papers from the BasicGrey Sultry, Sugared and Two Scoops ranges. Nic noticed the paisley pattern in one of the papers and recreated it as an embellishment. BasicGrey brads were used around the outlines, again giving beautiful definition to the project.
Finally, Suz rounds off this post with an idea for larger brads like the SEI 'Big Brads'. Using small word and design rubons they can be the perfect sentiment to add to a card. Here Suz has combined them with some of her new favourite - the delicious new BasicGrey Urban Prairie papers, and a touch of glitter from the new Pink Paislee Pixee Stix.
