How many brads are sitting in your scrap stash right now? Seriously, how many? I have (had?) a mason jar full and as pretty as they looked in that jar, they weren’t doing me much good. Brads are one of those items I have to be careful about, and probably should be on my “do not buy” list. I like them when I see them, but they rarely make it on to my pages.

Time to fix that. I wanted to use as many brads as possible to create a large shape, one to take up most of the page. I used a free cut file from Amanda Robinson Studio, removed the tag shape so I was just working with the heart, and created an offset so my cut piece was wide enough to hold all the brads.

I adhered as many brads as humanly possible to the heart, working my way from large to small. I used the same cut file to cut the photo, so the shapes matched up easily. I added a few chipboard embellishments and then had to embrace a happy accident when I ripped the background paper by adding more rips.  😉  A few splatters of distress paint and I was done.

Supplies: My Mind’s Eye On the Bright Side paper, MME Nostalgia chipboard, MME brads (various collections), Tim Holtz Distress Paint (Picket Fence), Silhouette Cameo, Amanda Robinson Studio cut file

I am slightly disappointed with the quality of the photo, which I printed at home. I may reprint it with a few adjustments, and just pop it on top with foam squares. Easy peasy. At least my brad stash is busted! I used over half of the brads I own!

What do you think? Can you part with your brads? What shape would you use?