Help with Brads

Hi Everyone I am just getting into scrapbooking and all kinds of things one thing I need help or advice how do you set in brads I have the paper piecer thingy but little afraid to use that I have a crop a dile but they say it doesn't do brads any advice or suggestions I would appreciate thank you Donna Bills

I need help too. I have brads but I don't even know what they are for! And how to use them!

With brads you very simply poke a hole through the paper(s)/embellishment(s) you want the brad on, push the legs of the brad through to the back, and then on the backside you take the legs and separate them to secure.

Do you need to cut a hole for it first? I have some in a kit I got and its all cardstock so fairly thick stuff.

Yes for thicker paper you definitely need to poke a hole. You can do it with a needle or pin, or a paper piercer. You can put them in the middle of flowers for the center, or on a 'i" for the dot, use them for accents around a picture, all kinds of things... there are even brads that are shaped like animals, flowers, etc instead of just flat heads.

You can just use the point of a sewing needle, thumbtack or something similar to poke your hole. Brads are really one of the simplest and most versatile embellishments in the industry.

Don't fear the paper piercer, fear not using it. If you try to stick the brad through any paper without piercing it first you will have a huge problem in the form of a hole or big crinkle you don't want. The brads I work with a lot are not strong enough nor sharp enough to go through anything alone.

If you fear poking your fingers get out your cutting mat and lay the paper flat. Use your paper piercer to poke the whole and then lift your page and push the piercer the rest of the way through.

Usually the piercer head is angled to one side. The very reason they do this is so you can angle your piercer away from you fingers. I pierce for stitching so I do this a lot. The piercer is your friend and has so many uses. It is one of my more used tools.

Also when using brads. After you pull the prongs back you may want to lay your LO flat with the design side up, then press on your brad a little to fix it to your LO. This flattens the prongs out more and really keeps them in place without flattening your brad. I usually just flatten them down with my thumb. You will feel it lay down. Just a thought.

I was going to suggest looking for an awl in the leatherworking paet of a craft store but I don't know how cheap they are. However after adding s&h at the superstore it might be cheaper to go elsewhwere if that's all you want.

I use my Making Memories anywhere hole punch (similar to the one below-- you hit it with a hammer).

You can also cut a little slit in the page using an X-acto (razor) knife

I also recently bought a spring loaded center punch at Harbor Freight (cheap- a couple dollars). Just put your page over a mat, and press. It works great!

when I punch my holes for my brads, I use a big sewing needle (I think it's for quilting) - and underneath my paper, I just slide a little square of styrofoam that was some kind of packaging material in something. The needle goes easily thru my paper and stops in the styrofoam and doesn't hurt my working surface at all.

A good needle to use is a craft needle - one that you would put wool through - it's big enough to make a nice hole for a brad, but no so big that a small brad will fall through the hole.

Also, putting the paper on a piece of styrofoam or your mouse pad and pushing the needle through is the safest way to go - my fingers would attest to that. You'll also get a nicer hole without the indent of just pushing on the paper without stabilizing it.