A blog devoted to the cards I make in my tiny upstairs space. When my sister stays there, she calls it an "artist's garret". I'm not an artist, but am an enthusiastic cardmaker - hence the title "Cardmaker's Garret".
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Wednesday 24 August 2016

Cutting up Books!

This week's SCS Inspiration Challenge uses a website called EcoCycled that uses pages from old books as backgrounds for art.

As a retired librarian, it's definitely challenging for me to cut up books! But I have some discards from the library so can manage to take pages out of them!

I ended up making two cards as I wanted to do one with the image stamped directly on the book page, and another where I layered the image on top. I like the first one the best:


I was inspired by the red balloon in this one:

and the red sun and layout with the sentiment at the bottom in this one:

I tore a page with a poem about poppies out of an old library discard of "The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady". I stamped part of the Pleasant Poppies stamp in the centre directly on the book page, and then coloured it in with Distress markers.

I sponged the edges a bit to give them an aged look, added a couple of gemstones and a die cut sentiment, and popped the panel up on fun foam.


I'm not as pleased with my second one but it was a good chance to use a die cut / embossing folder combo that I've never used (so I'm entering it in Darnell's recently announced NBUS Challenge that opens in a couple of days):


I chose this image for my inspiration:


Instead of the three small dragonflies, I just used one large one. I die cut and embossed it, and then coloured it with Inka Gold.

The background is a page out of a dictionary discarded by my local library. I used the page that has the word "dragonfly". I highlit "dragonfly" with tiny gold sequins at the beginning and end of the definition. I sponged the edges of the page with Distress ink, added the dragonfly, a sentiment with ribbon, and a scattering of sequins.  Here's a close-up with the definition marked by the sequins:


That's it for today!  Thanks for stopping by.





Supplies for card one:
Stamps - SU Pleasant Poppies
Ink - Distress Vintage Photo
Paper - cream and brown cs, page from a book
Size - A2
Accessories - Tattered Lace Happy Birthday die, Distress markers (Festive Berries, Barn Door, and Vintage Photo), brown gemstones

Supplies for card two:
Stamps - Memory Box sentiment
Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black, Distress Frayed Burlap 
Paper - white cs, mixed media cs, page from a dictionary
Size - 6.25 x 4.75"
Accessories - Tim Holtz dragonfly die and embossing folder, Inka Gold, label die, gold ribbon, foam tape, sequins






7 comments:

  1. I love the "Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady" and this page is perfect with the poppies! What a beautiful card! I love the dragonfly too and how you've placed it as if he's reading about himself. Two fantastic card, Susan!

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  2. Great use of pages for your cards Susan. LOVE the poppy ... and perfect with the page you used.

    Your dragonfly is gorgeous. Love the colours and shimmer from the inka gold. xx

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  3. Stunning and simply amazing x

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  4. I think your dragonfly NBUS card is gorgeous!
    The poppy one is lovely too. I've only just been able to bring myself to cut into my copy of Country Diary... Coincidentally, that was for a card for Darnell! lol. x

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  5. Hello Susan,
    So many beautiful cards. Wonderful inspiration. Thank you.
    Hugs,
    BożenA

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  6. I agree with you about cutting books, Susan, but I have always been really moved by art that uses text as a background and I have to say these cards are some of the best I've ever seen! You got a beautiful deep red on that poppy so it looks like it was printed right on the page by the book publisher! And the gorgeous dragon on the dragonfly dictionary page is nothing short of genius!! Thank you so much for playing in my NBUS Challenge #7 so I didn't miss these two classics!! Hugs, Darnell

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  7. The poppy card is beautiful and I love the font of the script behind but the dragonfly does it for me - I just love that Tim Holtz dragonfly, you have coloured it beautifully and it looks gorgeous on the book page, the scattered sequins are such a lovely finishing touch too!

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