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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Sunday, 1 November 2026

Reindeer on Sprayed Background

I'm hosting CAS Christmas this month and my challenge is "Reindeer".  A good opportunity for me to use one of my favourite reindeer stamps!


I created a background using a couple of different blue sprays and a silver spray.  When dry, I put the piece in my MISTI and stamped the reindeer in black - it took a couple of reinkings and restampings to get a good solid image.  I bordered it with silver shimmer cs which happens to perfectly match the silver bits of spray in the background.

There's lots more inspiration from the Design Team over at CAS Christmas.  We'd love to have you join us with your reindeer cards.  

 








Supplies:
Stamps - Studio Light
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black
Paper - mixed media cs, white cs, silver shimmer cs
Size - A2
Accessories - various blue and silver sprays

Saturday, 31 October 2026

Country Mailbox

The new Peace on Earth mood board has a lovely image of a country mailbox.  It inspired me to pull out an older stamp I haven't used for a while.

I coloured the image with coloured pencils, trimmed it with a square die, and popped it up on fun foam on an embossed background.
 
Here's our Peace on Earth mood board.  Head over to the challenge to see how the rest of the Design Team interpreted it, and then come and join us!
 
 









Supplies:
Stamps - Heartfelt Creations mailbox, Penny Black sentiment
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black
Paper - white cs
Size - 4.75" square
Accessories - coloured pencils, Gamsol, SSS 3D Frosty Pines embossing folder, Spellbinders square dies

Friday, 30 October 2026

Glazed Wings and Spaniel with Bells

Another dove card ready for my best friend to buy at my Christmas card fundraiser.  It's for Double D's "wings" challenge and Rudolph Days challenge.


I had my embossing glazes out on my desk and decided to play with them.  I sponged a background with Bundled Sage Distress ink and then stamped the dove and sentiment and coloured the flowers and leaves on the dove with markers.  I then rubbed Versamark over it and added Bundled Sage embossing glaze and heat set, thinking I'd leave it all one colour.  But there was not enough contrast with the dove so I did another sponged background with Speckled Egg, stamped and coloured the dove on it, rubbed Versamark over it, and added Speckled Egg embossing glaze to it.  Then fussy cut the dove and glued it on top of the green one.  I cut the panel with a label die before mounting it on the card base.

Jingle Belles wants Christmas animals.  I used an old stamp of a cocker spaniel wrapped in sleigh bells.

It's coloured with coloured pencils blended with Gamsol to get nice shading on the dog (the bells are coloured with a silver metallic pencil). I trimmed it with a fancy label die and then sponged around the edges with Antique Linen - except it came out grey as the sponge I used was dirty! I popped it up on fun foam.

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Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Fun Stamper Journey dove and sentiment
Ink - Versamark Onyx Black, Distress Bundled Sage and Speckled Egg
Paper - white cs
Size - 5.25" square
Accessories - Tombow markers, label die, Distress Bundled Sage and Speckled Egg embossing glaze

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - Creative Images
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black, Distress Antique Linen
Paper - off white cs
Size - A2
Accessories - coloured pencils, Gamsol, silver metallic pencil, Sizzix label die, fun foam

Friday, 23 October 2026

Peaceful Wings and Favourite Things

The Double D challenge wants "Wings".  My best friend always asks me to make some Christmas cards for her with doves on them so thought this was a great opportunity to use a dove die with its wings wide open.


I sponged a blue background, then stamped the branches and sentiment in black.  The dove is die cut twice out of white cs and glued together for more dimension.

Next up is a card for the Word Power challenge where the sentiment has to be the focus of the card.  It is going to a good friend whose favourite things in the world are dogs, books, and coffee so when I found this sentiment stamp, I had to get it just to make a card for her.

I created a background with grey ink through a stencil, stamped the sentiment in Barn Door red ink, and heat embossed it with Fired Brick embossing glaze. Then trimmed it with a rectangle die. It needed more interest so I cut a thin frame out of the rectangle, and then cut another one out of red cs and inserted it into the gap. I popped the panel up on fun foam for more dimension.

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Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - A Muse sentiment, Penny Black branches
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black, various blue Distress inks
Paper - white cs
Size - A2
Accessories - Penny Black dove die

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - Technique Junkies sentiment
Ink - Distress Barn Door, light grey ink
Paper - white and red cs
Size - A2
Accessories - Distress Fired Brick embossing glaze, Spellbinders rectangle dies, SSS thin frame die, grid stencil, fun foam

Tuesday, 20 October 2026

Snowbaby in Pink and Little Jingle Bells

It's that time of year when the Jingle Belles challenge does its Pink Christmas challenge to raise money for breast cancer research.  I've done a Penny Black snowbaby in pink so I'm also linking it up to the Penny Black Saturday Challenge (a Penny Black stamp in bright colours).


Stamped and watercoloured, with a bit of shimmer paint for the snow (in the photo it came out kind of dirty looking but it isn't in real life), trimmed with a square die and bordered in pink.

I've also got a card for Simply Clean and Simple (something little).  I used a little image of jingle bells.  

I pulled out a very old SU stamp, stamped it, coloured it with metallic coloured pencils, except for the berries that needed a regular red pencil. I embossed a frame around it with a label die, put it on a copper metallic card base, and added sentiment die cut from the same copper metallic cs.

 ...or Hedgie Please Help Us Spread the Word ...








Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Penny Black
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black
Paper - watercolour paper, off white and pink cs
Size - 4.75" square
Accessories - watercolour paints, shimmer paint, Spellbinders square dies

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - SU
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black
Paper - white cs, copper metallic cs
Size - A2
Accessories - metallic coloured pencils, red pencil, Tattered Lace sentiment die, Spellbinders label die

Saturday, 17 October 2026

Postcard Santa


The new Peace on Earth mood board features four images of Santa - the perfect opportunity for me to use a Santa stamp I've never inked up - Santa with a holly wreath on his hat.  It goes perfectly with the top left image where the Santa has a holly wreath around his neck.


Stamped in black, then a bit of colour added with alcohol markers, trimmed and mounted on dp. 

We'd love to have you join us with a card featuring Santa or an "anything Christmas" card.  Head over to Peace on Earth and see how the rest of the Design Team were inspired by the mood board.

 

I'm also linking the card up with NBUS (Never Before Used Stuff) as it's the first time I've inked up the Santa stamp and to Sparkles Christmas Challenge (Use Red and Green). 

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Supplies:
Stamps - Tim Holtz Santa, Penny Black sentiment
Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper - white cs, green holly dp
Size - A2
Accessories - alcohol markers