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 20 September 2015

Happy Little Stampers Blog Hop

Welcome to my blog! 

Happy Little Stampers are celebrating the first release of their stamps with a blog hop! 
Comment on the HLS blog, and then continue on to each Designer. You must comment on all the blogs in the hop to be eligible for prizes.
You should have come to me from Carol Dunham's blog. If you got lost, don't despair. Just start back at the Happy Little Stampers blog.

The blog hop will run for one week giving you enough time to hop through and check out what the designers will be creating.

The prizes

GRAND PRIZE
One lucky commenter (selected randomly) will win the whole release! That's four sets of stamps with a value of AUD$69
MINOR PRIZES
Four lucky commenters (selected randomly) will win a gift certificate to the HLS store!

My cards have been created using some of the fabulous Christmas sentiment stamps.  For this first card, I used a sentiment that fits perfectly on one of my label die cuts.




I was experimenting at Loll Thompson's house recently with Inka Gold.  We sprayed cardstock with various sprays, then ran the cs through an embossing folder (in my case a star ef), and then gently rubbed Inka Gold over the raised part of the embossed cs.  I sprayed with dark blue and used gold Inka Gold - a lot of the Inka Gold smudged onto the lower parts but I was able to salvage just enough of a good section to die cut a tag.  I added a frosty Christmas tree, punched a few gold stars to scatter around the card base, and stamped and heat embossed my sentiment (love the fonts Kylie used on this stamp set!) on a die cut label tag to give it more interest.  Finished off with a gold bow on the tag.

Next up is a card using two of the sentiment stamps.  And again I'm using something from my fabulous day of experimenting with techniques at Loll's house.  We were testing translucent gel medium coloured with Pearl Ex - in this case, green Pearl Ex used with a holly stencil on black cs.  I'll be back another day to show you a couple of other Pearl Ex / gel mixtures.

When I got home, I added the "Deck the hall" sentiment and heat embossed it in gold.  I have inverted scallop Nesties dies that I think are perfect with holly images so cut part of the image with a smaller one and then a gold border with the bigger one.
I happened to have the perfect shade of green cs for the cardbase - love it when that works out!  Added the "Fa la la la la" sentiment and heat embossed it in black.
A few gold pearls stand in for the traditional red berries.
This is also for the 52 Christmas Card Throwdown challenge "For a Man" - I think the black and muted green colour scheme are pretty masculine, even with a bit of gold and pearls.
  I hope I have inspired you today with my card. The designers and I have had so much fun playing with these stamps! Next you need to hop on over to "Bonnie Klass's" blog. 

52 comments:

  1. Amazing designs, Susan. I love the sentiment you chose for your first tag. Love the tag! Your second card is awesome with all that embossing and gold. Gorgeous! I'm so proud to see these cards, thank you. xx

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  2. Oh Susan these are fabulous! Thanks for wonderful inspiration! I can sure use it right about now! LOL

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  3. What a pretty pair of cards! I love the white tree on blue and the gold stars look so pretty! Great holly on the 2nd one too!

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  4. So great Susan!
    I love the Christmas cards design!

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  5. Both cards are so beautiful. Great inspiration.
    hugs,
    BozenA

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  6. Such pretty Christmas cards, Susan. I really like the white Christmas Tree. :)

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  7. Love your colour combos! Great sentiments!

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  8. Very festive cards, Susan! Love them both!

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  9. Love your fun tag, Susan! And the holly card is so elegant! Sounds like a great play date!

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  10. Oh what pretty cards. LOVE that holly card. So shiny and festive!!

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  11. Fabulous cards .... love the holly! xx

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  12. Two beautiful cards Susan! Especially LOVE that glossy green holly on the black background. So much fun experimenting and it's great to see the cards you make from the backgrounds we did together! xx

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  13. I am a HUGE fan of Inka Gold - fun medium with fun sentiments!!

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  14. Beautiful cards! I love all the gold!

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  15. Beautiful designs on both cards. Love the tree and the gold.

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  16. Beautiful cards Susan and I love your designs:) xx

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  17. What pretty cards Susan and I particularly love the pearlex holly - such a fabulous sheen to the leaves!
    Hugs
    Carol x

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  18. What great stamps loving them. Thanks for ideas

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  19. I love the way that tree pops right off the paper.. and the die cuts are fantastic... all the sentiments are perfectly paired Great job xx

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  20. Fa la la la la indeed! Fabulous makes

    Off to hop to the next stop

    Kathyk

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  21. Fab cards, great use of the gold x

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  22. Beautiful! I simply adore the first card.

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  23. Great pair of cards Susan! First one is my favourite! Thanks for the wonderful blog hop :)
    Suchi xx

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  24. Very unique Christmas card designs. Having fun on the hop.

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  25. Lovely cards two delightful ones to view and love how you used the pearl ex on your image.xx
     {The Journey Is The Start  aNNie  my personal blog}

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  26. Please pick me. Hugs, Nellie.

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  27. Two great Christmas cards. How fortunate you are to have spent time with an incredible teacher like Loll.

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  28. I'm glad you later added the "Deck the Halls" because it is a fantastic look. Thanks for showing me your creativity.

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  29. Two gorgeous cards Susan. Carol x

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  30. Both your Christmas cards are so pretty Susan. Loved your sentiments too. TFS my friend.

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  31. Wonderful cards Susan, love the way you used the sentiments.

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  32. What a fabulous duo of cards you’ve created, each one ever so pretty! I’m crushing over the big bold sentiments and your showcases are making clear this set is a ‘must have’!
    ~c

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  33. Très élégante et charmante création Susan, parfaite pour notre challenge masculin, merci de jouer avec nous chez 52cct, biz

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  34. Great christmas cards! The shimmer in the gel medium and Pearl Ex mix is beautiful!

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  35. Great to see the bold colours on your cards; they work so well Have a colourfull week!

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  36. Wish I could come and play at Loll's house some time lol. Wonderful cards. I so love this first release!

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  37. Super wow -- such beautiful creations! Thanks so much for the inspiration (I need it!)

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  38. LOVE IT! Lucky you to have Loll to spend play days and do all the experimenting and did this session ever turn out a beautiful look. The gold framing around the pinked circle was unusual, and so effective at drawing the eye right into that gorgeous holly. Love the use of the HLS Mixed Christmas sentiments as you've placed each of them. Thanks for sharing the info about adding Pearl Ex to the gel...must try that. Thanks for playing in the October HLS Christmas Challenge. Well done!

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  39. Wonderful cards, Susan. I'm sure you and Loll had fun experimenting. I love the holly with the green translucent paste and that inverted die is fabulous.

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  40. Two great cards! I bet the PearlEx/gel combo looks gorgeous in real life. Thanks for sharing your card with us at 52CCT!

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  41. Very fun cards. Thank you for sharing!
    Creative regards from stempelfrida
    http://stempelfrida.blogspot.de

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  42. Two great cards, both perfect for our challenge. Thanks for joining us at 52CCT this week. Gill xx

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  43. Super cards. I really like the green one! Thanks so much for playing along with 52CCT this week!

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  44. lovely cards but I love your tag card sweet white tree and all the stars there
    great blog hop and thanks for sharing

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  45. Pretty cards! I love the variety of sentiments and the fonts! Fabulous sets!

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