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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Thursday, 24 March 2016

Spring Birds

Just lately I've been woken up every morning by the singing of the spring birds - they're so busy starting their nests and courting!  Appropriate then, that I've done two cards of spring birds today.

First up is one that is still a bit wintery as it's got some snow on it, but the snowdrops are blooming on it so definitely a spring card. I made it for the SCS Free for All challenge, "Going to Pot" - use any type of pot or container on your card.


I watercoloured the image with my Gansai Tambi watercolours - love those paints! Added a Quickie glue pen and snow glitter to the snow on the edges of the pot, leaves, and branches, and along the ground lines.  And then popped it up on fun foam.



As some of you may know, I'm a retired librarian so my professional instinct is to rebel against cutting a page out of a book!  But I have an old copy of the Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady that was discarded from the library because it was falling apart so I decided it wouldn't be too painful to take a page out of it!

I found a page in the entries for the month of March that refers to various birds' nests - perfect to use with my stamp of bird, nest, and blossom.

I used mixed media cs for the image as the Zig brush markers work really well on it. And it's a fairly heavy cs so works well when popped up on foam tape. I painted it quite pale first as that's the look I like for blossom, but it looked lost against the book page so went over it all more heavily - and now it looks too bright!

I sponged the edges of the piece of the book page with Distress Brushed Corduroy and then splattered some watered down ink over it.

I'm stamping Happy Easter inside it and giving it to my best friend's mother who has invited me to Easter brunch. The dates on the book page are so perfect for it as it includes the date of the brunch! Ironically my BF's mother is also a retired librarian so I'll see how she reacts to a page cut out of a book!

Happy Easter!







Supplies for the Robin and Pot card:
Stamps: Penny Black
Paper: cream cs, watercolour paper
Paper Size: A2
Ink: Archival Jet Black
Accessories: Gansai Tambi watercolour paints, Quickie glue pen, snow glitter, fun foam 

Supplies for the Bird Nest and Book Page card: 

Stamps: B-Line Designs bird and nest
Paper: cream cs, mixed media cs, page from a book
Paper Size: A2
Ink: Archival Jet Black, Distress Brushed Corduroy
Accessories: Zig brush markers, foam tape



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4 comments:

  1. gail25 March 2016 at 00:13

    Two lovely cards, I love your first one, I enjoy watching the little Robbins in the garden, I always think of snow drops as the beginning of lighter nights xx

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  2. Bonnie25 March 2016 at 14:12

    Two beautiful watercolor birds, Susan! And I admire your grit in using a page cut from a book! But it is so perfect! Once I used a razor to cut a page out clean, copied it and stuck it back in. It hurt to take the page out, but not as much since I could sort of replace it. Love, love, love your cards! Happy Easter!

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  3. Loll25 March 2016 at 22:48

    Love your watercoloured spring cards Susan. The soft colouring of your first cards is so pretty, and I love the added glitter that sparkles.

    Good way to use a page out of a book ... if it's falling apart, it's fair game for crafting! :) And it makes a wonderful background for your bird, nest and flowers. I don't think the colouring is to bright ... it really shows up well against your background. Great job on both cards! Happy Easter! xx

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  4. Bluemac26 March 2016 at 06:01

    I think you have enhanced the book page with your beautiful design and I'm sure your best friend's mother will love it. I love cards with birds on them and these are so sweet. Thank you for sharing.

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