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".
___________________________________________________________________________________________

Saturday, 17 March 2018

Holly Two Ways

March is flying by and there is only one more week to enter a card in this month's (the inaugural) challenge of Loll's and Bonnie's new CAS Christmas Card Challenge.


I created a card with two types of holly - an old favourite stamp and a stencil.


I heat embossed the stamp in platinum and watercoloured it with Twinkling H2Os.  I then fussy cut it.

It looked too plain on its own so I created a simple background with a stencil and Dreamweaver's lovely Pearlescent embossing paste - it goes well with the platinum embossing powder.  I popped the stamped holly piece up on foam tape.


I decided to play around with the stamp and heat emboss one in black and one in white, and then use exactly the same colours of Twinkling H2Os to see how they compare with the one heat embossed in platinum.


I used a different stencil on this one, with a spray rather than an embossing paste.


And this one just uses some red cs to border it.

My favourite is the first one with the image embossed with platinum embossing powder.  How about you?







Supplies:
Stamps - Serendipity holly, Penny Black and A Muse sentiments
Ink - Versamark, Versafine Onyx Black, ColorBox Frost White
Paper - watercolour paper; white, gold shimmer, and red cs
Size - 5.25" square and A2
Accessories - Twinkling H2Os, embossing powders (platinum, clear, and white), homemade stencil, Dreamweaver Pearlescent embossing paste, gold spray, SU sentiment punches, foam tape



Posted by at
Labels: , , ,

13 comments:

  1. MaryH17 March 2018 at 11:46

    A very pretty set of cards using this lovely holly spray image. #1 made me think of a stained glass church window. The pearlescent paste really shimmers, and I like the way you've overlaid the holly with the square. #2 is equally lovely with the techniques you've used. TFS

    ReplyDelete
  2. nancy littrell17 March 2018 at 12:48

    I like the 1st card the best too, but it just barely nudged out your 2nd and 3rd cards. All are beautiful designs. Your platinum heat embossed and beautifully colored holly really pops and is so pretty with your stenciled with paste background. TFS all 3 of your beauties, Susan. Hugs..

    ReplyDelete
  3. Bonnie17 March 2018 at 16:13

    I love the very different looks with the different color embossing, Susan! I think I like the way the colors play off the platinum the best but the others are very close runners up! The stencils are a great way to back this pretty holly and so is the red! It's amazing the different looks you got with just one stamp!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Marcia Hill17 March 2018 at 16:58

    All 3 of these are BEAUTIFUL Susan but I think I'm a little partial to the 1st one too! And I love the stenciled background with the pearlescent paste too...lovely, lovely card!! :0)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Christine Alexander17 March 2018 at 19:28

    love all three, but the one with pearlescent Embossing paste is awesome. I love the shimmer against the pretty holly leaves.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Nstiz17 March 2018 at 20:26

    All three of these are beautiful. I favor the first two of them though. Love those backgrounds. It's hard sometimes to find the perfect complimentary background but you nailed it with these.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Trina P.17 March 2018 at 20:53

    You’ve been busy just like Loll. Three beautiful festive cards. My favourite is the first one with the pearlescent embossing paste. I need to get me some of that. Great square design too. xx

    ReplyDelete
  8. Papercraft Boutique17 March 2018 at 22:59

    It's so fascinating to see your beautiful experiments, Susan! All three cards look very different even though you used the same holly stamp. I agree with you - the first card with the swirly stencil & the lovely pearlescent embossing paste is so elegant and goes well with the platinum heat-embossed main image.
    Hideko xx

    ReplyDelete
  9. Mac Mable18 March 2018 at 04:21

    This is exactly the thing I love to do....Do more than one in different embossing colours to see what they look like...Love them all but yes for me it's the first one too. Love the platinum embossing against the pearlescent paste. Thank you for the tip that they go well together, as I have this paste and rarely use it x Thank you for the fabulous inspiration x

    ReplyDelete
  10. Loll18 March 2018 at 07:44

    I'm so glad I got to see these in person. They are all so pretty, but I have to agree that my fav is your first card with the gorgeous pearlescent stenciled background. xx

    ReplyDelete
  11. Karen Dunbrook18 March 2018 at 10:27

    awesome cards....love the flourish and how it compliments your image...beautiful.
    xx Karen

    ReplyDelete
  12. Julia Aston19 March 2018 at 15:34

    That holly block is lovely Susan - and you have colored it wonderfully - 3 beautiful cards!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Nance21 March 2018 at 21:59

    What a trio of cards, Susan! Love how you created three totally different cards with the same stamp. They're all beautiful!

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for leaving me a message! I love hearing from you.

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)