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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Saturday 16 June 2018

Ocean Waves

June is flying by and it's already time to remind you that you only have until June 24th to enter this month's CAS Watercolour challenge.


I was struggling with coming up with an idea but wanted to do something a bit different.  What I ended up with is a simple representation of ocean waves, with a bit of underwater plant life, and a great quote.


I used a totally different process for making this card - because I was stumped for an idea, I started searching through my UFO box (in which I have all sorts of backgrounds, pieces where I experimented with various techniques, etc.) for a background suitable for the "ocean" theme.  I pulled out a few pieces and started thinking.

At the end of the process, this card came together and is composed almost totally of pieces from my UFO box!   It's always great to find uses for them, but rarely do I find three pieces to put together into one card!

The background is a piece of smooshed watercolour paper from my UFO box - not sure what ink I used for it. 

I also found a piece that said "waves" to me.  It's a piece of coated cs on which I'd sprinkled blue and turquoise brushos, spritzed with water, and let the brushos spread as they liked.  It was wonderful serendipity that I got an area that looked like the froth on the crest of a wave and that perfectly fit one of my sloped hills dies.

Likewise the water weeds are from a piece of watercolour paper that was smooshed with green inks and had been languishing in the UFO box.  I used one of the Christmas greenery dies from a Tim Holtz set.

I put all that together and then thought "now I need a sentiment".  I have a nephew in his 20s who is a very thoughtful, philosophically-minded fellow and I decided to do something for his birthday with the card.  I die cut "moments" from a scrap of dark green cs since it would fit the space.  Then I went searching on the internet for a quote that used the word "moments" and either "ocean" or "wave" or "tide" and more serendipity - I found a great quote that fit the bill and that will really appeal to my nephew.

Here's a close-up that shows the focal panel and the quote really clearly:


In case anyone (other than me who, as a retired librarian, needs to look up information) wants to know who John Tyndall was who wrote the quote - he was a 19th century Irish physicist.   He is not to be confused with the 20th century John Tyndall who was a nasty British fascist / neo-nazi politician.

So this was the most ass-backward way of making a card!!  But at the end of the day, I really like it!

You have until June 24th to link up an ocean-themed CAS card at CAS Watercolour.  Head on over and check out the inspiration from the rest of the Design Team and our Guest Designer, Robyn (Waterlily Cards by Robyn). 




Supplies:
Stamps - none - sentiment was typed on my computer and printed out
Ink - not sure what aqua ink I used for the smooshed background
Paper - coated cs, watercolour paper, white and dark green cs
Size - A2
Accessories - Tim Holtz greenery die, blue and turquoise brushos, Tim Holtz "moments" die, Ali Express slopes die


17 comments:

  1. Marvellous use of all those pieces and experiments etc from your UFO box. How fortuitous about the froth on top of the wave and all the colours looks fabulous together. Great movement on your card, so unique and absolutely beautiful and love the sentiments too x

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  2. Susan, what a WONDERFUL card! The elements were put together so perfectly...especially the sentiment! I love it!♥

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  3. This card is definitely serendipitous, Susan! Everything fits together perfectly and the quote is so perfect! And the UFO box is a bit lighter!

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  4. This is gorgeous, Susan! I'm impressed that you have three pieces in there that match so perfectly! Mine is so random with nothing that will go together. Love that gorgeous piece you used for the waves too. This is fantastic!

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  5. WOW! Your pieces in your UFO were just waiting for you to create this card Susan! It's the perfect pieces. Amazing how the waves have the perfect crest at the top ... so cool! Your nephew is going to love this card! xx

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  6. Thank you so much for your comments! Always appreciated!

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  7. I Love your beautiful and thoughtful card made with so many UFO treasures! Thank you for sharing your detailed steps and story behind your sentiment. Your nephew is going to LOVE and appreciate his card and your quote:-) Thank you again, my friend. Hugs..

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  8. It appealed to me, too, Susan! And you inspire all of us because we all have our bits and bobs boxes and we're very impressed that you found the majority of your art work in there! WooHoo!! It's truly stunning how the found pieces look like waves and after you added the word MOMENTS, you found that sensational quote!! WOW! Hugs, Darnell

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  9. so perfect to bring all those pieces together. I love the movement of the brushos on coated card. Gorgeous :)

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  10. These pieces have worked together perfectly Susan and the quote is lovely too. It is certainly worthwhile keeping leftover bits as has been shown here. Love the colours and the mood of this piece too. x

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  11. Oh goodness Susan, I love reading how you made your card... It's wonderful, great colours - I can see the waves and the sentiment is perfect - I love it. What we have in our stash can be quite surprising - yours turned up a beauty

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  12. love this card Susan, amazing results and such a wonderful feeling scene.
    xx Karen

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  13. An amazing card, with all UFO all married together. A brilliant success, beeeeautiful!!!xxx

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  14. LOVE the way your mind worked on this card Susan...it's FABULOUS!! And how great that you found 3 pieces in your UFO box that worked so perfectly for your card...serendipity indeed!! Your nephew is going to love this gem...it's frame worthy Susan!! Love it!! :0)

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  15. Oh em gee, Susan! This is stunning... even more so that it was made from items in your UFO box. If this is you stumped on ideas, then please serve me up several helpings of this! And so clever of you to search for an appropriate quote. Your nephew will love it and needs to frame it because it’s a piece of art! Love it! —

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  16. Wow, this is a fantastic ocean scene, Susan! I was wondering how you made the froth on the crest of a wave. It's amazing you found that gorgeous AI wave piece in your UFO box. And you also found the watercolor smooshed background and the water weeds in the "magic" box. They're so perfect for the scene. I want your UFO box! :-)
    I really enjoyed reading the process of making the card! Hideko xx

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  17. Enjoy everything about this... from the quote to the fact that out cane from your UFO box! Great card.

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