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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Monday 4 February 2019

Nature for The Male Room

I really struggle with masculine cards no matter what the occasion so I keep my eye on The Male Room challenge to see if any of their challenges can inspire me.  The latest one did:


It seemed perfect for my Penny Black woodland stamp and some deer.


I used Jill Foster's technique seen in this video.

I put the image in the MISTI and coloured the different parts of the image with various small Distress inks (in the video, Jill Foster uses Distress markers - either are fine). When all was stamped, I restamped it all with Versamark and heat embossed in clear. That way I had a resist for sponging the sky and the snow.  But I realized I also needed to have something on the snowflakes so that they would resist the sponging, so went over all of them with a Molotow fine tip masking fluid marker.  After I did my sponging and heat set it, I rubbed off the masking fluid.

I die cut two reindeer, once out of copper cs and once out of heavy white cs, glued them together to give them more substance and dimension, and added them to the foreground.  I added some glitter to the snowline in front of the trees and around the legs of each reindeer.

Trimmed the panel, bordered it with the copper cs, and popped it up on a cream card base.

The Penny Black tree stamp is really large - this only used half of it so I made a very similar second card out of the rest of it.  It felt very productive ending up with two!






Supplies:
Stamps - Penny Black trees, A Muse sentiment
Ink - Delicata Celestial Copper for the sentiment, various Distress inks for the sky
Paper - mixed media and PTI Vintage cream cs, copper cs
Size - A2
Accessories - Impression Obsession reindeer dies, glitter, fun foam



11 comments:

  1. I just sighed when I saw this work of art, Susan. It is that enchanting! I hope you keep this to use as a Christmas decoration to enjoy year after year!! Hugs, Darnell

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  2. Beautiful Susan, your shading and blending are so perfect and the die cut deer just top it off perfectly :)

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  3. Beautiful masculine card, Susan. Your sponging is so well done and so perfectly blended. I'm a fan of Jill Foster's too and love that technique. Love the addition of the deer on this one.

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  4. Absolutely Stunning guy card Winter Nature scene, Susan. Thank you so much for sharing your steps and the video. Your card would be gorgeous framed and used as a Christmas decoration. I just can't stop admiring all your beautiful details, colors, and masking. I love your stacked die cut deer to finish your wonderful Work of Art scene, my friend. Hugs..Nancy

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  5. Amazing card Susan! I love your winter forest scene with the copper accents. Masking the falling snow was a great idea. Being able to sponge the background without any worry is worth the effort. The colours you've used for your sky are so beautiful. xx

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  6. What a stunning scene this is. I love the technique and the white shadows behind the deer. A great male card.

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  7. Beautiful and serene nature scene card, Susan. Fabulous inking and shading. Perfect masculine card. xx

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  8. I think you do masculine cards very well, Susan! This is certainly a wonderful scene for a guy or a gal!

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  9. Fabulous masculine card Susan. Thank you for letting us know how you did it....And I always forget to use masking fluid, so thank you for reminding me. Wonderful colour combination, love the copper and the touches at the feet of the deer. Stunning card Susan x

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  10. I'm so pleased we inspired you at The Male Room, this is a beautiful card. Thanks so much for sharing.
    Lynn x
    DT

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  11. What a stunning background Susan and it makes such a beautiful card! What a bonus that you were able to make two card from the same stamp.
    Hugs
    Carol x

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