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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Tuesday 31 August 2021

Pony Pulling Puppy (and Reading Books)

Sneaking in under the wire for a couple of challenges.

First up for Christmas Cards All Year Round - something starting with O or P.  My card is "P" for a pony pulling a puppy.  It's also for Cardz 4 Guyz "Things with Tails".


Stamped on watercolour paper, watercoloured, trimmed with wonky stitched die, bordered in copper, and a bit of glue and glitter along the snowline.

And for Day of the Month Challenge "Book Lovers' Day":


This is a very quick CAS card - an old PTI image stamped in navy, the sentiment in beige, and then the panel bordered in matching cs colours.

Thanks for dropping by today!

 








Sunday 29 August 2021

Alice

My best friend has a dog called Alice who is the worst food thief in the world.  Alice adores my friend's husband more than she loves anyone else and he adores her.  He says she loves him the best because she watches him all the time, but we say it's because he gives her more treats than my friend does.   When I saw this stamp, I had to have it - the dog looks like Alice and the sentiment is so perfect for her food obsession.

 

I stamped in dark brown ink and heat embossed in clear, added a bit of red heart tape under the dog to ground her, and used a dark brown card base. It looks more black in the photo, but  actually dark brown (the colour of my friend's dog).

I'm giving the card to my friend to give to her husband as a birthday card from Alice.

I'm linking it up at Cardz 4 Guyz where their challenge is "Things with Tails".







Supplies:
Stamps - Technique Junkies
Ink - Versafine Clair Fallen Leaves
Paper - cream and dark brown cs
Size - A2
Accessories - clear embossing powder, red heart tape

Wednesday 25 August 2021

Cardinal on Cardstock

I'm entering this card in a couple of Christmas challenges:


A very CAS card - stamped, watercoloured, a bit of shading added with coloured pencils, edged with dark red cs, popped up on fun foam, and a bit of glitter added to the branches.

For these challenges:

Jingle Belles - no patterned paper - just cardstock, with stamping allowed

52 Christmas Card Throwdown - Birds










Supplies:
Stamps - Local King Rubber Stamp Co. cardinal, SU sentiment
Ink - Archival Jet Black
Paper - watercolour paper, cream and dark red cs
Size - 5.25" square
Accessories - watercolour paints, red coloured pencils, glitter, fun foam

Tuesday 24 August 2021

Stamping Through a Stencil

Squeaking in under the wire for the CAS Mix Up challenge "Stamping Through a Stencil".

I made two cards, both using a stencil of bare-branched trees that my dear friend, Loll, made for me on her Cricut.


In both cases, I sponged various Distress inks through the stencil and then stamped the two deer through the stencil for the first card and a text / snowflake background stamp through the stencil of the second one.

I added a white heat embossed sentiment banner to the first, bordered it with brown cs, and popped it up on fun foam.

For the second, I added a die cut Santa and his reindeer (cut twice and glued together for more substance).

I enjoyed the technique and will do it again for sure.

CAS Mix Up











Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Studio Light reindeer, Rubber Soul sentiment
Ink - various Distress inks, ColorBox white
Paper - Gina K white cs, brown cs
Size - 5.25" square
Accessories - homemade tree stencil, white embossing powder, fun foam

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - unknown text / snowflake background stamp
Ink - various Distress inks
Paper - Gina K white cs, dark grey cs
Size - A2
Accessories - homemade tree stencil, Frantic Stamper Santa's Sleigh die

Monday 23 August 2021

Faux Mother-of-Pearl and a Die Cut Flower

It seems I'm of an age when friends' elderly parents are dying so much more frequently.  I needed another sympathy card today.


I made a faux mother-of-pearl background with blue Distress inks and white pearlescent paint.  I stamped and heat embossed the sentiment, trimmed the panel and sponged a bit of dark blue around the edges, and added a white flower die cut to the top.  The panel is popped up on fun foam.

I'm adding it to The Flower Challenge:











Supplies:
Stamps - PTI sentiment
Ink - various blue Distress inks, ColorBox White
Paper - white cs
Size - A2
Accessories - Memory Box flower die, white pearlescent paint, fun foam

Monday 16 August 2021

Rainy Day Cards

I haven't been creating or blogging lately as we have had such a wonderful sunny summer and I just want to be outdoors - either puttering in my garden or sitting in the shade with a good book or down at the barn with the horses.  But today it's rained all day so that got me inspired to go into my craft room.  And I needed to get a couple of cards made.

First up a friend's birthday.  He's a keen birdwatcher so I always make cards with birds on them for him.

I made a smooshed background with blue and green Distress inks.  When dry I stamped the collage stamp and sentiment on it in black.  I restamped the collage image on a scrap of white cs and fussy cut the bird and glued its legs onto the stamped bird on the background and popped up its body with foam tape.  I went over the little berries (or flowers or seedheads - not sure what they are) with a Stardust gel pen.

It's going off to The Male Room where they want a masculine birthday card:

 

Then a card for one of my sisters who loves blue as much as I do:


The wildflowers and the background for the sentiment was created with a couple of shades of blue brushos and lots of water spritzing on watercolour paper to get a nice wash.

I die cut the wildflowers from it and used a piece of it for my background for the stamped and heat embossed sentiment. I set the sentiment behind a die cut peek-a-boo frame.

It's linking up with Less is More:
 

We're back to sunshine tomorrow so I'll probably be heading back out into the garden - lots of beans, tomatoes, cucumbers, and zucchini ready for picking, and all the flower beds need a good tidy-up.

  







Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Carabelle "Dream Wings"
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black, various green and blue Distress inks
Paper - mixed media and white cs
Size - A2
Accessories - Stardust gel pen, foam tape

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - Penny Black sentiment
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black
Paper - watercolour paper, white cs
Size - A2
Accessories - Tim Holtz wildflower dies, MFT peek-a-boo frame, blue brushos, clear embossing powder

Tuesday 3 August 2021

Christmas (or could be Hanukkah) Decorations

August's host of CAS Christmas is Cathy and she's asking for decorations on our cards.

After I made my card, I thought the six-pointed star decorations done in blue could make either a Christmas or a Hanukkah card so I used a holiday-neutral sentiment!



I die cut the detailed ornament top die three times and glued them together. I cut the other non-detailed die out of a piece of white shimmer cs to get the openings for the coloured cs layer to show through. I put some acetate on the back of the white layer, glued on the three layers of ornament detail, and then filled in all the little spaces with Glossy Accents, adding enough Glossy Accents to fill in the gaps up to the top of the die. I then added that whole layer to aqua/turquoise glitter cs with foam tape so that there is the illusion of looking through glass. Kind of fiddly, but worth the effort!

Please come and join us at CAS Christmas!  There is lots of inspiration from this month's wonderful Guest Designer, Lucie, and the rest of the Design Team.

CAS Christmas









Supplies:
Stamps - Rubber Soul sentiment
Ink - ColorBox Cyan
Paper - white shimmer and aqua/turquoise glitter cs
Size - A2
Accessories - Memory Box ornaments die, Glossy Accents, clear embossing powder, fun foam