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, 12 August 2023

To Travel or to Stay Home in My Garden?

I'm a very conflicted person when it comes to travelling - I do love seeing new parts of the world or revisiting favourite parts, but I also really love spending my time at home, especially in the summer in my garden.

Shopping Our Stash wants to see a "Vacation Destination".  One of my favourite vacations ever was a trip to the Netherlands.  I really loved that country and would happily go back there (I'd especially love to go in the spring when all the bulbs are blooming).  I combined Shopping Our Stash with Color Hues "Teal and Orange".


I had a piece of mixed media cs that I'd drizzled masking fluid on. I sponged it in the Dutch colours of blue and orange, then stamped and heat embossed the windmill, lines from Gorgeous Grunge, and sentiment. Next, using Texture Paste, I glued down some torn dictionary pages with definitions of "windmill" and "Dutch". For a final touch I splattered some Archival Jet Black ink on the card.

A bit outside of my comfort zone, but fun to make!   And it will be perfect for a Dutch-Canadian friend whose birthday I missed!

My twofer is a tribute to my garden where my yellow roses are having a second flush of bloom.  It's for Beautiful Blossoms "Anything Goes Flowers" and The Flower Challenge "Add Spots or Stripes" (I went with spots).

I was inspired by something I saw on Pinterest to make this card. I love the watercoloured flowers with all the random stamping around it rather than the paint splattering I often do.

After stamping and watercolouring the image, I stamped the splatters, postmark, script etc. with a very pale ink. Added a heat embossed sentiment on a black cs strip, trimmed the panel with a square die, and popped it up on fun foam. 

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Supplies for card 1:
Stamps - Deep Red windmill, unknown sentiment, SU Gorgeous Grunge
Ink - Distress Salty Ocean and Spiced Marmalade, Versafine Onyx Black, Ranger Archival Jet Black
Paper - white cs, mixed media cs, pages from dictionary
Size - A2
Accessories - clear embossing powder, masking fluid, Ranger Transparent Matte Texture Paste

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - SU Elements of Style and Gorgeous Grunge, Tim Holtz postmark, SU sentiment, unknown script stamp
Ink - Versafine Clair Nocturne, Adirondack Lake Mist, ColorBox white
Paper - watercolour paper, off white cs, scrap of black cs
Size - 5.5" square
Accessories - watercolour paints, white embossing powder, Spellbinders square die, fun foam


13 comments:

  1. Our challenge colors look so amazing on your card Susan.They highlight the focal point in a beautiful way! Thanks for joining us at Color Hues!

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  2. Gorgeous cards, I love that soft watercoloring of your floral card. Thanks for sharing with us at The Beautiful Blossoms Challenge. We hope you'll play again soon.
    Donna xx
    Beautiful Blossoms Challenge
    Paper Funday Challenge
    Inspiration Station Challenge

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  3. I love your collage style with the added bits of pages from a dictionary which complement the windmill Susan, and the lines and splatters and background masked areas all add to the look, and perfect in teal and orange, so bright and beautiful. Your flowers on the second have a wonderful vintage feel and I love the added postmark, script and stamped splatters in that soft colour..such a pretty card! x

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  4. A cool mixed media collage first card. Love the torn dictionary pages highlighting windmill and Dutch. Your friend will cherish it. Your second card is so pretty. The subtle stamping instead of splattering is refreshing.

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  5. Your Dutch card is wonderful. I love the design of the meanings along with the images. So cool, Susan. A lovely flower card with a great background for it.

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  6. Your torn paper detail is a wonderful frame for your windmill, the colours are so summer. Thanks for sharing with us at Color Hues. :)

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  7. LOVE your Dutch-inspired birthday card Susan. This is such a wonderful example of mixed media at it's finest. Love the sponged colours, stamped images and the fabulous text pieces all combining to make a very special card for your friend. Great work!!

    Your yellow roses are so beautiful with the random text stamped background. What a lovely way to capture the beauty of your garden in a card. xx

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  8. Wonderful cards! Love them both! Thank you so much for playing along with us over at the Color Hues Challenge!

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  9. A fantastic mixed media card, Susan! It invites touching! Your roses are so pretty and I love the random stamping around them!

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  10. Two more beauties Susan - I just love that Dutch card with the text, windmill and wonderful colors! and your flowers are so softly colored and pretty with the text, splatter and post mark in the background! Julia xx

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  11. Beautiful mixed media card with the windmill and dictionary page, I love that colour combo. The flower is gorgeous with the soft yellow and the background stamping.

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  12. Such beautiful cards here Susan, esp. love the one you shared with us over at 'The Flower Challenge' ;) Viv DT xx

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  13. Such a pretty card, I love how delicate it is. Thanks for joining us this month at The Flower Challenge, hope to see you next month too. Cara DT x

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