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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Wednesday, 29 September 2021

Humourous Christmas Card

Well, I made this to sneak in under the wire for three challenges, but darn I've missed one of them - the Color Throwdown that was asking for black, grey, cream, and kraft - not what I'd usually pick for a Christmas card being the traditionalist that I am, but I like the way this turned out so am cross I missed the challenge!  But at least I'm in time for the Christmas Kickstart Challenge asking for comical or amusing cards.  I love this sneaky pup stealing the snowman's hat and scarf!  And it's a Penny Black image so it's going to the Penny Black Saturday Challenge (anything goes).

The image is watercoloured with Inktense pencils and bordered with kraft cs.  It's mounted on a cream card base.  I went over the snowflakes and the snow under the images with a glue pen and added some glitter.

Christmas Kickstart Challenge


Penny Black Saturday Challenge - anything goes









Supplies:
Stamps - Penny Black snowman and dog, Rubber Soul sentiment
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black
Paper - watercolour paper, kraft and cream cs
Size - 6.25x3.25" mini slimline
Accessories - Inktense watercolour pencils, glitter

Tuesday, 28 September 2021

Q is for Quilt

A rainy day is a good time to make a really fiddly time-consuming card!  Fitting in all the little pieces of decorative paper for a quilt design definitely qualifies for fiddly!  But it's perfect for the Christmas Cards All Year Round challenge "Something that Starts with Q or R".  So here's my "Q is for Quilt" card:

I used my Gina Marie quilt die, cutting it three times out of various dp. I then stuck the border down on a sheet of double sided tape, trimmed around the edge, and filled in the pattern with the pieces from two of the other dps. I'll have to make two more to use up all the dp pieces!

Popped it up on fun foam and added a sentiment.

I feel like I'm finally inspired to work on Christmas cards!  So you'll be seeing lots of them in the weeks to come!








Supplies:
Stamps - Rubber Soul sentiment
Ink - Memento Rhubarb Stalk
Paper - cream cs, various dp
Size - 5x5.25"
Accessories - Gina Marie quilt die, fun foam, sheet of double sided tape

Monday, 27 September 2021

Gratitude and Two Horses

I can't believe how quickly September has passed by!  So I'm posting today for two challenges that are going to close soon.

First up, The Day of the Month card challenge is celebrating World Gratitude Day. 

I used blues, greens, and yellows Distress inks for my tissue paper background, following this tutorial on SCS done by my good friend, Loll Thompson.  I ran a piece of white cs through a flowery embossing folder.   I then die cut a stitched oval window out of the panel.  The tissue paper background was set behind the window and a die cut "thanks" mounted on it.


Next up is a card for the ABC Christmas Challenge "T for Two".  I used one of my favourite stamps of two horses wearing Santa hats.

I stamped the horses in black and the sentiment in red, added fun flock to the Santa hats and glitter to the top of the fence, bordered the panel with red, and popped it up on fun foam.

I'm also adding it to September Rudolph Days (anything goes Christmas).

 

Thanks for stopping by!  I might be back tomorrow as I try to get a few more September challenges done!








Supplies for card 1:
Ink - various blue, green, and yellow Distress inks
Paper - tissue paper, white cs
Size - A2
Accessories - embossing folder, "thanks" die, Lil Inker stitched oval die

Supplies for card 2:
Stamps - Impression Obsession horses, unknown sentiment
Ink - white and red cs
Paper - Versafine Clair Nocturne, SU Real Red
Size - A2
Accessories - red marker, fun flock, glitter, fun foam

Tuesday, 21 September 2021

Hemstitch Border

I've seen people using a hemstitch border with a background colour showing through and really like the look of it so finally broke down and bought the hemstitch dies.  Here's my first card using it:


The design of the card was inspired from some cards I've seen on Pinterest with a bunch of squares of alcohol ink background and heat embossed images.  I used a variety of blue AIs as it's my sister's favourite colour and her birthday is coming up.  I dribbled the AIs on glossy cs, spritzed with blending solution and let the colours run and then dry.

I die cut six squares out of the panel and put each one in my Misti (using a Sizzix Sticky Grid sheet to hold them in place as the little squares were too small to hold down with magnets).  I stamped and heat embossed various bits of wildflower images, half of them in white and half in gold.  

Then I arranged them on white cs with a gold heat embossed sentiment below, and die cut with the hemstitch rectangle.  I didn't have any gold cs that perfectly matched the gold heat embossing, so cut a rectangle of white cs and heat embossed its edges in the same gold embossing powder.  Layered it behind the main panel and then added the whole thing to a white card base.

Seize the Birthday is calling for "Faux or Real Stitching" so I'm linking up there, hoping that faux hemstitching counts for the challenge.










Supplies:
Stamps - SavvyStamps sentiment, various wildflower stamps by Magenta, Rubbernecker, Penny Black, and Lavinia
Ink - ColorBox white and gold pigment ink, various blue alcohol inks
Paper - white and glossy cs
Size - A2
Accessories - Spellbinders small square die, Spellbinders hemstitch rectangle die, white and gold embossing powders

Saturday, 18 September 2021

Stamped Ribbon

I'm entering this card in the Jingle Belles Tic Tac Toe challenge and hoping that when they ask for ribbon, stamped ribbon rather than actual ribbon will count!


I stamped on Gina K heavy weight cardstock because alcohol markers won't go through it.

I went over the pine branches with a couple of different green alcohol markers, used a red one on the candy canes, and a bright green one for the ribbon. I did the ribbon's borders with a green glitter pen, and also the ornaments are coloured with a gold glitter pen.

I stamped the sentiment in gold and created a frame from gold shimmer cs.

I chose the right hand vertical column from the Jingle Belles Tic Tac Toe challenge - stamping, ribbon (the green bow of the image), gold.










Supplies:
Stamps - Stampendous candy canes, Rubber Soul jo
Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black, Delicata Golden Glitz
Paper - gold shimmer and Gina K white cs
Size - A2
Accessories - alcohol markers (Copics, Letraset), Atyou Spica gold and green glitter pens, MFT pierced rectangle frame die

Thursday, 16 September 2021

Autumn Coloured Sympathy

CAS Mix Up has a watercolour challenge "Autumn Colours".  I made a sympathy card using autumn colours as I don't need any actual autumn cards.


I'm trying to use my older SU sets to be sure I want to keep them (I really am trying to weed out stuff I don't use!).  I've decided this set will be a keeper.

I used Distress inks, stamping the outlines first. When I stamped the filler stamps, I inked them then spritzed lightly with water to get a paler colour and a more watercolour look.

I split my panel in three and mounted on fun foam on a kraft card base to continue with the autumn colours theme.

CAS Mix Up Watercolour Challenge

 








Supplies:
Stamps - SU Simply Soft, Great Impressions sentiment
Ink - various brown Distress inks, Archival Potting Soil
Paper - kraft and white cs
Size - A2
Accessories - fun foam