Hey, it's Kathryn here again with Week 26 of the Colour Creations Showcase.

Yay to this week's shade of Chistmas - Merry Merlot! I can't wait to see what my fellow Art With Heart stampers have created this week!

Merry Merlot

This dark wine red is perfect for adding depth, shade and tone to your red images particularly on Christmas cards, but I have chosen to use it as a stand alone colour - the key colour in a couple of cards for experienced card makers.

In fact as soon as I starting thinking about this week's colour, I knew I wanted to use the Whiskey Business stamp set for some rich, dark, men's club kind of masculine cards.

My first card is A4 Merry Merlot card base, cut in half vertically with an initial layer of In Good Taste Designer Series Paper. Then there is a panel of the Merry Merlot patterned paper from the Neutrals 6"x 6" DSP matted on Whisper White.

I've used the Layering Ovals Dies to cut a scallop oval in Merry Merlot and a plain oval in Whisper White which I then stamped with the texture stamp from Whiskey Business stamp set in Gray Granite ink. The bottle and glass were stamped on scraps of Thick Whisper White, coloured with Stampin' Blends and cut out with Paper Snips. The Blends are shown in the product images right at the bottom of this post.

The inside of the card has a strip of the leftover Designer Series Paper and an extra glass stamped and coloured just on the insert.  The sentiments are stamped with Merry Merlot ink.

The second card steps it up a little, including a "Z fold" and a few more layers. This card was inspired by one I found on Pinterest by Dawn Griffith.

I have used most of the same materials - the In Good Taste Designer Series Paper, the images stamped on scrap Whisper White and hand cut out, the base of Merry Merlot card and the sentiments in Merry Merlot ink. But for this card I have added the beautiful Brushed Metallic Card for some extra glamour.

The Layering Squares Dies were used for the panels - and as usual, I die-cut extra shapes from the centres of the Brushed Metal card before creating my layers - maximising my cardstock usage and giving myself some lovely brushed metallic layers for next week's cards.

The "Z fold" here is probably the easiest one you can do - just cut the A4 card vertically at 10.5cm, fold it in half to form a standard card, then fold the front in half back on itself - too easy! Then add as few or as many layers as you like. I am half inclined to think that I may have gone a little overboard with the layers on this one, but is sure it a spectacular card in real life!

I hope you like them! Please leave me some feedback in the comments. I would love you to join me is seeing what the other talented Art With Heart Stampers have created using Merry Merlot. To do that, CLICK HERE to go to Cathy's blog where she has the full list of participants!

See you again soon with ink on your fingers!

Kathryn Ruddick

Product List

Merry Merlot A4 Cardstock [147005] $15.25	Merry Merlot Classic Stampin' Pad [147112] $13.00	Neutrals 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 Cm) Designer Series Paper [152485] $20.00
Whiskey Business Cling Stamp Set (English) [152550] $33.00	Brushed Metallic Cardstock [153524] $26.00	In Good Taste Designer Series Paper [152494] $37.00
Mango Melody Stampin' Blends Combo Pack [154888] $15.50	So Saffron Stampin' Blends Combo Pack [154905] $15.50	Seaside Spray Stampin' Blends Combo Pack [154901] $15.50
Layering Squares Dies [151772] $58.00	Layering Ovals Dies [151771] $58.00	Whisper White A4 Card Stock [106549] $17.00

Quick heads up!

If you were trying to order last night after work you may have found the online store wasn't working for you.

It was a global glitch that affected all Stampin' Up! online shops.

Because this happened with still 5-6 hours left to go on yesterday's mammoth sale, during the busiest period, Stampin' Up! have just announced they are extending the sale until 11.50pm today.

At this very moment the online store still isn't working so if you did want to get your order in and still get the 10% off, email it to me and I will place the order for you by logging in to the back end via the demonstrator website. The order will still come direct to you via Australia Post.

Or if you want to try again after work today, the online store should be working by then - either way, don't be afraid to get in touch with me to help you out.

Cheers,

Kathryn Ruddick

Hey there stamping friends!

A couple of weeks ago the Colour Creation Showcase was the extraordinarily bright In Color - Magenta Madness. It was a bit of a madness week, with all my uni assignments due on the Monday and a beautiful sunny day for the Melbourne Cup public holiday on Tuesday - so hubby and I had our first long bike ride since we went into the original lockdown in March.

Sooooooo, whilst I had a Magenta Madness project half created, I really ran out of time to complete it and do the blog post before the Week 23 Showcase went live.

However, I did eventually finish the card, so I thought I'd better show it to you!

I have selected the Magenta Madness Card and Envelope from the Flowers for Every Season  Memories & More Card Pack, along with a small strip of the In Color Designer Series Paper, and the Magenta Madness 1/4" ribbon.

The die-cut border is from the Ornate Borders Dies in the Ornate Thanks Bundle.

I have cut the die twice, once in White and once in Basic Black, then inserted the loose pieces from the black die-cut into the Whisper White one for contrast.

The lovely greeting is from the Country Home stamp set. I deliberately picked it for the vertical layout. It fits very nicely on the label die-cut from the Tasteful Labels Dies. I cut extras of the same die in Basic Black and layered them underneath.

If you would like to see what the other lovely creators came up with (even though it was a couple of weeks ago), please click here to go over to Cathy's blog post where she has all the links to the other participants.

See you in a couple of days with our Merry Merlot Colour Creation Showcase!

Kathryn Ruddick

Product List

Flowers For Every Season Memories & More Cards & Envelopes [153101] $19.25	Magenta Madness 1/4" (6.4 Mm) 2020–2022 In Color Ribbon [153623] $10.50	2020–2022 In Color 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 Cm) Designer Series Paper [153070] $20.00
Ornate Borders Dies [152724] $59.00	Ornate Thanks Bundle (English) [154115] $81.00	Country Home Photopolymer Stamp Set [147678] $37.00
Whisper White A4 Card Stock [106549] $17.00	Basic Black A4 Card Stock [121688] $15.25	Jet Black Stāzon Ink Pad [101406] $17.50

The Art With Heart Stampin' Team are back this week with another summery food related colour - Melon Mambo!

I don't use Melon Mambo very often because I'm' not really a "pink girl", but it is a lovely bright colour - and its a warm pink so it goes really well on a cheery card with some of our bright orange and yellow tones. However for today I've kept my card fairly monochromatic with just a couple of tiny spots of other colours.

I've chosen to christen the Pretty Parasol stamp set. The base card is Melon Mambo and the two smaller umbrellas are stamped with Melon Mambo ink on Whisper White card. The larger umbrella is stamped with Memento Black ink and coloured with Stampin' Blends alcohol markers in Flirty Flamingo, Rococo Rose, Granny Apple Green and Soft Sea Foam.

We have Melon Mambo Blends in our range - they were introduced with the new Annual Catalogue in June - I just haven't added them to my collection yet - too many other nice colours!

I've seen some gorgeous backgrounds lately - and I wanted to create something like them - but I also wanted it to be super quick and to just use what I have in my stash, instead of having to go out to buy anything new.

I grabbed an old clam shell stamp case and scribbled on the top of it with a couple of different pink Stampin' Blends. Then I spritzed it with Isocol Rubbing Alcohol in a Stampin' Spritzer with a couple of drops of Champagne Shimmer Paint (these are both on pages 146-147 of our Annual Catalogue).

I put a piece of Thick Whisper White down on to the wet mix and smooshed it around a bit - which spread out the pink but also picked up the grainy Champagne Shimmer in the nicest way. You do have to work fast because the alcohol evaporates.

The umbrellas were punched with the Umbrella Builder Punch. The lace, tassels and handles were stamped direct onto the smooshed background and the umbrellas attached with Dimensionals.

I've been really looking forward to using this stamp set and I am glad it has finally seen ink!

Please join me in visiting all the other Colour Creations Showcase ladies to see what they have created with Melon Mambo. To do that, click this button to go to Cathy's blog where she has all the participants listed.

See you next week!

Kathryn Ruddick

Product List

Melon Mambo A4 Card Stock [119980] $15.25	Melon Mambo Classic Stampin' Pad [147051] $13.00	Pretty Parasol Photopolymer Stamp Set [152663] $28.00
Rococo Rose Stampin' Blends Combo Pack [154900] $15.50	Flirty Flamingo Stampin' Blends Combo Pack [154884] $15.50	Melon Mambo Stampin' Blends Combo Pack [153112] $15.50
Granny Apple Green Stampin' Blends Combo Pack [154885] $15.50	Soft Sea Foam Stampin' Blends Combo Pack [154902] $15.50	Umbrella Builder Punch [151293] $31.00
Champagne Mist Shimmer Paint [147044] $14.00	Stampin' Spritzer [126185] $5.00	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad [132708] $10.00

Welcome to week 24 of the Art With Heart team Colour Creations Showcase!

This week the star of the show is Mango Melody.  And do you know, I can't remember EVER using this colour before? 

And yet it is such a bright, cheery, pick me up kind of cocktail colour!

When I realised which colour was this week, I had a bit of a panic about what to make with it, but then I saw a stamp set on my shelf which hadn't been opened and used - and it just screamed out to be used with Mango Melody - hmmmmm! Mango cocktails! What a perfect thing in this suddenly humid weather we've been having!

I also grabbed out the leftover bits from my Box of Sunshine Paper Pumpkin Kit and suddenly I was making way more than one card - so much brightness and fun!  The colourful strip along the bottom of this first card is one of the card fronts from the Share Sunshine cards, cut into 1" strips. And I added some sequins out of the kit for a bit of sparkle.

This card contains another 1" strip of card front from the Paper Pumpkin kit, along with the pineapple, black and white polka dot piece and more sequins.  The stamp set has 26 pieces for lots of mix and match greetings AND there's a coordinating die set for cutting out those cute cocktails!

The stamp set is photopolymer so it's really easy to line up the words to make a fun background - this one is inked with Mango Melody and every  second image is stamped off (or "second generation stamping").

But WAIT!! There are not just cocktail stamps in this set! How could I use the set without also making at least one COFFEE card!?!  And how cute and funky are those coffee cups!

I can't believe what a fun colour Mango Melody is, after ignoring it for so long! I really enjoyed designing these cards and putting them together!

See the lovely touch of gold on the pineapple? And here is what the inside of the card looks like:

I really hope you will check out the rest of the amazing projects by my Art With Heart stamping friends. You can do that by clicking here and going to lovely Cathy's blog where she has ALL the links.

Hope to see you again next week when we showcase Melon Mambo.

Kathryn Ruddick

Product List

Mango Melody Classic Stampin' Pad [147093] $13.00	Mango Melody A4 Cardstock [147013] $15.25	Paper Pumpkin Kit Box Of Sunshine (English) [155231] $37.00
Nothing's Better Than Bundle [154061] $81.00	Flirty Flamingo Classic Stampin' Pad [147052] $13.00	Poppy Parade Classic Stampin' Pad [147050] $13.00
Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad [132708] $10.00	Whisper White A4 Card Stock [106549] $17.00	Granny Apple Green Stampin' Pad [147095] $13.00