Welcome back to our final blog hop for the Heart of Christmas 2022.

When planning my project this week, I took a look back over all the projects I have created for this season of Heart of Christmas blog hops - and I pulled out a lot of leftover pieces from my basket of stamped and die-cut images.

I came back to a couple of favourites. Favourite Designer Series Papers, favourite card layout, favourite elements on a card, and I jiggled them into two new cards.

Traditional Christmas colours have featured on many of my projects this past few months, and that lends itself to traditional images as well.

The Lights Aglow Designer Series Paper has been a firm favourite! As have the holly images from the Boughs of Holly Suite including stamp set, dies and printed paper.

I've done my fair share of fussy cutting throughout our blog hops, inspired by the beautiful samples in the catalogue.

And I have been inspired by my friends to remember to include some of our gorgeous ribbons and trim on my Christmas cards, for that extra sparkle and feeling of luxury.

Thank you for coming along on the Heart of Chritmas journey with us. I hope we have inspired you to make lots of cards to send out to your loved ones this Christmas.

To continue on the blog hop, clcik on the NEXT box below which will take you to lovely Rachel Woollard's blog.

Should you find a broken link in the blog hop, our host this week is again my lovely friend Sharon. Click here to go to her blog for a full list of participants and their blog links.

Thanks again for joining our creative journey!

See you soon with ink on your fingers!

Kathryn Ruddick

(Mansfield VIC)

Product List

Lights Aglow 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 Cm) Specialty Designer Series Paper [159535] $27.00	Lights Aglow Suite Collection (English) [159556] $261.00	Boughs Of Holly 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Designer Series Paper [159600] $21.00
Boughs Of Holly 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Designer Series Paper [159600] $21.00	Brightest Glow Cling Stamp Set (English) [159542] $44.00	Gold 3/8" (1 Cm) Shimmer Ribbon [156470] $14.00
Red Rhinestone Basic Jewels (X2) [155878] $0.00	Soft Succulent 1/2" (1.3 Cm) Satin Shimmer Ribbon [158133] $13.25	Brushed Metallic Cardstock [153524] $27.00
Very Vanilla A4 Card Stock [106550] $18.00	Soft Succulent A4 Cardstock [155777] $16.25	Evening Evergreen A4 Cardstock [155575] $16.25

Thanks for stopping by my blog today! 

Today I am sitting at the front desk of the First Site Gallery in Swanston Street, Melbourne, minding the exhibition where my enormous river work is on show.

I worked on the 11 metre work during the two big lockdowns in 2021 - mostly rolled out on my driveway on sunny winter days.

I have an essay about the creation of the work which is included in the RMIT Graduate Profile which just went public online yesterday. You can read it here.

Not everyone can get into Melbourne CBD to see the calendar in real life, so I have created a Fine Art Calendar for 2023. You can have segments of the painting in your own home, to enjoy all year. To pre-order your quality A3 spiral bound calendar, please click on the image below.

Again, thanks for visiting my blog!

Talk soon,

Kathryn Ruddick

(the arty farmer - Mansfield VIC).

Welcome to another week of Heart Of Christmas, with the stampers from the Art With Heart Team in Australia.

On November 1st, a new suite of products became available and this week I have created a simple card featuring them.

The Fitting Florets Collection contains two stamp sets, a set of dies, beautiful all occasions Designers Series Paper and some lovely gold embellishments.

The Christmas greeting set, Framed and Festive, the designer series paper, and the gold embellishments are only available for a limited time - until January 4th. The Framed Florets stamp set and dies are available now and into the next mini catalogue (January to June).

A couple of my dear stamping friends and I have created a tutorial pdf with four beautiful projects using the Fitting Florets product suite. If you order the Framed Florets bundle or Fitting Florets Collection from Cathy Proctor, Sharon Davern, Andrea Sergant, or myself, we will gift you the tutorial pdf.

Now that you have seen my card, it is time to move through the blog hop. The next blog is lovely Cathy Proctor. Click on the next box below to go to her blog.

Should you find a broken link in the blog hop, our weekly host is my friend Sharon Davern. On Sharon's blog here, you will find all the participants and their links.

See you again soon with very inky fingers!!

Kathryn Ruddick

(Mansfield Vic).

Product List

Fitting Florets Collection (English) [163129] $172.25

Framed Florets Bundle (English) [162407] $95.25

Framed & Festive Cling Stamp Set (English) [160888] $41.00

Welcome to our regular Monday evening Heart of Christmas blog hop with the Art With Heart Stampin' Up! team in Australia.This week I am featuring the lovely Boughs of Holly Suite from the Stampin' Up! July to December Mini Catalogue.

I took inspiration for my cards this week from one of the card samples on page 24 of the catalogue.

I really love the use of the beautiful Boughs of Holly Designer Series Paper in the sample, and how the poinsettia flowers were fussy cut and layered over the subtle striped Evening Evergreen print paper. So I decided to use that idea, but I also wanted to use the beautiful die-cut label from the product suite, so I changed the cards just a little to suit myself.

I chose to use Evening Evergreen for the base cards, and leave a small border showing behind the Designer Series Paper. And I used the up the incomplete flower prints from the sides of the paper to self-frame the second card.  

When you have a patterned paper with bold prints, designed for cutting out individually, this is a great way to use up those pieces around the edges of the paper, that might otherwise go to waste.

These cards could easily be stepped up with layered die-cut foliage, rhinestones or other jewels, the cute wooden Textural Elements that are part of the suite, and some ribbon or trim. In fact, I might even come back and add a stack of rhinestones to each one to give them that Christmas sparkle.

At the moment I have kept them really simple (and flat) because I know there is less chance of them being damaged in the post, or in having to pay extra postage for them. Have you posted your overseas Christmas cards yet? Better get on to that quickly!

Next in our Heart of Christmas blog hop is Rosa Leydon, I always look forward to seeing her creations. Click on the NEXT box below to go to Rosa's blog!

If there is a broken link in the blog hop, our normal Monday host is Sharon. All of the particpants and their links are listed on Sharon's post here.

Please leave a comment and I will see you again soon!

Kathryn Ruddick

(Mansfield VIC)

Product List

Boughs Of Holly Suite Collection (English) [159612] $139.00	Holly Berry Dies [159607] $61.00	Boughs Of Holly 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Designer Series Paper [159600] $21.00
Evening Evergreen A4 Cardstock [155575] $16.25	Evening Evergreen Classic Stampin' Pad [155576] $14.00	Brightest Glow Cling Stamp Set (English) [159542] $44.00

Welcome back to the Heart of Christmas Blog Hop where a group of Stampin' Up! demonstrators from the Art With Heart team, in Australia, share our Christmas card creations with you weekly.

Everyone I know is really loving the beautiful Lights Aglow Specialty Designer Series Paper in the Lights Aglow product suite. I love it too, and since my cards have been featuring a lot of Designer Series Paper recently, I decided to just use the paper, along with the Brightest Glow stamp set to make a stack of quick cards.

Two of the designs in the paper are a collection of stars forming four frames, two square and two round, and the design is easy to cut into four separate 3"x 3" pieces with a frame in the centre of each piece. So I took one Cherry Cobbler sheet and one Soft Succulent sheet and cut them in quarters, giving me the start of eight cards.

#Card cutting hack :

Each frame image becomes a 3"x 3" square piece, either with a round or square frame image in gold stars. The inner square is 4.5cm x 4.5cm. On the image on the left you can see a 4.5cm square of Very Vanilla card comes right to the edge of the gold star frame. In the image on the right I have cut the Very Vanilla at 4.2cm and this leaves a lovely border of the plain Cherry Cobbler showing inside the gold star frame.

I used Cherry Cobbler and Evening Evergreen inks to stamp several of the smaller greeting stamps from Brightest Glow stamp set and cut some of these with the Layering Circles dies, and some of them I cut with the trimmer into 4.2cm squares. I cut the long narrow one using the Seasonal Labels Dies.

The base cards and greeting panels are Very Vanilla card stock and I have created layers with the lightest gold in the Brushed Metallic card, some scraps of Evening Evergreen card and a variety of other sheets from the Lights Aglow DSP.

I have added a touch of luxury with some Gold Shimmer Ribbon, which is in our Annual Catalogue - it has such a beautiful sheen and matches perfectly with the Brushed Metallic Card.

Another favourite ribbon is the Gold & Vanilla Satin-Edged Ribbon in our July-December catalogue. I have actually misplaced mine, but for some reason this very similar one from a year or so ago was on my desk. Maybe I put the wrong one away - that wouldn't surprise me! Either ribbon would go perfectly!

These were super quick, simple cards to make, and with the designs in the Lights Aglow Designer Series Paper pack, you can easily whip up a stack of 16 Cherry Cobbler cards and 16 Soft Succulent cards. I made four of each colour this time around, and they were all unique, but very similar. I also used just a very small array of products to make these - you don't need stacks of supplies. The thumbnails of the products are at the bottom of this post, scroll down to see them!

Well, that's enough from me, I'd love you to see what the other Art With Heart creators have made. The next blog on the blog hop is the very talented and creative Andrea Sargent. Click on the next box to go to her blog!

If you find a broken link on the blog hop, please go to lovely Sharon's blog here where she has the full list of participants and their links.

Thanks for visting me! See you again soon, with inky fingers!

Kathryn Ruddick

(Mansfield VIC)

Product List

Lights Aglow 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 Cm) Specialty Designer Series Paper [159535] $27.00	Brightest Glow Cling Stamp Set (English) [159542] $44.00	Cherry Cobbler A4 Card Stock [121681] $16.25
Evening Evergreen Classic Stampin' Pad [155576] $14.00	Evening Evergreen A4 Cardstock [155575] $16.25	Cherry Cobbler Classic Stampin' Pad [147083] $14.00
Gold & Vanilla 3/8" (1 Cm) Satin Edged Ribbon [159555] $14.00	Very Vanilla A4 Thick Cardstock [144238] $15.25	Gold 1/4" (6.4 Mm) Shimmer Ribbon [152156] $12.25
Layering Circles Dies [151770] $61.00	Seasonal Labels Dies [156299] $67.00	Paper Trimmer [152392] $44.00

This week for the Heart of Christmas blog hop, I am revisiting the Santa's Delivery bundle.

Last time I made a slimline (DL) size card with the train engine and two carriages on the front. Ever since I got the bundle, I have been wanting to make a 3D train.

So this week was my chance. I added little open boxes to each piece that would easily hold 2-3 chocolates for a Christmas table centrepiece.

I used the Stamparatus and a silicon craft mat to reverse stamp the carriages and engine, so that I had both images facing in both directions. Then they could be mounted on either side of the very simple open boxes I made to support them.

The open boxes are 5cm long x 3cm wide and 4cm high.

I have deliberately left them unattached so they can be re-arranged, and they could even be used as little party favours or place cards.  I think I would like to make a really long train with a dozen or so carriages, but that might be for another day!

I hope you like my little project and it gives you some ideas as we get closer to the Christmas season - ideas for Christmas decorating or gift giving.

Now it's time to go see what the other Art With Heart team stampers have created this week for our blog hop.

 My friend Michele is next on the blog hop. She does some amazing projects! I can't wait to see what she has created tonight. Click on the next box below to go to her blog with me!

If you find a broken link in the blog hop, you can find a full list of participants and links at my friend Sharon's blog here.

Please do leave a comment and I will see you again soon!

Kathryn Ruddick

Mansfield (Vic)

Product List

Santa's Delivery Bundle (English) [159590] $85.50	Basic White A4 Cardstock [159228] $18.00	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad [132708] $10.50
Shaded Spruce Stampin' Blends Combo Pack [154903] $15.75	Soft Sea Foam Stampin' Blends Combo Pack [154902] $15.75	Balmy Blue Stampin' Blends Combo Pack [154830] $15.75
Mango Melody Stampin' Blends Combo Pack [154888] $15.50	Daffodil Delight Stampin' Blends Combo Pack [154883] $15.75	Poppy Parade Stampin' Blends Combo Pack [154958] $15.75
Real Red Stampin' Blends Combo Pack [154899] $15.75	Cherry Cobbler Stampin' Blends Combo Pack [154880] $15.75	Basic Black Stampin' Blends Combo Pack [154843] $15.75
Smoky Slate Stampin' Blends Combo Pack [154904] $15.75	Stampin' Seal+ [149699] $21.00	Mini Stampin' Cut & Emboss Machine [150673] $110.00

All aboard for this week's Heart of Christmas Blog Hop!

The Art With Heart Stampin' Up! team is back again with our weekly Christmas card inspiration.

I have chosen to use the Santa's Delivery bundle today for a cheery Christmas train. The bundle includes the Santa's Delivery stamp set and the Santa's Train Dies.

I started with a Soft Sea Foam card base. This one is is 21cm x 10.5cm to fit in a DL envelope. I used Soft Sea Foam, Pear Pizzazz and Mint Macaron ink pads to stamp trees all over the card front to form a forest of pine trees. The trees are from the Trees For Sale stamp set.

I cut two train tracks from the Santa's Train Dies in Basic Gray card. I stamped the little puffs of smoke from the steam engine with Balmy Blue Ink and die cut them. Then I stamped the Merry Christmas in Poppy Parade ink and used the foam border die from Basic Borders Die Set to create a bigger smoke puff which I daubed around the edges with Balmy Blue Ink.

The train engine and carriages were stamped with Memento ink and coloured with Stampin' Blends. I used quite a variety of colours including Shaded Spruce, Poppy Parade, Real Red, Cherry Cobbler, Daffodil Delight, Mango Melody Balmy Blue, Crumb Cake, Soft Suede, Old Olive, Smoky Slate and Basic Black.

I think a train full of Christmas cheer is a lovely idea, I'd love to see Puffing Billy all dressed up for the occasion!

Now it is time to see what the other clever stampers have come up with this week. Click on the box below to be taken to the blog of the very talented Cathy Proctor - I can't wait to see what she has created.

Should you find a broken link on the blog hop, you can find a list of participants and all the links on Tina's blog here.

Enjoy the blog hop and see you again soon!

Kathryn Ruddick

(Mansfield VIC)

Product List

Santa's Delivery Bundle (English) [159590] $85.50	Santa's Delivery Photopolymer Stamp Set (English) [159583] $39.00	Santa's Train Dies [159589] $56.00
Soft Sea Foam A4 Cardstock [147012] $16.25	Soft Sea Foam Classic Stampin' Pad [147102] $14.00	Pear Pizzazz Classic Stampin' Pad [147104] $14.00
Mint Macaron Classic Stampin' Pad [147106] $14.00	Poppy Parade Classic Stampin' Pad [147050] $14.00	Balmy Blue Classic Stampin' Pad [147105] $14.00
Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad [132708] $10.50	Basic Borders Dies [155558] $51.00	Trees For Sale Photopolymer Stamp Set (English) [159785] $39.00
Old Olive Stampin' Blends Combo Pack [154892] $15.75	Shaded Spruce Stampin' Blends Combo Pack [154903] $15.75	Balmy Blue Stampin' Blends Combo Pack [148544] $15.50
Mango Melody Stampin' Blends Combo Pack [154888] $15.50	Daffodil Delight Stampin' Blends Combo Pack [154883] $15.75	Poppy Parade Stampin' Blends Combo Pack [154958] $15.75
Real Red Stampin' Blends Combo Pack [154899] $15.75	Cherry Cobbler Stampin' Blends Combo Pack [154880] $15.75	Crumb Cake Stampin' Blends Combo Pack [154882] $15.75
Soft Sea Foam Stampin' Blends Combo Pack [154902] $15.75	Smoky Slate Stampin' Blends Combo Pack [154904] $15.75	Basic Black Stampin' Blends Combo Pack [154843] $15.75

This week the Art With Heart Stampin' Up! team are celebrating a cheery pink.

Flirty Flamingo

I had a quick glance through my stamps, trying to see which ones jumped out at me to showcase Flirty Flamingo. What jumped out was some cards in the Santa Express Memories & More cards which feature some pinks in the designs.

The Memories & More Cards have such a lovely range of greens, complimented by the cheerful pink.

The first card I made was a bit of a disaster. The background had some text on it which I covered with the Merry Christmas label. But to my eye, the position of the label is really unbalanced and leaves a lot of plain white card and uncertainty about what the image is supposed to be. Sad, but the label couldn't have gone anywhere else on the card. I think I might gently peal it off and stick a whole heap of die-cut foliage underneath in Flirty Flamingo and Mint Macaroon.

The second card was heaps better, just because the background card was SO gorgeous!

This is probably one of the simplest cards I have ever made. I trimmed the Memories and More card down to fit nicely on a card front. On a scrap of Basic White card I stamped a Christmas sentiment in Flirty Flamingo ink. The greeting was die-cut using a die from the Painted Labels dies, and then a piece of ribbon was looped underneath.

One other little finishing touch, was running around the groove in the die-cut with the Flirty Flamingo Stampin' Write marker. I like that extra touch.

Don't you love the colours and tree pattern in the background?

That's all from me. I would love you to join me on the blog-hop and see what the other Art With Heart team members have created. Click on the box below to go to Cathy Proctor's blog - she always does such gorgeous projects!

If you find a broken link on the blog-hop, you will also find a complete list of participants and links on Cathy's post.

Enjoy exploring the Flirty Flamingo creations! See you soon, with ink on your fingers.

Kathryn Ruddick

(Mansfield VIC)

Product List

Flirty Flamingo Classic Stampin' Pad [147052] $14.00	Flirty Flamingo A4 Cardstock [141421] $16.25	Santa Express Memories & More Card Pack [159595] $21.00
Brightest Glow Cling Stamp Set (English) [159542] $44.00	Painted Labels Dies [151605] $61.00	Pearl Basic Jewels [144219] $10.50
Soft Succulent 1/2" (1.3 Cm) Satin Shimmer Ribbon [158133] $13.25	Basic White A4 Cardstock [159228] $18.00	Stampin' Dimensionals [104430] $7.50

Welcome to this week's Heart of Christmas.

This week I really wanted to use the cute bear stamp from the Happiest of Happy stamp set, which is part of the Happy Forest Friends product suite on pages 46-47 of the Stampin' Up! Annual Catalogue. I had in mind that the paper contained a sheet with pine trees on it and I thought I could easily convert it to a Christmas card.

Turns out there is no pine tree image in that paper pack. The whimsical trees from the Trees For Sale stamp set suited the style, so I decided to stamp some instead.

To tie it in with the Christmas theme, I pulled out and sorted through the Santa Express Memories & More card pack to find some backgrounds and sentiments.

I found the cute bow die-cut in the Santa’s Train die set from our July to December mini catalogue. I cut three of them in Poppy Parade card to match the red in the Memories & More cards.

I really like the way the bear stamped in the Soft Suede ink - it's a beautiful watercoloury effect with a crisp outline.

These are very, very simple cards. But I think they are a bit fun and whimsical and would make great cards to send to some favourite nieces and nephews.

Please join me in visiting the rest of the blog hop. The next stop on the blog hop is the very creative Kate Morgan - I always look forward to seeing what she has created. Click on the box below to go to her blog.

If you find a broken link on the blog hop, my lovely friend Sharon is hosting the hop again this week and has all the links listed on her post. Click here to get back to the main list.

I will be back on Wednesday for Colour Creations - Flirty Flamingo. See you then!

Kathryn Ruddick

(Mansfield VIC).

Product List

Santa's Delivery Bundle (English) [159590] $85.50	Santa Express Memories & More Card Pack [159595] $21.00	Happy Forest Friends Suite Collection (English) [158956] $120.50
Trees For Sale Photopolymer Stamp Set (English) [159785] $39.00	Poppy Parade A4 Cardstock [121694] $16.25	Shaded Spruce A4 Cardstock [147006] $16.25
Poppy Parade Classic Stampin' Pad [147050] $14.00	Shaded Spruce Classic Stampin' Pad [147088] $14.00	Granny Apple Green Stampin' Pad [147095] $14.00

Last week I dug out the Nothing Is Better Than stamp set to use the coffee & chocolate images to showcase Early Espresso in the Colour Creations Blog Hop.

It inspired me to use the same set again this week, but for Heart of Christmas.

So here, we are, welcome to Heart of Christmas with the Art With Heart Stampin' Up! creative team.

What could be more Christmassy than baking a heap of cookies - to give as gifts, or just to enjoy around the Christmas tree with your family and friends?

I went for semi-traditional colours from our In Colour families to compliment the Crumb Cake and Early Espresso cookie images. The "red" patterned paper is Sweet Sorbet from the Tea Boutique Designer Series Paper pack. This is mounted on an Evening Evergreen mat, and a Soft Succulent base card.

I'm am getting so much use of the Nothing is Better Than stamp set and Love You More dies, along with the Christmas to Remember stamp set and coordinating Seasonal Labels dies.  Sometimes you just need a couple of holly leaves to switch up an un-Christmas card. 

And of course, you can't have a Christmas Cookie card without having the box of cookies to go with it!!

And the great thing about this box lid, is I just used up the leftover pieces from making the card. The box base is a small food-safe box I had in my (un-ending) stash, and I simply made an Evening Evergreen lid for it, and added the circles which I cut from the card front.

The inside of the card has more holly leaves and an extra cookie.

Well, I'm going to see what the other talented Art With Heart ladies have created. If you would like to join me on the journey around the other blogs, click on the box below to go to lovely Michele's blog.

Should you find a broken link on the blog hop, my dear friend Sharon has a list of all the participants and links on her blog post. Click here.

Have a great week, and I will see you on Wednesday night for Colour Creations!

Kathryn Ruddick

(Mansfield VIC)

Product List

Nothing's Better Than Photopolymer Stamp Set (English) [152507] $38.00	Love You More Than Dies [152698] $53.00	Christmas To Remember Cling Stamp Set (English) [156300] $41.00
Seasonal Labels Dies [156299] $67.00	Tea Boutique 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 Cm) Designer Series Paper [158659] $21.00	Real Red Classic Stampin' Pad [147084] $14.00
Soft Succulent A4 Cardstock [155777] $16.25	Soft Succulent Classic Stampin' Pad [155778] $14.00	Evening Evergreen A4 Cardstock [155575] $16.25
Early Espresso Classic Stampin' Pad [147114] $14.00	Crumb Cake Classic Stampin' Pad [147116] $14.00	Basic White A4 Cardstock [159228] $18.00
Mini Stampin' Cut & Emboss Machine [150673] $110.00	Layering Circles Dies [151770] $61.00	Stampin' Dimensionals [104430] $7.50