To celebrate World Card Making Day, today, I am participating in Kathryn's Blog Hop with my lovely friend Kathryn Mangelsdorf from South Australia. The blog hop participants are Stampin' Up! Demonstrators from all around the world each sharing a card made recently. Kathryn M. has also challenged us to post it within a week to someone special, as we all forget sometimes to send cards that we make and they just sit in a box.

Obviously, I made this card with a very specific person / family in mind, and it's on its way.

I have featured the Hues of Happiness Designer Series Paper, which is so bright and lovely. The card is sized to fit in a DL envelope, and I have cut the DSP slightly shorter to leave a small rectangle of Basic White on the right hand end, which I have then overlaid with the greeting panel and extra fussy-cut flowers which are popped up on Dimensionals.

The only Melon Mambo coloured ribbon I could find in my stash is a leftover piece from the gorgeous Everything Rosy suite which we had in our range a couple of years ago. It matched so well, and I love the texture, so I decided I was definitely using it.

The sentiment stamps on the front and inside the card are from Peaceful Moments stamp set and are stamped in Melon Mambo ink. I also added a couple of smaller flowers to the inside panel of the card.

Thanks for visiting my blog, I am off to see what the other talented stampers have created for World Card Making Day. I hope you will join me on my journey around the blog hop. And please do leave comments for each participant, we love reading your feedback.

To continue on the blog hop please click on the image below - the next button - to visit Penny Hanuszak's blog.

Should there be a broken link in the blog hop, Kathryn M will have a full list of participants and links on THIS page.

See you on Monday night for another Heart of Christmas!

Kathryn Ruddick

Mansfield VIC

Welcome to another Art With Heart Team, Colour Creations Blog Hop.

As I was collecting items from my stash to make my project this week, I knew I would be watching the Queen's funeral as I created. And it was kind of fitting that this week's colour is a beautiful pastel shade which she most definitely wore in her usual style.

This week, I am celebrating a wonderful life, well lived . . . .  and the gorgeous colour, Fresh Freesia.

Fresh Freesia

I thought about my memories of Her Majesty, and what would be a fitting style of card project that I would enjoy making, thinking of her and creating while watching the amazing funeral coverage on BBC.

I settled on the Tea Boutique Suite of products, because in my family, we always talked about popping in to have a cup of tea with "Aunty Betty".

When it came time to choose a green for the foliage, I could only select Parakeet Party - again in honor of Her Majesty and her wonderful colour choices. She wore this stunning ensemble for Harry & Meghan's wedding, and it came with her usual thoughtfulness towards the meaning and messages given by colour choices.

My first card is a very simple card - a layer of the lovely Tea Boutique Designer Series Paper for the background, overlaid on the left with the sparkly Metallic Mesh Ribbon. Then a panel cut with the Stitched Rectangle Dies, stamped with the foliage and small flowers. A separate tea cup stamped and die-cut and popped up on Dimensionals over the base of the foliage.

My second card is a simple Z-fold, with an extra panel on the front. I started with stamping and die-cutting a few teacups in different combinations of Fresh Freesia and Basic White using the Cup of Tea stamp set and Teacup dies. Then die-cut another Stitched Rectangle panel. I felt then it needed bigger foliage so I also stamped and die-cut the bigger leaves with Parakeet Party ink.

I used the same piece of Designer Series Paper for the strip on the front panel. The smaller foliage was a sweet addition to the inside panel. I also decided to use a sponge dauber to add a little shadow and depth to the tea-cups. Isn't it funny how the ink comes up much darker?

I haven't put any sentiments on either of these cards - they would both be suitable for a Happy Birthday, Sending Hugs, Thinking of You - any occasion really. But at the time I was making them, while watching the fantastical production of the incredibly emotional funeral, I didn't have the heart for Happy Birthday stamps. That can come later when I decide who I am sending them to.

Thanks for stopping by. Now it's time to go and see what the other Art With Heart team members have created with Fresh Freesia. You can go to my lovely friend Tina's blog by clicking on the box below.

If you find a broken link in the blog hop, you can come back here to click on Cathy's blog where Cathy has a list of the participants and their links.

Thanks again for visiting, see you soon with ink on your fingers.

Long Live the King!

Kathryn Ruddick

(Mansfield VIC)

Product List

Fresh Freesia A4 Cardstock [155614] $16.25	Fresh Freesia Classic Stampin' Pad [155611] $14.00	Tea Boutique 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 Cm) Designer Series Paper [158659] $21.00
Tea Boutique Suite Collection (English) [158670] $117.50	Cup Of Tea Photopolymer Stamp Set (English) [158661] $41.00	Teacup Dies [160186] $47.00
Parakeet Party Classic Stampin' Pad [159208] $14.00	Basic White A4 Thick Cardstock [159230] $15.25	Stitched Rectangles Dies [151820] $61.00
Stampin' Dimensionals [104430] $7.50	Metallic Mesh Ribbon [153550] $14.00	Sponge Daubers [133773] $8.75

Welcome to another week of Stampin' Up! Colour Creations with the Art With Heart Stampin' Up! team.

This week we feature Early Espresso, a rich dark brown from our Neutrals colour family.

Early Espresso

When I looked at my stamp collection with Early Espresso in mind, the first thing I saw was what I call the "coffee and chocolate" - Nothing's Better Than stamp set. And yes, I like my coffee rich and dark.

For my first card, I cut the A4 card in half longways, so I had a 10.5cm x 29.85cm piece. I scored this in half, then cut the front panel in half vertically. The off-cut piece was turned 90 degrees and used as the horizontal panel on the front of the card. I layered up the two front layers with a patterned piece from the Sun Prints Designer Series Paper.

I used the two step stamp set to stamp bright coloured coffee cups onto Basic White card and die-cut them with the Love You More Than dies. I die-cut the word COFFEE from the same die set, in Early Espresso card. 

The text and steam from the hot cups was stamped directly onto the patterned paper in Early Espresso Ink.

For my second card, I wanted to try the Faux Step Card which I have seen several people use over the last few weeks. And I switched from coffee to chocolate - espresso flavoured chocolate, I'm thinking!

As I was preparing the photos, this card suddenly reminded me of the shelves of chocolates in a chocolate boutique like Haigh's or Koko Black. Nom nom nom!

The faux step card is a "cheat's version" of the centre step card. This card is easier to make, as you add an extra strip of card, rather than trying to cut out layers and folds from one single piece.

I deliberately didn't add anything shiny or any ribbon to these cards, to keep them more masculine. With Father's Day this weekend, I thought I might be called on for a spare card.

I can't wait to see what the other Art With Heart ladies have created using Early Espresso. If you would like to see the other creations, please click on the box below to go to my lovely friend Christine's blog.

If you find a broken link in the blog hop, which doesn't take you to the next blog, you will find the list of participants on Cathy's blog here.

Sale-a-bration finishes today, so if you haven't placed your Sale-a-bration order yet, you have just an hour or two left to claim your free SAB gifts with purchase.

I will see you tomorrow to share the September Weekly Deals!

Keep inky!!

Kathryn Ruddick

(Mansfield VIC)

Product List

Early Espresso A4 Card Stock [121686] $16.25	Early Espresso Classic Stampin' Pad [147114] $14.00	Nothing's Better Than Photopolymer Stamp Set (English) [152507] $38.00
Love You More Than Dies [152698] $53.00	Sun Prints 12” X 12” (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Designer Series Paper [158790] $21.00	Soft Suede Classic Stampin' Pad [147115] $14.00
Crumb Cake Classic Stampin' Pad [147116] $14.00	Old Olive Classic Stampin' Pad [147090] $14.00	Pumpkin Pie Classic Stampin' Pad [147086] $14.00
Cajun Craze Classic Stampin' Pad [147085] $14.00	Basic White A4 Cardstock [159228] $18.00	Mini Stampin' Cut & Emboss Machine [150673] $110.00

Last week in the Art With Heart - Heart of Christmas blog hop, I showed this card, using a floral image stamp set instead of a Christmas stamp set.

When I was making the first card, I also cut and coloured the other main image from the same stamp set. So this week, I have another card to show you, using the same colours and the same non-traditional stamp set, but a completely different card.

I used the same Tea Boutique 6x6 Designer Series Paper, only I flipped it over and used the plainer reverse side. I used my Stampin' Blends to colour this image. I wasn't that pleased with the way the flowers turned out, so after they were thoroughly dry, I used my Blender Pen to add Sweet Sorbet Ink straight off the ink pad, to really strengthen the colour.

The other main difference with this card, is I left out the vellum, but added layers with an extra piece of Tea Boutique DSP, large Evening Evergreen Label from the Seasonal Labels Dies, and the die-cut foliage was used as a subtle texture, rather then as a tool to add dark contrast.

On the inside of this card, I included a leftover strip of the original DSP along the bottom of the inside. This DSP had featured under the vellum layer on the first card.

If you would like to see the rest of the Art with Heart - Heart of Christmas blog hop, please click on the next box below to go to lovely Andrea Sargent's blog, and continue to follow the links.

If you find a link is broken, you can get back onto the blog hop by visiting my dear friend Sharon's page, where she has a list of all the participants and their links. Click here!

Kathryn Ruddick

(Mansfield VIC)

Product List

Blessings Of Home Cling Stamp Set (English) [157930] $44.00	Flowers Of Home Dies [163095] $56.00	Blessings Of Home Bundle (English) [157939] $90.00
Evening Evergreen A4 Cardstock [155575] $16.25	Evening Evergreen Classic Stampin' Pad [155576] $14.00	Sweet Sorbet Classic Stampin' Pad [159216] $14.00
Crushed Curry Classic Stampin' Pad [147087] $14.00	Blender Pens [102845] $21.00	Tea Boutique 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 Cm) Designer Series Paper [158659] $21.00
Christmas To Remember Bundle (English) [156806] $104.25	Seasonal Labels Dies [156299] $67.00	Mini Stampin' Cut & Emboss Machine [150673] $110.00

Hey there Stamping friends!

Welcome to another Art With Heart - Colour Creations Blog hop!

This week we are exploring Coastal Cabana. I know many will be aghast when I say this is definitely not one of my favourite colours . . . 

Coastal Cabana

It looks such a pretty shade in the computer generated image, but I have to say, I think it is a very murky, too green colour that reminds me of a swimming pool with far too much chlorine in it LOL!

However!! I seriously LOVE the Hues of Happiness Designer Series Paper, and I was very happy to pull out a piece and make this over the top flurry of florals!

I used a Coastal Cabana card base, and cut the Designer Series Paper into three triangle pieces and layered it straight onto the base. Then I used Blending Brushes to rub some Coastal Cabana, Bermuda Bay, Old Olive and Mossy Meadow inks onto some Shimmery White card stock, which I then die-cut with the Summer Shadows Dies.

The greeting from Shaded Summer Stamp set is stamped in Mossy Meadow ink on a scrap of the brushed Shimmer Paper and die-cut with a label from Seasonal Labels Dies.

I used a sponge dauber to apply a small amount of Early Espresso ink to the centres of the flowers - well, okay, my Early Espresso ink pad is super wet . . . .I would have applied a SMALL amount . . .  ha ha ha!

For someone who is not that fond of Coastal Cabana ink, I am actually quite pleased with how pretty this card turned out!

I can't wait to see what the other Art With Heart team members have done! If you'd like to see too, please click on the box below to go to Rachel's blog.

If you find a broken link in the blog hop, Cathy has the links for all participants in her post here.
 

See you again soon with more card inspiration!

Kathryn Ruddick

(Victorian High Country)

Product List

Card Stock A4 Coastal Cabana [131302] $16.25	Coastal Cabana Classic Stampin' Pad [147097] $14.00	Hues Of Happiness 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Designer Series Paper [158822] $21.00
Summer Shadows Dies [156618] $60.00	Blending Brushes [153611] $21.75	Bermuda Bay Classic Stampin' Pad [147096] $14.00
Old Olive Classic Stampin' Pad [147090] $14.00	Mossy Meadow Classic Stampin' Pad [147111] $14.00	Early Espresso Classic Stampin' Pad [147114] $14.00
Shaded Summer Cling Stamp Set [155783] $41.00	Sponge Daubers [133773] $8.75	Mini Stampin' Cut & Emboss Machine [150673] $110.00

COLOUR CREATIONS BLOG HOP 2022-2023 WEEK 1

Hello there!

Welcome to a brand new Stampin' Up! Annual Catalogue and a new batch of very beautiful In Colours.

Each year when the new Annual catalogue comes out, 5 colours retire and we get 5 new colours. These are referred to as In Colors and they give our colour palette a lovely refresh, complimenting our regular colour families and adding a beautiful fresh twist.

For Week 1 of the 2022-2023 Colour Creation Showcase, I welcome in the lovely new colour Orchid Oasis, and I celebrate this wonderful colour with some of my stamping buddies from Claire Daly's, Art With Heart Team - a very creative team of Stampin' Up! demonstrators here in Australia.

Orchid Oasis

I have chosen to team Orchid Oasis card stock and ink with some of our Designer Series Paper to highlight how the colours coordinate across our colour range.

The base card is Orchid Oasis, with a Basic White layer. Then the heavenly patterned paper is from the Hues of Happiness Designer Series Paper Pack. I've used the Drapery Fold technique for the paper to add some depth and intrigue while showcasing both sides of the beautiful pattern.

Orchid Oasis is not listed as a colour in the paper pack, but it sits nearly perfectly midway between the blues and purples in the paper design.

To tie it in even more, I used a Blender Pen and Orchid Oasis Ink pad to add a little more colour to some of the hand cut flowers from the paper, for the inside of the card.

These are really beautiful papers and gorgeous colours. I'm so excited that the papers are here for the next 12 months of the new catalogue, and the In Colours are here for two years! I can see myself using them a lot!

If you would like to see the products I used, scroll down further, but in the meantime, if you are starting at my blog, I invite you to visit the other AWH blogs to see how my talented friends have enjoyed using Orchid Oasis in their creations this week. Click on this box to go to gorgeous Cathy's blog to see the rest of the creations.

If at any time you find a broken link, please head to the blog of this week’s host of the AWH Colour Creations Blog Hop, Cathy
Proctor, and she will have the list of all participants.

Thanks for visiting!!

Kathryn Ruddick

Product List

Orchid Oasis A4 Cardstock [159265] $16.25	Orchid Oasis Classic Stampin' Pad [159214] $14.00	Hues Of Happiness 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Designer Series Paper [158822] $21.00
Peaceful Moments Cling Stamp Set (English) [151595] $37.00	Basic White A4 Cardstock [159228] $18.00	Blender Pens [102845] $21.00

World Card Making Day is coming up fast!

I am planning a day of supercharging my batch of Christmas cards ready to send out this year. I will be using the gorgeous Tidings of Christmas bundle which is in our Stampin' Up! Annual Catalogue.

I invite you to play along with me. I will be stamping on Zoom from 11am on World Card Making Day until around 5pm and you are welcome to pop in anytime and say hi and check out what I am doing. I will also be sharing progress images and instructions on Facebook as I go. I have a suspicion that this stamp-a-stack is going to take me a lot longer than 1 day, so I will schedule other catch up times later (working around my uni assignments).

Click on the images below to see more info on my Stampin' Up! website and be taken to the Shopping Cart with all required items.

Anyone purchasing the product suite before the end of September will qualify for Sale-a-bration rewards, (one free Sale-a-bration item with each $90 retail order) and will receive my September bundle of tutorials via email.

I can't wait to get all Christmassy next weekend! I hope you'll join me in some way.

Kathryn

This week on the Colour Creations Showcase, I shared a stack of 9 cards using the Snail Mail Suite, inspired by the Call Me Crafty Al February Sheetload of Cards.

I was planning to do the Sheetload of cards project for my team night on Thursday, but I was so enjoying making the cards up with the gorgeous, fun, whimsical Snail Mail Designer Series Paper, that I ended up finishing them all long before Team Night started!

So, if you saw my blog post, you may have seen that I promised to come back with a whole new Sheetload of Cards project that I was actually going to do AT team night LOL

And here it it!

I selected the beautiful Pacific Point and mixed Green papers from the Berry Delightful Designer Series Paper. This paper is a Sale-a-bration gift with purchase and comes with a matching stamp set of different summer berries.

When following the Call Me Crafty Al cutting plan, you are left with a strip of the paper leftover, so of course it goes on the inside of the cards!

I stamped the sentiment panel with the small sprinkles stamp from the Icecream Corner stamp set, using Just Jade Ink, stamped off once on scrap paper before stamping onto the sentiment.

I also found an unopened packet of the lovely Iridescent Pearls embellishments from last years July to August mini catalogue which were a perfect colour  to bling up the front.

I used Night of Navy card for the base card, and Garden Green and Night of Navy for the two mat layers. And in this photo you can see I also embossed the Night of Navy banner with Meadow Moments embossing folder.

Another sparkly embellishment that works really well is the Night of Navy jewels in the Holiday Rhinestones pack. I hope you like these - I can't believe there used to be a saying, "Blue & Green should never been seen unless there's a colour in between". I think these cards prove that blue and green are perfect partners!

If you'd like to find out how you can get your hands on this beautiful paper, don't hesitate to contact me - Talk soon!

Kathryn Ruddick

Hey! It's Kathryn here, and this week's Art With Heart Colour Creations Showcase is a big favourite for lots of people!

Welcome to the Pool Party Colour Creations Showcase!

I have been playing with the gorgeous Snail Mail Suite a lot over the past week, and when I checked this weeks's colour, I was really pleased because even though Pool Party is not in the Snail Mail Designer Series Paper pack, there are toned down shades of Bermuda Bay which would work really well with this week's colour . . . . . !

This week is also my monthly team meeting (still via Zoom), and when I was looking for inspiration for a stamping project for this week, I remembered that I follow a Youtube channel "Call Me {Crafty} Al" where Alicia does a once a month Sheetload of Cards and puts up a video and templates for what we might call a Stamp-a-stack. When I looked at her February project, I could straight away see myself using the Snail Mail DSP with Pool Party base cards.

I gathered my supplies and started chopping! There are 9 base cards and 3 pieces of each size of every patterned paper. Crafty Al uses US card sizes so I tweaked the measurements to suit our A4 card stock sizes, and also took the liberty of flipping one of the sheets over since our papers are double sided and I really like the red hearts sheet. This gave me more variety too.

The sentiments are actually a free printable download from Crafty Al which she shared in January. Rather than go through my collection looking for stamps all around the same size, I decided to print the sentiment sheet on our Basic White card, stamp the mushroom image in Pool Party ink and use our Paper Trimmer to cut them out.

The Detailed Trio Punch was used on some of the corners, then all the layers adhered with Stampin' Seal adhesive.

The one inch wide Pool Party banners were created with the Triple Banner Punch, then embossed with the Meadow Moments Embossing Folder with the butterflies on it (it's a pack of two embossing folders that fit the new Mini Cut & Emboss Machine).

The banners were stuck down with Tear'n'Tape and then the sentiment piece was adhered with Stampin' Dimensionals to pop it up. I decided at the last minute to adhere an extra layer of Pool Party card as a mat under the sentiment (as you do LOL).

I was supposed to be saving these to work on in steps whilst chatting to my team on Zoom tomorrow night, but whooops!! Once I started, I couldn't stop LOL Now I will have to make another set!

Thank you so much Alicia (Crafty Owl) for your amazing inspiration and excellent downloadable instructions and cutting sheets! #SUYSFeb2021 #ShowUsYourSheetLoad 

I hope you will hop over to Cathy's blog and use the links there to visit each of the other Art With Heart team members who have created with Pool Party this week.

And I guess I will be back in a few days to show you the second set that I ACTUALLY make at my team night!

Talk soon!

Kathryn Ruddick

If you live in Australia and would like to buy any of these products from me so you too can make your own Snail Mail Sheetload of Cards, you can click on any image below and it will take you straight to the online store.

Product List

Pool Party A4 Card Stock [124391] $15.25	Pool Party Classic Stampin' Pad [147107] $13.00	Snail Mail Designer Series Paper [154577] $20.00
Snail Mail Suite Collection [155986] $121.00	Snailed It Cling Stamp Set [154472] $33.00	Snail Dies [154327] $52.00
Real Red A4 Card Stock [106578] $15.25	Detailed Trio Punch [146320] $35.00	Banner Triple Punch [138292] $40.00
Meadow Moments Embossing Folders [153126] $14.00	Resin Hearts Embellishment [154578] $12.25	Snail Mail Twine Combo Pack [154579] $12.25
Basic White A4 Cardstock [159228] $17.00	Paper Trimmer [152392] $44.00	Stampin' Dimensionals [104430] $6.00

I adore the new Snail Mail Product Collection from Stampin' Up!

For years I have wanted some miniature envelope dies and stamps and I have seen a few different ones from other brands but as a Stampin' Up! demonstrator I really wanted a set I could create with that I could then also be confident that my customers could buy the same stamps and dies to use themselves.

So when our January to June Mini Catalogue came out, I was very happy to see these!

This week our Colour Creations Showcase was Petal Pink and even though the pink in these papers is Blushing Bride, I was happy to mix and match the pieces to make 4 cute cards - two fancy fold cards for the blog hop, then 2 really quick standard cards using up the leftover bits.

Here's my Colour Creations Showcase post.

And here is the first of my extra cards made with the leftover pieces.

Most of these pieces are die-cut from the Designer Series Paper in the suite. There is a tiny bit of stamping in the background just to anchor the toadstools and snail to the ground.

On the inside of the card I put a simple strip of the DSP.

I wanted the second card to be even more simple with a bigger "white space" to rest the eyes from the bright images.

Again, on the inside I kept the decoration simple with a strip of DSP on a layer of the same Bermuda Bay card which adds depth to the card front.

Aren't they cute! 

I can't wait to do a bit more with this product suite. I can see myself needing another packet of the Designer Series Paper really soon!

Did you know you can earn a free Sale-a-bration item if you order this Product Collection. Ask my more about it today.

Talk soon,

Kathryn