Welcome back to another blog hop Wednesday, and another bird card!   

This week, the Art With Heart stamping ladies are focusing on Blackberry Bliss - nearly everyone's favourite colour!

Blackberry Bliss

My inspiration this week came from Sherry Roth who created a gorgeous card, using the beautiful regal colour scheme of Blackberry Bliss, Wild Wheat and Basic White:     
I thought it was just beautiful, and since our focus colour is Blackberry Bliss, I wanted to use the same colour scheme. I selected the Wildly Flowering Designer Series paper to use, so also added Moody Mauve.

Blackberry Bliss

Moody Mauve

Wild Wheat

Basic White

I wanted to use my Country Birdhouse bundle for the very first time, and make a fancy fold card, because I haven't done any fancy folds for a while. So I trawled Pinterest and found the Double Stack Display card by Susan Campfield. I liked that there were several front facing panels to show off the beautiful colours and papers:     
Then I got to work, measuring, cutting, scoring and die-cutting heaps of pieces. The fun part then comes in mixing and matching to see which ones layer better. I brayered Wild Wheat ink over a piece of wood pattern paper from the Country Woods DSP, so I had the correct colour I wanted for my birdhouses. 

The fold is called Double Stack because there are two concertina folds which stack over each other, closing the card and allowing it to fit in a standard envelope.

The front has lots of layers and dimension - and is probably going to cause me to have to pay extra postage!

The next front facing piece is a little less busy, and has space for a sentiment. This pieces needs to be adhered carefully, nestling it into the opposite fold, but not too close that it doesn't flatten properly when the card is closed.

The final inside panel can be left plain white for lots of writing space, or in this instance, I have added a decorative strip along the bottom, consisting of a slither of the designer series paper, a section of the birdhouse die-cut snipped in half to form a scallop border, and a flower and leaf from the Country Flowers Dies.

This is what it looks like fully open with the front facing panels turned to the back:

This is what it looks like fully open with the front facing panels turned in:

And this is what it looks like standing up - it is a very strong free-standing card, and won't sag off the mantelpiece two days after it is placed there.

And of course, once I had finished that, I had a stack of other pieces to use up, so I cut myself some Country Birdhouse Notecards - lining one edge of the roof on the die up with the fold line on an A4 Basic White card sheet folded in half lengthwise and scored really well, running it through the cutting machine, to cut a notecard. You can cut 3 birdhouses from one piece of A4 doing it this way.

Now it's time for your to go and check the other Art With Heart bloggers and see what they have created with Blackberry Bliss. Lovely Rosa Leydon is the next person in the blog hop - click the image below to go to her blog post.

If you find a broken link in the blog hop, click HERE to go to Cathy's blog where she has all the links.

Thanks for visiting my blog, and our Art With Heart team blog hop. See you again soon with inky fingers!

Kathryn Ruddick

Mansfield VIC

Product List

Blackberry Bliss A4 Cardstock [133682] $20.25	Blackberry Bliss Classic Stampin' Pad [147092] $15.75	Wildly Flowering 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Designer Series Paper [163323] $21.75
Wild Wheat A4 Cardstock [161734] $20.25	Wild Wheat Classic Stampin' Pad [161651] $15.75	Country Birdhouse Bundle (English) [163401] $81.75
Country Woods 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Designer Series Paper [163393] $21.75	Country Flowers Dies [163410] $61.00	Cheerful Daisies Dies [161296] $60.00
Stampin' Brayer [162936] $28.00	Boho Blue Limited Edition Mini Stampin' Cut & Emboss Machine [161104] $110.00	Stampin' Dimensionals [104430] $7.50

Welcome back to week 4 of the Art With Heart team Colour Creations Blog Hop.

This week we focus on Shy Shamrock - which is anything but shy!   

Shy Shamrock

To soften this strong colour, I decided to make a white-on-white card, where Shy Shamrock is still the hero of the card, but in a gentle way, not in your face.

   
I die-cut some scraps of the Shy Shamrock paper from the 2024-2026 In Color Designer Series Paper using Stylish Shapes dies. These were layered under a Basic White piece cut with the Deckled Rectangle dies and embossed with the Eyelet 3D embossing folder. The Stylish Shapes pieces create just a small pop of colour and highlight the cute designs on the patterned paper.   
The floral image is not stamped or die-cut. It is one of the pieces from Fully Flowering Ephemera pack - a new product on page 19 of our catalogue. There are four ephemera packs to choose from. I’ve mounted it with Dimensionals, tied some white bakers twine and layered the greeting - stamped in Shy Shamrock - to tie the pieces together. The greeting is from Simply Said stamp set which is also on page 19.

Now, if you are ready, please click on the image below to hop over to the lovely Kate Morgan's blog, to continue discovering how we have created with Shy Shamrock. I always really look forward to seeing what Kate has made!

If you are following the whole blog hop and you find a broken link, our lovely host Cathy Proctor has ALL the links on her blog right here.

See you again soon with ink on your fingers!

Kathryn Ruddick

Mansfield VIC

Product List

Shy Shamrock Classic Stampin Pad [163808] $15.75	2024–2026 In Color™ 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 Cm) Designer Series Paper [163777] $21.75	Fully Flowering Mix & Match Ephemera Pack [163762] $14.00
Eyelet 3 D Embossing Folder [163414] $17.50	Basic White A4 Cardstock [159228] $23.00	Mini Stampin' Cut & Emboss Machine [150673] $115.00

Yippee!! Today I am blogging with a few of my OTHER stamping friends, and together we are exploring the new 2024-2025 Stampin' Up! Annual Catalogue, that just came out this month - MAY 2024.   If you have come to my blog from Denise Buetler's blog, thank you for hopping over!    
Our Stampin' Up! annual convention is called On Stage, and this year we gathered in Melbourne in March. It is always so GOOD to see some of these long time stamping friends face to face - I haven't seen many of these ladies since before Covid, so it was extra special.

One of the treats of On Stage is to get a sneak peek of our new catalogue, and I think every single one of us fell in love with the Take To The Sky Suite and the fantastic demonstration we saw.

I had a big workshop this weekend with up to 12 participants, so I wanted to make a card which showed off the product suite, but was also easy enough for that many people to make in about an hour. So I chose a very simple easel card, and I precut several of the pieces using my die-cutting machine and paper trimmer.   

So then the participants just had to do some simple stamping, die-cut a couple of pieces themselves and assemble the card, with a little bit of assistance where needed - mainly cleaning stamps and handing out Stampin' Dimensionals.

 
I really enjoyed using these products - they coordinate so well that it's easy to create a good looking card.  Because there were so many attendees in my workshop, there were three different sheets of the Take to the Sky Designer Series Paper for the card fronts. Each one of them worked well because of the coordinating designs and colours.

I hardly ever make masculine cards, but I really enjoyed using these products, and I can't wait to find time to make some more different variations of this project.

Now it's time for you to go and see what else the talented ESAD card makers have created. The NEXT button to follow the blog hop journey is down below - but before you go there, just in case you are wondering what ESAD even is . . . . . :

And now, click on this pointing NEXT image to hop around the ESAD blogs and see what other goodies are in the Stampin' Up! annual catalogue. This button will take you to gorgeous Nicole's blog who is also coordinating our blog hop.

I'll see you again soon - preferably with inky fingers!!

Kathryn Ruddick

Mansfield - Victoria High Country 

Product List

Take To The Sky Suite Collection (English) [163832] $130.25	Adventurous Sky Bundle (English) [163447] $93.50	Take To The Sky 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Designer Series Paper [163436] $21.75
Boho Blue A4 Cardstock [161733] $20.25	Basic Gray A4 Card Stock [121689] $20.25	Basic White A4 Cardstock [159228] $23.00
Misty Moonlight Classic Stampin' Pad [153118] $15.75	Boho Blue Classic Stampin' Pad [161650] $15.75	Mini Stampin' Cut & Emboss Machine [150673] $115.00

Wild Wheat is the fifth of our new In Colors and this is week 5 of the Art With Heart blog hop where Art With Heart Stampin' Up! team members share our Colour Creations featuring this week's colour.

Wild Wheat is a funny golden shade like dirty mustard and while it may seem like a difficult colour to use, it's perfect for the centres of flowers. Today I have used three of our new In Colours teamed together, just the way Stampin' Up! has in the Fresh as a Daisy Designer Series Paper pack.

Wild Wheat

Pebbled Path

Moody Mauve

First thing I did was grab out the paper and cut a couple of pieces for card fronts. I decided on simple Wild Wheat base cards as the paper already has a lot going on.

Then I cut a stack of flowers and leaves from the coordinating Cheerful Daisies Dies. I just cut them in Basic White card as I wanted to replicate the flowers on the paper and could just use a sponge dauber to add a touch of the ink to the flower centres and the leaves.

I usually spend a little bit of time at this stage arranging them on the card front to see what works best, and it is at this point I got out my trusty sponge daubers and sponged a small amount of Wild Wheat and Pebbled Path onto the flower centres and leaves.

I was going to mount the paper straight onto the Wild Wheat base card, which would have been fine, but the more I looked at it, the more I wanted to add the thinnest border of white around it to frame the images.

 That definitely makes it pop more and was worth doing. It adds a formal touch. I could have roughed up the edges of the Designer Series Paper for a more shabby chic look, but I was happy to go with the crisper finish.

I layered the die-cut daisies over the daisies on the printed paper - offsetting them a little so you can still see the layers underneath.

I chose the greeting stamp and label die also from the Cheerful Daisies Bundle to stamp and cut the sentiment piece and adhered most of the pieces with Stampin' Dimensionals or a spot of Tombow Liquid Glue.

Thank you for visiting my blog. Now if you would like to see what the other AWH team members have created with Wild Wheat, please click on the NEXT image below to go to lovely Caroline's blog to continue the journey.

If you find a broken link on the blog hop, click here to go to Cathy's blog where she has the complete list and you can easily find the ones you have missed.

See you again soon with another Colour Creation!

Kathryn Ruddick

Mansfield VIC

Product List

Wild Wheat Classic Stampin' Pad [161651] $15.75	Wild Wheat A4 Cardstock [161734] $17.50	Pebbled Path Classic Stampin' Pad [161648] $15.75
Fresh As A Daisy 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Designer Series Paper [161289] $21.75	Fresh As A Daisy Suite Collection (English) [161301] $129.25	2023–2025 In Color™ Dots [161620] $14.00
Cheerful Daisies Bundle (English) [161297] $93.50	Cheerful Daisies Dies [161296] $60.00	Cheerful Daisies Photopolymer Stamp Set (English) [161290] $44.00
Basic White A4 Cardstock [159228] $18.50	Sponge Daubers [133773] $9.75	Mini Stampin' Dimensionals [144108] $7.50

Welcome to a whole new Stampin' Up! catalogue and a wonderful colour refresh!

We start the new round of Blog Hops with the new 2023-2025 In Colors, and this week we have a great new Blue!

Boho Blue

My favourite new product suite is Zoo Crew, I love the fun images in the stamp set and dies, and the gorgeous coordinating Designer Series Paper. So today I have made two simple cards, with a bit of fussy cutting, and mixing and matching the Designer Series Paper with several other packs, to show off our lovely new Boho Blue.

The first card is a simple Z-fold card, where the front is folded back on itself, and I have layered it with a mixture of pieces. The Night of Navy scallop edge is cut with a die from the Zany Zoo Dies.

The cute star background DSP is from the Bright & Beautiful DSP pack. The striped paper inside the card is from the Countryside Inn DSP pack.

The elephant and cute little scooting bunny are from the Zoo Crew DSP pack and I have added a touch of Boho Blue to the elephant's body using a water painter to pick up just a tiny bit of Boho Blue ink from the Classic Ink Pad. Both images are fussy cut using my trusty snips.

My second card is a basic landscape card, using Boho Blue card for the base, and more paper from the Bright & Beautiful DSP pack for the background layers, over Night of Navy scallops.

This time, I die-cut the alligator from the Designer Series Paper. On both cards, the main image is mounted onto a die-cut rectangle using the Scalloped Contours Dies. Also on this card, I tested out the beautiful Boho Blue Textured Ribbon, across the middle of the card. Despite the texture, it has a lovely sheen.

Thank you for visiting my blog. Please take a tour around the rest of the blog hop and see what the other talented Art With Heart Ladies have created. Click on the image below to go to lovely Cathy's blog. Cathy is also our blog hop host and coordinator, so if you find a broken link in the blog hop, please come back to her blog where she has a full list of all the links.

 Thanks again for visiting! Enjoy the awesome inspiration from our talented creators! See you again next week!

Kathryn Ruddick

Mansfield (Vic)

Product List

Boho Blue A4 Cardstock [161733] $17.50	Boho Blue Classic Stampin' Pad [161650] $15.75	Boho Blue 3/8" (1 Cm) Textured Ribbon [161631] $14.00
Countryside Inn 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Designer Series Paper [161467] $21.75	Bright & Beautiful 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 Cm) Designer Series Paper [161449] $21.75	Zoo Crew 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Designer Series Paper [161304] $21.75
Zoo Crew Suite Collection (English) [161319] $134.50	Zany Zoo Dies [161314] $60.00	Zany Zoo Cling Stamp Set (English) [161305] $46.00
Water Painters [151298] $23.00	Night Of Navy A4 Card Stock [106577] $17.50	Scalloped Contours Dies [155560] $61.00

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

Welcome to Melon Mambo week with the Colour Creations Blog Hop!
Each week, some of my stamping friends from the Art With Heart stamping team in Australia get together on a Wednesday night to feature one of the Stampin' Up! colours.

We are gradually working our way through the alphabet! And tonight we have the boldest strong pink for you, so I have toned it right down on a white on white card, so you are just getting that POP of pink.

I have chosen to use the Framed Florets bundle which is a new release stamp and die set, putting it with the Elegant Eucalyptus 3D Embossing Folder. 

The greeting stamp and leaf background are from the Cup of Tea stamp set, stamped in Melon Mambo and Granny Apple Green.

My second card has the extra layer of oval dies, and I brushed the embossed card front with Melon Mambo ink using a Blending Brush. I also used a few extra pearls, and mounted the card front on  Melon Mambo base card.

I can't wait to see what my friends have created with  Melon Mambo. You can join me by going to lovely Theresa's blog by clicking on the Next box below.

If you would like to journey around the whole blog hop, click on the same "Next" box on each blog. If you find a broken link, our lovely host Cathy has all of the participants and their links in her post. Find that HERE.

I will see you again soon, with inky fingers!

Kathryn Ruddick

(Mansfield VIC)

Product List

Melon Mambo Classic Stampin' Pad [147051] $14.00	Melon Mambo Stampin' Blends Combo Pack [153112] $15.75	Melon Mambo A4 Card Stock [119980] $16.25
Fitting Florets Collection (English) [163129] $172.25	Framed Florets Bundle (English) [162407] $95.25	Cup Of Tea Photopolymer Stamp Set (English) [158661] $41.00
Basic White A4 Thick Cardstock [159230] $15.25	Elegant Eucalyptus 3 D Embossing Folders [159170] $17.50	Flirty Flamingo Stampin' Blends Combo Pack [154884] $15.75
Granny Apple Green Stampin' Blends Combo Pack [154885] $15.75	Granny Apple Green Stampin' Pad [147095] $14.00	Tuxedo Black Memento Ink Pad [132708] $10.50
Blending Brushes [153611] $21.75	Festive Pearls [159963] $12.25	Mini Stampin' Cut & Emboss Machine [150673] $110.00

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

Who doesn't love a warm gray for a neutral colour on your cards?

I know I do! And I am glad to be sharing in the Colour Creations Blog Hop with the Art With Heart stamping team today as we show off Gray Granite!

Gray Granite

Normally each week with the Colour Creations, I really feature the chosen colour as the main colour on the project. This week, I have gone for something a little different. I have taken all the pieces for two of the cards from the Birthday Cards Organiser Kit and I have added Gray Granite base cards, and added a Gray Granite item onto the card front.

I had to trim the card fronts that were supplied in the kit, to fit our card size better, then mounted it onto Gray Granite. Then for my first card, I die-cut the largest detailed butterfly from the Brilliant Butterflies Dies and adhered that to the card front, placing the small greeting from the kit over it.

I think the Gray Granite butterfly really softens the whole look of the card.

For the second card in the kit, I took inspiration from the supplied kit pieces and replaced the Sahara Sand rectangle layer, with a Gray Granite layer, cut with the Rectangle Stitched Dies.

To further soften this card, I switched out the 'white on black' label for Evening Evergreen text on a white label, also die-cut with the Stitched Rectangles.

Using the Stampin' Up! card kits makes card-making really straight forward and fast. But by adding different base cards and other layers, you can stretch the kit contents out and make more cards with similar pieces and colour schemes.

I am looking forward to seeing what the rest of the team has created using Gray Granite. Please join me by hopping over to my lovely friend Christine Blain's blog post by clicking on the next box below.

If you find a broken link in our blog hop, our regular blog hop host, Cathy Proctor has all the participants and links on her blog post here.

See you again soon with inky fingers

Kathryn Ruddick,

(Mansfield, VIC - earthquake & tiger snake capital of 'Straya)

Product List

Gray Granite A4 Cardstock [147008] $16.25	Birthday Card Organizer Kit [161056] $44.00	Stitched Rectangles Dies [151820] $61.00
Brilliant Wings Dies [155523] $77.00	Evening Evergreen Classic Stampin' Pad [155576] $14.00	Stampin' Dimensionals [104430] $7.50

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