Hello!!

I have been missing for a while - I had no idea how busy summer would be in the high country!

However, I have a market stall coming up at the Mansfield Easter Bush Market, so I sat down on Sunday night and made 20 cards, and I decided to make an extra one or two in Smoky Slate for this week's Colour Creations! So good to be back!

Smoky Slate has been one of my favourite grey's. And I really love the Happy Forest Friends Designer Series Paper. It always makes me just the teensiest bit sad when an Annual Catalogue is coming to an end, and the Designer Series Papers will all retire . . .  I think that's why I own SO MUCH patterened paper - because I can't bare to run out of any of the patterns LOL!!

Smoky Slate

Blushing Bride

Calypso Coral

So Saffron

Old Olive

Sahara Sand

Basic Gray

Of course, when I start working with paper this CUTE, it's really hard to stop at one card! And this paper has such a sweet range of colours in it! I want to make ALL the cards! But then I WILL HAVE TO buy another packet of paper before they are sold out!

I chose to use Smoky Slate as the base card, cutting an A4 sheet in half vertically for two portrait cards. I stamped sentiments with Smoky Slate ink and mounted them on Basic Gray card scraps.

For the card fronts, I simply cut a portion of the Designer Series Paper to fit on the card with a small border top and bottom on card one, and on both sides on card two.

The sentiments are popped on with a couple of mini glue dots, and I also stamped some cute toadstools in Calypso Coral Ink, die-cut them and stuck them on with mini glue dots.

These really were the simplest cards to make, and they are so cute!

Please hop on over to the next blog in our Art With Heart Colour Creations blog hop. Click on the box below to go to Theresa's page.

If you get lost in the blog hop, you can always come back here and click right here to go to lovely Cathy's blog where she has all the links for all the participants.

See you again soon - hopefully!

Kathryn Ruddick

(Mansfield VIC).

UPDATE!! ONLY 10 CALENDARS LEFT! 22nd December 2022.

Pre-sale sold out, and only ten calendars are left from the limited edition print run. Order before Christmas or pick up a copy in store at Ink Bookshop Mansfield or Loyola Jewels Mansfield.

Thanks for visiting my blog today! 

Many of  you will know that I recently ran a pre-order campaign through Kickstarter, to pre-sell a minimum number of calendars, in order to cover the cost of printing a full run of beautiful A3 spiral bound Art Quality calendars for 2023.

The pre-order campaign was a success, and at this moment the calendars are being printed!

If you missed the pre-order, but still would like a calendar, you can now purchase one right here!

There are three payment methods.

1. Direct Transfer - you will need to message me for bank details.
2. Credit Card - manual transaction over the phone. Message me, and when I have my Eftpos machine nearby I will ring you to take your number verbally - I punch it in straight away while I have you on the phone, so that I am not writing anyone's numbers down and having to store or destroy records.
3. Buy a calendar in store at Ink Bookshop Mansfield or Loyola Jewels Mansfield.

Postage is $13.25 for one calendar or $16.50 for two calendars, and will need to be calculated separately for more calendars. Express post is another option. Please contact me privately is you need assistance with this.

Calendars are being printed right now - Friday 9th December - and it is my hope that we will have them before Christmas, but I will keep you updated with the progress.  (PRINT COMPLETE AND CALENDARS POSTED 20.12.2022). 

Thanks so much for your support. If you would like to ready my essay about the creation of the work which is included in the RMIT Graduate Profile, you can read it here.

Again, thanks for visiting my blog!

Talk soon,

Kathryn Ruddick

(the arty farmer - Mansfield VIC).

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 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 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 the weekly Colour Creations Blog Hop with the Art with Heart Stampin' Up! team.

This week we have a beautiful light purple shade from our Subtles family - Highland Heather.

Highland Heather

I needed a special milestone birthday card this week, so I decided to make my blog hop project with that card as an end goal, and I went online looking for some fancy fold card designs that might suit the supplies I had pulled out to use.

I found a pretty pink card by Heather Thomas - The Songbird Stamper UK, which not only had all the measurements spelled out with easy to follow instructions, but also a quick video showing how to assemble the card.

So in no time I was cutting up card and paper! I found I had to create my own sheet of Designer Series Paper, as I didn't have many in my collection which featured Highland Heather.

I started with Highland Heather ink on Basic White card, randomly stamping the paint spill stamp from Artistically Inked stamp set. When I had enough of that on the card, I then stamped the silver-plate jewellery background text stamp from the Ranunculus Romance stamp set.

Next, I inked up the Stacked Stone stamp and leaving the stamp face up, I carefully pressed portions of the card onto the inked stamp - in order to just get patches of the inked image. Then lastly, I changed to Garden Green ink and stamped the spatters from Quiet Meadow stamp set.

Once this piece was dry, I cut it into three and mounted it onto the base layers following Heather's measurements.

For the patterned paper layers on the three squares, I chose a sheet from the Tea Boutique 6"x 6" Designer Series Paper pack, with a small floral image.

In addition to the original measurements, I also used the Tailor Made Tags Dies to create a label for the front, and a smaller one for the middle square inside the card. I used the Alphabest stamp set to stamp "30" and punched the numbers with the Best Label punch.

The bunch of flowers stamped on the front label, and on the rear panel and all of the sentiment stamps come from the Amazing Year stamp set.

I put the extra panel on the back to have more space to write, considering it is a milestone birthday.

The inside square is attached to a pop-up type support so it sits out from the back of the card, but still layers behind the card front. It's a very simple attachment.

The bunch of flowers on the front was stamped with Garden Green ink so that the leaves and stems were already the correct colour to match the colours in the Tea Boutique Designer Series Paper I used in the layers on the squares. I coloured the flowers using the Highland Heather Stampin' Blends.

Now it's time for me to go and check what my talented stamping friends have also been creating with Highland Heather. The next blog belongs to the lovely Theresa Gerrard. Click on the next box below to continue on the blog hop.

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

See you again soon with inky fingers!

Kathryn Ruddick

(Mansfield VIC)

Product List

Highland Heather A4 Cardstock [147010] $16.25	Highland Heather Classic Stampin' Pad [147103] $14.00	Highland Heather Stampin' Blends Combo Pack [154887] $15.75
Garden Green Classic Stampin' Pad [147089] $14.00	Tea Boutique 6" X 6" (15.2 X 15.2 Cm) Designer Series Paper [158659] $21.00	Amazing Year Cling Stamp Set (English) [159110] $39.00
Artistically Inked Cling Stamp Set [154542] $42.00	Ranunculus Romance Cling Stamp Set (English) [157968] $41.00	Quiet Meadow Cling Stamp Set [155082] $37.00
Stacked Stone Cling Background Stamp [152556] $32.00	Alphabest Bundle [158886] $57.50	Tailor Made Tags Dies [155563] $39.00

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 in the Heart of Christmas blog hop, I am using up a heap of leftover pieces from last week.

The Lights Aglow Designer Series Paper is definitely a favourite, and I had fun working out the best way to use up the leftover pieces from last week.

I had 4 long narrow strips of the DSP, as well as extra front panels, so I took this card design which uses the full length of an A4 card, cut to 14.9cm high, folded it into three equal panels, then folded the first two in half to form a small accordion fold.

I added extra card for what forms a kind of pop-out section, which has the greeting layers on it.

I really love all of the designs in the patterned paper, they all work so beautifully together.

I had some leftover circles from last week's projects, so I was able to do a bit of layering without having to cut any more pieces.

This is quite a simple card to make, so long as you can work out the measurements of the layers. and stick the pop-up bit in such a way that the card still folds flat for the envelope.

Time to check out the other Heart of Christmas creations from my Art With Heart friends.

Click on the box below to go to the blog of my lovely friend, Sharon Davern. Sharon is the next blog on the blog hop, and she also has a full list of participants and their links on her blog, in case you come across a broken link.

Please leave a comment, as I love you feedback, then continue on the blog hop.

See you on Wednesday for Colour Creations!

Kathryn Ruddick

(Mansfield VIC)