Hi again!

Welcome to Week 3 of the Art With Heart Stampin' Up! Team - Colour Creations Showcase.

If you are just joining me, this week our creation divas are exploring one of my favourite Stampin' Up! colours - Bermuda Bay! We would love you to check out everyone's work and leave us some feedback in our comments.

If you would like to see all of our team's Bermuda Bay creations, go to gorgeous Cathy's blog here and get all the links there. 

So let's take a look at Bermuda Bay!

Bermuda Bay

In our 2020 January to June Handmade for You Mini Catalogue, our Birthday Bonanza product suite had one of the most gorgeous colour combinations. One of those colours has since retired, but is easily substituted to still give you a lovely rainbow of six beautiful shades to work with. 

These colours sing to me of ocean reefs, fish and coral. So it's no wonder I pulled the stamp set Seaside Notions off my shelf.

For this card front I did something slightly different. I literally drowned the reverse side of the Thick Whisper White card stock with water and Bermuda Bay Ink from the Ink refill and let it soak through.

I love the new embossing folder - Seabed and I enjoyed stamping, watercolouring and fussy cutting these cute images. A bit of ribbon, some gems from the Holiday Rhinestones pack and half a dozen Stampin' Dimensionals are enough to make these cards pop with all the lovely textures.

For the next card, I removed the yellows and oranges and just stuck with the Bermuda Bay and Coastal Cabana. 

Again, that embossing folder is sublime!

I've stamped all the images with Bermuda Bay and just done a very light watercolour wash with Coastal Cabana over them.

Whilst Bermuda Bay is not exactly Santorini Blue, I couldn't help thinking of a bit of Mediterranean home decor with this colour scheme too. I have recently acquired Country Home stamp set - to do rustic vintage style cards - but I was suddenly picturing a Bermuda Bay jug full of bright blooms on a white washed stone windowsill . . .  

Thank you to my Stampin' Up! demonstrator friends who cruised the Greek Islands last year for all your inspiring photos!

In this card, I stamped the jug using Jet Black Stazon Ink onto Coastal Cabana card stock, then added shadows with Bermuda Bay ink. The jug is then cut by hand and popped up with a couple of Dimensionals.  I'm not sure why in this photo the flowers come out brilliant blue when on the card they are exactly the same colour as the jug - the joys of technology!

All of the products I have used for these three cards are shown below. 

Please leave me a comment about which card is your favourite and why?

You can go to the next blog on the list lovely Christine's blog, by clicking here or  hop over to Cathy's blog to check out the rest of the Art With Heart Team's Bermuda Bay projects.

Product List

Card Stock A4 Bermuda Bay [131286] $15.25	Whisper White A4 Card Stock [106549] $17.00	Card Stock A4 Coastal Cabana [131302] $15.25
Bermuda Bay Classic Stampin' Pad [147096] $13.00	Seaside Notions Cling Stamp Set [149278] $40.00	Coastal Cabana Classic Stampin' Pad [147097] $13.00
Mango Melody Classic Stampin' Pad [147093] $13.00	Country Home Photopolymer Stamp Set [147678] $37.00	Daffodil Delight Classic Stampin' Pad [147094] $13.00
Terracotta Tile Classic Stampin’ Pad [150086] $13.00	Holiday Rhinestone Basic Jewels [150457] $10.50	Calypso Coral Classic Stampin' Pad [147101] $13.00
Playing With Patterns Ribbon Combo Pack [152468] $18.25	Water Painters [151298] $21.00	Seabed 3D Embossing Folder [152700] $17.50
Tasteful Labels Dies [152886] $54.00	Jet Black Stāzon Ink Pad [101406] $17.50	In Good Taste Designer Series Paper [152494] $37.00

This week I am joining in on an Art With Heart Team blog hop showing you how simple stamping can be!

We are sharing creative projects featuring Simple Stamping, which means our projects feature only paper, stamps and ink. It’s a great way to create a quick and easy card for new stampers or for when you need a card at short notice. These projects highlight how Stampin’ Up! inks, paper and card stock co-ordinate perfectly.

If you would like a copy of the 2019 - 2020 Annual Catalogue, or the Holiday Catalogue (we're ordering them now) contact any of the girls on the blog hop and we will get in touch with you.

I've chosen To A Wild Rose stamp set - because if you are not fond of Colouring In, this stamp set does it for you!

Yes, this is a two step (or even a 3 step) stamp set which has outline stamps, and also more solid images to fill in the colour.

For the first card I've stamped the outline of the rose in Merry Merlot ink, then stamped the "infill" stamps one with Rococo Rose and the second one with Merry Merlot, but stamped off on scrap paper first.  The leaf outlines were stamped with Pretty Peacock, then the infill stamp was also stamped with Pretty Peacock stamped off first.

This simple layer was then adhered to a Rococo Rose base card.

For a slightly stepped up version of this card, I stamped the rose and leaf outlines with Momento Black ink, then the "infill" colours with Rococo Rose, Merry Merlot and Pretty Peacock. What lovely colour combinations!

I added an extra layer of card to this one with a fine border of Pretty Peacock under the white layer, before adhering to the Rococo Rose base. I hope you like them!

Now it’s time to hop on over to our next participant, the very talented, Rebecca Jacovou

If you find a broken link or have come to this blog hop from a different entry point, you can view the participants below:

Tina Gillespie

Kathryn Ruddick

Rebecca Jacovou

Rachel Woollard

Sharon Davern

Vicki Boucher

Christina Barnes

Kate Morgan

Rachel Palmieri

Ros Davidson

Catherine Proctor

When You Don't Want Your Card Making to Take Hours . . .

I would be the first person to say I never make single layer cards, that a card doesn't look "finished" if the images and embellishments are just on the base card.

But then I look back through my creations or through the samples in the Stampin' Up! catalogue and I realise there are lots of beautiful cards where the base card has been stamped and minimal embellishments or layers have been added.

I can tell you one thing! It sure works out more economically and usually a lot faster!

And when I say economically, that's because it's the ideal time for using up some of those scraps in your unfinished projects basket.

With all the projects I did earlier in the year, I had lots of scraps of Share What You Love Specialty Designer Series Paper.

I look at what colours are in the paper and pull out coordinating card bases and in this case Basic Black which is an amazing mat layer for this paper as it really ties in with the patterened paper but also makes the small layers pop off the card.

The Love What You Do stamp set from the same Product Suite coordinates so well with the paper, so I also pulled that out, along with the  same ink pad colours I had selected for the card stock. I also gathered some leftover embellishments from the same Product Suite - in this case labels from the Share What You Love embellishment kit and some Pearlised Doilies.

These designs really are so simple and fast to make, and yet I think they look lovely and would be thrilled if I found one in my mailbox!

If you'd like to add any of these supplies to your stash, click on the thumbnail below.

Product List

Share What You Love Specialty Designer Series Paper [146926] $47.00	Love What You Do Photopolymer Stamp Set [148042] $37.00	Share What You Love A4 Cardstock Pack [146346] $14.75
Share What You Love Embellishment Kit [146928] $19.25	Pearlized Doilies [146936] $7.75	Share What You Love Artisan Pearls [146927] $10.50

Stampin' Up! Christmas Card Ideas

Are you a person who likes to make dozens of Christmas cards to send out to your loved ones, or even to give to charity or to send out to a worthy cause?

When November clicks onto the calendar, it's quickly getting to be that crazy time of year when your realise if you're going to get started, it better be now!

 Over the next little while I'm going to share some of our projects from Christmas in July (and since then) including many of the details of how they were created. Hopefully this will inspire you to get started, or get on with it!

One thing I love is a good production line!

But not too many fancy steps, and not too many cards.

There's nothing worse than coming up with a design which includes colouring and fussy cutting, cutting all the card stock to make 100, and then realising what a massive task you've got before you! If you're going to do a production line, keep it to 15-20 cards and have more easy layers rather than lots of colouring or fussy cutting.

Pre-cutting the pieces like this also means making it very transportable. If you are going away for a weekend, or going to watch the boys play cricket, you can easily pop all the bits into one small plastic tub and take it with you to do some assembling! My dear friend Wendy Costa-Davis is an expert at this, preparing in advance so she can complete dozens of cards when she is away on craft retreat weekends.

My most excellent Stampin' Up! buddy, Michelle Corbett designed this sweet and simple Christmas Card for our classes at the Stitches and Craft Into Christmas Show at the Royal Exhibition Building last November. It was a great one to revamp for Christmas in July.

It uses the Painted Harvest stamp set which is not a Christmas stamp set so it gives you a great variation for how to use the sunflower stamp, and we used up a stack of last years' In Color Designer Series Paper in the gorgeous Tranquil Tide which is a perfect darker Christmas green.

The card also uses Cherry Cobbler ink, the Every Day Label Punch and the Snowflake Sentiments stamp set. A very simple and yet effective card.

I'm sure you have several of these items in your craft collection. Why not have a go at a card like this today? 

Product List

Painted Harvest Photopolymer Stamp Set [144783] $37.00	Silver 3/8" Metallic-Edge Ribbon [144213] $12.25	Tranquil Tide Classic Stampin' Pad [147146] $13.00
Cherry Cobbler Classic Stampin' Pad [147083] $13.00	Everyday Label Punch [144668] $31.00	Snowflake Sentiments Clear-Mount Stamp Set [144820] $38.00

I'll be back with more of our Christmas projects before you know it! See you then!

Kathryn

Colouring with Alcohol Markers

I was absolutely delighted that the self-contained Lots Of Happy Card Kit carried over into our Annual Catalogue this year, along with it's refill kit.

It truly is one of the most gorgeous card kits I have ever seen. And even though it comes with it's own beautiful Watercolour pencils in the kit, I just love, love, love that it can also be coloured with our Stampin' Blends - the alcohol markers.

The kit contains sheets of pre-printed, die-cut images ready for colouring, either with the pencils in the kit, or with your own favourite colouring tools.

I started with the dark Old Olive Stampin' Blend, then moved onto the lighter one. Here's a look at how I colour.

Step 1. Add a touch of the darkest colour into the corners of the image.

Step 2. Blend in the lighter colour to the dark.

Step 3. Keep going until you've coloured the whole sheet - or need to stop for coffee (or wine) . . .

Step 4. Change colours and start doing the flowers and berries! (okay, so maybe don't have wine . . . LOL).

Step 5. Just keep colouring, just keep colouring, just keep colouring!

It's amazing the variety you can create with just 7 of the Stampin' Blends.

Step 6. Get SERIOUS and change the colours up!

Step 7. Stand back and admire your colouring!

Step 8. Now it's time to pop them out of the sheet and assemble a stack of beautiful cards!

 Oh! and don't you just LOVE the lined envelopes and vellum leaves that come with the kit too?

You know you need this kit (and a refill) to start colouring right now, don't you?

 Click on any of the thmbnails below to order today - or come and see me at the kiosk at Chirnside Park Shopping Centre tomorrow to see the finished cards and the Stampin' Blends in person!

Product List

Lots Of Happy Card Kit [146388] $61.00	Old Olive Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack [144597] $15.50	Lots Of Happy Card Kit Refill [145605] $37.00
Petal Pink Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack [147272] $15.50	Calypso Coral Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack [144045] $15.50	Rich Razzleberry Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack [144602] $15.50

We'll be at Chirnside from 9am until 5pm so call in and say "hi"!

Kathryn.

Card Making Ideas - Alcohol Markers

When the new range of Stampin' Up! Alcohol Markers - Stampin' Blends - came out in November last year, I couldn't wait to get my hands on them and give them a go.

I have a couple of favourite stamp sets for colouring with them, and one of those is Bella and Friends, the cute little puppy set in our Annual catalogue.

How adorable are these cute little guys?

This is a super simple card - the main item requiring more than a a couple of minutes was the colouring which is so therapeutic! 

You can easily see all the Blend combinations available online in my shop by clicking on the thumbnails below.

 Product List

Old Olive Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack [144597] $15.50	Bella & Friends Clear-Mount Stamp Sets [141870] $35.00	Smoky Slate Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack [145058] $15.50
Pumpkin Pie Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack [144599] $15.50	Crumb Cake Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack [144601] $15.50	Cherry Cobbler Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack [144598] $15.50

Have you tried the Stampin' Blends yet? Why not order a couple of different colours today and have a play with colouring your favourite outline stamped images with them?

As a member of Stampin' Up!'s Global Events Council team, I was delighted to get to play with prior and demonstrate the gorgeous Birthday Memories Suite of products at our demonstrator training day "On Stage" in April. Since then I have taught several classes using these super cute products, and they never fail to give gorgeous results!

Recently, I needed to do a really basic beginners class, and I switched to the Birthday Memories Suite again because it is so versatile for really easy kids card making ideas and projects.

These super simple and very economical cards are simple variations of the cards I showcased at On Stage, and my demonstrator friends will agree when I say how perfect these are to show to someone who is seeing card making, rubber stamping and papercraft for the first time.

Anyone can give these a go and create a fun card!

I don't often have time to participate in online cardmaking challenges, so I was very stoked to realise that my recent card class fitted right in with this week's Global Design Project theme #GDP095 - kids! Thanks Kylie and crew! It's so nice to share the love of our amazing Stampin' Up! products, and be inspired by the talented members of the GDP team and other participants.

If you haven't got your hands on these gorgeous products yet, click on any of the icons below to order today.

Product List

Birthday Delivery Photopolymer Bundle

[145294]

$108.00

Subtles A4 Card Stock

[131285]

$14.00

Crumb Cake A4 Card Stock

[121685]

$14.00

Crumb Cake Classic Stampin' Pad

[126975]

$11.50

Pacific Point Classic Stampin' Pad

[126951]

$11.50

Cherry Cobbler Classic Stampin' Pad

[126966]

$11.50

Got any questions? Contact me!

Kathryn Ruddick

0418 361 931

[email protected]

Happy Easter to You!

Hope you  have a safe and enjoyable day with your families no matter where you are and what you are doing.

In my "We Create Wednesday" class this week, we created some pretty Easter projects.

We decorated the mini egg cartons by spritzing with Mint Macaron Ink Refill, and wrapping with Sweet Sugar Plum Patterns Paper from the In Colour Paper Stack.

The little bunny stamp is from the Made With Love stamp set, the gorgeous greeting stamp is from Suite Sentiments stamp set, the little lamb is from Barnyard Babies and the "eggs" are upside down balloons with the knot cut off, from the fun stamp set, Balloon Adventures.

These were all really quick, easy projects and next time Easter falls right at the end of the school holidays, projects similar to these would be great to make with the kids when you start to hear, "Mum, I'm bored!"

Have an awesome day and stay safe!

Do you like a production line?

It's great when you've worked out a design you love, and can then quickly cut up the card stock and stamp out all the images in a very short amount of time.

However, it's no so much fun when you work so quickly that all of a sudden you have 48 card fronts stamped and cut, and then you have to do some colouring in, and add ribbon and embellishments, and adhere them all together! That can sure take a while!

And here's proof!

This was me two weeks ago, sitting on my Qantas Flight to Brisbane for Stampin' Up!s Onstage Live event, with my fast fuse in one hand and my swaps spread out on the tray table so I could start sticking the layers together!

See, not even coloured in yet, and ribbon needing to be attached - oh, but you can't CUT ribbon on a plane because you can't take scissors!!

Later on, in the hotel room, sitting cross legged on the floor at the coffee table with two of my team-mates helping me . . . cut, colour, attach . . . cut, colour, attach . . .

And bagging them up in cello bags, and sticking labels on the backs . . . 

I loved the finished item with it's super quick collage stamping, and high-lighting the stunning stamp from Fabulous Flora stamp set. There were eight variations - a portrait and a landscape version in four different colour versions - featuring Tip Top Taupe, Pear Pizzazz, Peekaboo Peach and Watermelon Wonder.

I loved working with these colours - and you know what? I loved the design idea so much, I have now made another half a dozen variations, but I'll show you those another day!

And you know another really cool thing?  I got the idea for these cards straight out of the catalogue. That's right, the flower image is from one of our hostess rewards stamp sets called Fabulous Flora and the sample shown on page 199 of our annual catalogue was all I needed to see to inspire my 48 card front swaps for On Stage.

Thanks Stampin' Up! for making it so easy!

I adore the Stampin' Up! Project Life card collections - the colours and themes are so lovely - it's that same feeling like when you walk into a stationery store and you want to breathe in the smell and touch all those beautiful rainbows of pens and papers - there's nothing like that slightly musty "tons of paper and dusty old shelves" smell, and the excitement of seeing all those colours!

You know what I mean don't you? LOL

My trouble is, I am not a BIG scrapbooker. Not that I don't want to, I've got tons of photos to scrapbook! It's just that I love cardmaking SO much, that I never prioritise my time to do the memory keeping!

However, that doesn't mean that I haven't collected squillions of the Project Life By Stampin' Up! (PLxSU!) kits! You know, those ones I am saving for that rainy day when I get around to printing all the photos and deciding to pop them in pockets in an album!

Anyway, recently I decided that I better do something about that and I pulled out a stack of tiny 2" x 2" PLxSU cards from the Hello December 2016 Project Life Accessory Pack and made them into cards! 

Yes!!! I know!! Unbelievable right??

I teamed the cards with the Stitched with Cheer stamp set from the same Holiday Catalogue, and used our Notecards & Envelopes to quickly whip up about 15 cards in just a couple of hours! (I made a hash of one, so it's not in the photo - just in case you think I can't count).

I love how quick and easy these were, and a wonderful way to show off the gorgeous theme in the Project Life cards and the stamp set!

If you have never sampled Stampin' Up! Project Life cards, the Hello December 2016 Collection is a great way to give it a try - much smaller set of cards, beautiful accessories - document your December, or do what I did and whip up some Christmas cards!

Buy it online by clicking here or on the photo above.

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