CASEing the Catalogue with Sweet Peas

 Hello & welcome to my blog,

My name is Alison & I live in beautiful Melbourne, Australia. For those of you who have previously visited my blog & are now returning, thank you. For those of you who are here for the first time, welcome!

 Here's a little bit about me. I love creating cards & gifts for my loved ones & this blog will show you how to create something special for those you love. I blog twice a week, once on a Sunday where I mainly showcase a stamp set or dies, embossing folders, projects & sometimes special DSP and Wednesday evenings when I highlight a technique, fun folds or tools & tips. I would love to hear from you if you have any questions or suggestions & my email address for that is craftedbyalison@gmail.com.

Stampin' Up® have just launched their new Annual Catalogue & it's a beauty! It's set out quite differently to previous catalogues but there are benefits to that. They now have sectioned it to have beginners, which is a step by step collection of materials in kits, then there is quick & easy where you select base materials & packs of pre-printed or diecut materials plus some stamp sets then there is create your way where you choose all the materials, stamps etc yourself & create your way! In the quick & easy section Stampin' Up® have also provided some inspiration with a colour wheel & information of various ways to use colour combinations. There is a section explaining 4 different ways to vary your colours - Monochromatic, Complementary, Analogous & Triadic. It's a wonderful tool to help with creativity but it's not what this week's post is about, that is something I will explore in future posts.

This blog was pre-written & scheduled as I am again attending an Online Stamping Retreat with Lisa Cursio, Kylie Bertucci, Gina Hawley & Bruno Bertucci. This is my fifth one! I do love them so much as they provide me with some wonderful inspiration & access to the course is for LIFE which means that sometimes I go back & revisit their creations to make more for you to see. I'll be sure to let you know how I went in my future blogs.

Today I am CASEing a gorgeous card from the catalogue. It's a whimsical stamp set called Sweet Peas that has really cute stamps featuring peas in pods. I also got to try out some of the new In Colours in this project.

Here's my creation, using a card from the catalogue for inspiration...

and here's the original card as featured in the catalogue...

The base of the card is one of the new In Colours - Summer Splash. I stamped some of the leaves from the stamp set onto the base in Summer Splash. On a smaller piece of cardstock I heat embossed more of the leaves in white. The strip of DSP is from the Nature's Sweetness pack. The cute little images were stamped in Evening Evergreen. As I wanted a dark outline without using black (like the Stampin' Up® version) I used a stamping platform (Stamparatus) & restamped the image 3 times for a fuller colour. This was then coloured using Shy Shamrock Blends for the casing & Granny Apple Green Blends for the peas. The stripes of the hat & splatters are Pumpkin Pie, another new In Colour. 

The sentiment is heat embossed in white on Shy Shamrock. Both of these layers were diecut using the Perennial Postage dies & layered with glue dots.

The final step was to add some 2024-26 In Colour Shimmer gems & mount the matte on dimensionals. I also stamped a pea inside the card as well as on a matching envelope.

I'm so happy with how this card turned out & can't wait to make more. I'll have to anyway as my future son-in-law came over today to choose a card for a friends birthday & snapped this one up!

That's all I have for you this week. I hope you enjoyed these creations as much as I enjoyed playing around with this bundle. 

Now I'd like to share some of the latest news from Stampin' Up®.

Stampin' Up® has a number of ways to purchase their lovely products. You can look through their physical catalogue or browse through the Annual catalogue online  but there are also some products that are only available exclusively online that don't appear in any catalogues. These products are called the Online Exclusives & are only online. Check out the online exclusives in my online store. Stampin' Up® adds more product items to the online shop so don't forget to keep checking the store to see what's new. There are some lovely new products now available including kits, embellishments, stamps, dies & embossing folders. Something for everyone! If you would like a copy of the catalogue please send me a message at craftedbyalison@gmail.com or on my Facebook page, craftedbyalison. 

NEWS & REMINDERS: 

1. Stampin' Up®'s newAnnual Catalogue is live! It's a beautiful piece of artwork as well as an amazing resource for crafting. As mentioned before, it's very different to any other catalogue that I've seen from Stampin' Up®. They have changed the front cover from featuring cards or supplies to a casual stamping picture as well as a radical change to the layout of the contents. There are still lots of beautiful pics of the products & ideas aplenty, it's just set out differently. I think you'll love it. If you would like a copy of the new catalogue then send me a message at craftedbyalison on Facebook or email me at craftedbyalison@gmail.com & I'll send you one. 
2. Don't forget the Online Exclusive products with new products added and available now Check out my online shop here. 
3. Stampin' Up® have a great range of Kits including crafting, card making & gift giving. Click here to check them all out in my online shop. As Stampin' Up® have so many beautiful kits available I will be featuring a different kit in each blog so that you can see the range. 

This week's kit features some of the most important 'people' in our lives - our pets. It's a heartwarming kit that features lots of lovely animals. 

Here's how Stampin' Up® describes the kit...

Celebrate the special people around you with the By Your Side Kit. Featuring lovely cat and dog designs, use this kit to make uplifting cards you can share with a pet loving friend, a relative, a special someone, and more! Choose a dog or cat die-cut image depending on which furry friend you or your recipient loves most, and complete your projects with embellishments and the stamped sentiment of your choice to create a card with the right message you want to share. Great for all occasions, you'll love the possibilities this kit offers! 

This kit includes everything you need to create 8 cards. There are precut images, stamp set & ink spot, adhesives & envelopes plus a clear stamp block! Don't forget that it also comes with easy to follow, step by step instructions with pictures so you can follow along at your own pace. I don't have this kit yet but it is on my wish list. 😁

If you feel that you'd like to add this to your list then click here to purchase one from my online store.

A lot of demonstrators use the special Host Code for their customers but I'm trying it this year as a new idea to see if this is what you, my customers would like to use. If you shop with me then don't forget to use this month's host code R2DMYQ42. This will allow me to pass on any hostess benefits to customers when the sales reach the required qualifying amount.

Lastly, there have been lots of new items added to the clearance rack plus there is a so make sure you check them out using this link to my online store.

If you would like to purchase any of my creations that I feature in my blogs they can be found in my FaceBook shop at craftedbyalison or you can order something unique. 

If you would like me to send you a copy of the current Annual catalogue or the new one when it's released then please message me via my FaceBook page, Crafted by Alison or send me an email at craftedbyalison@gmail.com.

My next blog is on Wednesday & looks at how to use colour in different ways when you're creating.  Sunday's blog will showcase more of the stunning Notes of Nature stamps & dies plus the beautiful Designer Series Paper. I'm really looking forward to sharing them with you. 

I hope you can join me for both of them.

Well, that's it for another week. I hope you enjoyed this post & come back for more next week. Til next time, take care & keep creating! XX Alison.

Here are some links to the products I used today & some craft room essentials.

Shop with me

Stamps, Dies, Embossing folders & punches

• Sweet Peas stamp set
• Perennial Postage dies

Cardstock, DSP & paper goods

• Basic White Thick cardstock
• Basic White cardstock
• Summer Splash cardstock
• Shy Shamrock cardstock
• Nature's Sweetness DSP

Inks & Markers

• Summer Splash Classic Stampin' pad
• Pumpkin Pie Classic Stampin' pad
• Versamark ink pad
• Granny Apple Green Stampin' Blends
• Basics embossing powder

Embellishments

• 2024-26 In Colour Shimmer gems

Adhesives

• Multipurpose liquid glue
• Tear and tape
• Dimensionals
  
• Mini Dimensionals
  
• Foam adhesive strips
• Mini Glue Dots

Tools

• Paper Trimmer
• Take Your Pick tool
• Paper Snips scissors
• Stampin' Cut & Emboss machine
• Embossing Heat tool