More Sweet Peas sweetness

   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® launched their new Annual Catalogue in May & 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 & I shared my first post using it in my midweek blog of 29/5/24 but it's not what this week's post is about, that is something I will explore more in future blogs.

This week I am sharing a special creation I made for a work friend who was leaving to have her first baby. I chose the super cute Sweet Peas stamp set & dies to create a Pop up card & gift box to hold some booties I had knitted for her. I loved creating with this stamp set & hope you love it too.

Here is the card I created along with a box to house 2 pairs of booties. It's a slimline card so that I could include a pop up inside. This week's creations were made with old supplies that I'm trying to use up. I have lots of lovely things in my craft room but am guilty of not using them all often enough. 

The cardstock for the card base is Coastal Cabana. The DSP is non Stampin' Up® but goes beautifully with the colours. To create the pop up inside I created 2 pieces, one Basic White, the other non Stampin' Up® co-ordinating with the Coastal Cabana. The measurements to create the White box is 6cm x 11cm, scored at 2.5cm, 5cm, 7.5cm & 10cm. The words were created with a Kaiser die & is scored 1mm extra on each score line. There was no extra 1cm though as this would have made the join a little more bulky when adhering to the card. The two colours were then glued together. Adhesive was applied to the side of the box that would be on the bottom, aligned then placed carefully just before the centre scoreline. Once the glue had dried, the box is folded flat so that more glue could be adhered to the second side. Holding the box in place, carefully close the front of the card down onto the glued area. Done.

The box with 2 drawers was measured based on the size of the booties. Two drawers were made with DSP then the outside of the box was measured, allowing a small 1mm space on each side for scoring & for easy sliding of the drawers. To give the box some strength I added a layer of Shy Shamrock to the top & base before adding some diecut circles. The White circle has some sponged Coastal Cabana & stamped Summer Splash leaves. 

Using Evening Evergreen, I then stamped some leaves & 'Pea' people for the card & box decoration. I coloured all of them in with a combination of Old Olive, Granny Apple Green, Summer Splash & Shy Shamrock. The card also has a swathe of co-ordinating ribbon from my stash to finish it off.

Here is a lovely pic of the completed project where you can also see the fully open drawers with the booties. The front of the card has a layer of Shy Shamrock with a different DSP layer then the leaves & 'Pea' person, similar to the decoration on the box. The sentiment is stamped in Shy Shamrock & overstamped with Evening Evergreen.

I gave the gift to my colleague & she loved it as I'd hoped. This was a lovely project that I thoroughly enjoyed.

That's all I have for you this week, I hope you've enjoyed this fun stamp & die set. It's a great set to have on hand as it's versatile for many different occasions, young, old, birthdays or new babies.

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 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. Stampin' Up® have also released a whole lot of new items at the beginning of July. As a demonstrator I was able to order in a pre-release which is a great perk of being a demonstrator.
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. 
4. Exciting news! For the month of July, Stampin' Up® have a rewards promotion that gives you credit vouchers to use in August! For every $90 you spend during July, Stampin' Up® will give you a voucher for $9 that can be redeemed in August. This is a great offer that allows you to buy those extra items that you might not have been able to add to your shopping list. Click here for more info. There's not much time left so if you'd like to take advantage of this offer then be quick!

This week's kit is all about travel. It's not a card kit but is designed for you to record your memories & experiences when you travel. It's a great kit that has lots of extras & is neutral in colours so can be used as a gift for any gender. 

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

Make a handmade travel journal with the Scenic Route Travel Journal Kit. This kit is great for memory keeping. Use it to document a special moment or trip spent with loved ones and friends! You can arrange the included fold-out pages the way you desire, as well as the sentiments and images, and create the words of your choice using the adhesive-backed alphabet sheets. 

If you feel that you'd like to add this to your list then click here to purchase one from my online store. Please be aware though that the numbers have been low in the shop as it's a very popular kit, so if you find that it's not available when you visit my shop, please check back a few days later and hopefully it will be fully stocked again.

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  4A7DHHDV. 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 great items in the clearance rack 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 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 and I will have a fun way to create cards with a spotlight theme to share with you. Sunday's blog will feature a stunning suite called Thoughtful Journey with gorgeous DSP & specialty paper, embellishments plus a gorgeous stamp set & dies. I'm really looking forward to sharing both of these blogs with you & 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
  

Cardstock, DSP & paper goods

• Basic White Thick cardstock
• Basic White cardstock
• Pool Party cardstock
  
• Shy Shamrock cardstock
  

Inks & Markers

• Memento Tuxedo Black ink pad
• Shy Shamrock Classic Stampin' pad
  
• Summer Splash Classic Stampin' pad
  
• 2024-26 In Colour Stampin' Write® markers 
• Brights Stampin' Write® markers
• Subtles Stampin' Write® markers
• Regals Stampin' Write® markers

Embellishments

• No current embellishments were used this week

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
• Heat tool
• Blending Brushes
  
• Embossing Additions tool kit