Birds & flowers made with the Country Birdhouse bundle

 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 & also in my midweek blog of 24/7/24 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 with you 2 cards I created using the Country Birdhouse stamps & dies . It is the sister set to the Country Flowers stamps & dies I have shared with you over the past two weeks.

The first card is a gatefold card with a belly band. It's quite a simple card with the DSP as the focal point & only a little bit of stamping.

The base is a regular size but scored at 5.25cm & 15.75cm instead of down the centre at 10.5cm.

I cut a piece of Thoughtful Journey DSP to 10.1cm x 14.45cm then cut that in half to create the mattes for the two front panels. There are 3 flowers coloured with Lost Lagoon, Pretty Peacock & Lemon Lime Twist & 1 bird coloured with Wild Wheat, Lemon Lolly & SU220 Stampin' Blends®. These were die cut with the Country Birdhouse dies & placed on the DSP. The belly band is 3 1/2cm wide & wraps around the card, overlapping slightly so that the ends could be adhered together. I then stamped a sentiment from the stamp set in Pretty Peacock, adding some Coastal Cabana & Crushed Curry flowers before adhering it to the belly band. Once the band was in place I added a few 2023-25 In Colour dots to complete it.

The second card focusses more on the diecut pieces.

On a Copper Clay base I added a piece of Country Lace DSP. 

I stamped the birdhouse image on Earthen Elegance DSP & the bird on Basic White. I coloured him in using Crumb Cake & Daffodil Delight Stampin' Blends® & diecut. 

I added some diecut Copper Clay pieces for the top & ledge of the birdhouse & an Early Espresso stamp for the birdhouse to sit on. 

Then I went crazy with diecut leaves & flowers made with Old Olive & Full of Life DSP. 

The sentiment is stamped in Memento black then fussy cut into two pieces. I liked how the 'Hello' looked when added to the flower in the birds beak. This time I decided not to add any bling as I wanted the focus to be on the birdhouse.

That's all I have for you this week. 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 available under the Online Exclusives section of the Stampin' Up® shop. 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. The brand new Mini catalogue will launch on 4th September! There are lots of gorgeous items ready to inspire your creativity. If you would like me to send you a copy when it goes live, send me a message on my facebook page or email me.
3. 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.
4. 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 featured kit is called Festive Tags. Now I know, some of you may say "Christmas kits?!" and think it's too soon but others like to be prepared, especially if they have a lot of cards to make or need to send them overseas. So with that in mind, yes, this week's kit is Christmas themed.

This kit is full of loads of pieces that allow you to create gorgeous gift tags for the gifts under the tree. There are pre-designed tags to make or you can personalise your own unique creations using the supplies. There's enough supplies to create at least 15 tags but if you add different cardstock or your own sentiments there are many more that can be made.

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

Share Christmas cheer with handmade gift tags! It’s easy with this all-inclusive Festive Tags Kit. The cute wreath, snowman, holly, ornament, and Christmas tree will bring instant Christmas spirit to your gift-giving. The kit includes printed die cuts, embellishments, and twine—no stamps or ink needed, so you can assemble these almost anywhere in almost no time. Just adhere the die cuts and embellishments and finish with a twine tie. You’ll have handmade tags for the holidays in minutes! 

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 E49P6DHD. 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 be featuring a fun fold called Puzzle Slider. Sunday's blog will be sharing the second set of creations made with Country Birdhouse, the sister stamps & dies to Country Flowers. I'm really looking forward to sharing the next series of cards with you & hope you can join me for both the Mid week & Sunday blogs.

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

• Country Birdhouse stamp set
• Country Birdhouse dies
• Country Birdhouse bundle

Cardstock, DSP & paper goods

• Basic White Thick cardstock
• Basic White cardstock
• Copper Clay cardstock
• Pretty Peacock cardstock
• Old Olive cardstock
• Early Espresso cardstock
• Country Lace DSP
• Full of Life DSP
• Thoughtful Journey DSP

Inks & Markers

• Memento Tuxedo black stamp pad
• Pretty Peacock Classic Stampin' pad
• Crushed Curry Classic Stampin' pad
• Coastal Cabana Classic Stampin' pad
• Early Espresso Classic Stampin' pad

Embellishments

• No current embellishments used this week

Adhesives

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

Tools

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