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 have been creating with the Beautiful Balloons bundle again. It's such a lovely set & makes it very easy to create bright, beautiful cards. Sadly, it has been retired now but I really wanted to share some of my last ideas with you for this bundle. Here are two beautiful, bright birthday cards...
I'll start with the card on the left.
I really wanted to go with celebrating with my projects this week & streamers & balloons are great ways to show that you're celebrating! I stamped a number of streamers in Melon Mambo, Petunia Pop, Daffodil Delight, Lemon Lime Twist & Granny Apple Green on a Basic White matte. This was backed with a Basic Black matte & added to a Granny Apple Green base.
Next, I stamped some Melon Mambo balloons & added some white heat embossed sprinkles. I stamped the sprinkles again on Basic White & heat embossed in gold, cutting out all of the balloons & adding some black twine to the bottoms for their strings. I arranged them in a cluster & raised them on dimensionals. This was added to the card front, off centre. The sentiment is heat embossed in white on Basic Black. It's trimmed with the retired Banners Pick-a-punch & raised on dimensionals. The finishing touch were a few Transparent Adhesive Backed dots & the card was finished.
The second card is another bright & bold card with a gatefold front.
The base is Melon Mambo & the DSP is Full of Life. The balloons have white embossed sprinkles & are diecut from the Full of Life DSP also. They are raised on dimensionals, only on the right side of the gatefold. This allows the card to be opened & for the balloons to help to hold the card closed.
I stamped a number of bursts of streamers in Lemon Lime Twist, Melon Mambo & Orchid Oasis, adding clear embossing powder over the ink to make the colour pop a little. The tassles on the balloons are made with some of the last of my stash of Mother of Pearl Specialty paper (I do wish it was still available!) & there are a couple of 2024-26 In Colour Shimmer gems added to finish off the card. As you can see in the pictures, the inside also has some DSP to continue the theme across the whole card.
Here are some closeups of the card front to show you the sparkle.
Overall, a bright & vibrant card with lots of WOW.
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 catalogues 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:
- 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.
- The brand new Mini catalogue was launched on 4th September! There are lots of gorgeous items ready to inspire your creativity. If you would like me to send you a copy, send me a message on my facebook page or email me.
- Some of you may know that Stampin' Up® purchased a quantity of scrapbooking materials when Close To My Heart folded. They have taken on any CTMH demonstrators that wanted to cross over & have slowly been including scrapbooking products into our supplies. They now have a dedicated digital mini catalogue, exclusively devoted to scrapbooking products available here at my online shop. There are a number of kits available if you'd like to start your scrapbooking journey or if you already scrap then check the kits out!
- 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.
- 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, Garden of Thanks, is a kit designed to say Thank You to those that deserve a little recognition. It includes stamps, an ink spot, envelopes, an acrylic block, adhesives, pre cut images & sentiments & embellishments. It's a very pretty way to say Thank You.
Here's how Stampin' Up® describes the kit...
Make your gratitude gorgeous with the Garden of Thanks Kit! This DIY card making kit is centered around saying thanks in the most beautiful way. You can create three thank you cards each in three purple watercolour floral designs. Whether you want to convey your sincere thanks or love purple and blue flower gardens, this card kit is for you!
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 added to 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 sharing how to use the stunning Enamel Effects liquid on your projects. In Sunday's blog I will be CASEing the catalogue with some creations made with the Thoughtful Journey suite. It features stunning DSP & delicate floral images.
I'm really looking forward to sharing these creations 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.
Stamps, Dies, Embossing folders & punches
- Unfortunately this stamp set & dies is now retired. 😢
Cardstock, DSP & paper goods
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