Hello & welcome.
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® 's Annual Catalogue was released last year with a very different format & 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. I explored this in a bit more detail in my 1/1/25 mid week blog. The new mini catalogue was launched on January 7th with lots of lovely stamps, dies & papers to ooh & aah over. If you would like a copy of this new catalogue then please contact me at craftedbyalison@gmail.com. Stampin' Up® also have products available only online. These are called Online exclusives & have no end date, when the stock is sold out, that's the end of it.
This week I have chosen to spotlight a beautiful pack of DSP called Woven Textures. It's part of a suite called Botanical Textures. There are stamps, dies, embellishments & this gorgeous paper.
I have created 2 projects with this paper that will hopefully allow you to see a little bit of what is in store when you open up a pack of this very versatile paper.
There are lovely earthy tones with textured pictures such as cane, linen, weaves & berber carpeting style prints. Here are my creations...
For my first card I chose to use 3 different designs of the paper with the rectangle dies that come in the suite. There are 8 rectangular dies with detailed edges embossed into them which give a subtle element to the card.
The detail can be seen in the photo on the right.
I added some fussy cut leafy images, stamped in Early Espresso & Pecan Pie on Basic Beige plus a sentiment taken from the Thankful Garden stamp set.
The inside of the card & envelope are also important when I'm creating so I diecut an extra piece of Basic Beige for the inside of the card & stamped & blended some focal interest...
The second project was a little more detailed but still quite easy to create...
This project started as a simple gift card holder but then I decided to add it to a card for an all-in-one card & gift.
The gift card holder is Pretty Peacock with Woven Textures DSP. The Pretty Peacock measures 25cm x 7.5cm & is scored at 5.5cm & 16.5cm. The DSP is one whole 24cm x 7cm piece. I used liquid glue for some wiggle room & adhered the DSP by starting with it covering the top flap, folding it over the score line, continuing on the back then up the inside flap. By adhering each section down & folding as I went I was able to ensure that all areas were smoothed down.
Now that the basis of the holder was complete I added a small amount of liquid glue along the two side edges to create a pocket for the gift card to sit in. Once it had dried I gently wiggled my bone folder inside to 'stretch' the pocket just a little.
The next step was to create a belly band to hold it close which measures 18cm x 2.5cm. This was wrapped around the pouch, allowing a little bit of wiggle room so that it can slide easily on & off.
A diecut piece of Pretty Peacock was added to cover the join then a Basic Beige circle made with the Everyday Details dies. There is a second generation image stamped directly onto the circle plus a full strength image, fussy cut & attached with a little liquid glue. The finishing touch is a teeny 'For You' sentiment from Beautiful Butterflies stamped in Pretty Peacock on Basic Beige & backed with some scrap Pretty Peacock.
So, after I had finished creating the gift card holder I then decided that it would look better if it was added to a card.
The base is slightly smaller than my regular cards, measuring 14cm x 20cm, scored at 10cm.
A different design of the DSP was added then a pocket was created for the gift card holder by scoring an 18cm x 7cm piece of Pretty Peacock in half then trimming the front from the score line to the bottom right corner. I then trimmed a smaller piece of the same DSP pattern to fit the front.
A small amount of liquid glue along the bottom of the pocket gives a secure area to pop the gift card holder into.
The sentiment from Beautiful Butterflies is heat embossed in white on Pretty Peacock & the embellishments are from the Petal Pink & Pretty Peacock Foiled gems pack.
I love how it turned out & the fact that it allows you to easily gift a card & gift in one!
So that's it for this post. I really enjoyed creating these two projects with this gorgeous DSP. 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.
Stampin' Up® have a great range of Kits including crafting, card making & gift giving. There were brand new kits added to the collection every month. Click here to check them all out in my online shop. As Stampin' Up® have so many beautiful kits available I feature a different kit in each blog so that you can see the range.
This week's featured kit is a card kit called Essential Occasions.
Here's how Stampin' Up® describe it...
Always have a card on hand with this oh-so essential kit! With hand-illustrated elements, die cut sentiments, and six card designs, the Essential Occasions Kit comes with everything you need to celebrate birthdays, share well wishes, or send a thank-you message. From graduations to anniversaries—and everything in between—celebrate the most important moments in your life with this kit!
If you feel that you need to add this to your list then click here to purchase one from my online store. This has been a popular kit so please be quick if you want to purchase it as stocks are low.
If you
shop with me then there are some new changes to the rewards program that you should know about. In the past we were able to create a host code & group together individual orders & pass on the 'hostess' benefits to customers with qualifying orders. This has now been replaced with a 'Rewards' program that gives
all customers who place an order with a
qualifying amount a credit of 10% of their order to use on future orders. This will be displayed during the checkout process or your order. Stampin' Up® feel that this is a fairer way of rewarding all customers.
Lastly, there have been lots of great items added to the clearance rack which is now called
Last Chance items 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.
I hope you've enjoyed today's post. I certainly enjoyed creating with this kit. If you would like me to send you a copy of the current Annual catalogue or the mini then please message me via my FaceBook page, Crafted by Alison or send me an email at craftedbyalison@gmail.com.
That's all I have for you this week. My next blog is on Wednesday & I will be sharing a different colouring technique.
In my next Sunday blog I am creating using the Stampin' Up® April Colour Challenge colours.
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.
Til next time, take care & keep creating! XX Alison.
Here are some links to the kit that I used today & some craft room essentials.
Stamps, Dies, Embossing folders & punches
Cardstock, DSP & paper goods
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