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.
I recently saw a post by Heather Forgan from Stamp with Nellie where she used the Party Banner dies to create a unique card & decided that I wanted to try it as well. Here is what I have come up with.
The base is Basic White & the DSP matte is one of the patterns on the reverse of Floral Delight. Both were diecut with the Party Banners dies. For the card base I simply used a regular base but placed the nearest sized die over the top & ran it through the embossing machine. There was a tiny bit lost from the height of the card but only about 2mm & the ends were styled with the unique shape of the dies.
The blooms were fussy cut from the same DSP, adhered & then the edges trimmed. Here's a little tip - two of the blooms are actually edge pieces from the sheet but when placed correctly you wouldn't even know!
Once I was happy with the placement of the blooms on the front matte it was adhered directly to the base. A smaller banner was diecut in Basic White & little stars from the Delightful Wishes stamp set were stamped in Pool Party. The 'wishing' sentiment was diecut in Old Olive & Daffodil Delight using the Delightful Wishes dies. The smaller sentiment is from the same stamp set but is one long sentence. I wanted it in two parts so inked up the two parts separately then stamped them one at a time. The diecut sentiment piece was added next plus a teeny little leaf scrap from the DSP for continuity of the images. The banner was then added with dimensionals.
The inside of the card needed to match the outside so I diecut another piece of DSP for a matte then a smaller Basic White matte for writing on. A few little stars were added to this matte as well as on a co-ordinating envelope.
To finish the card I splashed some wink of Stella all over the card & added a few Low Profile Sparkle dots. Voila! Here's a closeup...
As I had so much fun with this card I thought I'd make a gift tag with the dies as well!
This gorgeous little tag was made with Basic White & a piece from the Joyful Days Memories & More card pack. In that pack there are card fronts & smaller cards measuring around 10cm x 7.5cm. This was the perfect size to cut down for a gift tag.
To create the hole at the top for the ribbon I used one of the tiny punches from the Hole Punch Assortment set. #note to self - punch the two pieces together to ensure exact alignment & no need to trace one onto the other!! 😁
With the shape done I then chose some foliage in Mossy Meadow & Old Olive using the Christmas Greenery dies & stamped a poinsettia bloom & leaves in Cherry Cobbler, Old Olive & Memento Black.
The sentiment is stamped in Mossy Meadow using the same stamp set then diecut with the banner die from the same die set. I backed this with a strip of the Two Tone Old Olive cardstock & trimmed the ends to match the shape of the banner. This was added to the front with dimensionals.
The final step was to tie the two layers together using some 1/4" white ribbon & Old Olive Linen thread.
This was such a fun way to create a card that is different to a lot of the cards that you usually see as well as quick & easy gift tags. It also shows you that the Party Banners dies, whilst perfect for creating banners, are also so versatile! I hope you enjoyed seeing how I created these two projects.
That's it for this post, I hope you've enjoyed it. Now for some news & information from Stampin' Up®.
Stampin' Up® have many ways of shopping with a physical catalogue, online shopping & in person events. When items are about to be retired or are running low they are put on the 'Last Chance' list which means that there is limited stock & when it runs out, it's gone.
Stampin' Up® 's Annual Catalogue is 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 & also in
30th April blog. The other cool feature is that they provide card sketch & scrapbook layout ideas for you. This is great for any times that you need a little inspiration.
If you'd like to browse the new catalogue online then click
here. If you'd like a copy to hold in your hands, leaf through & put little notes all over it of what's on your wish list then shoot me an email at craftedbyalison@gmail.com or message me on my facebook page at craftedbyalison.
The mini catalogue is now available online & in printed form. There are loads of gorgeous new products in there. There's scrapbooking ideas & products, great tag dies & lots of Christmas themed products ranging from cute to elegant & traditional to modern. If you'd like me to send you a copy then send me an email at craftedbyalison@gmail.com.
Stampin' Up® also have loads of additional 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.
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 usually feature a different kit in each blog so that you can see the range.
This week the feature kit is called Share a Smile & is a great way to get your stash of cards done, ready for any last minute needs.
Here's how Stampin' Up® describe it...
Want to make a difference in someone’s day? Have an uplifting card ready to go at a moment’s notice with the Share a Smile Kit! This all-inclusive crafting kit offers fun, no-fuss crafting, with card bases, envelopes, and precut paper pieces for making bright and cheery designs. Store the completed cards in the included notecard box until you’re ready to give them out!
If you feel that you need to add this to your list then click here to purchase one from my online store.
EXCITING NEWS!
I recently started a Web design course as I want to create a website for my business & am not very tech savvy & needed professional help.
The course runs until the end of the year & by then I will have a brand new website where I can have my blog, a shop front to sell my products & eventually links to a newsletter.
I hope to have this up and running by the new year with any bugs ironed out & all my products transferred to the new site. Currently I blog via this site - Blogspot - my products are available on my Facebook page & I don't have a newsletter yet. Moving to the new platform will enable me to have all of these goals realised & everything in the one place.
This is a work in progress but I will keep you informed as I progress. It's very exciting but also a little scary.
Fingers crossed 🤞 it all comes together smoothly & I'm a quick learner! 😁
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.
There are some new ways to craft on offer at the moment which I will go through one at a time.
Ready?
1. Stampin' Up® recently held it's first ever Online Craft Class with the Traditions of Christmas craftalong. It was a great success (I'll share the projects with you in an upcoming post) & they have now released the date for the next class which uses the Brushed with Beauty Suite & happens on November 21st. Here's the flyer with details.
If you would like further information about this new class, please contact me.
I have completed the 4 projects featured in the first class, Traditions of Christmas, & love how they turned out. The recorded class was also very easy to follow as I could pause, craft & then return to the video whenever I needed to catch up with their crafting or just stop for other life things.
3. Stampin' Up® recently offered an Advent Calendar as a trial with lots of products hidden behind windows, just like the chocolate Advent calendars but with craft supplies instead of chocolate. They proved so popular that they are now sold out but Stampin' Up® have advised that they will be including them next year as they were such a hit. I missed out 😢 because I was too slow to order but I will certainly be keeping an eye out for next years special offers!
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.
My next post will be on Wednesday when I feature a sketch that can help to spark your creativity.
Next Sunday's post will feature the cards I recently made while travelling using the Calm & Bright kit.
I hope you can join me for both of them & come back for more.
Til next take, take care & keep creating.
XX Alison
Here are some links to the products that I used today & some craft room essentials.
Stamps, Dies, Embossing folders & punches
Cardstock, DSP & paper goods
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