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.
This week I am sharing some pretty Christmas cards made with one of Stampin' Up®'s kits. The kit is called Calm & Bright & has all the supplies to make 9 cards - 3 cards each of 3 designs. It's a beautiful soft colour scheme & the cards come together quite quickly. There are precut images ready to push out from the sheets, an ink spot, stamp block, bling, adhesives & envelopes. I decided to loosely follow the instructions on the kit - after all, the kits are great if you want quick & easy cards but can also be tweaked (a little or a lot) to 'make them your own'. Here are the 9 cards...
and here are the individual cards, each with a closeup...
Card 1 starts with the SU design but I added some colour to the white twine & did not wrap it around the card. I also used Lost Lagoon instead of Crumb Cake as the ink colour for all of the cards.
For card 2 I rearranged the layout a little & wrapped the twine differently.
Card 3 is very close to the SU original apart from the ink colour.
I changed the layout of some of the elements for card 4 & coloured the twine with Lost Lagoon.
Card 5 follows the example but with Lost Lagoon instead of Crumb Cake ink.
I went a bit rogue with card 6! I had coloured a good length of the white twine by dragging it through the ink pad then allowed it to dry while I worked on some of the other cards. A few pieces were used as bows but a large amount of it was criss crossed behind the matte of this card & the layout of the diecut elements was uniquely my own!
I recreated the SU sample pretty closely for card 7 with the changed ink colour the only main difference.
Card 8 follows the SU sample with the addition of the different ink colour.
My final card, number 9, has the same tree layout as previous cards but this time there is no matte behind, instead I blended some Lost Lagoon & stamped a whole heap of snowflakes for the background of the forest. For a little pop of colour I also added a strip of Pool Party behind the sentiment & dovetailed the ends.
Now here are the cards as they were designed by Stampin' Up®...
Stampin' Up® provide the instructions for you to make 3 cards each of 3 designs but I enjoyed tweaking their designs a little to 'make them my own' & love that each one of my creations is unique.
That's it for this post. I hope you enjoyed seeing this very pretty kit.
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 Adventure Awaits. It's a great kit for the vintage car lover & one of the trucks featured in the kit is the same style as the truck in the Road to Christmas kit. It's gorgeous! I'll definitely be adding it to my shopping cart!
Here's how Stampin' Up® describe it...
Let your creativity take the driver’s seat with the Adventure Awaits Kit. Coast in the retro colours and hand-drawn artwork that can be either feminine or masculine. With printed sentiments, precut paper, and vellum details, this kit comes with everything you need to make nine cute cards.
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!
4. Stampin' Up® will be holding a Virtual Car Making Retreat in January 2026. It has been designed for experienced or advanced crafters in mind but will also have a heap of tips & ideas for those wanting to explore more detailed card designing. To participate you just need to purchase the Retreat kit ($288AU) & this provides you with all of the materials you need & access to an exclusive FaceBook group where the event will be held. It sounds like a bit of expense but from past experience, what you take away from these type of events is well worth it. More information will be available at the beginning of December.
5. 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 funfold that can help to spark your creativity & create something a little different.
In next Sunday's post I will be sharing the Lovely Garden stamps, dies & co-ordinating DSP..
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 goodsEmbellishments
- No other items were used this week
Adhesives
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