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 have 2 very different creations for you, both made with the same stamp set but one is a treat bag topper & the other is a card. I hope you enjoy seeing how the one stamp set can be used quite differently.
Here are the two creations...
Now, the stamp set comes with a cookie/lolly jar, lid, goodies to put inside the jar & lots of different sentiments.
For my first project I thought it would be fun to create a treat bag topper as I've been creating boxes for a friend to gift cookies plus, it is nearly Christmas & there's always someone that you want to gift some home cooking to!
For the topper I simply cut a piece of Basic White measuring 11.5cm x 15cm & scored & burnished it in half. If you are making one yourself, it just needs to be a little wider that the size of the treat bag & have enough room for the image & sentiments.
Next I chose Strawberry Slush to stamp the jar & lid on the front, adding some Crumb Cake cookies with Early Espresso spots to the inside of the jar. The two sentiments are stamped in Early Espresso & Strawberry Slush and then to finish the topper, I simply added some Cajun Craze & Gold dots. The bag in the photo was just one that I had left in my stash from a few years ago & was used to give me an idea of what measurements I needed.
You could pop whatever you liked inside the bag, I will probably add cookies to go with the image.
To assemble the gift, add some strong double sided tape to the inside back of the topper, staple the bag at the top then tuck it inside the topper. Add another piece of tape to the inside top of the topper & close it up. Simple but quite cute.
I then decided that rather than use the same theme for the card (which would be cute as a package by the way) I would use the jar image to create a vase instead.
To create this card I used a Basic White base with Secret Sea & Beautiful Bokeh mattes.
To create a base for the image I diecut an arch in Basic White using the Everyday Arches dies & diecut a slightly larger one in Secret Sea to back it.
The vase was stamped in Smoky Slate & after punching a template of the vase in some scrap cardstock, I blended inside the vase image with Balmy Blue for a muted look & stamped off in Gray Granite with the same stamp I used for the cookie spots to create the look of a earthenware vase. This template is now inside the stamp case for future use.
Next was to stamp some foliage & flowers for the vase.
I stamped directly onto the arch with a combination of Garden Green & Granny Apple Green achieved by firstly inking up the image in Garden Green then gently inking over that with some Granny Apple Green. It gives it a subtle two tone effect.
The flowers are two step stamping & are stamped in Bubble Bath & Petunia Pop directly onto the arch then stamped again on scrap cardstock & diecut. The diecut pieces were then added to the image with dimensionals for a 3D effect.
After adding the two arch layers to the two mattes on the card I finished with some Strawberry Slush & Pretty In Pink gems & a sentiment stamped in Secret Sea, matted with the same colour & after dovetailing one end it was added with dimensionals.
I love how different the two projects are & how easy it was to create with this lovely stamp set.
So that's it for this week's projects. Now for the latest 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 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. This catalogue will be retiring soon though to make way for the new mini at the beginning of January so don't waste time if you want to grab any items from this current mini catalogue!
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 another birthday card kit that can help you get your stash ready for a new year of birthdays & it's called Birthday Bash.
Here's how Stampin' Up® describe it...
If it’s time to celebrate a birthday, you’ll want to have the Birthday Bash Kit! This kit includes four gift bags and four gift card holders with special gift tags and coordinates with the Brightest Birthday Kit. The cheerful, bright gift packaging in this kit will make any birthday a celebration! Sentiments come printed in English, French, and German.
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 started a Web design course a few months ago 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 so I'm nearly ready to share my brand new website where I can have my blog, a shop front to sell my products & links to a newsletter.
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 & I am close to being ready to go live! It's very exciting but also a little scary.
I've learned a lot & have progressed along the course & can't wait to share it with you in the new year! 😁
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® held it's first ever Online Craft Class with the Traditions of Christmas craftalong & followed that up with a Brushed with Beauty Suite on November 21st and will be holding more events like this in the new year. Keep your eye out for more news of future dates.
2. Stampin' Up® will be holding a Virtual Card 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. Here's some more info on how to join this retreat.
To craft along with the Stampin' Up® presenters and make 15 beautiful, all-occasion cards, you’ll want to purchase the 2026 Virtual Card Making Retreat kit. Everyone who purchases a kit will receive a link to the exclusive Facebook group where the live event will stream. We only have a limited number of kits, so make sure to order yours ASAP!
3. Starting from this month, Stampin' Up® will be featuring a special 'Product of the Month' item that is only available with eligible purchases. There will be a new item every month with no clues as to what the item will be. It could be stamps, dies, papers - a complete surprise every month. You will be able to receive each month's product for just $9 when you spend $125 in one order. I have been able to order the first offering for December which is some lovely blue toned DSP. I will share some creations with you shortly.
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 as there will be more added in the coming weeks as Stampin' Up® gets ready to clear out the retiring products from the current mini to make way for the products in the upcoming mini.
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 and I will share how to create different colour shades with the same ink pad with the Stamping Off technique.
In next Sunday's post I will feature some more ways to use the lovely Everyday Arches dies.
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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