Paper Pumpkin on Sale!!

I have been having so much fun with my Paper Pumpkin, I am very happy to let you know it is on sale again for first time subscribers.

What is it? 
Paper Pumpkin is a cute little kit that comes to you once a month to brighten your day.
Inside, you'll find a craft project with everything you need* to complete it:

• An exclusive (and always very cute) stamp set
• A small square ink pad (sometimes two!) color guaranteed not to repeat for 12 months
• Project bases (often greeting card stock, but you never know!)
• Die cuts, stickers, embellishments such as buttons and ribbons and more
• Adhesive strips, glue dots, dimensionals
• Easy instructions for the project 
• Your first kit comes with a size D acrylic block for all your future stamping

                      (*sometimes you will need your own scissors and/or snail tape)

The things I love about Paper Pumpkin:

• Quality--the papers, die cuts and stickers included are of extra thick card-stock.  The last kit also included embellishments made of a beautiful wood veneer, which made the projects look so rich!  Everyone I've shown my kits to agrees that the quality is impressive.
  
• Excellence of Design--the projects are well-thought out by the Stampin' Up! designers, and made to be easy to put together.
• Stamp Set--the exclusive stamp sets are so cute, have sayings and images that will be very useful for future projects.
• The Value--Paper Pumpkin is only $19.95, including shipping.  If you estimate the individual cost of all the items you get, you are easily coming out ahead every time!
• A Great Jump-start to Creativity--I usually put together one project as shown, and then enjoy doing the next in a different way.  The kit is a great "prompt" to get my creative juices flowing.
• The Anticipation--I just love knowing that I'm about to get a present in the mailbox, just for me. It's so much fun. And the Paper Pumpkin comes beautifully wrapped inside in blue tissue paper like a gift from Tiffany's.  It makes it so much fun to open!

A great bonus for Paper Pumpkin subscribers is all the OTHER Paper pumpkin subscribers who love to post alternate projects on Pinterest, YouTube and other places.  You can get so many ideas for cards, scrapbook pages, and other projects from the on-line crafting community.

Here is my example for an alternate look for the July project, and a card using the stamp set from the May kit.  Look here for ideas from the wider Stampin' Up! community.

My Alternate card from the June Paper Pumpkin kit

To order your Paper Pumpkin, click here, or the Paper Pumpkin button on the banner at the top of this blog. 
If you have never tried a Paper Pumpkin before, use the promo code "HALFOFF" . 
The price will magically change from $19.95 to just $9.98 for your first two kits. (You will not be billed until each kit ships.)  After that, you can continue at the regular price.

Minty Monday Morning

There's a pretty card posted on the Stampin' Up! home page by Holly Stene that I've been staring at all week, so today it served as inspiration for my Mojo sketch challenge, and lent itself superbly to a "step-it-up" demonstration. (Video Tutorial below)

Here is the "sweet and simple" version:
Layered on Whisper White, I used two Mint Macaron patterns from the 2015-17 In Color DSP Stack.  I had to cut the stripes diagonally from the page, since they are printed at a 45 degree angle.  Quick, easy, very nice.  The die cut is from "hello You" thinlits, and the sentiment is from Cottage Greetings.








Now, if you want to add just a little bit of contrast to a very serene look, trim your papers just a tiny bit, and layer the whole thing onto a Sahara Sand cardbase, as shown below.












Punch out a 2-1/2" circle in Sahara Sand, and layer that under your main circle.  Stamp the sentiment in Tip Top Taupe (wait--why not Sahara Sand? You could, but Tip Top Taupe is a darker shade of the same color, which makes it pop just a tiny bit, and makes it easier to read.  Whenever I have a fine or small font, I always try to go a shade darker with the ink.)

Beautiful, just a little bit more eye-catching, and still serene and simple.


Finally, here is the full-out Mojo version.  Mint Macaron goes so well with just about any earth tone.  I had a hard time deciding between Crumb Cake, Smokey Slate, Silver (included in the Neutrals pack;) the darker browns and greys look very nice with it as well, but I wanted light and soft for this card.

I also went back and forth as to whether I wanted a Taupe sentiment over a Mint Flag, or a Mint sentiment over a Taupe Flag.  Both look great.


Tutorial and Supplies list are below.
Happy Crafting!
Gosia









this card was also posted on 
Mojo Monday
Card Mania Challenges,
Split Coast Stampers

July's Paper Pumpkin

What a great kit this is!  Paper Pumpkin never fails to delight.  The quality of the supplies blows me away every time.

Here is how this month's cards look put together according to the instructions, and here is my quick and easy variation.

To make this, I simply substituted the Basic Gray pattern paper from the Neutrals Color Stack for the beautiful DSP included in the kit, and layered it with Cucumber Crush. I punched the butterfly used on the right-hand card, from the center of the DSP on the left-hand card. The white card stock piece went on top and covered all the holes. I got four butterflies (three small, one large) from the sheet.

Having punched out a couple of the note-card die shapes to make these cards, the leftover bit reminded me of a window with a window box full of flowers.   Here is what it became:

I used my long-bladed scissors to carefully cut the frame out, then evened up the four sides.  You may be able to do this with a paper trimmer, but be sure to hold the piece carefully in place as you cut.
 
Starting with a card base of Whisper White layered with Tempting Turquoise, I punched out seven blossoms from a scrap of Melon Mambo with the Tree Builder Punch and glued them to the back little "stems" at the bottom. Coloring the bottom of the stems in Cucumber Crush, I left the centers white. 

I cut a bit of Whisper White cardstock just a 1/16th" smaller than the outside of the window frame, and sponges a background of grass and sky using Soft Sky and Cucumber Crush.  Early Espresso and Cucumber Crush with the Sprinkles of Life stamp set gave me a nice tree for the view.  I taped this down on the card before attaching the window to it.

Two slivers of Whisper white became the cross-members on the window, attached with Crystal Effects.  I used the tissue paper from the Paper Pumpkin kit to make the curtains, and a bit of ribbon for the tie-backs.  To attach the curtains, I used a thin line of Crystal Effects on the top of the window frame, and pleated the tissue paper as I pressed it into the glue.  The ribbon tie-backs were looped and stuck together with a glue dot.  The window frame was popped up over the background with very thin slivers of Dimensionals cut from the edge of the pack.  Now, I stuck bow to each tie-back with a glue dot, and used another to attach the tie-back to the "wall."

I put another thin strip of Whisper White across the top of the curtain to make it look neater.

If you read my post dated October 8, 2014,  you'll find that though I know I can make pretty things; I have not considered myself to be a truly creative person, and have always felt that coming up with something new was really quite beyond me.  However, today this little window card has made me feel that I am, at least for this moment, a little more creative than perhaps I thought.  It's rather nice. 

Happy Crafting!
--Gosia


 If you would like to try a Paper Pumpkin Kit yourself, please click here to order.

Paper Pumpkins are available in one, three, six, and twelve-month quantities, and as a monthly subscription.  Past kits are available by order for subscribers only.

July Class Projects

We had such a blast this weekend making all our cute cards.  Along with the Cheesy Birthday card and the Sweet and Simple card, we made these three as well (supply menu follows each card:)

Wonderful Watermelon

Cased from Michelle Reynolds, this delightful and easy summery card is a clever way to use the  Work of Art stamp set.  During class we decided to emboss the Watermelon Wonder background square with polka dots to give it a little more interest, but this is the original card with the plain background.  The seeds were made with the Tree builder punch from Basic Black card stock.  If you don't have the apothecary accents framelits, try one of the framelits suggested below.

Breezy Butterflies

This is a design I've seen in several places on line, with several variations.  I decided to give it soft summer colors, although if the weather hadn't been so hot lately, I might have gone brighter. The stripes of color are embossed, but I left the butterflies plain.  Variations made in class included: embossing the butterflies in a fine texture, and popping the butterflies up.  You might also want to try arranging the stripes in a different order, so that the butterflies are not in a diagonal line.  I used Crisp Cantaloupe card stock on the card above, but if you don't have any, Blushing Bride is a great substitute and works very well with these colors.

Clever Cupcakes
The design below is featured this week on Split Coast Stampers.  It is a lot of fun, and of course I had to mess with it just a little.

My first change from the original was to add the ribbon, and layer the sentiment over it.  I also outlined the candle on the bottom circle with Watermelon Wonder.

Next, I had to add some embossing to the flap.  I made a second card, but accidentally taped the cupcake medallion down before the pattern paper, so I used my 2-1/2" circle punch to make a frame for the paper, and just taped it down around the cupcake.  I like the way it looks better when the card is open, but not as much when it is closed.  Having the DSP poking through gives more pop to the cupcake.  I also taped the circle of Bermuda Bay back behind the cupcake, framing it completely. This change I do like quite well. On this card, the candle is moved as well. 

The third card I made with a different pattern paper, used the sentiment for the closure, moving it down; and added a small bow to the ribbon.

I think I like this placement of the elements best, as the card is balanced both when closed and when opened half-way like this.

When you open these cards all the way, they looks like this: