Memorable Meadows Paper Pumpkin Alternative

Hi there!  Have you been noticing the cute Paper Pumpkin kits the last several months?  These are just so stinkin' cute!  And it's really fun seeing what else you can make with the kits besides how they are planned to be made.  Today's card really focuses on the March 2024 Paper Pumpkin kit and uses an add-on die set as well.  When I was perusing other people's creative ideas using this kit, I found a card created by Su Mohr that was truly beautiful even though it was very simple.  I really wanted to try doing my version of her card to see how it worked out.  My card is different of course, but I still like the simplicity of the card.  Hope you enjoy this and maybe want to make your version of my version of Su's card.

For the card, paper from the new March Paper Pumpkin kit was used.  If you've got other DSP prints that you would like to use here, go ahead and switch it out.  Get creative!  Just find a print that looks good as small images.

Start out with Basic White Thick for the card base.  It measures 8 1/2" x 5 1/2" and is scored and folded in half.  The layer is Basic White that measures 5 1/4" x 4".  This is embossed with the new Zinnia 3D Embossing Folder which is a new Online Exclusive product.  This is such a nice overall design and makes a pretty backdrop for the DSP here.  

Before attaching to the card front, a length of Bubble Bath ribbon from the Sheer Ribbon Combo Pack was wrapped around and secured in the back with adhesive.  Then it's attached to the card base using Dimensionals.

The three panels of flower prints were die-cut from 1/2 of one card base in the March Paper Pumpkin kit.  I tried to place a flower in the center of each die.  The die is from an add-on set that matches the last three months of Paper Pumpkin.  There are similar dies that are connected with other stamp sets, but this one was sitting out on my desk from all the Easter cards I made.  It was handy, so I used it!  The three tags were placed with the bottom edges just tucked under the ribbon to anchor them.  I used "green glue" to attach them to the card front.

The same die was used to cut a Basic White tag for the sentiment.  The sentiment comes from the Notes of Nature set.  It has three different sentiments in the set and all of them are good, basic sentiments that I'll use a lot.  This time it's stamped with Gorgeous Grape ink to pick up the colors in the prints.

The tag is attached over the ribbon off to the side using Dimensionals.  They're placed along the top and bottom of the tag, so the ribbon is free.  A smallish bow was made using the same ribbon.  It's attached to the left of the sentiment using two Mini Glue Dots to hold in place.

I debated about adding bling or not.  As you can see, I decided I liked the clean look that just focused on the images instead.  Of course, if you wanted to add bling to the card, I'm sure it would be beautiful.

There you have it, my version of Su Mohr's gorgeous card.  There are multiple changes to make the idea my own.  Now how are you going to change my card to make it your own?  Love the idea of seeing someone else's idea and tweaking it to fit your tastes.

Thanks for stopping in for a few minutes today.  Hope you're inspired to get out your stamps, ink, and paper to create some lovely ideas yourself.  Come back soon to see what I've been working on.  Leave a comment if you'd like.  I always appreciate hearing from you, my friends.  Just a reminder that the Last Chance List is available to see.  The discounted items can be ordered on April 9th until the end of the month.  Then that's it!  There are many sets that are retiring, but many favorites will be returning.  And then the new catalog will go live on May 1st!!!  Woo Hoo!  If I'm sending you a catalog and you haven't received it by the end of April, please let me know and I'll get one to you.  

Happy stamping and creating,

Sharon

Paper Pumpkin Easter Lilies

Hello Friend!  I don't know about you, but one of the things I enjoy seeing at Easter time are the lovely lilies that are in full bloom.  I think they are just gorgeous.  Stampin'Up! hasn't had a lily stamp set for a while, so I was very excited with my new Paper Pumpkin Kit that came last week.  First of all, there were two stamp sets included instead of the usual one.  And since the second set has a pretty lily stamp, I was simply thrilled.  Of course, I had to make something as soon as possible.  I finished it up this afternoon and here it is!

I love the softly serene look to the finished card.  I kept it fairly simple because I wanted the lilies to stand out, and I think they do.  The card base is cut from Soft Succulent cardstock and measures 11" x 4 1/4".  It's scored at 5 1/2" and folded in half.

The next step was deciding what shape I wanted to stamp the lilies on.  The Stitched So Sweetly dies were used here.  Yes, I know they're retired, but the size and shape worked so nicely.  The largest rectangle was chosen to cut the Basic White cardstock piece.

The lilies were stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black ink near the top of the die-cut shape.  The planter was stamped with Gray Granite ink onto a scrap of white.  The leaves were water-colored with Soft Succulent ink.  The planter is painted the same Gray Granite as the outline.  

After the water-colored images dried, all the images received a wash of Wink of Stella.  I think you can see this better on the next picture. The golden stamens were touched in after this.  I used the Daffodil Delight Dark Blends for this and just dotted them in.  The planter was also cut out at this point.

After trying to decide on an accent strip of some kind to fill in the card more, but not detract from the lilies, I decided on the leafy border die from the Delicate Edges Die set.  They are on page 170 of the Annual Catalog.  All of these dies are lovely, but I felt the leaves worked with the design the best.  It is cut from the Fine Shimmer Paper on page 86 in the January - April Mini Catalog.  This specialty paper comes in three colors - Soft Succulent, Fresh Freesia, and Gold.  If you haven't gotten these gorgeous papers yet, you don't know what you're missing!  The shimmer is very fine, and nothing will rub off.  And the colors!!  What can I say?  I think they were made with me in mind!  lol  The leafy die-cut does a lovely job as a subtle accent that draws your eye to the card, but it's not over-powering at all.  When die-cutting the leaves, I did run the die back and forth a couple times to make sure all the little bits would come out without fussing too much.

Before adding the leafy border to the card base, I used Soft Succulent ink and a Blending Brush to give me a darker swath to adhere the border to.  The area that was darkened was only about 1 1/2" wide and not quite out to the top and bottom edges.  I just wanted the pretty leaves to stand out from the card color a little more.  The leaves were attached to the card with Multi-Purpose Liquid Glue touched on very lightly.  If I would have been thinking ahead better, I would have used an Adhesive Sheet behind the paper before die-cutting.  It would have made attaching it so much easier.

The "Happy Easter" sentiment was stamped on the bottom edge of the card at this time.  The sentiment comes from the Easter Bunny stamp set. You can find this set in the January - April Mini Catalog on page 52.  It's stamped right near the bottom edge of the card using Memento Tuxedo Black ink.   

The lily layer was attached with Dimensionals to overlap the leafy accent a little bit.  The planter was added over the stem of the lily using a Dimensional to attach.

All that's left to do is the inside of the card.  The sentiment used here is from the Rejoice in Him stamp set.  It's in the January - April Mini Catalog on page 54.  It's stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black ink onto a quarter sheet of Basic White cardstock.  As an accent, the palm branch from this set was used to the side.  It's stamped with Soft Succulent ink that has been off-stamped to give it a lighter color.

I had planned to use a skinny strip of scrap Fine Shimmer Paper that was left over from a different project.  I mean, it's way too pretty to throw those extra strips away.  You never know when you might need them!  But it worked out that I had a mini strip of Soft Succulent cardstock sitting on my table too.  They layered up just right.  So, there you are, the final touch to this simple and elegant card.  I did debate with myself whether it needed any bling added and decided it didn't.  I liked the simplicity of the card.  And the Fine Shimmer leafy border was just enough.

Thanks for stopping by today.  If you'd like to place an order soon.  Please consider using the Host Code at the top of this blog post.  I really appreciate you continued patronage.  I'll be ordering the new Annual Catalogs very soon.  If you're interested in receiving one, please make sure I know.  Otherwise, you might not get one next month, and that would be sad, now wouldn't it?  I'm excited to see what's going to be new and what's retiring.  I'm especially excited to see what the new Color Refresh is going to look like.  I'm already happy that Lost Lagoon and Pretty Peacock are coming back.  But what's leaving??  I don't know any more than you do at this point, so I'm pretty excited!

Happy stamping and creating,

Sharon

Pastel Count on Me Card

Hello there!  Back again with another idea for you.  The card I have would make a lovely card to welcome a new baby, but since I have no new babies to welcome, I chose different wording.  I think my friend might like this card since she's like me and loves pastels.  So here we go...

Isn't this just a sweet card?  The design is a mixture of old and new, so feel free to mix up your designs and use whatever you have on hand.  It's an easy fun fold too, so it's a win-win situation as far as I can see.  You could change up the sentiment, cardstock and DSP colors to use this for just about any occasion you please.  I wanted to use the Count on Me stamp set because I've neglected it badly.  You can find the set on page 61 of the Annual Catalog.  There are six different darling images to choose from and five sentiments to coordinate with them.  Of course, you don't have to use the sentiments just because it's a set.  I chose to use a sentiment from the Catch You Later stamp set from last year's catalog.  I had my friend in mind and thought this worked well.

Start with a card base of Pool Party that measures 11" x 4 1/4".  Score it at 1" and 5 1/2".  Next the Hive 3D Embossing Folder was used to give the front some texture.  After that, fold back the 1" part of the card front that you scored.  I added a piece of the Design a Daydream DSP that is a Host pick in the Annual Catalog.  The little piece was a leftover from a different project and measures 3/4" x 4".  It's attached with adhesive.  Then 3 Dimensionals were placed behind the flap to hold it closed to the front of the card.

Next two rectangles were cut using the Stitched So Sweetly dies.  I used the 2nd largest to cut a Blushing Bride layer, and the 3rd largest die to cut a Basic White layer.  On the white layer, the little hugging koalas were stamped near the top using Gray Granite ink.  To balance them, the sentiment was stamped near the bottom with Gray Granite ink also.  I used watercolor pencils to color the koalas and a Blender Pen to lightly blend the colors.

The two die-cut layers were attached together with Dimensionals.  A length of Pool Party Grosgrain Ribbon was wrapped around the two layers and tied into a bow.  The Pool Party Ribbon is new in the January-April Mini Catalog on pages 15 & 87.  This was attached to the card front with Dimensionals also.  

Three Iridescent Rhinestone Basic Jewels were added to the card front for a little bling.  They were a perfect match for the pastel colors used on this card.

Here's the inside of the card.  A piece of Basic White cardstock was cut to 5 1/4" x 4".  I had a skinny 1/4" strip of Blushing Bride in my scraps that I added to the edge of the card.  I thought it was a nice accent both when the card was closed or open.  It's attached with a bit of adhesive.

I used a stamp from the new Country Bouquet set found on page 10 of the January-April Mini Catalog on the inside of the card.  Since I'll be using this card to send a note, I thought the words fit just right.  They are stamped with Gray Granite ink too.

That's it for today's card post.  If you make a card with this fun fold idea, please share your creation with me.  I'd love to see what you're making.  I'm sorry I used so many retired products today, but I know many of you have those exact things I used.  If you don't, please go through your stash of goodies and find something that will work just as well - or maybe even better.  If you don't have rectangle dies of some sort, try circles or ovals.  The sky is the limit when it comes to stamping!

I don't usually push Paper Pumpkin Kits to you, but there is what looks to be an adorable kit coming up next month.  You might want to think about getting a one-time order just for that kit.  It also coordinates with the Playing in the Rain suite of stamps and products that are so cute.  I've just been playing with them and trying to finish a card or two to share with you.  They really are cute!

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Subscribe to the February Paper Pumpkin Kit between 11 January 2023 and 10 February 2023 by clicking here!

Happy stamping and creating!

Sharon

Delicious Paper Pumpkin Alternatives

 Hi!  glad you've stopped by today.  I've got lots of ideas to share with you that all involve the April Paper Pumpkin Kit.  This one was so much fun and was perfect for kids (of all ages!) to make themselves or give to friends.  In fact, the first card I'm sharing was made specifically for the birthday of one of my grandsons.  I mentioned before that both grandsons are very heavy into baseball, so all of their cards for the last bunch of years have all had a baseball theme.  Now that they've branched out into other sports, I feel it's time to break out of my own rut and make something totally different.  Hence, the use of April's Paper Pumpkin Kit.  Here's what I did...

I loved all of the components of this kit, but chose to use the rainbow for his card.  Instead of using this the way it was intended, I carefully cut away the backside of the shaped card and only kept the front.  Now it needed a card base to show off the rainbow.  

I chose to use Pool Party for the base on this and it was cut at  8 1/2" x 5 1/2" and scored and folded in half.  It seemed too bare to leave it plain, so I used the new Basic Borders Dies and cut a Thick White  piece of cardstock with the die that looks like a stitched bubble cloud.  This was used to make a bevy of clouds across the card front.  I used my trusty Blending Brushes and Pool Party ink to brush in some cloud layers.  It's funny how they show up much better in real life.

Now came the fun process of deciding which of the components of the kit I wanted to use for this card.  The banner was perfect for the birthday sentiment (which is included in this kit!) and it was stamped in Bermuda Bay ink.  The silver glitter rectangle attached behind the sentiment is also part of the kit.  But before adding this to the card, it needed just a little more interest.  There are two sheets of sticker die-cuts included in the kit as extras.  I thought a bright and happy sun peeking out behind the sentiment was a great addition.  After adding the sun, the sentiment was popped up with Dimensionals.  I tied a double bow with the Bumblebee twine which is also part of the kit.  This was added with a Mini Glue Dot.  Since the card was made for a boy, I added no more embellishments or bling.

Here are a couple more ideas with a few changes using the rainbow card for the focal point.  On both of these cards, I used Bermuda Bay to brush on color to shape the clouds.  It shows up better in the picture, and really doesn't look too dark of a contrast on the cards.  These also have an added layer of cardstock so the rainbow looked like it was coming off the cards, so I angled them just a bit.  The top card uses Bermuda Bay for the back layer.

These both also have several rhinestones on them for bling that could look like raindrops. 

This one is so fun!  Don't you love the colors of the popsicle?! I used a base of Thick White cardstock and a layer of Pool Party.  Added some droplets of Pool Party to the layers to add more interest.  Again, the sentiment, silver glitter paper, Bumblebee twine and stamps are all from this April Paper Pumpkin Kit.  The only added items are the extra rhinestones that look like beads of moisture.

The kit also included three watermelon shaped cards,  For this card, I took one of the cards and cut the backing off.  Then a third of the watermelon was cut off to make two slices.  The color that matched the watermelon is Terracotta Tile that is the newly-retired In Color.  I used this for the card base and a layer of Basic White that was embossed with the new Bark Embossing Folder.  After embossing, I used the Blending Brush to swirl on Old Olive ink onto the raised design.  The sentiment is from the Sweet Ice Cream stamp set.  It was stamped with Old Olive ink onto a white scrap and fussy cut around it.  The ribbon is the Mossy Meadow Braided Ribbon that was wrapped around and attached in the back.  The bow was added with a Mini Glue Dot.  I couldn't resist adding one of my little Ladybug Trinkets to the watermelon even though it is retired.  Just too cute!

If you're planning on shopping in May, please use the Host Code to the left here.  I'll be sending out something to each customer after the end of May, because I love to share goodies with my favorite people - my customers!

That's it for today.  Hope you liked these extra ideas using the April Paper Pumpkin Kit.  You can get them delivered each month, or only once in awhile.  Which ever works for you.  Let me know if I can help you order a kit.  These really are fun, all-inclusive kits to make anytime, or take along on vacation, or even to have on hand so your kids or grandkids can play along with you.  It's never too early to get kids creating and they really seem to have a great time coming up with their own ideas too.  Unleash their creativity!  You never know, you might have another Monet or Rembrandt lurking in there.

Blessings and have fun stamping!

Sharon

March Paper Pumpkin Ideas

Yesterday I was waiting very impatiently for my Stampin'Up! order to arrive.  I knew it was coming, but when?  (Tapping my foot, pacing while waiting, and checking the front porch about a hundred times!!)  So, what to do while I'm waiting?  I know, I haven't played with my March Paper Pumpkin box.  I opened it, looked, and set it aside for awhile until I had time to work with it.  So, I guess now was the time. 

When I play with each month's Paper Pumpkin kit, I always make at least one of the projects as it is supposed to be.  Then I start to have fun playing around doing a lot of mixing and matching with other sets, dies, and cardstock colors.  The two ideas I'm sharing today are the 'playing around kind'. 

Most of the materials are all from the kit, but of course I've added just a few basic items like Basic White cardstock, dies, trim, and even some little butterflies.  Whenever the kit comes with envelope liners (or envelopes printed on the inside, I find myself chopping some of those up to add extra layers or bits of interest.  It makes it more fun to see just how many ways I can change it up and still retain the basic parts.

This card shows one of the ways I like to cut up the envelope liners and incorporate it into the overall look of the card.  This pretty field of flowers print is an envelope liner in real life.  But it's going under-cover to pretend it's really some fabulous designer paper.  Now don't you discourage it.  It's having fun being the focal point of the card instead of just an insert on the envelope. This paper is enjoying it's 15 minutes of fame!

The pretty peachy-pink layer shown with it is actually the back of one of the card bases.  I just trimmed it down a bit and here it is playing assistant to the pretty print.  I added a single strand of the Mossy Meadow Braided Trim to define the edges where the colors overlap.  A little bow of the same was added with a Mini Glue Dot.  The sentiment layer was die-cut from Basic White cardstock using the 2nd smallest circle die from the Stitched Shapes Framelits die set.  The sentiment (from the Welcoming Window set) was stamped using Pretty Peacock ink.  After putting it all together, it needed just a little something extra.  So I got out the Butterfly Gems and popped on 3 of them in coordinating colors.

Featured on the next card is another print of the lovely envelope liners in March's Paper Pumpkin.  I kept the pretty peachy-pink card base intact this time.  I just added a 2" strip of the liner both above and below the main image.  I did add the die-cut trees as directed and stamped on the small birds and the sentiment tag.  

Under the sentiment, I did a figure 8 from a length of twine and attached it with Mini Glue Dots.  Then the sentiment was attached to the card front using Mini Dimensionals.

That's it for that card.  Can't get too much simpler than this card.  Even though it only took minutes to make, I really like how it turned out.  With the mix of colors, I think it would work out well for a masculine card, even with that peachy-pink card base.  

Commercial Break Time!  Just a reminder, if you'd like to order this month, I'd very much appreciate your business.  Please use my name as your demonstrator.  And use the Host Code shown here for April to receive goodies from me!

And starting this month, I'm adding something new to the mix.  If you leave me a comment during the month of April, I'm putting you into a drawing for a free stamp set!  The Punch Party set was a Hostess special during Sale-a-bration.  I love mine, but I have two.  I'd really like to share one with you.  So what are you waiting for?  Post a comment and I'll add you to the drawing.  Post two different times, and I'll put your name into the drawing twice.  Get the idea?  Nothing to buy, just leave a comment.

That's all today.  UPS finally came so I've got plenty of stamping and creating to do.  Have a stamp-happy day! 

Blessings and hugs,

Sharon