Paper Pumpkin- March 2014

I have not been in the blogging mood much, as you may have noticed, but I did want to post a quick picture of this month’s Paper Pumpkin kit.

I was able to bang out 7 cards in less than 20 minutes…so wonderful!

The last card was made by my 6-year-old as a gift for his teacher. He loves crafting with me, and I love that I can give him a few pieces of my kit without feeling like he’s getting into my “special” stamping supplies.

Did you know that if you sign up for Paper Pumpkin with me as your Demo before March 31st, you’ll get a FREE set of In Color Markers from Stampin’ Up! and a FREE Sale-a-bration item from me? What are you waiting for? Go subscribe now!

January’s Paper Pumpkin

This month’s Paper Pumpkin did not disappoint. I love the look of the bright colours popping through the Crumb Cake card base cut outs. Here are a couple versions with the supplies I was given:

Did you know there’s a great Paper Pumpkin special on until Feb.10th? Sign up with me and you’ll get a FREE set of In Colour Markers and a Sale-a-Bration item of your choice. If you decide it’s not for you, you can cancel your subscription and keep the free gifts. Why not give it a try? Click here to sign up!

Paper Pumpkin Banner Fun

On Sunday I survived my 6-year-old’s first birthday party with his school chums. The boys had a wonderful time, and I was grateful for the big bottle of Tylenol in my kitchen cupboard. I figured it was a good a time as any to pull out July’s Paper Pumpkin kit I have been hoarding and put it to good use.

Have I mentioned before how much I love these kits? I was ridiculously easy to put together, (really the most work was punching out the paper cut outs) and it drew more than a few oohs and ahhs from the other moms. You know, the kind where you smile and thank them and let them think you stayed up until the wee hours slaving on decorations. *evil grin*
The kit came with two different sets of cut outs, so I’m all set to look awesome again when I reuse them for my other son’s birthday. Score!
I also threw some cello wrapped candy bags in the treat bags and couldn’t resist adding a little stamped tag. (They really do look naked to me with just ribbon now!)

Speaking of banners, you thought I forgot my promise to show you what my Whiskers Club girls got to make with my leftover star banner from the November Paper Pumpkin kit. Lookie here:

Pretty, huh? Even after club, I still have a little garland left. This stuff just keeps on going!

Paper Pumpkin-November

This month’s Paper Pumpkin kit was so totally awesome I just had to get to making it right away. I also loved the design so much, I didn’t deviate a bit. Boring? Maybe. Four more Christmas cards ready to send? You betcha!

After doing all four cards, I was still left with a whole pile of this adorable garland which the girls in my Whiskers Stamp Club are going to benefit from this Thursday night. I’ll post what we make with it on Friday.

Be sure to check in here tomorrow as well. Stampin’ Up! has let us know they are announcing a huge door crasher item going on sale tomorrow only to kick off the Online Extravaganza Sale. I’ll post all the details here in the morning.

Almost caught up…August’s Paper Pumpkin

I’m finally starting to feel back in control of my stamp room again…it’s only been 6 weeks! Yeesh. I’m pretty sure I’m not going to let myself take quite so much time off next summer. I can’t believe how long it takes to get the stamping mojo flowing again!

I have to say that these Paper Pumpkin kits are awesome when you’re not basking in the glow of juicy, flowing, stamping mojo-ness. Just open the box and do what the instructions tell you. Chances are once you set ink to paper you’ll loosen up and suddenly that creative mojo will start to trickle back.

Still not feeling it? Grab the next card and twist it sideways:

Are you hands inky yet? Good! Now look in your cardstock scrap pile. We all have one, if you don’t pull from it occasionally it will turn into a giant paper Frankenstein and start eating your it’s-too-pretty-to-use paper stack. (Yes, I have paper crafting nightmares from time to time!) Punch out or use your Big Shot to add a few extra touches of color:

By now the creative side of your brain should be nice and warmed up. Why not make a card using a colour combo you’ve never tried? This one uses Rose Red, Always Artichoke, and So Saffron:

I love the added rhinestones giving the bicycle a little “movement” across the card.

Now get out there and find your own stamping mojo! Here’s a hint: look for it with your inks and stamps…not on Pinterest!

Want to order a box of stamping mojo? Click here to sign up for Paper Pumpkin.

May’s Paper Pumpkin

I’m slowly catching up on my photo backlog. One of the projects that I completed but never photographed was May’s Paper Pumpkin.
I loved this kit. When it comes to scrapbooking, I’ve been known to fuss for hours on a page, trying to get it “just right.” This little mini album stops all that. It screams, “Finish me, show me off, enjoy me, I’m good as is!” I’m not worried about my messy printing, or the fact that the photos aren’t the best shots. I also didn’t agonize over what supplies to use, I just pulled stuff straight from the box.
So here it is, “as is.”

Clearing out the cobwebs

Well, so far so good in Operation Clean Up The Studio. As you can see, I’ve got my desk cleared off, a little sitting space set up in lieu of the old futon, and a dedicated corner for my flute & music stand. That’s got me particularly relieved as I’ve knocked over both too many times to count when they were just living in the middle of the room where ever I had space.

I also laid out my Expedit. I haven’t entirely decided what will live in each of the cubbies yet, but I am sooo excited to have a nice large surface for my Big Shot and Simply Scored tools.

I tackled the cobwebs on my punches too. I had to use the longest attachment on the vacuum cleaner, but thankfully the only thing that jumped out at me was this little guy:

This was totally cased from Pinterest and uses parts from September’s Paper Pumpkin kit.

Here are the original and landscape versions of the kit:

 

So one Paper Pumpkin kit down, three left to finish. Feeling a little more optimistic that I’ll get them done!

June’s Paper Pumpkin Variations

Here’s my take on this month’s Paper Pumpkin kit. I just loved those cut out hexagons!
First, the original project:

Same thing, but portrait orientation:

Kept the original idea, but added some ruffled ribbon, a button,  and stamped the chevron pattern on a paper strip. Then swapped out the ink for Island Indigo, and changed the heart stamp to the little flower from the Mosaic Madness set:

Finally, went a little out of the box and used what was lying on my desk. Some Strawberry Slush & Island Indigo ink, washi tape, and a couple of punches:

Hope you have fun with your kit, and if you haven’t signed up for your fun monthly escape, you can go here to sign up.

April’s Paper Pumpkin

Here’s a look at what I did with April’s Paper Pumpkin kit. If you want to sign up in time for May’s kit, be sure to head over here before the deadline on Wednesday, May 10th.
This month I kept my “deviance” to just within the kit contents. I loved the goofy sayings. I know my boys think the “love your guts” sentiment is awesome! These would make great masculine cards.
First up is the instructions that came with the kit:

Then basically the same thing, turned the other way:

Here I had fun stamping the sentiment repeatedly:

Finally, don’t be afraid to use your scissors. Here I cut some of the patterned paper into a cute banner:

So there you have it. Four different cards, same supplies. Have I mentioned how much I love getting these kits in the mail? I can’t wait to see what our surprise is for May. Why not join in the fun?

I too, am a Paper Pumpkin deviant

One of my all-time favourite SU blogs to read is by American demo, Jan Tink. Her samples are gorgeous, and her writing is downright hilarious. I laughed out loud when I read this post about her “deviance” from the original project that comes in the Paper Pumpkin Welcome Kit.
Since I know deep down we all love being creative deviants, I wanted to share my own experiences with the little red box of joy that showed up at my house last month.
For the first card I stuck exactly to the instructions. I was done in under 3 minutes. How great is that for you folks who say you’re too busy to stamp?

Card number two uses exactly the same supplies as the original card. I just played around with the orientation and layout:

This next card was the most fun for me. My desk was getting a little messy (read: I wouldn’t have been able to see the cat if he had been sitting there!) so I challenged myself to make a card using only what was on my desk in addition to the Paper Pumpkin supplies. I liked how this turned out, and it’s much prettier in person. For some reason I can’t get my photo editing program to contrast the plum and the grey very nicely. Notice the big butterfly is punched from the patterned paper in the kit.

One of the best things about Paper Pumpkin is once you use up all the supplies, you are still left with super-cute stamps! This last card uses only the stamps from the kit. I was inspired by Heather’s card, but just dug through my scrap bin to get a colour scheme going. Why do I never use Always Artichoke anymore? It’s a great colour!

So there you have it! Four quick, cute cards and I still have enough left in my box for a few more projects. Viva la Paper Pumpkin!

If you’re feeling sad you missed out, don’t be! You can still click here to sign up for April’s kit before Wednesday, April 10th. Don’t forget to tell them that deviant demo, Pam Perreault sent you!