So long January 2019 Paper Pumpkin

Its finally time, time to close out the January 2019 Paper Pumpkin Kit, Be Mine Valentine. I had so much fun with this kit & was inspired by so many people in the Facebook Paper Pumpkin Fan Club! I wanted to share you you some closing thoughts & aha moments.

~Enjoy

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I love, love, love this little chameleon stamp & his sentiment. I made about 6 of the chameleon cards as my Valentines, the one with the all over chameleon background paper. I have a confession, I use all of my old Stampin' Up! packing slips as scratch paper / stamp off paper. When I got done with all of the 6 backgrounds - I noticed the tails made a cute little flourishy background. I set out to replicate the effect as a border for a card, by placing another piece of scrap paper on the interior of the base & stamp only the tails. This is 2 layers offset of tails & dragonflies. You can see it here, it never (yet) came to fruition - but it may make an appearance again for Mother's Day or maybe ever Christmas - who knows!!! Maybe the chameleon will be really cute with a Santa hat on!  

As I kept creating more & more cards, I kept going to my stash for more & more ribbon - I LOVE ribbon!!!! After the assortment got a little overwhelming I started throwing cut off pieces of the pillow box, my stamps, the epoxy hearts & my ribbon in the Paper Pumpkin box to keep it all contained - this worked great!!! And when I finished off my Paper Pumpkin kit, I decided to make this box a main staple on my desk from now on! I cut down the flap and tucked that inside to make it sturdy. I may cover it at some point, but for now it works!

My last tip is what to do with the kit once it is done. I only have fully completed & wiped out about 4 kits. First I take the instructions & fold them so that the fit the front cover of an empty Stampin' Up! stamp case. Next, anything big, just goes in the box, my kangaroo sheets that I cut in half are in there. Then any small little pieces leftover I throw in an envelope - I got this trick from my friend Tracy Marie Lewis. Even if you stamp something with a set & do not use it, cut down the artwork, toss it in an envelope & throw it in the box & next time you go to use that set - pre-done artwork!

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Paper Pumpkin Alternatives #3 / Scraps

There was so much to do with the January 2019 Paper Pumpkin Kit, Be Mine Valentine, the cards just kept-a-comin' ! I have a few more alternatives to show, but this is more about the leftovers - what to do with all of those little its & pieces laying on your table. We all know we are all hoarders at heart!

~Enjoy

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This card uses all those little trimmed straight line box flaps. I cut them into fourths and angled the edges. Then I just started with a Pool Party North, South, East, West marks. I added a Melon Mambo on either side of the Pool Party, and kept building form there. I did not worry about the angles & if they matched or were different and some overlap more than others - this card is NOT for the OCD at heart. The strips, circle, heart doggie "tag"and sentiment are from the Jan19 PP kit, the doggie is from Bella & Friends and the pink ribbon is from my stash. Bella was highlighted with Stampin' Blends.

A special shout out to Jeanne Ciolli for the inspiration on the baby roo in the pouch. This one was so fast - I just could not wrap my head around the kangaroo for Valentine's Day & was always thinking more baby. Again, these were all scraps on my table - already cut - I just had to arrange them & stick it all together - and I LOVE this card!!! The baby sentiment is from Wonderful Moments & the congratulations is from a retired set - but the font matches perfectly! The white ribbon if from my stash and the Bermuda Bay Glimmer Paper is from the retired Myths & Magic set. I sponged Pool Party onto the reverse of the red heart from the kit for the heart on the belly.

The pink version of the baby card is made with retired Pink Pirouette embossed with Falling Leaves. The baby sentiment is from Wonderful Moments & the congratulations is from a retired set. The circle is edge sponged with Melon Mambo as well as the hearts, cut with a retired heart punch (the backside is the Pool Party leftovers from the circle dies cuts). The hand cut fishtail banners were just lying on the table, the only thing I had to go get was some cardstock for the hand cut sentiment.

This card is so much cuter in person & sparkly! The background is embossed with the Subtle embossing folder. Really the only thing from the kit is the sentiment & the paper for the Pool Party hearts. The sentiment is done with the ribbon wave technique. The ribbon and punch are retired - but who doesn't have a ribbon & heart punches in their stash?! So simple & so cute!!!

I was really struggling with what to do with those little rounded corner pieces trimmed off the box - after the big hits with the lips card, everything else seemed ho-hum. I did play around with flowers at one point - but they were not coming together. When I was done with all the cards - I only had the notched pieces left - what if I cut them in half and used all the circle dies cuts leftover as the center - eureka! The sentiment is from Country Home & the flourish is from the retired Detail Deer's antlers.

Here is how I pieced the items together. I first taped together the notched pieces on either side of the notch, then I cut that in half & adhered them to the back of the circle die cut. I alternated that technique to add the leaves.

Here are some other ides I played with, but did not make the final cut

This last card started out with the little half pieces of the flaps trimmed off the treat boxes and the reason I only had notched pieces to work with above. It started off looking ocean, palm tree, vacation-y. I cut the circle in half just to do something different and applied a knot instead of my usual bow. The background was too plain so I punched some dots to add interest. It sat on my desk for a while waiting for inspiration to strike.

My neighbor from when I was a child reconnected recently on FB. A few weeks ago her husband passed (and we are relatively young), so I guess she was on my mind. As I started playing with the pieces of this card I started to get emotional, because there was so much symbolism in it. The knot represents their marriage and the circle cut in half represents their parting. I know he is safe now and I pray that she and her teenage son are well.

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Valentine's Day Cards

Utilizing the January 2019 Paper Pumpkin Kit - Be Mine Valentine, I was able to construct all of me valentine's cards this year - so here are the alternates & the cards.

~Enjoy

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This one utilizes the treat box for the background strip, a Pool Party heart & the reverse in white, the stamp set that came with the kit and Bermuda Bay cardstock. I sponge edged the hearts & the strip in Bermuda Bay. I found a cute XOXO embossing folder in my stash and some bootleg white ribbon that looks like the Sale-a-Bration ribbon. Adding a touch of glitz is the retired Bermuda Bay Glimmer paper from the Myths & Magic 6x6 paper pack. The swirls are cut from the retired Detailed Deer Thinlits (antlers). The sentiment is popped up in the ribbon wave technique.

Thanks for the inspiration on this one to Rachel Tessman, I took her idea of the background chameleon & added an accent piece. The green ribbon on the accent is an old retired DSP, embossing with the Falling Leaves embossing folder & sponged with old olive. A piece of white flax ribbon adds a little more interest. The pieces from the kit are the Pool Party circle turned over & edge sponged with Melon Mambo, the chameleons & the Flirty Flamingo hearts. A bootleg ribbon that looks like the Sale-a-Bration ribbon tops off the piece.

The pink version utilizes the treat box for the background banner with a fishtail cut. I added the retired Pink Pirouette (which I just scored at a retired products sale), Melon Mambo & White cardstock. The sentiment is from the stamp set that came with the kit with the ribbon wave technique. I used my XOXO embossing folder from my stash and some bootleg hot pink ribbon that looks like the Sale-a-Bration ribbon. Adding a touch of glitz is the retired Sweet Sugarplum Glimmer paper from the Petal Garden paper pack. The swirls are cut from the retired Detailed Deer Thinlits (antlers).

Who can resist these cute little birdies with the "You're so fly" sentiment? The background its made mostly of the treat box, Melon Mambo, Black & White cardstock. The sentiment from the stamp set is stamped in Bermuda Bay on one of the Pool Party circles. The birds were stamped again in the coordinating paper & fussy cute (bodies only) the wings were colored with markers. Behind the birds are the remnants of the pillow boxes, strips that were left over once they were trimmed for other products. Finishing it off is white bakers twine and the Flirty Flamingo hearts.

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Paper Pumpkin Alternatives #3

I had posted an alternative card for the January Paper Pumpkin using the This Little Piggy stamp set and the hogs & kisses sentiment. This stamp set also has a pig in it that is flying & has the sentiment of She Believed She Could. The Paper Pumpkin set for January 2019 Be Mine Valentine has a stamp in it that says You're So Fly. After I posted my hogs & kisses card a gal mentioned that the flying pig & You're So Fly sentiment would be cute together - challenge accepted!!!

~Enjoy

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I decided to create a Z-fold card so I could actually get the pig to fly. Another alternative was to add a little spring behind him, but since I did not have any of those - I decided to go with the Z-fold. After a little card design work, I had to decide where the pig would look best so that he could still fly. This is the Z-fold card closed.

I replicated the stamp technique I used on my hogs & kisses card for the hearts, one says You're so Fly & the other says By My Valentine? I stamped up to 3 times with the photo-polymer before re-inking & sponged the edges with Melon Mambo. They are not straight, but I think they are cuter a little wonky, especially with this little wonky font. You can see the piggy in full flight here. The wings are vellum sandwiched in-between 2 piggies.

I added a little pocket on the inside fold & used one of the hearts from the kit & made it into a tag by stapling some ribbon on the top. The edges of this tag are inked in Wink of Stella as well as my little piggy.

I made an alternate design for just a flat normal card, my piggy is missing his wings in this picture though.

Here is the card in action!

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