Deep confession: I don’t really like this kit. Not at all. It’s not the stamp set that bothers me, it’s the cards. They remind me too much of Mrs. Walowitz’s house on the Big Bang Theory with too many floral patterns clashing with one another. The fact that this kit doesn’t float my boat doesn’t make me angry and is only mildly disappointing. Stampin’ Up can’t please everyone all of the time.

The February Paper Pumpkin, Bouquet of Hope, includes all the supplies to create the cards pictured above, a Mossy Meadow mini inkpad, and the stamp set pictured below:

When I receive a kit that I’m not keen on, and after processing my the initial dislike, I bolster myself with two positive ideas. Sometimes a kit may not suit my tastes, but it there’s probably someone in my life who will find it perfectly perfect and enjoy the card as is. Secondly, I’ve been given an opportunity to practice creativity and transform the elements into something completely different than the original projects.

To begin this creative process I mentally deconstruct the cards and sort the supplies into two categories.

The first thing I did was try and figure out what to do with that crazy gold doily. I put washi tape on the gold side of the doily and taped it to the center of a 5.25″ x 4″ sheet of white paper, thereby creating a mask. I sponged on Mossy Meadow ink, entirely covering both the doily and the white paper. I carefully removed the doily and set it aside for a different card.

Next, I added some 7/8″ black ribbon and used the sequins on the tag. By adding the thick ribbon and orienting the card in landscape vs. portrait direction, the tag doesn’t seem out of proportion from the doily.

Remember that Mossy Meadow doily I made earlier? I mounted it on the floral Merry Merlot card base. Instead of attaching the oval tag, I placed the large flower bouquet in the center, which reduced the busyness of the doily and was more appropriately portioned. I attached the I’ll always be here for you sentiment on the long horizontal tag to the bouquet, added some sequins, and voila, an improved card!

Vellum. I have a love/hate relationship with vellum. I love how it looks and I hate that it’s difficult to attach without adhesive showing through. In order to conceal the adhesive, you can only apply it behind parts of the card that are in front of the vellum. I felt that the card design in the kit didn’t have enough of these hidden areas to secure the vellum adequately. Instead, I adhered the Thinking of You sticker to a piece of patterned paper (reaped from one of the envelopes and one of the card bases), and mounted it in front of the vellum. On the Rococo Rose card, I flipped the vellum over so you saw white vines instead of gold. On the Just Jade card, I left the gold, because as much as I dislike gold color, I think it looks really cool paired with jade.

In my efforts to change the look of this kit, I ended up making nine different cards. Here’s a slideshow of the ones I didn’t feature in this post.