Author: Momster Ink

January 2023 Paper Pumpkin: Key to My Heart

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If the Key to My Heart Paper Pumpkin is an indicator of what we’ll receive in our subscription kits over the course of 2023, we’re in for a year of creative and enjoyable paper-crafting. As with years past, the January kit is all about Valentine’s Day. The Key to My Heart kit contains the supplies to make the three cards pictured above, a Fresh Fresia mini–ink pad, and a clear photopolymer stamp set consisting of the images pictured below.

I love Paper Pumpkin kits, but I also like to go “Beyond the Box” and create alternate versions and original creations with the kit contents. This month I was a little bit (a lot) obsessed with the piece of keyhole-shaped paper leftover from the first card on the right pictured above. Consequentially, most of my alternative designs are centered around this shape.

If you’d rather get right to the pictures and not read about the cards (a completely valid choice), here’s a quick slideshow:

My first card is a shaker card. Stampin’ Up released treat box add-on product to the Key to My Heart Kit, which contained that key with the heart-shaped head. The key is a sticker, which was perfect for adhering to the window of the shaker card. I stamped the lock in Calypso Coral ink and fussy-cut it out. The card is mounted on a piece of Petal Pink cardstock.

For my next card, I reimagined the keyhole shape as a gumball machine! The hearts in the gumball machine come from the January 2021 Paper Pumpkin kit, Sending Hearts. The colors featured on this card are Calypso Coral, Real Red, and Gorgeous Grape. I created the To My Valentine tag using the fabulous Happy Labels Pick-a-Punch from the January-June 2023 Mini Catalog.

The card with the world globe on it, features an image from another Stampin’ Up card kit called, Timeless Greetings, a product I highly recommend.

I also used the Timeless Greetings kit to create a clock. I used the key stamp from the Paper Pumpkin kit to make a pendulum for the clock.

For the last card in my series of “keyhole reimagined” cards, I flipped it over and made it into a vase. This is notecard and has no greeting.

My final card is my “stamps only” card, a card to make once you’ve used all up the supplies from your Paper Pumpkin kit. This card is a masculine Valentine card and features heat-embossed silver locks and keys, a vellum heart, and a shiny silver panel made with the Metal Plate 3D embossing folder.

Visit my blog next month to see what I do with next month’s Paper Pumpkin kit, Sunshine & Smiles.

Happy Stamping, Everyone!

Paper Pumpkin December 2022: Good Things Come in Small Packages

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The December 2022 Paper Pumpkin Kit, a monthly subscription paper-crafting box from Stampin’ Up!, contains all the supplies needed to create 16 of the boxes pictured above, which are perfectly sized to hold most gift cards. In addition to the kit, Stampin’ Up! offered an add-on set of coordinating card bases and envelopes, which are unfortunately now sold out. The kit also comes with a Garden Green Stampin’ Spot mini-inkpad and the 12-piece photopolymer stamp set pictured below.

I really appreciate the versatility of this kit. All the boxes and bellybands are reversible, so if you don’t like one color, you can flip it over and find another color. The coordinating colors are Balmy Blue, Basic Gray, Blushing Bride, Calypso Coral, Crushed Curry, Garden Green, and Tahitian Tide. The kit contained many extra tags and a few decorative elements not pictured above. In addition to the double-sided supplies, the stamp sent has a sentiment for most types of celebrations.

Here are the cards I made with the add-on card bases and butchered boxes and bellybands.

For this first one, I accidentally made a card that pays homage to Microsoft Windows. My daughters were quick to point that out when I showed them the card. I still like it though. Maybe it could be given to a Computer Science graduate starting their first job at Microsoft?

I like the design of this next card because it uses scraps of paper you might otherwise throw away. The inside says Happy Birthday made from the stamps in the set.

My final card uses the clock face from the Timeless Greetings Kit. It’s a little bit of an ominous wedding card, I think.

My stamps only cards are a series of baby cards with little monkeys popping out of brown packages. The insides of the cards are stamped with the Good Things Come in Small Packages sentiment stamp. The monkeys are from retired Stampin’ Up? sent called, Fox & Friends.

October 2022 Paper Pumpkin: Ho Ho Ho

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The only year I’ve been disappointed by a Christmas holiday Paper Pumpkin kit is 2015, which is the year I stopped my subscription to Stampin’ Up’s all-inclusive monthly card making kit. What was I thinking? This year’s kit, Ho Ho Ho, is one of my favorites thus far. The number one reason this kit is at the top of my list is the image of Santa’s sleigh and his reindeer prancing through the sky. It’s perfect. In addition to the wonderful sky carriage, the photopolymer stamp set includes the 11 other sentiments and images pictured below.

In addition to the photopolymer stamp set, the kit also includes the supplies to make three each of the three cards pictured at the top of this page, and nine coordinating envelopes. If you want to expand what your kit can make, buy a package of Neutral cardstock and one package of Basic White cardstock, and harvest those envelopes to make additional designer paper. This is something I do with each kit. Ho Ho Ho came with some lovely envelopes which gave me oodles to work with. Here are my alternative designs.

A few notes on these cards:

  • Snowfall Accents Puff Paint fluffed out Santa’s beard!
  • I added plain vellum or Snowflake Specialty Vellum to several of the cards
  • I ran out of J’s and Y’s and had to make more on my Cricut!
  • I ran out of snowflakes, so I used leftovers from my November 2019 Paper Pumpkin, Winter Gifts.
  • The trees are stamped with images from the Peaceful Deer stamp set.

I always make at least one “stamps only” card, to show how you can utilize the stamp set when the rest of your kit has been depleted. Here’s the card for this month.

Here’s a list of the additional supplies I used for these cards:

Product List
Snowfall Accents Puff Paint
$4.50
Bermuda Bay Classic Stampin' Pad
$8.00
Snowflake 12 X 12 (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Vellum
$10.00
Peaceful Deer Photopolymer Stamp Set (English)
$22.00
Basic White 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock
$10.25
Starry Sky 8 1/2" X 11" Cardstock
$9.25
Crushed Curry Classic Stampin' Pad
$8.00
Starry Sky Classic Stampin' Pad
$8.00
Blending Brushes
$12.50
Stampin' Up! Masking Paper
$7.00
Iridescent Rhinestones Basic Jewels
$7.50

October 2021 Paper Pumpkin: Peaceful Christmas

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There aren’t many winter holiday-themed Paper Pumpkin kits that I didn’t love upon arrival (except for maybe that Gingerbread gift card holder…I only liked that one). The October Paper Pumpkin, Peaceful Christmas, was no different. Looking at it brought me oodles of joy! It was very reminiscent of two beloved sets from October and November 2019, Winter Woods and Winter Gifts, which had very similar color palettes (both included Whisper White, Shaded Spruce, silver, and a form of red). It includes paper that matches the Peaceful Place DSP from the July-December 2021 Mini Catalog that made me swoon when I received it. The kit has silver accents and the best sparkly jewels I have ever seen (not to mention the green buffalo check card panels and envelope liners).

Okay, I’ll stop gushing. In addition to all the wonderful attributes I already shared, the Peaceful Christmas Paper Pumpkin kit includes all of the supplies to make the cards pictured above, a Shaded Spruce mini ink pad, and the nine-piece photopolymer stamp set pictured below.

Quite frankly, I blew through this kit. I’m glad that I have two more—one for myself and one for my upcoming Paper Pumpkin Workshop. I’ll start right in on sharing my alternative designs.

This first card isn’t much different from the card on the left pictured above. I simply added trees that traveled completely across the card front.

This second card is basically the reverse of the previous one because it uses the negative of the vellum punch-out. I attached it with silver brads.

The next two cards are reworkings of the card on the left pictured above. The first one uses Real Red ribbon and the second makes use of three red banners instead of just one. It also includes a tag from the Winter Gifts kit and a vellum element from an old Paper Pumpkin (don’t as me which one).

Did I mention that I made a lot alternative designs? I love this one because using a piece of Basic Gray cardstock stamped with white snowflakes really changed things up without changing them much at all—if that makes any sense. I sacrificed one of the envelopes included in the kit to create the main panel and used a scrap of Real Red cardstock to make the banner behind it.

These next three cards include leftover elements from past Paper Pumpkin kits. In fact, I wrote an entire blog post about saving elements from old kits for future use. You can read it here.

My final card is a very simple “stamps only” card. I used generational stamping (a.k.a. stamping off) to create three rows of trees in gradients of Shaded Spruce on a Thick Basic White card base. Then, I custom color embossed the sentiment by inking my stamp with Versamark and then green ink before stamping and embossing with clear embossing powder. This is a simple and elegant card to create and easily duplicate en masse.

Since I ended up a few envelopes short because I cannibalized one for cards and made extras, I decorated a few plain white ones to match the cards. I stamped Shaded Spruce trees along the bottom of the envelope front and snowflakes in Basic Gray on the flap.

Here is a list of the supplies I used in addition to the ones in the Paper Pumpkin Kit:

Product List
Basic White 8 1/2" X 11" Thick Cardstock
$8.25
Basic Gray 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock
$8.75
Real Red 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock
$8.75
Silver Foil 12" X 12" (30.5 X 30.5 Cm) Specialty Pack
$10.00
Basic Gray Classic Stampin' Pad
$7.50
Jet Black Stāzon Ink Pad
$10.00
Uninked Stampin’ Craft Pad & Whisper White Refill
$9.50
Red Rhinestone Basic Jewels
$7.00
Real Red 3/8" (1 Cm) Mixed Satin Ribbon
Retired
Whisper White Medium Envelopes
$7.50

What is more festive than a snowman or a towering pile of presents? The Christmas-inspired theme of November’s Paper Pumpkin, Gifts Galore, includes delightfully designed, treat packages that are sure to impress! The Gifts Galore designs are adorable whether they wrap up treats or not! If treat packaging isn’t your jam this month, the components of this kit are extremely versatile. If you live on the Eastside of the Seattle area, attend my November Paper Pumpkin Workshop on the 27th and receive ideas on what else you can do with this kit. Sign up for the class in the Bellevue/Redmond Cardmakers group on Meetup.com. Visit my other Meetup group Momster Ink’s Eastside Stampers & Papercrafters to sign up for my other monthly stamping classes, Stamping 101 and Paper Playground.

Paper Pumpkin Tip: Save the Extras

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…you cannot predict the wonderful ways in which you will use them in the future.

I had a blast making alternative designs with the contents of the October 2021 Paper Pumpkin kit, Peaceful Christmas. Part of the reason I enjoyed my creative time so much was because I dug out a few cutouts from past Paper Pumpkin kits that coordinated with the current kit. Before I share my cards, I’d like to show you the way I store cutout shapes, tags, and vellum from previous kits.

I store them in the same plastic pages that collectors use to store baseball cards. The pockets are a great size and they have a little flap that folds over the top of the compartment which prevents items from spilling out. The pages are fairly low in cost and I place them in a narrow binder that fits neatly on a shelf.

Here are my alternative designs for the October 2021 Paper Pumpkin Kit, Peaceful Christmas that included items from past kits.

First, I found this silver foil deer from the November 2019 kit, Winter Gifts, which had a similar color scheme as the Peaceful Christmas box. I made two cards using the (unfortunately) last two deer I had left. I gave one of the deer a red rhinestone nose and I flipped the other deer over and stamped a line of trees on it in Tuxedo Black Staz-On. I think he looks a little like he’s wearing an ugly Christmas sweater.

On this next card, I dug out some silver foil stars that were included in a kit from way back in July 2014, Wish Big. For a long time, I would occasionally come across these stars and wonder why I kept them for so long. Well, seven years later, I finally found a purpose for them and I’m so glad I saved them.

If you were wondering, on this card the silver metallic word Noel is sponged with Jet Black Staz-On and the vellum trees are sponged with Basic Gray ink to give definition to the places where the vellum and foil would have made the card too monochromatic.

Thanks for reading my post. Subscribe to my blog so you can see future Paper Pumpkin tips.

Happy Stamping,

Molly