August 2020 Paper Pumpkin: World’s Greatest

Stampin’ Up knocked it out of the park with their August Paper Pumpkin monthly paper-crafting kit, World’s Greatest. This kit provides a unique opportunity to thank life’s champions in a creative way. Since our reality has shifted due to COVID-19, life’s champions include people you wouldn’t usually think of as heroes, like the UPS man, or the cashier at the grocery store.

The kit contains all of the supplies to make the cards pictured above. The color palate is bright without being overly feminine. Featured colors are Bumblebee, Mint Macaron, Pacific Point, Soft Suede, white, and gold. The Stampin’ Spot that comes with the kit is Pacific Point. The included stamp set is pictured below.

Paper Pumpkin August 2020 Stamp Set

Here are my first three alternative designs. Aside from the addition of a white cardstock base, all supplies are from the card kit itself. Unfortunately, the gold colors in these pictures presented as a dark brown, but use your imagination to fill in what it would look like.

For these first two cards, I took one of the Pacific Point argyle bases and cut it up and used it for DSP. I sponged the vellum leaves with Old Olive because I wasn’t quite sold on the white ones.

On this card, I changed up the shaker card a little bit. Since the trophy is behind the acetate, it gives the impression of a trophy case.

The final card I’m sharing is my “Stamps & Ink Only” card. This card required a lot of masking and some sponging. Tip: Use full stick Post-It notes when masking. It prevents the note from lifting and shifting so you get a clean mask every time.

Next month’s Paper Pumpkin kit is called Hello Pumpkin. Subscribe to Paper Pumpkin by September 10th to receive the kit. Then, attend my Paper Pumpkin Workshop on Saturday, September 26th at 2:00 PM, to make samples and alternative projects from the kit.

April Paper Pumpkin: My Wonderful Family

Once again, I was not able to hold my monthly Paper Pumpkin workshop, so posting my alternate card ideas descended to the bottom of my task list. The April kit was all about family.

This Paper Pumpkin box includes a stamp set, a Pear Pizzazz mini stamp pad, and the supplies to make these cards:

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Here are the stamps included in the supplies:

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In addition to the Happy Mother’s Day and Happy Father’s Day sentiments, it also contains other phrases and words you can use to customize your creation to give to another family member. Unfortunately, one minor complaint about the collection of words is that “Step” or “In-law” weren’t included. I suppose you could mimic the script as best as possible and write those if you felt the need to.

My first alternate card slightly alters the card with the branch of leaves on it so you can read the wonderful wording behind the leaves. It’s difficult to see on the picture, but it reads, “Life’s greatest blessings begin and end with family. It is in families that we learn to love, teach what is most important, and grow together in love and laughter. Grateful for you. Happy to be yours.”

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Instead of overlaying the leaf branch atop the paragraph, I snipped up it into several pieces and placed them around the paragraph. Instead of putting the “I’ll always be here for you” sentiment on a tag on the front, I stamped it on the inside of the card.

My next card required no creativity on my part. I slightly altered an example from the leaflet included in the kit. The card in the kit featured a pink hydrangea. Where I live, hydrangeas grow blue, so it seemed wrong to have a pink one on a card. I had to make a blue one.

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My final card is my stamps only card. This card required a heap of different ink pads. If you’re an avid stamper, you’ll probably already have them. If you’re a beginner, experiment with supplies you already own and create your own version. I used a sponge daubing technique to achieve the gradient on the tree leaves. To do this, first ink the leaf stamp with a light color ink and then use a sponge dauber to tap on some darker ink. For these trees, I used Granny Apple Green, Call Me Clover, Shaded Spruce, Crushed Curry, and Cajun Craze.

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Product List

If you’re not already a Paper Pumpkin subscriber, I highly recommend subscribing. The kit is all inclusive, so even if you don’t have any other paper-crafting supplies, you’ll be able to make the projects.

March Paper Pumpkin Workshop: No class, no problem

I won’t be holding my monthly Paper Pumpkin Workshop tonight due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Instead, here are samples of the projects we would have worked on tonight. I was really looking forward to this month’s project kit since it included an extra stamp set to commemorate Paper Pumpkin’s sixth anniversary and I wasn’t disappointed. I loved the sets they sent! The stamp set included in the kit is called No Matter the Weather.

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These stamps are great, but I was especially excited about the bonus stamp set, Spring Splash!

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The rain boots, a.k.a. wellies, remind me of a song my grandma sang to me when I was a little. It mentioned rain boots and bumbershoots. I guess that its kind of fitting that I grew up and moved to the Pacific Northwest, a place of excess rain and occasional sunshine that makes it all worth it.

I’m just going to jump right to one of my favorite alternatives. I sacrificed one of the envelopes with the striped Petal Pink liner to make the bottom portion of the card. Basic Gray ink on Basic Gray resulted in an ominous and looming presence, so I stamped the clouds on the top portion in Versamark to give them a watermark effect. I considered embossing the clouds with clear embossing powder, but I decided against it because it would smooth out the dimensionality of the cloud stamp.

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Supplies:

Stamps: Spring Splash and No Matter the Weather from March 2020 Paper Pumpkin kit

Ink: Pear Pizzazz, Basic Gray, Balmy Blue, Versamark

Paper: Gray Granite

(5.5″ x 8.5″), Whisper White (3.5″ x 3.5″ plus scraps for bunny and boots), Petal Pink liner from envelope (3″ x 4″)

Accessories: Rain and Dewdrop embellishments (included in kit), Stampin’ Dimensionals, Pear Pizzazz ribbon (retired*), Stitched Shapes Dies (152323)

*Suggested alternatives for ribbon: a 3/8″ x 4.25″ strip of Pear Pizzazz paper brushed with Wink of Stella, Gray Granite Textured Weave Ribbon (147656), Petal Pink Metallic Edge Ribbon (151194), Whisper White Crinkle Seam Binding Ribbon (151326), Burlap Ribbon (141487)

As far as minor alterations, here are a few cards that I created by rearranging elements from the Paper Pumpkin kit. I had a fun time incorporating the bunny into my modifications.

Below is my stamps only card. I decided to take the card to the max and fulfill Stampin’ Up’s #simplestamping challenge: one piece of paper, no layers. I didn’t even use any embellishments. It’s my first completely compliant #simplestamping card. Using only one piece of paper and stamps is a challenge I haven’t risen to until now. The Stamparatus helped me perfectly line up these boots.

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Stamps: No Matter the Weather & Spring Splash from March 2020 Paper Pumpkin kit

Paper: Thick Whisper White Cardstock (140272)

Ink: Basic Gray (149165), Gray Granite (147118), Poppy Parade (147050), Memento Tuxedo Black (132708)

Accessories: Stamparatus (146276)

I hope to have the privilege of running a Paper Pumpkin Workshop in person next month. I’m not counting on it though. You, however, can count on me to deliver lovely samples and alternate designs from next month’s Paper Pumpkin kit, My Wonderful Family. Subscribe by the 10th of April here.

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January PP Workshop Projects: I’ll Bee Yours

Card #1: Stamps Only

This card was made with the stamps from the kit, but not any other supplies. I think it’s my favorite. I’ve always had a thing for blue and yellow together. I used to have a yellow Kitchen Aid mixer in my blue kitchen. I had to upgrade to a larger size mixer though. Now I have a red one with a Wonder Woman decal on it. It’s pretty awesome. Enough about the contents of my kitchen….

I had the dumb luck of placing the small floral background stamp on my Stamparatus in such a way that I was able to take a 4 7/8″ square piece of paper and it lined up so perfectly that I could stamp on the white square, rotate the paper and stamp again until I completely covered the paper without any overlap or gaps. I’m not sure I could do it again, but it’s possible.

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Supplies:
Stamps: I’ll Bee Yours Paper Pumpkin January 2020
Paper: Whisper White, Blueberry Bushel, Daffodil Delight, Noble Peacock DSP
Ink: Blueberry Bushel, Daffodil Delight
Other: Painted Labels dies, Stitched Rectangles Dies, Stampin’ Dimensionals, Heart Punch Pack*
*Side note: The Heart Punch Pack from the Heartfelt bundle in the January-June 2020 Mini Catalog coordinates perfectly with the heart stamp in this Paper Pumpkin.

Card 2: Sacrificial Lamb One

The only extra supply from this card that isn’t included in the kit is the Mint Macaron card base. Sacrificing one treat bag and one note card enabled me to make this full-size card.

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Supplies:
I’ll Bee Yours Paper Pumpkin January 2020
Paper: Mint Macaron
Other: Stitched Shapes Framelets Dies, Layering Squares Framelets Dies, Wink of Stella, Stampin’ Dimensionals

Card #3: Sacrificial Lamb Two

Once again, the simple addition of a card base and some reworking of the kit’s contents yielded a full-size card. This card is basically the opposite of the one above. Instead of sacrificing one card and one envelope, this card requires two of the 3×3 card bases, but not any of the envelopes.

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Supplies:
I’ll Bee Yours Paper Pumpkin January 2020
Paper: Heavyweight Whisper White
Other: Stitched Shapes Framelets Dies, Layering Squares Framelets Dies, Wink of Stella, Stampin’ Dimensionals

Goofin’ with the beez….

If you’ve ever listened to or watched Harry Nilsson’s  The Point, the title of this post may make you chuckle. If you haven’t, you probably think I’m bee-ing a little silly. (I love bad puns.)

Today’s card uses some of the Golden Honey designer specialty paper, which you can earn as part of Stampin’ Up’s Sale-a-Bration promotion when you spend $50 or more on Stampin’ Up product. I really love this paper. I would probably want the paper even if there weren’t a coordinating stamp set.

The paper behind the vellum with the sentiment on it is actually gold foil. I wanted to mute it since the paper, cutout bee, and hearts are glitzy enough on their own.

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Supplies

Stamps: Honey Bee stamp set
Ink: Seaside Spray, Staz-On Tuxedo Black
Paper: Basic Black, Whisper White, Gold Metallic, Vellum, Golden Honey DSP
Other: Detailed Bees dies, Stampin’ Dimensionals, 7/8″ black ribbon