August 2015 Paper Pumpkin: Alternate projects

After falling a bit behind with my Paper Pumpkin kits, I actually finished my August kit before I received my kit for September. I'm especially impressed with that accomplishment considering I haven't been doing much crafting lately. Woohoo!

I love the pink, gold, and black theme of this kit, as well as the combination of cards and gift boxes. I assembled the boxes according to the instructions because I thought they were cute. The card designs were cute, too, but since the card bases were printed on the front and back, I decided to cut them up and use them for a few different projects.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!):
Kit: August 2015 Paper Pumpkin (Chalk It up to Love)
Paper: Basic Black card stock
Accessories: Deco Labels, Apothecary Accents, and Labels Collection Framelits dies; 1/8" gold ribbon; Very Vanilla seam binding ribbon, corner rounder

For this set of note cards I cut up two of each style card base into 3" x 4-1/2" pieces to layer on Basic Black cards (3-1/2" x 5"). Here's a tip for cutting up the printed card bases: For the first card base of each pattern, measure 3" from one side of the open card, cut, turn the card around and measure 3" from the other side, and cut again. (Then trim 1/4" off the top and bottom of each piece.) This leaves you with a 1" wide strip with the score line up the middle -- I used that strip in the next project. For the second card base in that pattern, just measure and make the first cut (then trim the top and bottom). This gives you the third layering piece and a 4" x 5" piece (with the score line near one side), which I also used in the next project.

With the foil-printed cards trimmed down, the black tags included in the kit seemed a little too big, so I used a few different sets of Framelits dies to make my own tags out of Basic Black card stock. I stamped the tags, layered them on the banner pieces and adhered them to the cards over ribbon. Looking at the finished cards, I think I should have embossed the tags to add some texture, but I still like them.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!):
Kit: August 2015 Paper Pumpkin (Chalk It up to Love)
Stamps: All Shook Up (December 2014 Paper Pumpkin)
Paper: Basic Black card stock
Accessories: 1/8" gold ribbon, 1/4" Blushing Bride cotton ribbon, Blushing Bride sequin trim, Glue Dots

The two leftover card halves from the previous project were almost perfect layers for A2 (4-1/2" x 5-1/2") cards. I just trimmed 1/4" from one side of each piece and adhered them to Basic Black card bases. (I saved the narrow strips and adhered each one to a piece of Very Vanilla card stock that I added inside the cards.) On each card I adhered the 1" strip of the contrasting patterned card stock (also left over from the previous project), aligning the score lines of the background piece and the strip. Then I wrapped ribbon around the card front to hide the score lines and finished it off with a bow. I used a stamp set from a different Paper Pumpkin kit to stamp the tags (this time I used the tags included in the kit) and adhered them to the cards so they overlapped the ribbon. I also added sequins to one of the tags to bring in a little more pink.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!):
Kit: August 2015 Paper Pumpkin (Chalk It up to Love)
Paper: Basic Black card stock
Accessories: Pansy Punch, Itty Bitty Accents punch pack, large pearls, Sticky Strip

With those projects done, I still had two card bases left, one striped and one with bows. I decided to use them together to make a box. I used the pink card as the bottom of the box, scoring each side at 1-1/2". Then I cut along the score lines on the long side just to the point where they crossed another score line, which created four tabs. I folded up all the sides on the score lines and adhered the tabs inside the box. To make the top of the box, I scored each side of the gold striped card base at a hair less than 1-1/2". And by a hair, I mean like 1/32". Just a tiny bit. This makes the top of the box ever so slightly larger than the bottom so it fits on the box without making the sides buckle. Then I trimmed 1/4" off each side of the striped piece (so it wouldn't completely cover the bottom) and followed the same steps as the bottom.

The pre-made score lines for the card bases were in the middle of the box, so to cover them, I used a piece of ribbon left over from the boxes that came with the kit and adhered one of the black tags to the ribbon. I used the Pansy punch to punch three flowers out of the extra pink card stock from the large flowers, then I curled up the petals and layered the flowers together with Dimensionals. I punched a small flower out of black card stock, added a large pearl in the middle and I added the completed flower to the middle of the tag. The completed box measures 4" x 2" x 1-1/2".

So all in all I ended up with four boxes, six note cards, and two A2 cards from my kit (with the addition of some card stock, a few tools and some basic embellishments). I still have six of the pre-cut black tags left, so I'll have to put them to use on another project. Thanks for stopping by!

Last summer hurrah

After a few hot, humid days earlier this week, the fall weather has been rolling in. I love the cooler temps, and as always I'm looking forward to the leaves changing color. But I thought I'd squeeze in one last summer hurrah with some bright red flowers.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: Abstract Flower and Vine (Rubbernecker Stamps)
Paper: Watermelon Wonder, Whisper White card stock; Neutrals Designer Series Paper (DSP) Stack
Ink: Watermelon Wonder, Old Olive, Marina Mist, Crushed Curry, Real Red, Memento Tuxedo Black
Accessories: Bitty Buttons, Marina Mist polka dot ribbon, twine (unknown), clear and gold Wink of Stella glitter brush pens, Glue Dots, Dimensionals

I loved the color combination on the packaging label for this stamp set, so I replicated it as close as I could with Stampin' Up! colors: Real Red, Watermelon Wonder, Old Olive, Marina Mist, and Crushed Curry.

I stamped the focal layer (also closely following the packaging) and matted it with a piece of diagonally striped paper from the Neutrals DSP Stack. For embellishment, I added a tab of Marina Mist ribbon and a small clear button with a twine bow. It's hard to see in the picture, but I also painted Wink of Stella glitter on the butterflies and yellow dots for just a little sparkle.

For the card base, I used the swirl/stem image -- the same image that is stamped in black on the focal layer. I stamped it with Watermelon Wonder ink on Watermelon Wonder card stock multiple times, changing the direction each time I stamped to create a fun background. Then I adhered the focal layer to the card base with Dimensionals.

Thanks for stopping by!

Garden update: four months

Our garden is still going strong, although it's at that stage where it's starting to look a bit ragged. (Check out my first garden post, one-month update, two-month update and three-month update for more details.) I didn't take a photo of the whole garden this month; instead here are several close-ups of different flora and fauna.

One of our sunflowers. This is one of the smaller ones. The biggest flowers have to be at least ten feet tall, but
they're past their prime.

One of our pretty flowers. My sister thinks it's a cosmos, so I'll go with that.

We've seen so many big fat bumblebees around our garden this summer. Go, bees, go!

This is the patio in our backyard. Not the garden, but close enough. We started putting out birdseed in an old
frisbee, and it's so much fun to watch the wildlife come to eat. It's mainly chipmunks -- we've seen up to four out
there at one time -- but also squirrels, bunnies and birds.

Lavender blossoms

Scarlet runner beans

This watermelon decided to grow at the top of the fence instead of on the ground. Good thing my sister had
these melon supports; she was able to get one in the links on the fence so it could hold the watermelon.

Lots of bell peppers

Brussels sprouts. Can't wait until we can eat these this fall.

One eggplant has finally decided to grow. Definitely a late bloomer.

Today's harvest: scarlet runner beans, pole beans, cucumbers, peppers, and tomatoes. Yum!

We're definitely getting into fall now -- the last couple of nights have been pretty cool -- so I imagine our harvests will be getting smaller. And honestly, I'm okay with that. We had way more produce than we could eat this summer -- even after giving away plenty of tomatoes, zucchini, beans, and cucumbers to friends and family -- and unfortunately we don't have the storage space to do any canning. But now we'll have a better idea of what to do next year.

Thanks for stopping by!

April 2015 Paper Pumpkin: Alternate projects

I know I'm a little slow in assembling my Paper Pumpkin kit from April, but better later than never. I actually started the kit a few months ago, and as I was putting together the kraft pockets, I thought they would be perfect for Christmas. So I set the kit aside, mulled over my idea, and finally finished it this weekend.

I ended up with sixteen total items: eight gift card holders for Christmas and eight all-occasion treat holders. Here are the gift card holders:

Supplies (all Stampin' Up!):
Kit: April 2015 Paper Pumpkin (Love You a Lot)
Stamps: Chalk It up to Love (August 2015 Paper Pumpkin)
Paper: Whisper White (regular and thick), kraft card stock; Holiday Thyme Designer Series Paper (DSP)
Ink: Old Olive, True Thyme, Cranberry Crisp
Accessories: Punches: Snowflake, Banner, Mitten, 1/16" hole; sweater trim: Gumball Green, white, Cherry Cobbler; linen thread; Frosted Sequins; Mono Multi liquid glue; Fine-Tip Glue Pen

Every year around Christmas I give a little gift to our mail carrier, UPS driver, etc., that includes a card, gift card to a local restaurant or coffee shop, and some treats (candy, tea bags, cocoa, etc.). I knew these pockets would be perfect holders for the gift cards, and I even made small coordinating cards (2-3/4" x 4-3/4") to tuck in the pockets, too. So when the time comes I'll just add the gift cards, sign the cards, and package the holders in cellophane bags with a few treats.

I assembled the pockets as described in the kit instructions and then pulled out some of my retired stamping supplies to decorate them. I combined multiple prints from the Holiday Thyme DSP on each pocket/card and embellished them with mittens and a snowflake punched out of kraft card stock. (One of these days I'll actually use up my pack of Holiday Thyme DSP, which I've had for years now.) I used the stamp set from another Paper Pumpkin kit (August 2015, Chalk It up to Love) for the "For you" sentiment.

Since I only used the pockets (and some Dimensionals) from the kit for the gift card holders, I still had plenty of supplies left. I wanted to make something other than cards, so I did a quick Google search and found some adorable treat holders made by Angela Pyjas, another Stampin' Up! demonstrator. I used one of Angela's examples as an inspiration and created eight all-occasion treat holders:

Supplies (all Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted):
Kit: April 2015 Paper Pumpkin (Love You a Lot)
Stamps: From the Garden, Seriously Amazing (August 2014 Paper Pumpkin)
Accessories: Corner rounder, 1/8" hole punch, 1/8" Scor Tape (Scor-Pal), extra Glue Dots

Aren't they fun? To make each treat holder, I scored one end of a card base at 1" and then trimmed off 1/2" to have a smaller flap. You could leave the whole flap if you want more space to stamp or decorate. I stamped the sentiment in Island Indigo and the flowers in Crushed Curry, creased the flap, rounded all four corners of the card, and adhered the sides of the card together with 1/8" Scor Tape placed right along the edges. I added the band around the holder, securing it with Glue Dots, and made the paper bow according to the kit instructions. I also put a couple of Glue Dots under each flap to keep them down, so I ended up needing a few more than what's included in the kit. I cut both pieces of baker's twine into eight equal pieces, punched a 1/8" hole at the top of each holder and tied two pieces of baker's twine through each hole.

Then it's just a matter of filling the treat holders. I used two candy sticks, a little bag of chocolate-covered sunflower seeds, two suckers and a chocolate bear. I had fun picking brightly colored items to coordinate with the holders. If you're looking for some non-candy ideas, you could use a couple of pencils, a lip gloss, roll-on perfume stick, a cereal or granola bar, or anything with a long skinnier shape.

I thought I'd used all the kit supplies, but when I was cleaning up my craft table I realized that I hadn't used the pieces of white card stock that were meant to be layered on the cards. I guess I'll tuck those away for another day. Thanks for stopping by!

Look who's turning one

When you make cards do you create them as needed, for a specific occasion or with a certain person in mind? Or do you make "generic" birthday, thank you, congratulations, etc., cards so you have a stash to choose from when you need a card? I usually fall into the latter group, but once in awhile I make a card for a specific celebration.

Supplies (all Stampin' Up! unless otherwise noted):
Stamps: On Your Birthday, Cars and Trucks (DeNami Design)
Paper: Whisper White, Soft Sky, Daffodil Delight, Crushed Curry, textured Old Olive card stock
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Smoky Slate; Blendabiliites marker assortments: Old Olive, Smoky Slate, Cherry Cobbler, Daffodil Delight, Soft Sky, Skin Tones
Accessories: 1-3/8" circle punch, star punch, Stitched Hillside Borders Lawn Cuts dies (Lawn Fawn), Word Bubbles Framelits dies, Lucky Limeade baker's twine, number stencil (unknown), Mono Multi liquid glue, Glue Dots, Dimensionals

These little cars and trucks are adorable, and I thought they were perfect for a first-birthday card for my cousin's son. I stamped the vehicle images, colored them in and then cut them out by hand. Using Dimensionals, I adhered them to a Soft Sky card base with a die-cut Old Olive hillside.

To fill the top half of the card I added a sun and clouds that also include the sentiment. The clouds are made with the Word Bubbles Framelits dies, and I stamped one of them with the first part of the sentiment. To make the sun I punched a 1-3/8" circle from Daffodil Delight card stock and several stars from Crushed Curry card stock. I snipped the triangular points off the stars and adhered them to the back of the circle to create the sun's rays. (One row of triangles is glued directly to the circle, and a second row is adhered with Glue Dots so they are in between the first row, adding some dimension.) I used a stencil to trace the 1 on a piece of Crushed Curry card stock, and then I adhered it to the sun with narrow strips of Dimensionals.

A simple baker's twine bow finishes off this fun card. Thanks for stopping by!

Hello, baby girl

I have to start this post with a couple of disclaimers. First, I have had no stamping mojo lately. Part of the problem is that I haven't had much crafting time. But even when I do have time, I seem to do a lot of just sitting at my stamping table and staring at supplies. Not terribly productive. I've been posting cards that I made weeks (or months) ago, but I only have a couple of those left, so I hope my stamping juices start flowing soon.

That leads me to my second disclaimer, which is that I don't have a supply list for the cards I am sharing today. I made these cards at the beginning of summer when my sister needed a baby card for a former coworker. I know I made a supply list at the time -- I keep a little notebook at my stamping table and write down everything I used after I finish each card -- but somewhere along the way I must have accidentally tossed it. Boo. At any rate, here are the cards:

I used an adorable card I found on Pinterest as my inspiration and went from there. Using the Owl Builder punch, patterned papers and various ribbons to create the little dresses, I made one version of the card with bold colors and one version that was a little more muted. I created a little scene by embossing clouds on the background, adding a clothesline with linen thread and die cutting a green hillside. I stamped the sentiment on a small banner and added it to the lower left side of the card.

If you have any questions about the specific products, leave me a comment below and I'll do my best to figure out what I used. Thanks for stopping by!