Constantly Stamping

Celebrating In Color Paper Pumpkin May 2022 Stepped-Up Card Alternatives

Have you seen the new 2022-2024 In Colors by Stampin' UP! I love that the May 2022 Paper Pumpkin Kit features these beautiful, vivid colors.

The cards in this kit are very well designed and you really don't need to do anything to them, but you know how much I love flowers, so I decided to see how they would look if I stepped them up with some designer series paper.

Some people like to alter their kits and see how many cards they can get by adding additional product. That really isn't what I am trying to do here. Instead, I just wanted to bump-up the existing card designs from the kit and take them to the next level by only adding a few additional products. In this case I mostly used DSP and one additional stamp pad, but on one card I added a Brushed Brass Butterfly and on another I used Stampin' Blends markers. (I also use a coordinating die set but that is completely optional.)

I have really been enjoying the new Hues of Happiness 12"x12" Designer Series Paper (#158822) featured on pages 108-109 in the new 2022-2023 Annual Catalog. A few weeks ago, I took some extra time to cut several of the flowers from this beautiful paper. Several of the flowers/leaves have coordinating dies in the Blossoming Happiness Die Set (#158823), so cutting them out was easy and doing it ahead of time made this project much faster.

Here is a closer look at each card and a few tips to help make the process easier. One big tip is to make sure you have good, clean cuts on all your pieces. Sometimes when you remove die cut kit items from their sheet, they get little snags on them. I like to use a craft knife and carefully cut away the design from the sheet. However, I don't care how much you try, you are going to miss a few places. For those, I either use my scissors to give them a trim or a Emory board to file them smooth. By taking your time on this important step, you will instantly give your cards a more professional look.

 

CARD ONE:

This card is very similar to the original design. I only added a few flowers and leaves and used a different sentiment stamped in Starry Sky ink. I love that the flowers have so many different colors and how they just pop on the beautiful Parakeet Party stripes. I also popped up the word "Happy" using the Mini Dimensionals from the kit. The Starry Sky dots from the kit work perfectly with this card.

Tip: To get perfect placement of the background stripes, use Press n' Seal. Remove the strips from the backer sheet, then put everything back together face down on the Press n' Seal. Put adhesive only on the strips, carefully remove the guide, and then place the strips onto the card base.

 

CARD TWO:

This card was really easy to do. The only thing I did differently to this card was stamp the sentiment in Starry Sky ink above the word "you" and add some flowers. The Sweet Sorbet dots from the kit look great with this design.

 

CARD THREE:

This is one of the most basic designs of the set. I chose not to remove the die cut circle from the background panel. Instead, I stamped the sentiment on the gold foil circle and added some die-cut yellow flowers. The Orchid Oasis dots from the kit look great on the matching background. I accidently stamped the sentiment a bit too far to the right, so I used a Brushed Brass Butterfly to balance it out. I think it looks amazing and it works perfectly with the gold foil on this card. I just love happy accidents!

 

CARD FOUR:

This card is probably my favorite. I aligned the straight edge of some of the flowers that were cut from the edge of the DSP with the gold banner frame on the left. I also loaded this one up with flowers. I didn't like the dark centers on the large flowers, so I covered them with smaller fussy cut flowers to give them more depth. I placed the word "Happy" on a angle and added a different sentiment below. The Tahitian Tide enamel dots look great with the banner.

 

CARD FIVE:

Finally, on this card I trimmed off about 1/4" from the top of the background panel and moved it up just bit to allow some of the white border to show on the bottom. (Tip: This card panel was slightly smaller than the card base, so I trimmed away a sliver of the white card base so that the edge didn't show.)

Here is my little confession... I somehow got a bit of ink on one of the letters of the pre-cut sentiment. To correct for my mistake, I used Melon Mambo Stampin' Blends markers to color the letters darker on the bottom and lighter on the top. You really don't need to color the letters, but don't they look great this way!

By this point, the only enamel dots left in the kit were the Parakeet Party ones, and they look great on this card.

 

PAPER PUMPKIN REFILL KITS

If you are a Paper Pumpkin subscriber and you need more of the kit supplies to make these cards, then you can order the May 2022 Paper Pumpkin Refill Kit (#160948) while supplies last. You can also order the additional items for these stepped-up designs from your Stampin' UP! demonstrator or from my store.

I WOULD LOVE TO BE YOUR STAMPIN' UP! DEMONSTRATOR

If you are in the United States and need a demonstrator, then you can order your supplies in my online store here.

Global Design Project: GDP282 Sketch Challenge

It's sketch week at Global Design Project and this one literally has me coloring outside the lines! I typically don't do Clean and Simple layouts, but this sketch really left a lot to the imagination and forced me out of my comfort zone.

So what happens when you use up all the consumables in your monthly Paper Pumpkin kit? You use the amazing photopolymer stamp set included in each kit. Sometimes the kit only has sentiments or smaller elements, but the February 2021 Paper Pumpkin Kit also includes this pretty stamp set called Bouquet of Hope. (Sorry to say that if you don't already have this kit, you are out of luck, because they are only available on a pre-order basis. They are also only available in North America, so keep that in mind as well. )

I started by stamping the flowers in Tuxedo Black Memento Ink slightly to the right of the panel of Whisper White cardstock and then tucked the sentiment in the upper left corner. Then I trimmed the panel down to approximately 3 7/8" x 5.5". Next, I used various Stampin' Blends alcohol markers to color the bouquet. (Left: Real Red, Pumpkin Pie, Daffodil Delight, Old Olive, and Pool Party. Right: Highland Heather, Pretty Peacock, Smoky Slate/Color Lifter, Daffodil Delight, Old Olive, and Pool Party.) After everything was completely dry, I used a fine-tip black marker to add the tiny accent dots around the bouquet.

I added a coordinating DSP strip from the In Color 6"x6" DSP (Bumble Bee/Pretty Peacock) to the left of the top-folding card base. I couldn't bear to cover those pretty flowers with a sentiment strip, so I added some Linen Thread to the left of the stamped panel and positioned the bow carefully below the sentiment before attaching the panel to the card base. Finally, I added some Rhinestone Basic Jewels for a little sparkle. Oh, I almost forgot...the tiny butterflies were cut with the Butterfly Beauty Die Set (#151819).

We would love to have you play along with us this week. Be sure to check out what the other talented designers/players have created for this fun challenge at the Global Design Project Challenge Blog.

I WOULD LOVE TO BE YOUR STAMPIN' UP! DEMONSTRATOR

If you are in the United States and need a demonstrator, then you can order your supplies in my online store here.

GDP104 CASE Challenge Meets August Paper Pumpkin

This week at the Global Design Project challenge blog we are CASEing this lovely card by Allison Okamitsu.

Sometimes life just gets crazy and you have to step back and create something obvious. Not to make excuses, but between work, attending a funeral, and some other major family obligations, I just need to "not think". So, what do you get when you combine Allison's great sketch card with the August Paper Pumpkin kit?

That's right! I basically stepped-up the August Paper Pumpkin kit by CASEing Allison's challenge card. I had to add a few additional items such as the navy gingham bow and a small rhinestone to the flower center. I also used a Peekaboo Peach Ink Pad to stamp the background.

While I had the Paper Pumpkin Kit on my desk, I decided to throw in an bonus alternative project based on the CASE challenge. To create this box, I cut one of the card bases in half and made a box bottom with the white piece and a box top with the coral piece.  This is a very basic box. I scored 3/4" from the sides and snipped the corners.

We would love to have you play along with us this week. Be sure to check out what the other talented designers/players have created for this fun challenge at the Global Design Project Challenge Blog.

I WOULD LOVE TO BE YOUR STAMPIN' UP! DEMONSTRATOR

If you are in the United States and need a demonstrator, then you can order your supplies in my online store here.

Have a blessed day!

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Big Orange THANKS

If you are a Paper Pumpkin subscriber you will recognize these big, orange, felt letters from the February kit. While this kit is simply adorable, some of my less-trendy customers asked me for some alternative projects using the kit. I created a 3" x 6" card using Whisper White cardstock and covered the front with some Flower Pot DSP. To add to the cuteness factor, I punched some small flowers and added some pearl centers.

What even more cuteness? If you are a Paper Pumpkin subscriber you can order refills of this kit in my online store.

Paper Pumpkin Alternative Projects

Hi there...it has been a few weeks since I blogged, but I have been a busy, busy girl...so I thought I would show you what I have been up to recently. After not stamping for several weeks I needed to make something that would jump-start my creativity. I decided to sit down with my December Paper Pumpkin kit and play.

Let's work backward, shall we! This is the card that I made with some of the leftovers of the cards in the kit.

I used the "negative" pieces of the words and the stars to make this fun birthday card. I just trimmed down the background piece and put it on a Whisper White card base. I mounted the greeting on a piece of Whisper White CS and then added some stars that I salvaged from one of kit cards that I made. Easy peasy!

Speaking of the kit cards...I could not stamp the background words in the kit straight to save my life...seriously! I tried like five times and then finally decided to cover my less-than-perfect stamping with a piece of grid paper from the Flashback DSP collection. But then that meant that the pattern on the frame just didn't look right, so I turned it over and stamped the greeting that coordinates with the die cut. I will not be defeated!!!

I did the same thing with this card, except I used Moonlight DSP for the background.

I will be back soon to show you more of the projects that I have been working on. Now that I am crafting again, I want to create as much as I can before leadership convention next week.

Paper Pumpkin Tag Update

As a little surprise for my mom I signed her up to receive 3 months of Paper Pumpkin subscriptions. She was thrilled when she got it in the mail but there was one little problem with the tags. She isn't really the "happy holidays" kind of person...she prefers telling people "Merry Christmas". She wanted a way to make the tag in the kit fit her personal needs, so with a little bit of reworking, I came up with this simple solution for her.

The top tag is the way they suggest you make the tag. On the bottom tag you can see how I reworked it by moving the stamping to the top and adding "Merry Christmas" to the bottom. I also added a few rhinestones and also punched some of the leftover silver paper from the snowflake sheets to add just a little more interest to the rework.

You haven't heard much from me lately. I have been enjoying a little time with my family this year. I will pop in from time to time to share, but it has been really nice to relax and not worry about deadlines and such. I have also been in a bit of a creative slump, so rather than push it, I decided to just take it easy and when the time is right, I will be back creating on a regular basis. See you soon.