The Gift of Fall - part 2

I'm on my own for a few days while Sonny has gone to Pinehurst to play golf with a group from Newcomers.  That man is a golfing fool!!!  He plays golf usually four times a week and just can't get enough.  I've been trying to put some organization into my card collection.  I am trying to sort them into categories so when I need a card, I can find it and not have to dig through tons of cards.  I also need to donate a bunch of cards to some organization - I just have too many!!!  Got any ideas?   

Can you believe it's already the end of August?  Wow, this summer has flown by.  Ashley is coming to visit this afternoon.  She has some vacation that she needs to use so I am happy that she has chosen to spend some time with her mom and dad!  Plus, she is hoping to take a couple of pieces of furniture back with her.  Not sure if both will fit in her card but we are going to try.  My mom is giving her a buffet table that was my grandmothers and Marianne is giving us a china hutch that belonged to mom's cousin.  She found the receipt in the drawer when she was cleaning it out this weekend.  They paid $125 for it in 1948 and paid it on an installment plan!  I'm guessing $125 was a lot of money back then!  We'll see how well Sammie and Bogart get along this time!  Hopefully good!

Thought I'd share a few more of the August Paper Pumpkin kit, The Gift of Fall.

The blossoms for this card are vellum and just beautiful.  I fussy cut the Crushed Curry circle in the center and used the Stitched Shapes die for the sentiment piece.  I used a dauber for the "happy birthday" with Crushed Curry and Mango Melody inks.

For this card, I first used my Aqua Pen and inks (Curry, Razzleberry and Mango) to watercolor the background (onto watercolor paper.)  Then I stamped the girl from Beautiful You and colored her dress with Lovely Lipstick ink.  The sentiment just barely fit onto the Crumb Cake label that was included in the kit.

I stamped the birds from Free As A Bird onto white cardstock and fussy cut it.  The leaves and circles are included in the kit.  Stamp a simple sentiment on a banner and voila! a finished card to mail.

For this card, I cut one of the colorful leaf tags in half and adhered them to the Thick Whisper White cardstock.  I tucked a vellu leaf and one of the vellum blossoms under the sentiment banner (which is the Crumb Cake label just turned over.)  Add a bow and a few sequins and you are done!  The sentiment is from a retired stamp set, Trust God.

I hope you have enjoyed these cards and will try and duplicate a few of them using your own products.

The Gift of Fall

Time is running out to redeem those Bonus Days Coupons that you earned last month!  You can apply your coupons to any order that you place during the month of August.  Yay!!

Here are the redemption details:

• Redemption Period Deadline: August 31, 2019, by 11:50 pm (mt)
• There is no limit to the number of coupon codes you can use on an order during redemption.
• Bonus Days coupon codes may be redeemed for any product (excluding Starter Kits, demonstrator supply items, and Paper Pumpkin subscriptions).
  • New prepaid Paper Pumpkin codes may be discounted with Bonus Days coupon codes.
• Bonus Days coupon codes may be redeemed one time only.

I don't know about where you live, but here in NC it has been almost cold this weekend!  I am so ready for fall!!  I have been making cards  with the August Paper Pumpkin - The Best of Fall.  It is a great one showcasing all those wonderful warm fall colors - Blackberry Bliss, Pretty Peacock, Crushed Curry and others.

More April Paper Pumpkin

 More cards made with the April Paper Pumpkin Kit.

I fussy cut the stamped flower, misted it with water and scrunched it up.  After it dried, I used Glue Dots to adhere it to the card.

This card and the next one are both Z Fold Card.

I used the Handwritten background stamp on this card.  Don't those flowers look like a pig's face???

Everything is starting to fall into place with Ashley's move.  She has found a house in Silver Springs, Maryland and should be closing June 28!  Now we just need a buyer for her Hawaii condo.  A couple looked at it Sunday and have it on their top two.  Got my fingers crossed that they settle on hers!  Real estate is not going as fast in Hawaii as it is in the DC area.

Distinktive Stamps in April Paper Pumpkin

The April Paper Pumpkin kit is probably one of my favorites!  The flowers and colors in this kit are just wonderful.  The April kit also has a new Distinktive stamp image. 

What are Distinktive images you ask?  Stampin' Up! says .....

1. Distinktive stamps give you photo-realistic images with just one stamp.  They have a special texture that gives added depth and dimension in a single step.
2. These stamps are available only from Stampin' Up! and are made using a patent-pending process.
3. Distinktive stamps are available in red rubber and photopolymer; Paper Pumpkin's April kit includes photopolymer stamps.
4. Shop Distinktive stamps in the online store by searching "Distinktive" or look for the Distinktive icon in Stampin' Up! catalogs.

I fussy-cut the flowers for this card.  The middle flower is adhered with dimensionals.  For the 2 flower in the back, you only have to stamp and fussy cut one flower - just cut it in half!

For this card, I made a mask of the large flower onto a sticky note and stamped the gray flowers while masking the Flirty Flamingo flower.

This card also uses Butterfly Gala to stamp and punch out the butterfly.

I stamped the flower in Mango and used a sponge dauber inked in Flirty Flamingo for the middle.  I fussy cut two flowers (cutting one of them in half).  The background is a very subtle gray polka dot paper that I found in my stash.  I think it came from a SU kit several years ago.

This was a very simple card.  I stamped the flower on a 2" white square and mounted it onto a piece of Flirty Flamingo.  The base card is from the kit as is the water colored strip around the middle.  Tie a piece of twine around the middle and add a few embellishments and you are done!

Hope you enjoyed my cards.

More Feathers!

I'm back from my trip to the DC area.  I had fun house hunting with Ashley.  Sonny was supposed to take his golf clubs and play golf while we were house hunting but he thought it would be raining while we were there so didn't take his clubs.  As it turned out, he could have played golf every day.  The rain we got usually started in the late afternoon/early evening.  Oh well - his loss!  He explored the area while we were gone during the day.  We looked at about 30+ houses in the Bethesda and Silver Spring area and that's not counting the few Ashley looked at on Tuesday when we were on our way.  On Thursday, the first house we looked at that day was the one that called to her.  It is a really cute house in Silver Spring that was built in 1936 that has been remodeled but still has that old house feeling.  She put an offer in over the weekend and we have our fingers crossed!!  All contracts are due to the sellers by today at 4 pm.  Ashley is flying home right now and should know something when she lands in Hawaii later.  If she doesn't get this house, she will wait until she moves and start her search over.  Luckily, she has friends to stay with there and is not in a hurry.  But I hope she gets this house!!!

In the meantime, I will share a few more Paper Pumpkin cards that I made from last October's kit.

I inked the leaves with VersaMark and embossed them in copper, silver and gold

I sponged Crump Cake onto the leaf and did a watercolor background of Crumb Cake.

I tied the 3 feathers up with the twine that came in the kit and layered the white card onto Cajun Craze and Coastal Cabana cardstock.

I layered the 3 feathers onto Wood Textures 6x6 DSP.

I used the Pinwood Planks embossing folder to emboss the Bermuda Bay cardstock.

If you would like to check out Paper Pumpkin, now is the best time!  I think the kit designs are really good now and next month's kit will be a favorite of mine.  I like Shelli's style when she presents at Stampin' Up events and this kit looks just as expected with pretty colors, natural designs and fantastic details.

The kit is $19.00 and can be purchased online in my store.   You need to purchase or subscribe by May 10 in order to receive the kit Shelli has designed.  You can just click the one month link to get this kit with no further commitment or consider going month to month with a subscription.  

Friends of a Feather Paper Pumpkin Kit

Think good thoughts for Ashley.  We are spending the week with her in Bethesda, Maryland house hunting.  Ashley and I love to look at houses.  In fact, many times when I visited her in Hawaii, we would go to open houses of million dollar homes to see how the other half lived.  A girl can dream can't she?!!

I am sharing a few more of the Friends of a Feather Paper Pumpkin kit with you.  By adding just a few extra supplies from my stash and past kits, I was able to play and create (or CASE) cards I'm happy to send out.

This is a notecard that was made directly from the kit.  I love the leaf cut out.

Similar to the note card above.  I just added some stamped feathers and some leaves.  Those feathers came from a retired stamp set, Lovely Amazing You since I have lost the stamps that come in the kit!

I cut away the feathers from the card they were attached to and sponged some of the feathers with Soft Suede and Night of Navy.  I used the Rectangle Stitched Shapes for the Night of Navy frame.

Another card similar to the one above but I didn't add a frame.  The sentiment is from Lovely Amazing You.  I sponged the leaves on top of the sentiment.

October 2018 Paper Pumpkin - Friends of a Feather

The next Paper Pumpkin kit I tackled was the Friends of a Feather October kit.  For some reason, I cannot find the stamps that came with this kit!!  And I want them so bad!   I am hoping maybe I took them to Ashley's house and left them.  When she is finished with her move, I will be looking through her stuff for it!!

This is all the items included in the kit.  I ended up making about 20 cards with this kit and just adding a few piece of card stock and ribbon.

For this card, I embossed the Coastal Cabana card stock with the (retiring) Hexagon embossing folder.  I matted the Coastal Cabana piece onto Mango Medley and then onto a Night of Navy card.

For this card, I cut the scalloped white piece in half.  It is actually Crumb Cake on the back side.  I embossed the Crumb Cake piece with the Pinewood Planks embossing folder.  Sneak peek - Smile is from a new stamp set called Daisy Lane that I received at On Stage in April.

The card base is thick Vanilla cardstock.  I spritzed different colors of ink onto the Vanilla card.  The feathers were colored with daubers in Night of Navy, Blackberry Bliss, Cajun Craze and Poppy Parade.  Just noticed I am missing a couple of sequins on the card!

These are the last ones from Grown With Kindness, February Paper Pumpkin

Are you tired of these succulents yet?  I have to admit, I was by the time I finished all of them! 

I cut a panel 1 3/4" from the photographic succulent paper, matted it on white card stock and tied a piece of Lemon Lime ribbon around it.  After matting the pieces that were left on Lemon Lime cardstock (that I embossed with the Subtles embossing folder) I adhered the white matted 1 3/4" piece to the card with dimensionals.  The card is made with Fresh Fig cardstock.  The sentiment is stamped on a rectangle from the Stitched Rectangles dies (another favorite of mine.)

These two are very similar.  You can see more details below.

The Mint Macaron rectangle is 4 1/4" x 3 1/4".  The Fresh Fig card was fun through the Subtles embossing folder.  I am no glad that this embossing folder will be carrying over to the new 2019-2020 annual catalog.  I love it!

This is pretty much the same as the card above except in different colors.  I used Mellow Moss and embossed it with the Seaside embossing folder (which is retiring.)

For this card, I matted the photographic piece and the white cardstock onto Berry Burst (which is an In Color and will be retiring at the end of the month.)  The card is made with Tranquil Tide which is another retiring In Color.

Grown with Kindness - Paper Pumpkin

Hope you aren't getting tired of these!  Remember, I made 19 cards with this kit!

The vellum and striped card stock came with the Paper Pumpkin kit as did the white strip that the sentiment is stamped on.  This time I stamped the teacup directly on the white circle (die cut from my favorite Stitched Shapes)  Lovely Lipstick was die cut from the Circles dies and the white circle layered on it.  Scatter a few sequins around and you're done.

For this card, I decided to make it a bit brighter.  The teacup is colored with Blends and stamped directly onto the white circle which is layered on Lovely Lipstick and again layered on a Doily!  I really like the Bermuda Bay and Lovely Lipstick together!

It's hard to tell in this picture but I did a little different fold on the card.  The black card base is the regular size - 8 1/2" x 5 1/2" BUT I scored the front from the fold at 1 1/4".  After scoring, I glued that section together with the inside of the card so only 3 1/2" of the card front opens.  I adhered a piece of the black stripe paper to the left side after tying a piece of Mint Macaron to the paper.   Paper piece the teacup (from Botanical Butterfly DSP) and color the succulent with Blends, add a few sequins and you've made another great card!

This card is very similar to the one designed in the kit.  I embossed "YOU" with versamark and black embossing powder to make it stand out more.  

Grown With Kindness Paper Pumpkin

Here are a few more of the Grown With Kindness Paper Pumpkin cards I made last week.

For this card, I stamped YOU 3 times - using my grid paper to line them up.  I  stamped the teacup with succulent with Memento black ink and used my Blends to color the image before cutting it out.  I cut a small piece of the black striped paper and adhered it under the sentiment.  A few sequins and I was done!

This card is similar to the one from the kit.  I just added the die cut "amazing" from Celebrate You (which will be retiring) to the card

This one was a fun one to make!  I should have used my Stamparatus to stamp Celebrate but alas, I didn't think of it!  I just eyeballed it using my grid paper and stamped away in Blueberry Bushel.  The "splotches" are from A Work of Art (a favorite retired set of mine.)  The card is matted on Blueberry Bushel and the card is Mango Medley.

Another fun one!  I used Fresh Fig and Old Olive on this card.  Again, the "splotch" is from A Work of Art.  I fussy cut the teacup and colored with Blends.

Grown With Kindness - Paper Pumpkin

I have been on a Paper Pumpkin roll lately!!  I had have several Paper Pumpkin kits that I have not done anything with - mainly, when they arrived I was busy making swap cards, traveling, etc.  Last week a friend was visiting me from Texas and she brought the Paper Pumpkin kits she had not done (some from 2015!!) and we spent a couple of days making cards with the kits. 

I started off with the February kit, Grown With Kindness.  I made 19 cards and still have a few bits left over!!  I'm telling you, these kits are wonderful!  My friend realized how many cards you could make with just the elements in the kit and adding a few pieces of card stock.  I love the photographic images that came in the kit.  Here's an inside look to how they came about and were photographed.  The Stampin' Up! Paper Pumpkin Design Team actually went out and purchased succulents.  They brought them back to the office and photographed them!  I think it makes the cards even more interesting to know how they were created!  I always like the "behind the scenes" stories.

Here are a few of the alternate cards I made from the kit.

The black striped paper came with the kit.  I stamped the teapot on scrap paper and fussy cut it after coloring it with my SU Blends.  You could just as easily stamp the tea cup directly on the scalloped circle.

For this card I just cut the photographic picture in 3 equal pieces and mounted them on a piece of Fresh Fig.

I love how the flower embossing looks on this vellum!  I cut one of the photographic pieces in half and matted them on Lovely Lipstick.  The card is Early Espresso

Hugs from Shelli!

Wow!  Isn't this beautiful?  I got to make this card from the upcoming May 2019 Hugs from Shelli Paper Pumpkin kit last weekend at the Charlotte OnStage event.  If you subscribe to Paper Pumpkin, or purchase a subscription to the Stampin' Up! Paper Pumpkin papercrafting kit between now and May 10th, you will receive the kit and you'll make 3 of these cards + 9 more cards!  Supplies MAY run ut, so don't wait too long.

The look and feel of this kit is all Shelli!  It's elegant, feminine, and so full of springtime details that you'll want to take a walk, breathe in the fresh air, and then go home and stamp!!  And the box it comes in is a keeper!

Price increase heads up ..... the price for Paper Pumpkin kits will be increasing beginning June 1, 2019.  This is due to price increases in general and increased shipping costs.  So, lock in your lower rate now with a prepaid subscription.  More info to come, but just wanted to give you an option.