Paper Pumpkin - August 2014 Kit

Are you a Paper Pumpkin subscriber? If not, it's so much fun and I encourage you to join! I love the kits, but always challenge myself to design more with it. I'm a bit behind, but today I wanted to share with you the August 2014 kit. Here's a video of what you got and what you were suppose to make. :)

These are the only cards I made that were similar to the featured projects:

The trick for creating many more projects with a kit is to be willing to cut up any pieces you get - I cut up card bases and envelopes to be able to accomplish what you'll see below. In this particular kit, you received four striped card bases... just cutting those in half and mounting on plain card stock would give you eight cards.

These cards use other stamp sets and punches, but I used the "garbage" pieces from the circle punch outs that people would normally throw away. I utilized them as part of my design!

I used two card bases from the kit, cut them in half and strategically used some Framelits to cut pieces for three different card designs, making four of each of these cards:

This one also uses a "garbage" piece - the piece that was left behind from the banners included in the kit. I cut it into quarters, covered the first three banner punch-outs and used the fourth as part of my design. :)

The majority of the circles (that were meant for all the envelope closures), I used to make flowers.

I cut this laser-cut "congrats" down a bit, backed it with part of a pink envelope, added a small scallop border to the bottom and then fussy cut a heart that was meant to be a small note card (you can see that heart in the card following this one).

The kit included eight shaped mini cut out pieces (i.e. the heart below) and four mini card bases. Like the larger card bases, I cut them in half and used them in various ways.

When my husband saw this card, he said "why would you make a card that says "hell". But you can see that the flower is an 'o', right?! I brayered the white piece with the laser-cut "hello" in it and then die-cut it with my Ovals Framelits (the negative was used on the inside).

All in all, I've made 36 full cards (so far)! 

Yes I know, I used other tools, stamps & card stock, but I really made these pieces from the kit go far! Plus, look at all the pieces I still have to work with. I'm thinking I can get another eight cards made with these leftovers. :)

Hope you've enjoyed the inspiration! I always love reading the comments.

Until next time, stay crafty!
Steph

Pinwheel Spinner Card with June Paper Pumpkin

Happy Monday! I'm winding down here with the last lot of my June Paper Pumpkin projects. Today's post will be short because I will just guide you to Dawn's awesome video tutorial!

I followed her tutorial exactly... but I must say that it was extremely hard for me to find some pennies!! (FYI, Canada removed the penny from its currency last year.)

To create a smaller pinwheel from those given in June's kit, I just cut a 2" square from the center and punched four more holes.

Until next time, stay crafty!
Steph

Even More Paper Pumpkin Examples!

Are you getting sick of these yet? Don't worry, tomorrow you'll get a break with my Sunday Stamps post. ;) Here are two more cards I created with the June Paper Pumpkin kit.

For this first card, I just cut one paper straw (included in the kit) into thirds and then hand-cut some "flames" to create candles. The included stamp "celebrate" was the perfect sentiment for this card!

I forgot to jot down the sizes for these mini pinwheels on my second card... I'm guessing about 1-1/4" squares though. I creased them flat and added a bit of bling with some Red Glimmer paper that I punched with the retired Punch Pack.

Until next time, stay crafty!
Steph

More with Paper Pumpkin!

I've got so many projects created with the June Paper Pumpkin kit that I thought I better double up on some posts... otherwise I could be blogging about this for weeks! ha.

Yesterday, I showed you my sheets of punched out shapes. These are a couple of cards I made with some of the pieces.

These colours are definitely boyish, but I think they could work for older boys/men too. I love them because they're super simple and really quick to put together. The first one I just stamped some blocks with my ink spot and then the sentiment. The stars are popped up. The second card features some popped up banners on top of the included Baker's Twine.

I hope you're still loving my projects...

Until next time, stay crafty!
Steph

Flower Card with June Paper Pumpkin

Today I'm sharing another project I created with the June Paper Pumpkin kit. I didn't have use for 24 pinwheels, so I told my brain to think outside the box and see what else it could come up with. This card is similar to the one I created yesterday, but in order to create it, you would need some additional tools.

As in yesterday's post, I used my ink spot to "draw" on my flower stem and leaves. I stamped the stars to create "grass"... very abstract I suppose. For a step-by-step photo tutorial on the flower, see below.

For the next few posts I'm sharing with you, I used elements that I punched from the three different pinwheel papers you receive in the kit (that are double-sided). Here, you'll see the shapes I punched from each, in total, I was able to punch 12 flowers, 24 stars and 12 banners.

For the card above, I made the flower with 6 layers... but I only used 3 punched out pieces. Here how I did that!

Step 1: choose three designs.

Step 2: crumple up each flower so the paper becomes softer and the layers start peeling away.

Step 3: the crumpled flowers break up the paper fibers and you can gently pull them apart - 1 flower will now give you 2. :)

Step 4: layer the flowers in the order you want, pierce a hole through the center and use the brad that's included with the kit.

Hope you're liking my alternative Paper Pumpkin projects. I'd love to hear your comments!

Until next time, stay crafty!
Steph

Spiral Flowers with June Paper Pumpkin

So, I've been hyped coming up with alternative projects with June's Paper Pumpkin kit (the one with all the pinwheels). I love what I was able to do on this card, but I'm still getting used to the super simple look!

With this project, I wanted to showcase that you could make something else without any other tools or stamps. All I needed was a pair of scissors & some Whisper White Notecards & Envelopes. For the petals for my flowers, all I did was take my ink spot (you get one with every kit!), hold it on an angle and "paint" the flowers on. Just a few quick strokes.

And if you like what I did above, you'll love the picture tutorial I've included below! Hope you enjoy.

Until next time, stay crafty!
Steph

Gift Bow Tutorial!

Received June's Paper Pumpkin kit? Great! If not, you can still do this project by cutting yourself a square and cutting into the center (but not right to the middle) from each corner. Here is a step-by-step tutorial for creating a bow.

Step 1:
Cut off one of the top "triangle".

Step 2:
Fold the top portion down as shown here:

Step 3: Curl your paper points to make it easier to bring them into the center. Place a glue dot (or a couple) to hold the 4 points in the center of the bow.

Step 4: Flip the bow away from the soon-to-be tails and poke a hole so that you can place the brad through. While you've got the bow flipped, cut your tails as shown.

Step 5: Flip your bow back on top of your tails. Optional, adhere the back of the brad to your tails with a glue dot.

Now you have a bow that you can use to decorate a gift with and all you've used is 1 "pinwheel" square from the kit, a brad and a couple of glue dots. :)

Hope you've enjoyed this quickie tutorial. I'd love to hear your comments!

Until next time, stay crafty!
Steph

June Paper Pumpkin

I'll be first to admit that I was skeptical about joining Paper Pumpkin, but I decided to give it a try for a several reasons:

1. Stampin' Up! has really made an effort to increase the quantity and quality of the products you receive each month, making it well worth the money.
2. You no longer receive a "welcome kit"... you receive the same monthly kit as everyone else for the month you sign up. If you're a new subscriber, you receive your clear block inside your first kit.
3. It's perfect for the newbie crafter to the avid one. It also takes up very limited space as everything fits inside one tiny box!
4. You receive a new ink spot & stamp set each month... so if you signed up for a whole year, you'd have 12 ink colours and 12 stamp sets to build a collection or add to one!
5. You receive full instructions, but don't limit yourself to that. Use the products differently, or in addition to what you may already have.

Let me tell you... I'm especially glad to have joined because this month's kit has really got my mojo going. I wasn't particularly excited about the kit contents (mainly because I'm partial to card making), but I thought outside the box and have come up with 14 alternative projects (so far) and I haven't even used half the kit contents yet!! Check them out:

For the next week at least, I will be displaying some of the projects in greater detail, including some step-by-step tutorials. Yippee!! Also, because I have enjoyed this so much, I want to get you excited about Paper Pumpkin too! I've decided to offer a contest!!!

Contest Details:

1. Share this post with all your Facebook friends and be entered in a draw to win a gift pack of cards & envelopes that I've created with June's kit.
2. Sign up for at least a 1-month subscription to Paper Pumpkin (new subscribers only), and receive 5 Whisper White Cards & Envelopes so that you can create additional projects with your kit(s). Sign up for Paper Pumpkin by clicking here (you will be choosing me as your Demonstrator). 
3. Sign up for a 3, 6 or 12 month pre-paid subscription and receive a package of 20 Whisper White Cards & Envelopes for every three months you buy (3 = 1 package, 6 = 2 packages & 12 = 4 packages!!). Check out the prepaid subscriptions here. You will have to purchase the subscriptions from me (Stephanie VanDorp) in order to qualify for this offer.

Contest closes June 30, 2014 at 6:00 p.m.
Open to residents of Canada only.

Until next time, stay crafty!

Steph