A Bit of Summer Cleaning -- New Creations with Past Paper Pumpkin Kits (Part 1)

One of my projects since finishing up with school and vbs for the summer has been a bit of cleaning and organizing!  For the craft room, this has meant sorting through retired stamps and accessories as well as trying to reduce my number of unfinished Paper Pumpkin kits hanging around!  Today I have some projects to share with you that are the results of that effort.  But before I get to that, a quick bit of news is that Paper Pumpkin is having a one day Flash sale just for new subscribers! For 24 hours only, new Paper Pumpkin customers can receive their first-month subscription for only $5 USD/$7 CAD. That’s a crazy 75% off the regular price. Visit paperpumpkin.com from June 29 at 11:59 PM to June 30 at 11:59 PM and use promo code ONEDAY0717 to get your first kit at this incredible price. Keep the creativity coming after that for only $19.95 USD/$26.95 CAD per month (shipping included).  This is an amazing deal, so if you've ever considered giving Paper Pumpkin a try, now's the time!!!

Now, on to the projects!  First up are some cards I finished up using the Many Happy Birthdays kit (from February 2017):

If you like this kit, there are still some full kits and refills available in the online store (you can click on the links to see these -- while supplies last)!

I also found some extra leaves, sequins, and Baker's Twine, as well as some pieces of envelope liner paper I'd cut up from the Season of Gratitude kit (from October 2016 -- also still available, while supplies last, in either full kit or refill form).  I sponged the leaves, stamped them with the background stamp from the kit, and added some Very Vanilla thick card stock bases and layers (embossed with either the Petal Burst folder or new Ruffled Dynamic folder):

I ran the baker's twine across my scissors to create the curls on the ends of the bows!  

I still had some supplies left and found an old project kit and some retired designer paper in my stash (Autumn Spice Designer Series Paper from back in 2010!) that I thought went well with my color combo, so along with some Crumb Cake bases and embossed layers, created these cards:

And, finished off the old project kit (a mini purse card holder and note cards -- you can see the original post I wrote about these here, if you'd like!):

I also found this retired designer series paper, which I believe is Bali Breeze, from Spring 2008, and combined it with Paper Pumpkin stamps and sequins, plus the newly retired Penned and Painted stamp set, that I've been wanting to try out.  Here are the results:

I used Melon Mambo and Daffodil Delight in stamping the flowers, and Old Olive for the leaves -- stamping off to get the lighter shades, with Early Espresso ink for the outlines and greetings.  The flowers and leaves were stamped on Whisper White and fussy cut.  I used Whisper White for bases, layers, and greetings, and added a layer of Tempting Turquoise behind the designer paper as well.

And, that's just the beginning of what I've been creating lately!  Stay tuned for more!

Thanks for visiting my blog!

- Michelle

Eclectic Summer Tie-Dye Cards

Hi!  Happy Wednesday!  Today I have some cards to share with you using a tie-dye technique that I actually first saw shared in a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator Facebook group on a fabulous card by Kim Jolley (you can see the card that caught my eye in this post on Kim's blog) . . . well, when I was reading emails today, I saw that Kim is today's guest tutorial author on Splitcoaststampers and has shared her awesome tutorial for this technique there (here's the link to that), so that's a fun coincidence!  

I created these cards as thank yous for my co-teachers and youth helpers at our church's Vacation Bible School a couple weeks back -- the lessons from the week were about Joseph, including his coat of many colors, and we all had tie-dye camp shirts, so the technique fit the theme well!  

I wanted more "girly" colors for my first couple of cards, so I used Melon Mambo, Calypso Coral, Powder Pink and Berry Burst on these:

I used the Eclectic Layers Thinlits to create the hearts and scattered some sequins (attached with glue dots) for a bit of sparkle.  The sentiment is from the Floral Phrases stamp set, and I didn't take a photo of the inside, but I'd stamped the "For all the thoughtful things you do" phrase in there.

For the next card, I used a color combo of Berry Burst, Bermuda Bay, Pacific Point, and Old Olive.  The diamond is die cut using the Eclectic Layers Thinlits, and I carefully color inside it with Gold Wink of Stella, which on the Bermuda Bay created a color that closely resembles Old Olive (with more sparkle, though!)

For the next few cards, I used Melon Mambo, Calypso Coral, Powder Pink, Berry Burst and Bermuda Bay, again with die cuts from the Eclectic Layers Thinlits:

The color combo on this final card is Berry Burst, Bermuda Bay, and Pacific Point:

The sparkle in the flower centers is from a Glitter Enamel Dot.  

Which color combo is your favorite?  These were so fun to create, I'm looking forward to trying this technique again!  Hope you'll give it a try, too!  Kim's tutorial is wonderful -- so grateful to her for sharing it!

Thanks for visiting my blog!
Michelle

Eastern Palace In Color Cards

Posts two days in a row -- shocking, right?!  :)  Today I (finally!) have some cards to share with you that I created using a few of the new 2017-2019 In Colors, along with the Eastern Beauty Bundle (which includes the Eastern Beauty Photopolymer Stamp Set and Eastern Medallion Thinlits Dies) and coordinating Eastern Gold Vinyl Stickers: 

These cards were inspired by this beautiful card by Stampin' Up! Artisan Design Team Member Jessica Winter.  I followed Jessica's instructions to create the flowers, though for my color combination, I used Powder Pink, Berry Burst, and Lemon-Lime Twist.  I also added Glitter Enamel Dots in my flower centers and randomly scattered on the bottom two cards.  The ribbon on my cards is Berry Burst Finely Woven Ribbon (and I did the faux ruching technique on it).

Thanks so much for visiting my blog!

- Michelle

A Sara Thing Paper Pumpkin Cards

Hi!  Happy Monday!  Finally getting around to posting the cards I made with the April 2017 Paper Pumpkin kit, A Sara Thing!  These cards were really fun to watercolor and create!  I didn't vary too much from the instructions in the kit.  Here's how my cards turned out:

While I was pleased with those, I thought that the flowers were missing a little something, so went back and added some of the new Glitter Enamel Dots to the centers:

What do you think?   Better with or without the Glitter Enamel Dots?  If you'd like to get some glitter dots of your own to dress up your creations, you can do so in my online store here.

Thanks for visiting my blog!

- Michelle