Thursday, August 29, 2019

August 2019 Paper Pumpkin The Gift of Fall


Hello and welcome to my blog; today I am going to share with you the projects from the August Paper Pumpkin Kit The Gift of Fall.  This was a super fun kit that made gift bags and tags for the Fall season.  There was an additional add-on kit offered for those that wanted to make cards but I kept forgetting to order the add-on kit.  Yes, that's the story of my life, I would mean to everytime I placed an order and then I would get side tracked by all the other pretty things and forget to do so.  I think if you are still a subscriber there are some left, I am okay with not ordering it because I created my own alternative projects that you will see in another post later today. This post is all about the kit itself and the projects that it made.  Here's a look at the projects from the August Kit.
I actually enjoyed making the tags and the gift bags from this month's kit way more than I thought I would.  I am not big on making projects like this and would prefer to make cards instead, but again I had a fun time crafting away the other night and made all the bags and tags from the this month's kit.  I used the tissue paper that comes in the box each month for the bags.  I have them all folded up ready to use when I need a little gift bag this Fall.

Bag & Tag #1: 

This was the first bag and tag set that I made using the kit.  I tired very hard to follow the instructions as written, but I am pretty sure I ended up skipping the directions and just following the picture on the front of the instructions instead.

I laid out everything and got it ready in two different stacks for each set of projects.  I find this to be the most useful tip when I do any of the Stampin' Up! kits.  If I leave everything in the box and try to do one project at a time I get overwhelmed.  It's much more comforting to me to just go ahead and lay everything out into groups before I get started.  But, you have to find the system that works for you.

This little bag and tag used the multicolored tag, the Merry Merlot stitched circle (yes, its' stitched) I never would have noticed that unless I had seen it in real life.  You can't really tell in any of the photos I've seen.   The Blackberry Bliss leaves, the crumb cake leaf, some of the twine and the ribbon plus my punched sentiment piece once i had all that laid out I was ready to go.  I stamped the sentiment part of the tag first and then started layering everything else up together.  These went really quick which are what must Paper Pumpkin projects are designed to do; to give you about a thirty minute crafting break each month.  Plus, they are great for people that don't have or want a lot of supplies.

Bag & Tag #2: 

The second design was just as much fun as the first.  This tag used the white banner, the Crushed Curry Circle with the gorgeous wreath pattern on it, the Pretty Peacock leaf the vellum pieces, and some of the twine and ribbon.  I was suppose to use a few of the crumb cake leaves but I ended up forgetting to use them so it was totally okay.  Remember I wasn't reading the instructions and didn't pay close enough attention to the picture.  But, it worked out fine and it's just as cute as the intended tag.  So no harm no foul right.  

I love the vellum pieces on this tag, they are so pretty, and they make such an impact on your project.  I also like instead of a bow on this bag it was designed with just a nice little knot tied to the bag handle with long ribbon streamers.  I love this look and would not have thought of it without the picture from the August Kit I wouldn't have do it.  It's just such a super simple technique and adds such an interesting look;  I think it's so simple that you just wouldn't think about doing the ribbon that way.  Mind Blown!  

So What Came In This Month's Kit: 

So what all came in this month's kit you may be asking, well I am going to share all that with you also.  Here's a look at all the supplies that came in this month's $22 monthly subscription kit.  
The kit came with all the little gift bags and the tag bases, the die cut pieces needed to make the tags, the beautiful Fall themed printed vellum die cuts, all the labels, die cut circles, the leaf punch outs two packs of different sized adhesive backed gold sequins, adhesive, a Merry Merlot Stampin' Spot, and the exclusive Photopolymer stamp set that you can continue to use.  Yes all that came in this super inexpensive kit.  I know right what a great deal.  
Here's a little look at the stamp set from this month's kit.  You can see you have a great selection of sentiments for the Fall gift giving season as well as that cute little leaf/berry stamp.  I had so much fun playing with this sent on my alternative projects for the A Paper Pumpkin Thing Blog Hop that goes live at 8 am today, so you're going to want to check back and see all the great alternative projects that have been created.

So What's Coming Next Month: 

Well, all we know is that the September Kit is a Halloween themed kit and will make 20 frightfully festive food safe treat boxes.  As far as what they look like or what the kit it self looks like we don't have a clue.  We also know that it's in a super fun designed Halloween themed box.  If you are not a Paper Pumpkin Subscriber and you have kids or grand kids in school and you want to make treats for their Halloween party at school I would totally suggest signing up.  If you need 32 treats you may want to sign up for two.  After you get this kit and make the projects there's no commitment to keep your subscription.  But, why not get everything you need for those frightful treats for one low cost.  
In the same respect I would suggest that if you don't like making treat boxes and you're a subscriber you may want to skip the September kit, so far there has been mention of another add-on kit to change the projects to cards as we had with this month's kit.  Remember you control your subscription, you can cancel and skip any month you choice.  

If you do want to subscribe and get the September kit you will want to do so by September 10th.  You can click here and go to the subscription page.  Each kit costs $22 plus tax and comes straight to your mail box with all the crafty fun ready to go.  If you're a new subscriber you will get a clear block in your first kit to get you started stamping.  You really can not beat the price, for super fun projects ready to assemble right in your mail box. You do have to live in the United States to subscribe so there is that.  

Click here to Subscribe for the September Kit!  

If you don't want to do the monthly subscription there are also prepaid subscriptions that you can give as gifts to your crafty friends as well. You will find those links below in the Stampin' Up! Shopping List.  Thanks for dropping by remember to check back at 8 am CST for my alternative project post with the A Paper Pumpkin Thing Blog Hop where you will find a ton of alternative ideas.  
Happy Stampin' 
Rick 

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Wednesday, August 28, 2019

Butterfly Wishes for PCC#349

Hello and welcome to my blog; today I am going to share with you my card for this weeks Paper Craft Crew Themed Challenge.  This week we have a very summery theme for you to play along.  I will share the inspiration photo shortly.  I picked the  Butterfly Wishes Stamp Set to create my card for today.  This Cling stamp set features photorealistic Butterflies that could take flight any moment.
Here's a look at my card.

Here's a look at the inspiration photo that inspired my card today.  You can click on the image below and be flutter away to the Paper Craft Crew site and see what the other design team members have created.

Tips & Tricks: 

Since the inspiration image featured butterflies and blooms it was pretty easy to figure what stamp set to use.  I picked the Butterfly Wishes stamp set which features deep etched images so you can get superior stamped images each time.  Once the stamp set was picked it was just a matter of figuring out the colors.  I picked Soft Sea Foam for my main color.  And, then Cajun Craze, Merry Merlot, and Granny Apple Green for supporting colors.  I also threw in a little delicata copper ink to the card front and to the sentiment.  
Once I stamped the sentiment on Soft Sea Foam Cardstock I added copper embossing powder and heat seat it.  I used my Rectangle  Stitched Dies to cut out some of the cardstock.  Once I put everything together with just a little adhesive.  

Thanks for dropping by today, I hope that you will take time and play along, with us this week.  
Happy Stampin' 
Rick 

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Tuesday, August 27, 2019

Holiday Catalog Sneak Peak: Birds of a Feather - Pirate Duckie Trick or Treat Card

Hello and welcome to my blog; today I am going to share with you a little sneak peek at some of the products in the 2019 Holiday Catalog.  I am using one of my favorite stamp sets from the Holiday/Fall Winter Catalog in today's project.  If you read the title you know that it's Birds of A Feather.  This is a great all around stamp set, it has images and sentiments for four different holidays.  With this one stamp set you can cover Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and Valentine's Day; which is a super thing.  This is just one of the stamps sets in the Holiday Catalog that does this very same thing.  I also used one of the new embossing folders as well as the new Delicata Metallic Inks on my card today.  Here's a look at my card.

I am sharing a look at both cards that I created.  The one on the left is the one that I created for the video tutorial; the one on the right was my original design.  After creating the original card I decided that the card needed one additional layer instead of the embossing and distressing the front of the card base.  I also changed up the colors slightly to show you two different variations.

Original Concept:  

As I mentioned above this was my original design for today's card but I decided it needed an additional layer.  One because here in the South it was so humid yesterday that after all the embossing and distressing with the ink the card base started to buckle and sway.  So the additional layer added more stability to the card.  Here's a closer look at the original card.  
You can see in this picture after all I put the card base through it started to bend in places.  This was after creating the card and then taking it outside to sit it up and look at.  I always do this when I am designing and creating a new project.  I will take it and go to my front porch sit it up and sit in the swing a little bit away from the design.  And, then I study it.  I see what works, what's not working, and this also allows me to get a fresh perspective on the project.  Because once I sit the card down I turn around and walk to the swing; when I turn back around and sit down my eyes have changed focus and my mind has had a little break from the project.  I learned this in college in many of my studio classes; so it's carried over in my card making as well.  And, let me just tell you it's paid off.  Because with that little break you can see things totally different.  I can find design issues much quicker by doing this.  So as I was sitting there studying the card I noticed the humidity was starting to effect the distressed card base.  So my solution was to add an additional layer that would contain all the distress work.  

Complete Version: 

 You can see in the image above that the extra layer fixed the problem with just distressing the card base.  There's no strange bends or anything else. So once that was solved the card went together super quick.  I did distress the layer above by first streaking tuxedo black ink across the cardstock and then I added layers of each of the three new Delicata inks in the same way.   I also added some to the embossing folder before running it through my die cutting/embossing machine.  This direct to paper technique did two things it added more detail when embossing plus added just a little extra of the metallic ink to the card.  You can see how I did that in the video.
Once all the distress work was done it was time to color the cute little duckie all dressed up in his Pirate outfit.  I used my Stampin' blends to do that, you can find a full list of the colors I used in the shopping list below.  Once I had him all colored It was time to layer everything up.  Since I did a lot of distress work I added everything with the Multipurpose Liquid Glue.  Embossed images need a nice strong glue any way and I prefer the liquid glue over others because it gets down in the debossed areas as well and covers more surface.   I added a few of the Monster Bash Enamel Shapes to finish off the card.

Video Tutorial: 

If you are viewing this post by email you may not be able to see the embedded video.  You will need to click here to see the video.  

Thanks for dropping by I hope that you have enjoyed this little sneak peek of Birds of A Feather Stamp Set and my super cute little pirate duck card today.  Remember that all the Holiday Catalog products are available starting September 4, 2019 for customers.  But Demonstrators can order now.  If you would like to get your hands on these products early there's still time to take advantage of the  Extra Extra Joining Promotion; and pick out a $155 of new products from either the holiday or annual catalogs for only $99.  I would love to have you as part of my Kinsmon Crafters family.  
Happy Stampin' 
Rick 

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