August's Paper Pumpkin Kit

As you can see, I'm a *bit* behind! I'm just now getting to my August Paper Pumpkin kit. I thought for the next 3 days I would show you the kit itself and how it's supposed to go together and then two projects you can do with the left overs. I had in mind back to school and the courage it is taking this year for all involved: teachers; parents; and students! All of them are approaching the situation with uncertainty and maybe acknowledging each other's courage will help give people a little more sense of control over the situation!

That's where the medals and trophies in this month's kit come in! I must say that the Paper Pumpkin kits have all been on point in 2020, each design coming with perfect timing, from Sara's Sunshine kit to the sending love to family members to this one!

There are three designs in this kit, all with lovely plaid backgrounds, perfect for all genders. Take a close look:

• They were mostly easy to put together except for the shaker card on the top right. That took a few more steps, but it was well worth it. 
• The sample I have shown you here is for the world's greatest kid, but you have other choices as well: teacher, coach, and friend.

I love how Paper Pumpkin has such a range of material in its kits. In this one we have cardstock, vellum, ribbon, sequins, die cuts, stitched watercoloured panels and stamps! And a range of adhesives are also included as well as ink.

Although it's too late to subscribe now, I'm excited for the next kit. It is a fall kit with a dual purpose. For those who love autumn decor and thanksgiving there are projects with that in mind, while for those who love Halloween, there is just enough spooky to make some treat containers! You can't please everyone, but Paper Pumpkin is really trying to!

Even if you missed out on the September kit, you still have gobs of time to subscribe to this one:

And if you subscribe to October's kit, you'll then have access to past kits. There is a chance you'll still be able to get September's kit that way.

To subscribe, click HERE.

If you live in Canada, and don't have a Stampin' Up! demonstrator, I'd love to be yours. I can help you with ideas, get you catalogues and provide you with Stampin' Up products. You can leave a message in the comments or contact me using any of the methods listed in the right side bar at the top of the page. You can shop with me from anywhere in Canada by clicking on the SHOP NOW button in the top menu or clicking on any of products below from my Online Store.

Product List

One year Prepaid Paper Pumpkin Subscription [137861] $300.00

6-Month Prepaid Paper Pumpkin Subscription [137860] $158.00

3-Month Prepaid Paper Pumpkin Subscription [137859] $82.50

1-Month Prepaid Paper Pumpkin Subscription [137858] $28.00

The Gang's All Meer for Freshly Made Sketches

A funny thing happened on the way to the Craft Retreat! As you may know I was planning a fund raising 1 day crop this past Saturday - right about when the whole COVID-19 virus issue heated up! We had been advised that gatherings of less than 250 people were still okay, and as we were only 32, well below the target number set by the Center for Disease Control, we decided to go ahead, with precautions. We gave an out for anyone who felt uncomfortable attending and also asked that anyone who felt unwell not attend. I was able to offer a partial refund plus all the treats, Swag Bags and make & takes. There were a few who felt more comfortable staying home, but here is the amazing part: Not one of them wanted a refund. To a person, they all donated it to the cause, so we weren't out a dime! Crafters are the coolest people!

But there's more: Friday morning around 4:30 am, I woke up coughing, with a slight fever and my chest feeling a bit tight! Major dilemma! I'm running the retreat, but by my own criteria, I shouldn't be there! Do I cancel? But then the cause I'm raising the funds for would go without the badly needed money! Luckily, I was working closely with a friend from the organization, who also happened to be one of my former downlines, and she stepped up and ran the retreat beautifully, with extensive directions from me. I kept in touch by text, phone and Messenger.

BUT: all those cards I was going to get done didn't happen, because all my stamps and equipment was down at the retreat site so I had nothing to work with. I scrambled on Sunday, after getting my craft room put back together again, to get a card made for my post today.

I decided to use the layout from last week's Freshly Made Sketches' Challenge:

I wanted to make thank you cards for our caterer and for Kim, who took over for me. And I wanted to use "The Gang's All Meer" which is kind of ironic, I guess, since we are all now practicing "Social Distancing"!

Here's my entry:

• It's a fairly simple card to fit the layout. I used Sahara Sand for a card base to match the desert-like feel of this stamp set. I paired that with Old Olive that I would use for a cactus in the desert, and added a strip of Tropical Oasis Designer Series Paper for some texture and a good base for those cute little meerkats to stand on!
• I stamped the meerkats in Soft Suede ink and coloured them in with the Crumb Cake Stampin' Blends Marker Combo, with a little Light Pink Pirouette (retired) for their cheeks. I keep the Light Pink Pirouette around for just that purpose, as Flirty Flamingo is too bright to be subtle enough. After outlining them all with Light Smoky Slate, I fussy cut them out  and mounted them on the card front using Dimensionals.
• The top sentiment is from the Woven Heirlooms stamp set in the Annual Catalogue, while the bottom one, tucked under the DSP on Old Olive paper, is from the Gang's All Meer itself.

• This is the version I made for Kim, who ran the Retreat for me at the last minute when I got sick. The same information applies to this one, except that the sentiment at the top is a masked version of one of the ones in The Gang's All Meer. I covered Happy Birthday at the top of it with tape when I inked it up and then removed the tape before I stamped it.

              


I don't know about you, but I've been thinking a lot about my family in the last few days as the COVID-19 crises consumes the media and changes our way of life! I love that the next Paper Pumpkin box focuses on family and telling them how much we care! As many demonstrators feel the need to cancel classes for the safety of our customers and to slow the spread of the virus, and many of our customers are self-isolating or practising social distancing, we need things to do - often with our kids or grandkids- to keep everyone busy and happy. A Paper Pumpkin subscription is the perfect solution! It has an affordable price point - $30 a month which includes shipping, it is all inclusive with everything you need right in the box, it's easy enough for you to do with your kids, but there's lots of alternative ideas to give you more of a challenge if you want it, it's delivered right to your door every month, and it's easy to stop and start your subscription when you want, if money gets tight!

Sound like something that could solve your crafting problems in the next few weeks? Here's where you can find out more and subscribe: Paper Pumpkin

If you live in Canada, and don't have a Stampin' Up! demonstrator, I'd love to be yours. I can help you with ideas, get you catalogues and provide you with Stampin' Up products. You can leave a message in the comments or contact me using any of the methods listed in the right side bar at the top of the page. You can shop with me from anywhere in Canada by clicking on the SHOP NOW button in the top menu or clicking on any of products below from my OnLine Store.

Product List

The Gang's All Meer Cling Stamp Set (English) [152294] $0.00	Woven Heirlooms Cling Stamp Set [149306] $33.00	Tropical Oasis Designer Series Paper [151252] $15.75	Sahara Sand 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [121043] $12.00	Old Olive 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [100702] $12.00
Whisper White 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [100730] $13.25	Soft Suede Classic Stampin' Pad [147115] $10.25	Old Olive Classic Stampin' Pad [147090] $10.25	Crumb Cake Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack [144601] $12.00	Old Olive Stampin' Blends Markers Combo Pack [144597] $12.00
Smoky Slate Light Stampin' Blends Marker [145054] $6.00	Pink Pirouette Light Stampin' Blends Marker [144593] $6.00	Paper Snips [103579] $13.50	Multipurpose Liquid Glue [110755] $5.50	Snail Adhesive [104332] $9.50
Stampin' Dimensionals [104430] $5.50	Mini Stampin' Dimensionals [144108] $5.50

Alternate Whitewash Projects and Big Stampin' Up! News

While I have some BIG and IMPORTANT NEWS from Stampin' Up! to share with you today, I didn't want to go without sharing a couple of card samples with you. These are modified versions of the card I shared here, using the Whitewash Technique. I needed something a little less detailed than the Lovely Lattice stamp set for my Technique Night Classes to demonstrate the Whitewash technique, otherwise it would take the whole night to colour in the flowers. Instead of the retired Lovely Lattice stamp set, I got out the Humming Along Cling  Stamp Set from the Occasions Catalogue and made two versions of the card, using either the flower or the hummingbird as the image to use the technique on.

• I won't go into the details of the technique, since I already explained it in my previous post here. 
• Both cards feature a Crumb Cake base with a background layer embossed with the retired Country Floral 3D embossing folder. The hummingbird uses a Coastal Cabana background, while the flower uses a Petal Pink one.
• The main image is embossed in White Stampin' Emboss Powder on a Crumb Cake panel die cut with the Rectangle Stitched dies.
• The hummingbird is coloured with Mango Melody, Granny Apple Green, Bermuda Bay, Coastal Cabana, Lemon Lime Twist, and Shaded Spruce. The flower uses Mango Melody, Flirty Flamingo and Mossy Meadow. These are blended with a Blender Pen over the Craft White ink. See the instructions on my previous post here.
• The vellum rectangle is also die cut with a Rectangle Stitched die and the sentiment from Strong & Beautiful is heat embossed using White Stampin' Emboss Powder. Metallic Pearls finish off both designs.

The BIG NEWS from Stampin' Up! today involves a change in the company that supplies our dies and embossing folders, as well as our die cutting machine. Stampin' Up! will be changing that starting with the new Annual Catalogue, actually with our pre-orders, after using up current stock. We won't have a die cutting machine in the 2019 - 2020 Annual Catalogue. This is a temporary situation, until Stampin' Up! has secured a quality replacement but there is no time line on that. 

We will be using a different manufacturer for our dies and embossing folders and they will be slightly thinner, but still strong and high quality. Until we have a replacement die cutting machine to work with them, they will still work with all currently popular die cutting machines, but may require a shim to augment the thickness of the "sandwich" when it is rolled through the machine. It is likely only that a piece of cardstock is all that will be needed in that regard, although all machines have unique pressures.

The other news is that Stampin' Up! will be discontinuing it's Stampin' Trimmer and will not have a replacement in time for the new Annual Catalogue, although there is one in the works. But again there is not a timeline for it's introduction yet. Stampin' Up! will continue to carry the replacement blades until the inventory runs out. Right now there is a 3 package limit per customer/demonstrator. Starting April 15th, there will be a 6 package limit. Stampin' Up! has ordered an inventory that they would normally order for a 6 month period, but that will likely go quickly and they may be unorderable from time to time. Stampin' Up! will continue to get periodic shipments of blades from the manufacturer up until September, and then when they are gone, they are gone. So you'll want to stock up.

Last Day to subscribe to get this package! Click on this link.

This is going fast! The open cube is now sold out and not orderable until July 1st! If you want to order some of this, better do it soon!

Click on the links below to take you to my On-Line Store, where you can read about, look at, and purchase if you wish, the products used to make this card today.

Product List

Humming Along Cling Stamp Set [148758] $27.00	Humming Along Cling Bundle [150621] $57.50	Strong & Beautiful Cling Stamp Set [148732] $34.00	Vellum 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [101856] $12.25	Crumb Cake 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [120953] $11.50
Coastal Cabana 8-1/2" X 11" Card Stock [131297] $11.50	Petal Pink 8-1/2" X 11" Cardstock [146985] $11.50	Versamark Pad [102283] $12.25	Uninked Stampin’ Craft Pad & Whisper White Refill [147277] $13.00	White Stampin' Emboss Powder [109132] $6.75
Brights Stampin' Write Markers [147157] $40.00	Neutrals Stampin' Write Markers [147158] $40.00	Regals Stampin' Write Markers [147155] $40.00	2017-2019 In Color Stampin' Write Markers [144033] $20.00	Metallic Pearls [146282] $9.50
Aqua Painters [103954] $23.00	Blender Pens [102845] $16.25	Embossing Buddy [103083] $8.25	Heat Tool [129053] $41.00	Rectangle Stitched Framelits Dies [148551] $48.00
*Country Floral Dynamic Textured Impressions Embossing Folder [149698] $0.00	Liquid Multipurpose Glue [110755] $5.50	Stampin' Dimensionals [104430] $5.50	Glue Dots [103683] $7.25

*No longer available