Lots of alternatives made using the December Paper Pumpkin kit.  As usual, I cut down some of the bases and grabbed some extra card stock allowing me to make a lot more cards from one kit. 

Cutting these little critters apart and then letting them hug made for a cute alternative use! 

A simple design but the background paper and the subtle leaves on the stitched circle make it a pretty one.  

Interested in joining Paper Pumpkin and getting your own kit each month?  Click here to check it out! 

I had a lot of fun using this bundle. 

This card is a CASE straight from the mini catalog.  Quick, easy and cute!  I love the colors.  

I always enjoy this fun fold.  The key is lining up the bottom piece with the bottom edge of the base.  AND making sure you only put adhesive on the parts that will be adhered to the top and bottom!  Not in the middle. 

A little monochromatic color scheme on this one.  I enjoyed pairing Purple Posy with Highland Heather.  Tip: If you don't have the ink to match your card stock for the tone on tone you can use Versamark.  

I saw a few different examples of this one so I'm not sure who to give original credit to but this one is similar to Debbie Henderson's. I love using sets in unintended ways.  

Which is your favorite?

I had so much fun with this class.  If you are interested in purchasing the the PDF ($10) email me.  It offers directions for four cards featuring this fun suite. 

The felt flowers add so much to the cards.  My tip is to use a glue dot to adhere them! Put the dot on your paper, peel the back, and add the felt piece to the card. 

The prickly pieces die adds so much to this card.  It's a fun way to add dimension. 

This card was CASEd from the catalog.  Don't forget to use our catalogs for your ideas.  Nothing wrong with CASEing straight from the pages. 

 A little mixing of the Designer Series Papers is fun to do.  Don't miss the fact that you can die cut some of the pieces straight from the Designer Series Paper! No need to fussy cut. 

A few more favorites I hate to see go! 

Ornate Style is one of my favorite sets to color with blends. The Designer Series Paper is pretty amazing too and is on sale! 

I love the sayings in the Butterfly Gala especially this one. 

I had fun making this card.  I stuck to black and white for creating my own background paper.  Adding just a pop of color on the umbrella.  Quick, easy and cute! 

You'll also notice a theme--I use the Stitched Shape circles on ALL my cards! I can't believe they are going away.  Get some! 

It's always so hard to say goodbye to Stampin' Up! products but these are really hard!  Don't miss these great items and these great prices.  While supplies last! 

The Apple Builder punch is my go to for teacher cards and gifts.  It's also great for fall items! You can't beat the sale price either--it's on sale 60% off making it only $7.20! This is a staple to have in your collection. 

Bloom and Grow is another favorite.  It's such a fun set to color with Blends.  The dies are also on sale! They are only $8.25!  

Band Together is one that I love to color as well.  Plus the coordinating Detailed Bands Dies are fun to work.  They are also on sale for $15.20!

My March Paper Pumpkin arrived a few days ago and I was excited to open and start creating.  This month featured a bonus free gift--four stencils and a sponge.  

As usual, the first thing I did was make one of each card and then cut apart one of each base.  It's my tradition with kits! 

I love the masks we got this month.  Keep reading for some tips on using them.  Another idea--don't be afraid to cut the envelope liners!  They are so pretty this month and they work great on a card. 

This one is so simple!  I cut down the front of the card, matted with Pretty Peacock card stock and adhered to a Basic White base. The sentiment included in this month's kit was a perfect size to add to the bottom of the card. 

Here's another card made with the envelope liner! I also used some of the scrap pieces from cutting down the bases to add some color strips to the front.  Stamp the flowers off in Calypso Coral and add a sentiment to finish the card.

If you've never used stencils and sponges I have a few tips.  
First: you can stretch the use of the sponge by cutting it into pieces.  I cut it up like a pie! 
Second: you can use pieces of card stock stapled to the end to show you what color you used on each piece. 
Third: painters tape can be a great way to lightly hold a mask in place while you sponge. 

I love coloring with Blends but I am usually coloring a stamped image.  Here is another idea for how to use them to create a beautiful rainbow striped background! 

I grabbed a group of colors (both light and dark) that I thought would look good together.  These colors said spring to me!

I then used each marker to draw a couple of lines across a piece of Basic White card stock to create a striped rainbow. I didn't worry about perfectly straight lines or about coloring over the color before.  Both of those add to the look I was going for. 

After I was done I used the Pierced Blooms Dies to cut out flowers and leaves to create this Mother's Day Card. 

For this card I cut the striped piece down to fit the front of my card and created a basic, but eye catching, card! Adding a little bling with the Playing With Pattern Resin Dots was the perfect final touch. 

Each month I try to get together with my team to do some crafting and chatting.  Most months I send the pieces for a card to each so that we have a project to work on together. 

​This month I sent each pieces of our Butterfly Bijou Designer Series Paper and matching card stock so everyone could create a card to share.  

For my card I cut three 1 1/2 by 3 in strips to use on my card.  A simple but fun layout. 

This was one of the first bundles I had to have from the 20-21 Annual Catalog.  I'm a huge sunflower fan anyway but these stamps and dies are too pretty to pass up! 

Fun folds are not my usual go to but I enjoyed making this card. Pairing the dies with the Flowers for Every Season Designer Series Paper is a perfect combination. 

Somewhere along the way I saw a color block card like this and had to create one! I love using the bright vibrant colors with the black ink. This was a great way to show off the 20-22 In Colors.  

This spotlight technique is another one I enjoy doing but often forget about.  It shows off the coloring on the flower so nicely.  I stamped the image on my white card stock first and used Blends to color it.  Then I used the Stitched So Sweetly Dies to cut out the middle of the image. Finally I adhered it to a black card stock Stitched So Sweetly die cut one size larger. 

I can't get enough of these beautiful butterflies.  The paper especially!

​The butterflies used in my samples are cut from a piece of the Designer Series Paper using the large die. Quick and easy which is my way of stamping. 

For a quick and easy card design considering cutting down pieces using the following:
Cut at 4 in.  Then turn the 4 x 6 piece and cut in 1/2 to get two 4 x 3 pieces. 

Those layered on a solid cardstock (I used black in my samples) cut at 4 1/4 x 3 1/4 let you create cards quickly and use the Designer Series Paper as the focal point.  

The 2 in strip left from the idea above works great on a card like this one!

White embossing on a black card stock gives such a bold look to your sentiment.