Didja subscribe to My Paper Pumpkin?  Didja?

Well, I did, and it took me way too long to crack it open…I won’t bother you with the reasons because they’re not very good ones.  To be honest, I wasn’t all that thrilled with the idea of a kit anyway.  I am a Bona Fide Stampin’ Up! Independent Demonstrator! I don’t need a kit!!  I MAKE kits!!!

For the record, I was wrong, 100% wrong.  I LOVED MY PUMPKIN!  Loved the stamps, loved the papers, loved their concept card, and loved creating my own variations!  I was giggling and humming when I put these together, and in case you need to ask, the answer is yes, that’s a very good sign.

Here’s the My Paper Pumpkin card that you get when you follow their directions:

Actually, this is the card you get when you mess up when you are following their directions.  I DROPPED the “hey there, friend” stamp when I was placing it on the card front, and it smudged.  I sat there looking at it as though it had betrayed me (when in fact, I had betrayed it.)  But Stampin’ Up! was clearly a step ahead of me and provided those little random dot things.  They are clearly intended to cover up messes, so that’s how I used them.

I almost never make more than one of the same card and I was curious to see what I could do with the project pieces.  I made three additional cards using some or all of the Paper Pumpkin supplies.

A few Basic Grey circles, some Tempting Turqoise ink, my Uniball white gel pen, a snip of 1/8 inch Daffodil taffeta ribbon, some Pewter Embossing Powder (you NEED this) and some bling were all added into the mix for this card.  The stamps are You Rule from the Spring Catalog.

I wanted a banner, so I cut the circle die cut like a pizza and layered it on Daffodil Delight.  The letters and the accents on the word birthday are from our new Designer Typeset Polymer stamp set – so easy to use – and the elephant and word Birthday are from You’re Amazing.

I think this card needs a little something, but it was the last card of the evening and I think I was out of mojo.  I’ll stare at it a while and something will come up.

This last one is my favorite:

That “Hey There, Friend” sentiment is going to get a lot of use in my studio!

You can have this same kit – just log into My Paper Pumpkin to sign up.  The Welcome kit is the first month’s kit for every new subscriber, and you can manage your subscription in case you’ll be away for a month and want to put a hold on your kit.  Stampin’ Up! has told us that they will not be previewing the kits, and each kit will be an exclusive offer – meaning if you miss it, it’s gone.  You need to commit by the 10th of each month to receive the current kit – don’t put it off, ok?