November, and the Last Paper Pumpkin

Hoping that all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving! The night of Thanksgiving was always the beginning of the
Christmas season in my house while growing up, so I waited until today to post this month's Paper Pumpkin since it was a Christmas card.

Before I go into it, I wanted to let you know that this will be my final month of participating in Paper Pumpkin. It's a great concept, but I don't think it is being executed in an effective way. There are some really amazing kits that Stampin' Up is coming out with that give you a much better bang for your buck. Instead of paying $20 for 4 cards, you can buy the Everyday Occasions kit for $30 and have enough materials to make 20 cards for a variety of occasions.

BUT...this month was a really cute card so here it goes!

 The "Noel" piece on the flag was pre-printed. The two stamps you received were the star and the scripty "Wishing You A Merry Christmas" stamp across the bottom. I love the star garland! Sparkly and cute. So all you had to do to assemble the cards was stamp the star and gretting, wrap the garland around the flag, then attach that to the striped base layer. Easy and cute. The four cards are a welcomed addition to help me cover my list of family and friends that I want to send cards to this year!

Everyday Occasions Card Kit

This kit is hands down the best thing I could recommend someone new to card making to buy. For $30 you get stamps and materials to make 20 different cards. They are so easy, so cute, and so affordable. And it all comes in a box to contain your crafting mess, BONUS!

Once you pull out all of the materials you are looking at a LOT of options as far as paper products:

This picture gives a bit of an overview of the different colors, patterns, and sizes of the cards and embellishments that ALL come with the kit. In fact the only thing not included is the adhesive snail and my two TV remotes. You also get a set of stamps for a variety of common things you might need a card for:

These can obviously be used for ANY card or scrapbook, not just with this kit. Another plus!

With all of the options you can create gorgeous cards for lots of different occasions, and it also lets you experiment with a wide variety of products that Stampin' Up! sells on a regular basis. Here are just a few examples of some cards I threw together using the Everyday Occasions Kit.

The nice part is, if you don't feel confident designing your own, they give you a pamphlet with a lot of great "inspiration" cards to help guide you through the process.

I LOVE THIS KIT! I really can't stress enough how easy this makes putting together a lot of really good looking cards. You get a variety of items at an amazing price, and it makes paper crafting so easy and accessible to everyone! $30 = 20 cards plus stamps you can use again and again.

It really is an amazing deal and the best way for someone new to start a new hobby. They are only selling a limited amount of these so get your orders in early for the holidays!

Halloween Tricks and Treats

I've done a few Halloween posts already, but I am digging the holiday stuff and since my house is not decorated I might as well continue to decorate the blog with holiday themed stuff, right? Right.

PLUS...and this is exciting. I did my very first home party last week! I looked like Mary Poppins carrying around all of my stamp stuff in ginormous bags, but I had everything I needed and it went really well. The only person who had stamped before was the hostess, so I wanted to show how easy it was to make some really good looking stuff. I planned the following card and treat bag:

First, the card. The base is just white card stock, with a few layers of the AWESOME Witches Brew Designer Series Paper. I love the burlap ribbon, it just adds such an earthy but simple texture to anything you put it on! We used the handy dandy Hexagonal Punch for that nice flagging on the bottom. The only stamp on it is from the Halloween Bash set, and we did a a second layer for "Halloween" in orange to make it pop a bit. I always encourage people to take "artistic liberties" with my inspiration designs, I think it really helps people to see how easy designing a card can be. The paper is printed on both sides so it gives people lots of options. And this group NAILED IT! Look at all the different ways they put this card together:

I was so glad they had fun with it. It's always really great to see what other people create, especially when they mold it into their vision! Great job for a group of newbies.

The treat bag was simple but makes a bit of candy (or, almonds for those avoiding sugar) look much fancier and fun.

 Again, we just used some of that same Witches Brew DSP for the base and made use of three different punches for the layers. The "trick of treat" tag is from the Tags 4 You set in the holiday catalog and has options for Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Valentines Day. It also has that lovely corresponding punch, which makes it super easy to use for whatever holiday you choose. Hah that rhymed! (PS - You can get that whole bundle for $26.96 in clear and $30.95 in wood. Worth it!) I finished it off with a little twine tied around the top (Life lesson: attached the twine BEFORE you staple the tag to the bag. Lesson learned.)

Simple Starter Series: Happy Hour

Here is another one-set creation from the Happy Hour set. I'm a fan of wine. And martinis (with olives). And champagne. And - well, you get the drift. This set was on my "want" list for a while and I decided to go for it at my last party. It's cute and versatile. There are actually 17 different stamps in the set, which is a lot compared to most sets. There are the five "drinks of choice" with seven drink decorations and five greetings that you can choose from. Here is a screen shot of all of the different images:

So here are two cards that I have made so far with this set. I'm sure I will have plenty of others in the future but wanted to show it off now.

We just did this last night at a class. First the all-black image is stamped onto the white card stock. We used makers to color in the "liquid" on a second sheet of scrap paper and then cut out the "liquid" by hand. Adhere the colored drinks over the original black image and you have four cups filled with color. You could very easily step this up by adding bling, or by framing the drinks with some more colored card stock.

The second card I was shooting for a black/white/red-retro-mad men esque theme:

This was so simple. Black ink pad, red marker, and some washi tape. Just an easy and fun card to send to a friend to say hi, even if you can't meet in person for happy hour.

This set sells in wood for $29.95 and clear mount is $21.95. It also comes in French if you are feeling particularly fancy. Au revoir, mes amis!

Paper Pumpkin: October

This month's Paper Pumpkin speaks to me. It tells me it is ok to be a Type-A, overachieving, list-making person. In fact, it celebrates those things. I took enough time this month to document how lovely it looked when it arrived. Nicely gift wrapped and adorable.

 But once I opened it up I was pretty thrilled to see this month's project:

If it weren't for my planner that I use at work, I would forget to do most things. To-do lists are how I get through my life on a daily basis. And this one is so cute! Again, everything you need is included with Paper Pumpkin including the green ink pad (except adhesive, if it's even needed which is was not for this). Here is a closer shot of the three stamps it came with:

These would be great to use again if you wanted to add some personality to a set of note cards or post-it's, or decorating a notebook or planner. 

Paper Pumpkin is an all-in-one craft kit delivered to your door once a month for and for only $20 has everything you need to complete a project. Sometimes it's a card, other months may be a project like this one. If you are interested in signing up go to https://mypaperpumpkin.com/en/ and everything can be done there. If you would be so kind as to list me, Melissa Solomon, as your demonstrator, it would be much appreciated : )

Household Halloween Decorations

While most of the time I am creating cards, there are also many other options to use Stampin' Up products for. Scrapbooking, party decorations, and home and holiday decor. Here are two projects that I did for Halloween. The first is SUPER easy. Like, just grab two markers and color kind of easy. The second is a little more complex but isn't as complicated as it looks.

Here is the first one:

This is one full sheet of the 12x12 Witches Brew Designer Series Paper as it comes on the left. To create a more colorful design you simply take a few markers and color in whatever spots you want. You don't even have to stay inside the lines because the black background covers your mistakes! Easy and cute. I just bought a cheap record frame and put it in there and it now greets people next to my card tree in my entry.

The second project is smaller, but involves more effort.

 The background squares are all cut 2x2. I used the Toil and Trouble set as well as Halloween Bash for all of the stamped pieces. The most fun thing about a piece like this is that you can play around with whatever embellishments and punches you have at your disposal to create an individual design. I threw in some washi tape, and a little texture with the reptile skin and chevron embossing folders. Anything I didn't have a punch or a framelits for, I just cut by hand with good old fashioned scissors. I had a class at my house make this and even though there were new people, everyone really did well with it and went home with some great new handmade Halloween decor.

Operation: Use Up Scrap Paper

Scrap paper is quickly building around my craft table. I have, literally, at least 6 different bags going. SIX, people! And since I've been focusing my crafting efforts on all things Halloween, much of it is green, orange, purple, and black.

I find it to be a fun challenge to take those scrap pieces and see what kind of new stuff you can create with it, making sure you don't waste any of your lovely paper, and therefore your lovely money! And it forces you to come up with new designs, which is sometimes tough for me to do. This is one of the results of my personal "get rid of scrap paper" challenges:

I used two of this year's Halloween sets: Halloween Bash (text) and Toil and Trouble (skeleton). I had some skeletons lying around from another project, and a few leftover 2x3 rectangles that fit the "celebrate" stamp perfectly. The rest was from one of the six scrap bags plaguing my dining room table. The hexagon punch is great for creating the flag tips! I was so excited when I figured that out. (I'm still kind of a newbie. It's the simple things, really).

Simple Starter Series: Halloween Bash

Happy almost Halloween! I'm loving the holiday sets this year (as you will see in the rest of my posts this month). Halloween Bash is a great all in one set to highlight for Simple Starters. One stamp set, lots of options.

The background was created using Pumpkin Pie, Elegant Eggplant, and Basic Black with the ticket stamp. Add in a simple black background under  2x3 piece of white card stock with the "Celebrate" stamp. This stamp looks nice in one color, but I think it looks exceptionally cool when you change up the colors to highlight the different fonts. I also added another layer on the word "Halloween" and raised it up a bit using the Stampin Dimensionals (little adhesive foam dots) to give it a little more visual depth. 

Easy Schmeezy Christmas Cards

Alright, I know you might be having a visceral response to reading something about Christmas already. I have the same reaction when I walk into a store in September and see holiday decor out. There is a special time and place for Christmas things and those sacred laws of time and space should not be broken*!  

*Unless you're trying to make homemade cards to send to your long list of friends and family. Then Christmas season started, like...last week.

It's daunting enough to think about sending store-bought cards to all of the people I want to send them to, much less making my own. Thankfully Stampin' Up is trying to lighten that load a bit for people who want to send some homemade holiday happiness. They have multiple options in the holiday catalog that come with almost all of the materials you need to put together cute and easy Christmas cards. The set I'm highlighting is the Merry Little Christmas Simply Created set.

The kit ($9.95) comes with all of the envelopes, liners, paper, and embellishments that you will need. You will also need a stamp, ink, and adhesive. You can save some money by bundling the stamp they recommend with the set for $17.95(clear)/$19.95(wood). I personally am not a fan of sending "Christmas" specific greetings because we celebrate both Christmas and Hanukkah in our families, so I bought a different stamp that is little more "holiday generic". But both work, so that's nice to have the option.

All of the pieces are pre-cut, all you have to do is stamp, tape, and go. Honestly the hardest part was threading that piece of bakers twine through the teeny little hole in the button.

This is your finished product, complete with envelope and liners. Very cute, and more importantly very easy and affordable. If you're new to stamping and thinking you want to send out some homemade cards for the holidays, this is the way to go!

Amazing New Product Alert: Envelope Punch Board

I realized this week that I've reached a new level of stamp nerd. When my order arrived I aggressively knifed through the tape on the cardboard box, dug through layers of designer series paper, washi tape, punches, and stamp sets to excitedly pull out my most-anticipated new item: The Envelope Punch Board. Behold!

Ok, so she might not look overly exciting, BUT with this little board you can make 66 different sized envelopes out of any paper-based material you want! (Cue me, realizing what a dork I am, then embracing it). Envelope templates have intimidated me, they just seem complicated and I am very likely to mess them up and consequently waste my beautiful paper. This board changes everything.

Step 1: The Numbers
Pick which size envelope you want to make by choosing one of the dimensions listed on the handy-dandy board. You choose this by determining the size of your card.

I picked 4 1/4 x 5 1/2. Then you look to see what size you should cut your paper to in the column to the right of your card size, 8 x 8. And finally, your score line is listed as 3 1/2.

Step 2: Scoring

Line up the left hand side of the paper with the score line the board listed (3 1/2). First use the round punch to cut out a corner, and then you score along the little score line indented on the board. (Word of advice, know your scoring strength. The first time I did this I just ripped right through the paper. Sad face. Be gentle to your paper!)


Step 3: Scoring, Again

For the rest of the your scoring, just line up the score line you just made with the little finger that comes out from the left side of the punch. Punch again. Score again. Repeat until your paper looks like this:

The opposite side of the punch even has a corner rounder Sharp corners check in, but they don't check out.

Step 4 : Folding and Adhering
 At this point all you have to do is fold your finished product, glue it together, and you're done!.

The smallest size you can make fits a gift card perfectly. Again, I realize it's super nerdy to be so excited about envelopes, but it's just one more way to customize the things you create for others. I'm also excited about the prospect of using recycled materials to make envelopes. Yep, nerd for sure.

Be The Difference Initiative: International Rhino Foundation

While Stampin' Up is a pretty large and successful company, there is still a very caring and familial feel to how they operate. For a long time, they have donated time, money, and of course cards, to the Ronald McDonald House Charities. This year, they are kicking the concept up a notch and encouraging all demonstrators to apply the concept of the motto "Be The Difference" to our businesses. This could mean making cards for people in need, donating time or money, or just sharing the happiness that stamping brings us with others.

So...as you might know, my "real" job is working as a zookeeper. I absolutely love being able to work with animals and educate people about the importance of conservation. One of the causes that is close to my heart is the current rhino poaching crisis that is happening in Africa and Asia. Rhino horn is incorrectly portrayed as medicinal in many Asian countries and it sells for a higher price than gold on the black market. Over 600 rhinos were killed in South Africa alone this year and that has skyrocketed from only 13 killed in 2007. We only have 5 species left throughout the world and it is entirely possible that one or more could become extinct in our lifetime. Not our great-great grandchildren, OURS.

Sunday, September 22, is World Rhino Day. I'm taking this opportunity to announce that my resolution to "Be The Difference" is to donate 10% of my sales to the International Rhino Foundation. This is an organization that is making a tangible and important difference in the fight to save these animals, and I'm grateful for the opportunity to support them through my Stampin' Up business.

Sunset Technique

Today I'm writing about a really easy and pretty technique that you can create with just an ink pad and a sponge. Super easy and gives your cards a little more color pop.

For this first card I used one sponge and three different ink colors (Early Espresso, Daffodil Delight, and Marina Mist). I stamped my first zebra on the small, white, paper square. You will also need a second zebra stamped on a white piece of scrap that you will cut out for the top "clean zebra" layer.
Use the sponge and dab it on the ink pad to color and blend the background to your liking on the larger white square with zebra number one on it. (I find that making it a bit darker on the edges really helps it to pop and stand out against the plain white background). Once you've reached a happy place with your background, you can carefully cut out zebra number two  and adhere him (or her) directly on top of your first (and now multicolored) image. The zebra is from the Zoo Review set, and it one of my absolute favorite sets of all time, ever. Once, I attempted to hybridize the giraffe and zebra stamps form this set to create an okapi. It did not work out well.  The thank you greeting is from Sassy Salutations set, which has other greetings in that same funky script font.

 These three cards are basically the same, but I backed them with an orange frame to give them a little more life. And I used a colored pencil to highlight the grasses. I also incorporated the Pumpkin Pie ink pad (yum) into the color scheme, which adds another layer of warm, sunshiny, goodness.

You can use this technique with a lot of other sets, but I really love it with Zoo Review. It's very Lion King. The animal images are so pretty in just black and white and using the sponge sunsets brings them to life a little more while still looking natural. As always, thanks for reading! Enjoy!

Paper Pumpkin: First Month

As of this month I have a fun and exciting thing to look forward to on the 12th of every month. I finally signed up for Paper Pumpkin and I'm pretty nerdishly excited about it.

Side note: If I've lost you already, Paper Pumpkin is a monthly kit that Stampin' Up has sent to your door with everything you need to create a new project. (Ok I lied, you do need to buy adhesive.) The sets are modern looking and SO easy to make. 

The first month you sign up, everyone gets the same "starter kit" which comes with a bonus gift of a D-sized clear mount for the stamps you will receive in the following months. Opening it was like opening a present, it was wrapped so cute and nice I almost felt bad ripping that baby blue tissue paper apart. Almost. I really should have taken pictures of the card kit prior to assembling, but I was so excited that I just started making the cards immediately. I couldn't control myself. (No, I'm not being sarcastic this was my actual response to opening the package). The card at the front is the suggested design for the first kit:

Cute, right? Just a nice little greeting card. For the other three cards provided I wanted to change it up and take some "artistic liberties" with the design.

Nothing major, just changed locations and cut some paper. I seriously cannot stress how EASY this makes it for you to have some "craft time". No running to the store to get little pieces, no deciding colors or paper, and the cost is $20/month, which is much cheaper than going full blown crazy stamp lady (trust me, I'm there).

If YOU are interested in the Paper Pumpkin greatness, visit mypaperpumpkin.com
The website is very easy to use, you sign up there, you can cancel anytime, you can even skip a month if you know you'll be short on money or time! If you would be so kind as to list me, Melissa Solomon, as your demonstrator that would also be greatly appreciated. Here is one more picture of all four cards that I made from the first month's kit. Happy stamping, friends : )

Simple Starters Series: Chalk Talk

While I grew up surrounded by crazy crafting ladies, I personally am new to the game. It can be overwhelming! You feel like you immediately need lots of paper, stamps, embellishments, ink pads, and MONEY to buy it all. In keeping that in mind, I'm going to have a series on here called simple starters; pretty but simple designs that anyone can make without needing too much "stuff". Keep in mind, these can always be "stepped up" if you have the extra supplies! I'll touch on that later in the post...

This first card featured is one I had people make at my very first open house.

This card needs white paper, one stamp set, and two ink pads. And a little "bling" if you so choose. The stamp set is called "Chalk Talk" and has been once of my favorite sets to use since I've become a demonstrator.
Step 1: Stamp the yellow image (ink color is Daffodil Delight) directly on the cardstock.
Step 2: Stamp the black oval image on a second piece of paper.
Step 3: Cut out the black image by hand or cut out using the corresponding oval punch if you have it. 
Step 4: Adhere it to the card, and you're DONE.Kinda...
Step 4 1/2: The "bling" is a fairly cheap and cute way to add some visual interest to your cards, they are listed as Rhinestone Basic Jewels and only cost $4.95  for a multi-sized sheet of 50.

Now, if you feel like you want to get crazy and add some visual interest, you can always "step up" a card by adding other layers, textures, embellishments, whatever your little heart desires. See:

Voila! A little more of the Designer Series Paper and you have two totally new designs both based on the simple starter. The moral of the story: cards don't always have to be complicated to be beautiful, which is great to keep in mind if you're a newbie.

Sunshine. Happiness. Stamps.

Well, for the first post I figured I would feature a card that I love with a message that pretty much sums up why I enjoy stamping as much as I do.

The Message
Creating homemade things for other people makes me happy because it makes them happy (I hope). I grew up watching my mom create beautiful cards for her friends, and saw how people responded to making and receiving them. As we ushered in the age of facebook and text messages, it became all too easy to rely on social media for special occasions. But now it means so much to receive any token via snail mail instead of a quick, tech-based greeting! To open said parcel and find that someone has taken the time to not only plan ahead to send you the card, but they also took the time to make it?! Shut the front door!! Love. It. I have a related confession: I am a greeting card hoarder. What's that? You sent me a really nice card for my high school graduation? Chances are it still lives at my house. I love keeping cards from family and friends, it's such a wonderful and personal way to remember occasions, feelings, and friendships. I hope that when I give people cards, it brings them a little bit of happy as well.

The Card
I made this one using the "Feel Good" stamp set, which features a total of five lovely quotes in the same font. The honeycomb texture on the bottom was done with the honeycomb embossing folder. And the b-e-a-U-tiful paper is the Quatrefancy Speciality Designer Series Paper. I love this paper, the colors are so bright and fun! The paper also pairs very well with the "Mosaic Madness" stamp set and punch because the patterns correspond to one another. I didn't measure out any pieces, I just made my first triangle and let chaos take over. It's more fun like that.

Go forth and create some sunshine : )