Unfortunately global shipping issues caused kits to arrive late at Stampin’ Up! and domestic mailing delays have compounded the problem. So instead of Valentines I thought it would be useful to show this kit’s year-round versatility.

HUGS FOR A BABY

For my first project I thought the hearts and XOXO motif would make a great baby card. In addition, by avoiding the pink parts of the Kisses & Hugs kit I could make it gender-neutral too.

I began by using my Paper Trimmer to cut and score some Thick Very Vanilla Card. Then I folded it along the scored line and sharpened the crease with a Bone Folder to create a card base.

Next I took one of the bright pink envelopes from the kit. After trimming a tiny bit off the left and right edges I was able to open it up to reveal the amazing gold foil design on the inside. With the envelope opened up I then cut off the front section.

Using Multipurpose Liquid Glue (Tombow) I attached the pink side of the cut piece cut onto the flap of a Very Vanilla Medium Envelope. Then with my Paper Snips I trimmed off the excess using the edge of the flap as a guide. Now my plain Very Vanilla envelope looked very special indeed, and I’d use the left over piece later.

Next from the kit I took a large white heart. For my sentiment I turned to a new stamp set called Celebrating You. This 16 piece sentiment only set is great for lots of occasions but I chose “Welcome little one”. Then using the Gray Granite ink spot received in the kit I stamped the sentiment in the centre of the heart.

SIMPLE LAYERS

Now I had a better idea of how I wanted the card to look and I began by taking a vellum heart from the kit and running it through a crimping tool. Then using liquid glue I fixed the heart-shaped sentiment piece on top. I finished off the sentiment with three self-adhesive iridescent sequins from the kit and set it aside.

For the background layer and inside the card I first cut two 4″ x 5-1/4″ pieces of Very Vanilla Card. Then from the XOXO piece trimmed off the Very Vanilla Envelope flap I cut two strips, each 7/8″ x 4″. Using liquid glue I attached one strip across the centre of a Very Vanilla layer. The second strip was glued near to the top of the other layer and then fixed inside the card base.

To finish the card I used Stampin’ Dimensionals to add the second Very Vanilla layer to the front of the card base. Then in the centre of the layer I used more Stampin’ Dimensionals to attach the assembled heart focal piece. In no time at all my gender-neutral baby card was done.

GET WELL PLANT STAKE

My second alternate project came about as I was playing with one of the heart-shaped tri-fold cards from the kit. It occurred to me that this piece didn’t have to be folded accordian-style and that gave me an idea. So I placed the card onto my Paper Trimmer and using the scoring blade scored down the centre of each heart.

Once the card was scored I folded the hearts along the scored line so the printed side was inside. After opening the card face down on my desk I put liquid glue around the right half of each heart. Next I found a 7″ wooden coffee stirrer and glued that beside the fold line on the centre heart. Then I folded over the hearts sticking the right half of one to the left half of the next. Now I had a three-sided design on a stick.

This Very Vanilla and gold card base already had the XOXO design in gold foil, but I wanted to add a second sentiment. For this I turned to another sentiment only stamp set called Through It Together. I chose a simple “Get well soon” and using Gray Granite ink stamped it onto the small square printed piece from the Kisses & Hugs kit.

To attach the sentiment to my inverted tri-fold hearts I cut two small waste edge pieces from the sheet with the printed square. Then I folded the strips in half and glued them to the back of the sentiment close to the right and left edges. Then with more liquid glue I simply attached the other half of the strips either side of the fold on the dotted heart. With that the plant stake was done and ready to go into a plant for gifting

NEXT MONTH

You still have time to subscribe to Paper Pumpkin to get the February kit called Safari Celebration. This all-inclusive kit will contain enough supplies to create nine A2 cards with coordinating envelopes (3 each of 3 designs).  Plus an exclusive two-step photopolymer stamp set and Rich Razzleberry Stampin’ Spot that you can carry on using long after everything else has been used up.

To get the Safari Celebration kit make sure you subscribe to Paper Pumpkin by February 10th.

On Tuesday it was announced that the price of the Paper Pumpkin kits will be increasing with effect from March 1st. If you have a month-to-month subscription you will see this increase with effect from the March kit. For Canadian subscribers the cost of the kit will go up to $32.50 plus tax (shipping is already included).

If you prefer to pay in advance for a pre-paid subscription you can lock in the old price if you order your prepaid code(s) by February 28th. Simply order and pay for your pre-paid codes via my online store and, depending on the value of your order, you may also qualify for free Sale-A-Bration items too! Please note that pre-paid codes are processed as any other catalogue item and incur a minimum 10% shipping charge at the point of purchase. Once pre-paid codes have been purchased no further costs are incurred or charged even when there is a price increase.

MORE KISSES & HUGS

In case you missed it you’ll find my other alternate card project in my blog post Family pride with kisses & hugs.

Now for lots more project ideas using the Kisses & Hugs kit please make sure you visit the blogs from other members of the A Paper Pumpkin Thing team. You are currently at #2 – Tracy Elsom.

PRODUCT LIST

Did you notice that I avoided using the stamp set that came in the Kisses & Hugs kit? If you missed the Kisses & Hugs Paper Pumpkin kit you can still order the Kisses & Hugs Refill Kit. The refill kit does not include the ink spot and exclusive Kisses & Hugs Stamp Set so at $13CDN it’s cheaper than the full kit. What it does include is a complete set of the consumable items, enough to make another 10 tri-fold cards with envelopes. However to order you must be an active Paper Pumpkin subscriber. If you’re not, simply subscribe to Paper Pumpkin, then place your order for the refill. Once that’s done you can go back into your Paper Pumpkin account and unsubscribe if you want.

Here are links to all the other products I used to create my alternate projects.