It’s no secret that I love my Paper Pumpkin subscription. Every month I get a box full of prepared pieces and instructions to enable me to make gorgeous projects. If I loved my Paper Pumpkin before, I’m besotted now. Just recently Stampin’ Up! have raised the bar again by coordinating the kit projects with products from the catalogue. In May, we were sent the Hugs from Shelli Kit which coordinated with the Bird Ballad Suite and as usual I’m still playing with pieces from the kit weeks later. So taking advantage of the product coordination I made a gift card holder and tag from one of the notecard bases.

TAKE ONE NOTECARD

I love the floral design on this notecard from the Hugs from Shelli kit. What’s more, when I run out I could recreate my own using the Very Vanilla Notecards & Envelopes and stamps from the Free As A Bird Stamp Set.

Since the retirement of the Envelope Punch Board, and before that the Gift Card Envelope and Tags Framelits, I’ve been looking for an alternate method for making gift card holders. Now I’ve come up with one so easy that you’ll want to make a stack of them.

To show you just how easy it is to make the basic gift card holder, I created this short video.

So as you can see from the video, using one 3-1/2″ x 5″ notecard I can create a gift card envelope and a tag.

After I’d finished filming I did grab a 1″ Circle Punch to add a notch at the open end of the gift card holder.

FREE AS A BIRD COORDINATION

Today’s post is all about coordination and so to complete the projects I pulled out the Free As A Bird Stamp Set.

On some Very Vanilla Card I used Old Olive ink to stamp the “Your friendship means the world to me” sentiment. Then I punched it out using the Pretty Label Punch.

Next I stamped the leaf image onto Very Vanilla Card twice using Old Olive ink. Finally I stamped the large and small flowers with Blushing Bride ink.

To colour the stamped images I decided to use a technique I haven’t used in ages. I simply took a Sponge Dauber and gently tapped the ink onto the stamped images. This created a subtle texture and variation in the colour without me even having to think about it.

Once I’d finished colouring I decided to add a little detail to the flowers using writing tip of a Basic Black Stampin’ Write Marker. Then with all the colouring complete I cut out the images using Paper Snips.

To complete the gift card holder I used Multipurpose Liquid Glue (Tombow) to attach the leaves and flowers to the sentiment. Then I mounted the finished piece onto the front of the gift card holder with Stampin’ Dimensionals.

TIME FOR THE TAG

Next I turned to the ‘off-cut’ from the notecard, for the ultimate in project coordination.

I began by trimming 1/2″ of the front of the tag. Then I added a line of three Pearl Basic Jewels along the bottom of the back section.

Next I punched a small oval hole at the folded end using the Detailed Trio Punch. I threaded a piece of Crumb Cake twine from the Nature’s Twine pack through the hole, and tied it in a simple knot.

Going back to the Free As A Bird Stamp Set, I once again used Old Olive ink to stamp two sets of leaves on Very Vanilla Card. I coloured the leaves as before using a Sponge Dauber and then cut them out.

This time I chose the ‘Thanks for being you” sentiment, but still stamped it in Old Olive ink onto Very Vanilla Card. To keep with the project coordination I punched out the sentiment with the Pretty Label Punch.

That just left the bird to do.

This time I used Sahara Sand ink to stamp the bird onto Very Vanilla Card. Then with Sponge Daubers I coloured in the image using Rococo Rose and Sahara Sand ink. With that done I used Paper Snips to cut it out and I was ready to finish assembling my tag.

I began by using liquid glue to attach the two leaf sections to the punched sentiment. Then with Stampin’ Dimensionals I added the bird on top. Finally I used more Stampin’ Dimensionals to fix the completed sentiment to the front of the gift tag.

THE COORDINATION CONTINUES

While the Hugs from Shelli kit is no longer available, the coordination theme continues with Paper Pumpkin program.

If you subscribe today, you’ll receive the July kit which we know will contain all the prepared materials you need to create 9 full-size cards. This month the coordination is on steroids with three different product suites from the catalogue coming into play. First the Come Sail Away suite, second the Garden Lane suite and finally the Woven Threads suite. So that’s 3 cards for each one of the three suites.

Now just to be clear, coordination means just that, coordination. The products in the box are not things you can buy from the catalogue. They coordinate with the suites, giving you even more design options. If previous kits are anything to go by, you’ll even have bits left over from the kit to use alongside the catalogue products.

Of course the whole point of Paper Pumpkin is that the exact contents of the box are meant to be a surprise. This can be an issue for some people, but it doesn’t have to be. You see Stampin’ Up! guarantees that you will be happy with your kit. If not, contact them (or me) and they’ll put it right. So as always my recommendation is subscribe today, get the box and then decide if you like it. Don’t be one of the many people who decide they love a kit after the deadline to subscribe has passed.

If you like any of the three suites mentioned, you need to subscribe today. If you subscribe tomorrow you’ll have missed the cut-off and will have to wait until the August kit ships around August 15th. I don’t yet know anything about the August kit, but it won’t be the one with triple coordination.

PRODUCT LIST

As I mentioned, today’s projects coordinate with the May 2019 Paper Pumpkin kit. If Stampin’ Up! have some kits left over they will likely make them available for sale to existing Paper Pumpkin subscribers in August. If they do, I don’t think they will last long so I’ll post any announcement on my Papercraft With Me Facebook page as soon as it happens.

Meanwhile here’s the list of everything else I used to create the gift card holder and tag. Remember though, you could create your own version of the notecard using the Free As A Bird Stamp Set.

UPDATE 2020: Sadly the following products have retired and are no longer available from Stampin’ Up!

• Nature’s Twine
• 1″ Circle Punch
• Pretty Label Punch