Yes, it’s possible! When I received my February 2018 Paper Pumpkin kit, I was disappointed in the bland colors. And the flowery tags and embellishment didn’t seem very useable for masculine cards. If you have followed me you know I love bright, fun colors or at least soft, but lots of color. This kit had small pieces of wildflower tags, but the rest was in Sahara Sand and I felt it didn’t do justice to the possibilities of this kit. Now, I admit it has taken me some time to play with this kit (only a year, not too bad for me-LOL). Once I got started I knew I had to add more color and to also figure out a way to use some of the kit for masculine cards.
Today I’m sharing two of my masculine card creations (“non-flowery” cards since sometimes that’s what you need). I focused on the words, not the flower tags. My first one started with a similar template I used in this post. In fact, I pulled a piece of the striped envelope as a layer. I used Soft Sky card stock, I was so sad when it retired, but I kept my stash and it works great with Sahara Sand.
I cut one of the overlays in half vertically to use along with a piece of the striped envelope from the May-2017 kit. I used my Stitched Shapes square dies to create the frame for the greeting. If you don’t have this set of dies, you need them! They add so much to simple squares, circles and ovals with the stitched detail – see them here. I stamped the “thank you” in Soft Suede ink in two steps since the stamped greeting was all on one line. I used the small vellum tag to stamp the “so much” and tucked it in under the top frame. Bows tend not to be a guy thing, but I love using them. So instead I created a knot from my retired Jute twine and frayed the ends. It was fairly quick and easy card to create.
On my second card I was determined to use the Sahara Sand card base and stick with neutral colors. But I did add a pop of color with the Not Quite Navy striped grosgrain ribbon under the tags.
This time I used the Stitched Nested Labels (another wonderful set to have!) to create the tags. (You should take a look at all the stitched dies that are now available, they add so much to a project!) I tried several combinations of browns and ended with Soft Suede and Sahara Sand. I also used a layer of Sahara Sand and a piece of retired Naturals card stock that Stampin’ Up! used to carry – yes, I have a vast stash of papers! The tag looked a little bare so I added two of the Urban Underground metallic hexagons (wish I had more of these!).
What do you think? Did I succeed in creating two masculine cards from the Wildflower Wishes Paper Pumpkin kit? I hope I’ve inspired you to pull out your unused Paper Pumpkin kits and take a fresh look! And, if you’re not a Paper Pumpkin kit subscriber, consider trying it for a month! March is our 7th anniversary and the kit includes an additional free stamp set.
Let me know what you think! Have you tried going back to your old, unused Paper Pumpkin kits to create some fun projects? Thanks for stopping by today and happy stamping!
Janice B at JB Stamper
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