The July Paper Pumpkin is always a kit I am excited to see. It always seems to be something special and helps to kick off the celebrations of the upcoming months. This year’s Paper Pumpkin did not disappoint! It’s a beautiful collection of floral cards featuring laser cuts to showcase the florals.

As usual, I depart from the instructions in the kit and create what has become called “Paper Pumpkin Alternatives”.  With papers, colors and elements, this beautiful, I will take a few of the cards and cut them up to create 2 cards. It’s twice the fun!

Featured below is another card version that I turned into a “fancy, fancy fold” casing an idea from Pinterest.  This card folds out to show a sentiment on the front and a space inside the card to write a note.

And here are a few more creations using this month’s Paper Pumpkin kit.

If you love this Paper Pumpkin kit, you won’t want to miss the August kit. Birthday cards seem to be the theme and there is even a fun fold design!  As well, the kit has a bonus stamp set included so you can personalize the birthday cards an age or maybe even make the card an anniversary card! We will have to see what the sentiment stamp set looks like to know more.  As always, the exact details of the Paper Pumpkin kit are a not revealed so the kit is a surprise when you get it! You just get glimpses of what may be inside.  If you like the preview below, just click on the image below to start your subscription!

If a Paper Pumpkin Subscription is not for you, then you may want to shop the latest collection of Stampin’ Up! kits and buy only when you need them. There is a full collection of kits on the website. Just click on the image below to see all the latest available kits!

What’s not to love about the Full of Life Designer Series Paper?  It has bold graphic designs on one side and beautiful water colors on the other. But every time I went to make something with this paper, I felt intimidated. I wasn’t really sure where to begin. I finally decided I just had to treat it like I would any other patterned paper and just go for it.  This is one of my results. I love the way the colors all come together in the offbeat looking collage. I used a punches for all the graphic pattern paper. No reason, really. The punches are easy and I often go to them first when creating a card.

I softened up the graphic shapes by punching out a few of the sprigs using the Bough Punch. This added a bit of interest to the side opposite the sentiment, which was punched from one of the Stylish Shapes Dies. The sentiment is from the Unbounded Love set.

The card is set off with a bit of ribbon and some of the new In Color Resin Dots.  What I love most about this card are all the colors. So, don’t be afraid to give the Full of Life paper a try! Especially if you love beautiful watercolor papers. Here is a look at all the patterns in the pack.

And here are the two pieces I used for this card.

If you haven’t played with the Full of Life DSP, I can highly recommend giving it a try.  You will find it lots of fun!

Product Used To Make This Card

I love the beautiful printed papers from Stampin’ Up!® that we call DSP(Designer Series Paper)! And I love using them on most all the cards I do. While most all the DSP’s are designed to go with a particular stamp set, I don’t mind mixing DSP and stamp sets to get the look I want.  Today’s card uses the Country Woods DSP from the Country Woods Suite Collection mixed with one of the stamp sets from the Unbounded Beauty Suite Collection.

While the paper from the suite I used for the sentiment and die cuts in the Unbounded Beauty Suite are beautiful, I wanted a more homespun look for this design. This DSP from the Country Woods Suite Collection was perfect for that kind of look.  I love the light colors of the wood grain in the design of the paper and it was a great paper to set off the Boho Blue card stock.

With all of the beautiful papers in the new catalog, I am sure you will find something you love. To see everything current in Stampin’ Up! Patterned Paper, just click HERE!  Some of my favorites are shown below. You can click on any of those as well to learn more.

Some of My Favorite Stampin’ Up!® Pattern Papers

Products I used to Make This Card

August Paper Pumpkin Is All About Birthdays!  Sign Up By August 10th To Get It! 

The August Paper Pumpkin is really special with a fold out birthday card design you can customize with the additional free stamp set of numbers included with this set! The designs and colors are fun and perfect for all ages. This is one you won’t want to miss, so be sure you are signed up by August 10th. If you are already a subscriber you might want to log in and up your order to 2 kits (like I did!).