SEW YOU

The March Paper Pumpkin kit was an absolute blast! This was one of the "funnest" ones ever. Seriously. I know I've said this -- or something like it -- before, and I'm sure I'll say it again in the future. But, this darling kit presented loads of possibilities. And if there hadn't been only nine cards to make, I'm sure I would still be thinking up more ways to create. (Did I really just say ONLY NINE CARDS? That is a whole lot of cards that can be used for many occasions! In a single kit!)

This is the photo that came with the Sew You kit. If you followed the included directions, your cards would look like these:

However, being me (a tough spot to find yourself!), I just had to march to my own drummer. Thus, none of my cards were created as Stampin' Up! had intended. In fact, I have nine different cards. These are my creations, one by one.

I truly did start out with the intent of following their directions. I did the cute stitching of the "YOU" with the floss that came in the kit. 

From there, I deviated. I added a snippet of my own paper and Baker's Twine. Then, I went nuts punching out little yellow circles which I added to the preprinted dotted card base. I love how happy those little yellow dots make the card look!

I had seen on the Internet somewhere that someone who didn't like "sewing" simply joined the holes with Stampin' Write Markers. A cute idea, but it doesn't add the dimension that the floss and actual sewing does. However, as you will see, I did do this on several of the cards.

To echo the dots on the card base, I added black dots within the perimeters of the YOU letters. I then did some faux stitching around the edges of the word bubble with the marker. 

For this next one, I continued the marker sewing on the YOU. I decided to add a cute matching heart in the center of the "O" and popped it up with a Dimensional.

Here is one more showing the marker stitching. This time I decided not to limit the stamps I use to those that came with the Paper Pumpkin kit. I grabbed Truly Grateful (page 152 in the catalog) and my Bitty Banners Framelits (page 230) to add the words above the "YOU". 

I had some of that adorable Daffodil Delight pompom trim left over from a few years back, and opted to team that up with some Tangerine Tango ribbon from a past Sale-A-Bration freebie to make the bottom of the card super cute. And then, in the above photo, did you notice what I did?? I cut off one of the little pompoms and stuck it with a Glue Dot to the center of my "O". Doesn't that just make you wanna go, "Awwww"? 

For the next card, I decided to go back to stitching with floss. Only this time, I used some floss I had in my stash, just so I could bring a little PURPLE to my card. The "Thinking of" came from a long ago set, but I've always loved it, and it's a perfect contrast to the straightforward lettering in the "YOU". 

To carry the flower theme a little further, I stamped one of the flowers from the sentiment on a scrap of Perfect Plum, punched it out with a paper punch, and popped that into the center of my "O". 

For this card, I made a terrific discovery (that I'm sure many of you have already made)! I used the Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border punch with Perfect Plum cardstock to make a little paper trim. BUT, this is where the great discovery comes in: I continued the stitching with the purple floss, using the holes from the punched strip! How cool is THAT!?!

The next card isn't a HUGE change from the instructions, except I did the marker stitching again, used a landscape format and added some ribbon. The red/turquoise combination is super popular, so it worked great for this card to use one of the stars that came with the kit.

I made ANOTHER discovery in this next card! Can you stand it?? All these discoveries! 

Floss, this time a green, was used for the stitching once again. And I used the Hello You Thinlits (page 30 in the Occasions Catalog) to create my "thank". BUT -- are you ready for THIS one?? -- I used a paint sample for it! Woo hoo! Since the letters in the word are fairly thin, it may be sort of difficult to see, but I think you can recognize it exactly in the cute strip on the bottom created once again with the Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border punch.

Because the skinny letters didn't look substantial enough against the busy triangle background of the card base, I adhered a strip of black cardstock to the top of the word bubble upon which the word could rest comfortably.

I stuck with the floss stitching for the following card and a stamped "hello" in Lost Lagoon.

The coolest part of this card to me, however, is the bottom embellishment. Once again, I punched out a strip of Dotted Scallop Ribbon Border, and stitched in the holes again, but this time I made it look like cross stitch! I then embossed a strip of Whisper White cardstock with the Perfect Polka Dots embossing folder, punched the two edges with the Scallop Edge Border Punch, attached the stitched piece, and I WAS HAPPY!

For my last card, I used the Hello You Thinlits once again, but this time with Pacific Point cardstock. I used the Paper Pumpkin kit's yellow floss to stitch the "YOU".

To make the flower was oodles of punchy fun! For the bottom layer, I used a retired flower punch. The blue layer uses the Pansy Punch, the orange layer is created with the Boho Blossoms Punch, while the center posy was from the strip of three like flowers punch from long ago. I added a Basic Pearl to the center. BUT, the entire flower, with the exception of the pearl, was made from PAINT CHIPS! Are you excited!?!

Because my thin "hello" sort of got lost among all the strong black polka dots, I adhered a strip of Tangerine Tango cardstock to the top of the word bubble for nice contrast.

And, here is the whole bunch posing together:

I must admit that it took me several days to complete these nine cards. But, it was a project I looked forward to continuing day after day. And now I'm sad that it's all finished. :>(

This kit was so much fun to play with! It is now April 7, so that means that in a few days, I should be getting an email telling me that my April Paper Pumpkin kit is on its way. I can't wait! I am in awe of the designers of these wonderful kits and look forward to them each month!

Sew

You 

Smiles.