HERE'S TO YOU

I must say that, in the past several months, the Paper Pumpkin kits have been real hits with me. The March, 2021 kit, Here's to You, was no exception.

One thing that I did find unnecessary, however, were the separate liners that were supposed to be inserted inside the envelopes. To me, the envelope is a mere conveyance, something in which to put your creation to get to the recipient. In my experience, most recipients rip open the envelope to get to what's inside. Then toss the envelope away and keep the card.

To me, that's an absolute waste of time and energy. In the case of the March Paper Pumpkin kit, the liners were really nice pieces of decorative paper that I wanted to put to much better use than their intended one.

I used this pretty paper on my cards. And none of the cards were made as the instructions suggested, as per my usual modus operandi.

In the first card, I trimmed one of the envelope liners to act as a mat around the scenic piece. Even though the envelope liner was a mass of flowers, by using it in this manner, it just looks like colors that reflect those in the scene. Win! 

Another change I made was adding a small sentiment into the open green space rather than on a separate label. I liked being able to integrate it within the scenery.

I also did not use the card base that was provided, instead substituting a 4" x 5 1/4" piece of Petal Pink cardstock that I embossed with the Painted Texture 3D embossing folder. 

A narrow strip of Pretty Peacock cardstock was adhered to the textured background just a bit above the halfway point. Finally, it was all added to a card base of Pretty Peacock.

I will certainly miss the Pretty Peacock color. Every time I fall in love with a color, it retires. 

For the second card, I didn't make all that many changes. Just enough for me to love it as one of my own. 

Once again, I took one of the other envelope liners and cut it as a mat for the main image. I love how these colors echo those used in the image.

I was absolutely not in love with the three strips that were added in the directions that comprised the sentiment. Nope. In place of that, I used a strip that was included in the kit and stamped the sentiment that was on the stamp set. This sentiment is lovely, and I can see it being used as a graduation wish.

I can't take complete credit for one of the ideas in the last two cards. I must admit that I saw the idea of using the light blue spaces on the envelope liner as spots to stamp a sentiment. Brilliant! Thank you to whoever came up with this concept!

Actually the rest of my card was changed up from that original idea. The only thing I appropriated was what I'd already mentioned.

Do you remember the Sassy Salutations stamp set from ages ago? Well, I've never really gotten over that set, and find myself reaching for it when I need a bit of "sassy" zip in a salutation, and when my salutation space allows for a larger font as in this set. I stamped the words in -- you guessed it -- Pretty Peacock.

I added a flag to each of the cards in Calypso Coral upon which the sentiment oval rests. I also added strips of ribbon and a cute little embellishment from the dinosaur stuff of last year. 

Oh, and by the way, the photo below shows what the cards should look like if I'd followed the directions. What fun is that??

Scenic

Smiles.