Paper Pumpkin -- Your personal "Fairy Creativity Godmother"

Introducing Paper Pumpkin

Starting Monday, January 14th: Paper Pumpkin comes to your door each month (a fully decked-out creativity carriage) that will help you to escape your life with some paper fun. It comes in a sweet box, but you'll really love what you find on the inside: All the stamps, ink, paper, and accessories to create fun, Pin-able projects. Create things like cards, journals, decor,  and more! Paper Pumpkin by Stampin' Up! is a new monthly kit program that anyone (even you) can enjoy!

 It's so easy to get started.   

A Paper Pumpkin membership is $19.95 per month (and shipping is included!).Simply sign up for the program starting Monday, January 14 by visiting www.mypaperpumpkin.com (or click on the button in my sidebar) and click Get it. Every month, a new surprise project kit arrives at your doorstep. Just think of the anticipation of creating a fun project to pin, showoff, and share with your friends and family every month! You're automatically set up on an auto-renew system, but you can cancel or even just skip a month at any time.

Contact me, Michelle Stoll, if you have any questions, and don't forget to choose me as your demonstrator!

Sketch & Colors

Tonight, I held my first of what (I hope) will be a monthly tradition - an "open stamp night." I put on a movie, got out my stamp stuff, and invited anyone who wanted to come to join me. I had my eye on a couple of sketches to get my creative juices flowing, and this was the (rather bold) result:

The bold color combo isn't something I'd usually go for, but this week's Dynamic Duo's color challenge picked Melon Mambo and Island Indigo. (Those color names just make you want to dance, don't they? ... No? Just me, then. Okay.) The colors are great together, and I decided to just jump in with both feet and go all-out with them. 

The layout comes courtesy of Retro Sketches (told you I love their sketches, so expect to keep seeing them!). Retro Sketches #45 is just a nice simple plaque-and-banner layout, so the Memorable Moments stamp set was a perfect match! I needed a little something to embellish with, and once again, butterflies fixed everything. Add in some little pearls on the Melon Mambo butterflies, and we were good to go.

This is my favorite little detail: one of the Embosslits butterflies
embossed with Melon Mambo flowery swirls.

I was really happy with how this card turned out. The layout, the trail of fluttering butterflies, the circle-covered background, and especially the colors. What are some of your favorite color combos?

Card Details
Stamps: Memorable Moments, Tiny Tags (butterfly detail)
Colors: Melon Mambo CS, Island Indigo (from Summer Smooches DSP), Whisper White CS
Tools & Accessories: Labels Collection Framelits, Beautiful Wings Embosslit, Basic Pearls, Melon Mambo Embossing Powder (with VersaMark ink)

CCMC233 - Butterflies fix everything

Recently, I've been getting bursts of creative energy around 11:00 at night. While I love it when I actually feel creative, it could definitely come at a more convenient hour. Here's my latest midnight creation:

I based my card on this week's Create with Connie and Mary sketch challenge (CCMC233). Their layout is fun and inspired all sorts of fun ideas. Here's the sketch:

After looking through my stash of stamp sets, I decided (once again) to go with the Everything Eleanor set, and the words from My Friend seemed to fit well with the swirly elements. I got the panels and the green stripe in place, and got the little banner placed just so, and it looked AWFUL! It was totally bland and boring and not at all cohesive.

It needed something to tie in the Old Olive from the "Hello" stripe. Something small and cute, something that fit with the swirly elements going on in the background. But what? I thought of using the bird from the Everything Eleanor set, but it just looked funny wherever I placed it. So I dug through my supplies and tools, and I found my Beautiful Butterflies Embosslit. Aha! Eureka! I cut some cute little butterflies out of Old Olive cardstock, found the one that was the best size for this card, and added a little touch of a pearl in the middle. I love the way the Old Olive with the pearl just ties everything together and makes the whole card make more sense.

What are some of your favorite ways to tie a color scheme together? Buttons? Die cuts? Ribbons, jewels, or other "bling"?

Card Details:
Stamps: My Friend, Everything Eleanor
Ink: Soft Suede
Paper: Old Olive, Soft Suede, Crumb Cake, and Very Vanilla CS
Tools & Accessories: Finishing Touches Edgelits, Beautiful Wings Embosslits, Dimensionals, Basic Pearls

Hello, My Friend -- FM91

Today, I wanted to create. I sat down at my craft space (aka: my coffee table), stared at the blank paper in front of me, and thought, I got nothin'. I'm drawing a total blank! So I took a tip from my friend Julie and found a sketch challenge to get my brain flowing. Enter: The Friday Mashup (check it out here: FM91). Here's the challenge:

Here is the "Mashup" Challenge:

1. Make a project using the "Sketch."
2. Or Make a project featuring "Hearts."
3. Or "Mash it Up" and create a project using the "Sketch and Hearts."

So, after a brief brainstorming session -- and some fantastic arrangement advice from my husband -- this is what I came up with:

Isn't it adorable? I love how clean and simple this card is. The colors are some of my favorite that SU! has to offer: Old Olive, Rich Razzleberry, and Melon Mambo (all from the Brights collection). Throw in some great neutrals (Soft Suede and Crumb Cake) and you get a nice, balanced color scheme. I got the main images all laid out following the sketch challenge, then realized that the background was missing something -- especially that upper right-hand corner. So I took the second element of the Mashup -- hearts -- and decided to try a trio of cute little clear, heart-shaped Bitty Buttons to fill it in. Ahh, just what it needed!

I was really happy to get back into this style of design -- bold colors, solid images, clean lines. I've been loving the vintage look lately, but it's always nice to know I can come back to different styles, too. What's your favorite style when it comes to crafting? Are you more vintage? Bright and cutesy? Over-the-top dramatic? Or a little bit of everything?

Card Details

Paper: Crumb Cake (base), Rich Razzleberry, Whisper White, and Old Olive CS. Brights Collection DSP.

Stamps: My Friend, Button Buddies

Ink: Melon Mambo, Soft Suede, Rich Razzleberry

Accessories: clear Bitty Buttons

Memorable Moments & a color challenge

This week, I decided to try a new kind of challenge: a color challenge! Instead of being given a sketch or an inspiration photo, you're given a set of colors to make your project with. Here's what I came up with!

 I chose the Create with Connie & Mary challenge (CCMC232), and they gave me these gorgeous colors to work with:

Most people in this challenge made wintry, snowflake cards, but I'm pretty much done with snow. (Unfortunately, Utah doesn't agree with me on that! We've gotten SO MUCH SNOW this last week, and it's only the beginning of winter!) So I decided that I wanted to make something beautiful and elegant and not at all winter-related. The numbers on this one are only put on there temporarily, until I decide whose birthday this is for. Then I'll go back and stamp the appropriate number in this gorgeous Pool Party color and attach them.

Card Details:

Stamps: Memorable Moments

Ink: Black StazOn permanent ink, Pool Party

Paper: Pool Party CS, Whisper White CS, Silver Glimmer Paper

Tools & Accessories: Manhattan Flower Textured Impressions Embossing Folder, Labels Collection Framelits, Bitty Banner Framelits, Vintage Faceted Designer buttons