Thursday, October 15, 2026

PAINTED PUMPKINS AT THE GATE

Today's card shows how fun it can be to create unique pumpkins with the Decorative Masks from the Painted Pumpkins Bundle.

A couple of these pumpkins were made with very non-traditional "pumpkin colors", but don't they bring a nice pop of color to this birthday card?  The three pumpkin colors are Pool Party, Timid Tiger and Secret Sea.

There was no stamping to create these pumpkins.  They were colored only with the masks.

Watch this video to see how I made them.  I'll also show a set of pumpkins that were stamped first prior to coloring so you can compare the two methods to see which you prefer.


In the video I include some tips and tricks to make three different color pumpkins from the same mask.

This card uses only one gate and one fence die cut to create a little smaller gate than Monday's card.  The pumpkins needed to be carefully adhered to the gate so that the adhesive didn't "lock" the gate.  Because once again, I put a little surprise behind the gate.

This greeting was a little longer than I wanted, so I used another trick to stack it up.  I show how to do that in the video as well.

I do recommend that the white gate be created with Thick Basic White cardstock rather than Regular Basic White.  It needs to support the pumpkins, and the Regular Basic White tends to want to flex when you open the gate.  So, for my 2nd card (made in the video) I used Thick Basic White cardstock, and it worked much better.  

I used a nice large "happy birthday" sentiment from Fabulous Sayings for the inside of the card and trimmed it with the same Secret Sea DSP as was used for the front.  Fabulous Sayings was a Product of the Month stamp set from a few months ago and is no longer available.  But use whatever greetings you have!

Use this link to download a FREE PDF TUTORIAL.

A list of the products used is shown below.

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Location: Commerce Township, MI, USA

Monday, October 12, 2026

PUMPKINS BEHIND THE GATE

This week I am featuring the fun Painted Pumpkins Bundle.  This bundle not only includes the typical stamp set and coordinating dies, but it also includes coordinating decorative masks -- which are always fun!

Today's card focuses on the dies from the bundle.

I love the dies that create the fence and gate.  The gate and the narrower fences on each side of the gate are separate dies.,  I die cut all three pieces from the Gradient Foils Specialty Paper.  


The Gradient Foils Specialty Paper is a beautiful collection of Pecan Pie foil paper with tone-on-tone patterns -- two sheets each of stripes, medium-size sunflowers and a smaller pattern of what I'd describe as medallions.  For my gate I used the stripes pattern.

I love that you can create the gate so that it is "openable" if you want.  It's fun to put a little surprise behind the gate!

Behind my gate I put a few die cut pumpkins with vines and leaves.  Then I added a little fussy cut "Hey" greeting.  I'm not sure how someone would walk through my gate with the pile of pumpkins behind it, but it's creative license, right?

The Designer Series Paper (DSP) on the card front is from the Glow of Harvest collection which is beautiful specialty shimmer paper with soft designs.  This DSP was the Product of the Month in August.  At the time I wrote this post it was still available.

If you're not familiar with Stampin' Up!'s Product of the Month, here's a quick overview.  At the beginning of each month, Stampin' Up! introduces a new product that you can purchase for $5 with a $75 merchandise order.  Because these products are available only while supplies last, we never know how long they'll be around.

I turned my card into a Halloween card on the inside, but it could easily be used for any occasion.  It definitely has an Autumn Theme, but there isn't anything in the design that particularly "screams" Halloween.  There are no scary ghosts, spiders or witches.  It's only the Soiree Salutations greeting that makes it a Halloween card, so you can make it whatever you want.

Use this link to download a PDF Tutorial with all the details you need to recreate the card.

A list of the products that were used is shown below.  Click on any image to learn more about that product or to make a purchase.

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Location: Commerce Township, MI, USA

Thursday, October 8, 2026

SUNFLOWERS AND PLASTIC WRAP

This card uses a simple and fun technique that uses Plastic Wrap to create the unique background behind the Sunflowers.

Just scrunch up a piece of plastic wrap, tap it on your ink pad and then tap it on your paper.  Voila!  You have an interesting background.

Here's a video that shows you just how quick and easy the technique is!

In the video I created an alternate version of today's card.  Rather than creating the technique background on the arched die cut, it was created on the front card layer.  

Which do you like best?

The only stamping on these cards is the sentiment!  The rest of the design is made using the Radiant Sunflower Dies and the Everyday Arches dies.

The sunflowers were made with two die cuts in different colors.  Twist the top sunflower layer a bit and you see the accent color behind the yellow sunflowers.

The sentiment from Radiant Sunflowers stamp set was die cut with the smallest Everyday Arches die.  This small die is the perfect size for the "Thinking of You" sentiment, and it keeps the "arches" theme going!

I kept the inside of the card clean & simple.  I pulled the two main colors from the card front, Cajun Craze and Misty Moonlight, to create double mats for the Very Vanilla message layer.

Since I'm not sure yet how I will use the card, I left it sentiment free.  If desired, I can easily add a sentiment when I'm ready to use the card, or I can just write a personal note.

Use this link to download a PDF tutorial.

A list of the products used is shown below.

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