The December Day by Day Paper Pumpkin box provided all the materials to make a fantastic desk calendar or small wall calendar. I saw some great projects people did using the stamps included in the kit to mark holidays and birthdays. I didn’t need a calendar but I can always use thank you cards and general note cards.
The kit also included some plain gift tags so that you could give the calendar as a gift in the box they provided. I plan to put some pretty cards in the box and give it as a gift, but I only need one gift tag for that. Again, I have some alternatives.
Basic Alternatives
The first two alternate cards I have for you use a Whisper White card base with a layer of the 2018-20 In Color DSP in Grapefruit Grove to coordinate with the kit. These 6×6 sheets are perfect for adding visual interest underneath the calendar page that I turned over and stamped with the included inks and stamps. The Fresh Start card has a bit of ribbon from the kit and some sequins left over from the November 2017 Paper Pumpkin shaker cards. A perfect card for a note of encouragement.
The Thank You card stamping variation was achieved by using the inked stamp with both first generation (ink, stamp) and second generation (ink, stamp, stamp) to get the contrasting images. I used Grapefruit Grove ribbon that I selected from the Sale-a-Bration catalog. Nothing beats free embellishments. The Thank You is from a previous Paper Pumpkin kit, Manly Moments. The Crystal Gems are available in the Annual catalog.
Casual Alternative
Next, I thought that the shape of the calendar page looked like a pocket. In the Picnic Paradise kit, we got a stamp with dashed lines – perfect for creating the stitches of a denim pocket. I trimmed off the watercolor top with the ribbon holes from a calendar page. then I stamped the stitches in Grapefruit Grove and sponged the rest of the card using the Pool Party ink in the kit.
The Daisy Delight stamp set and coordinating punch with So Saffron ink made perfect flowers for my casual card. I used the leaf punch and some scrap green paper that I think is Pear Pizzazz – but any light green would work. The sentiment is from a previous kit and I stamped in the part I’d cut off earlier and punched it out with the Classic Label punch. I layered that over some ribbon that I purposely frayed to go along with the casual feel.
Avid Alternatives
For my last card, I used the new Well Written dies from the Occasions catalog with Pool Party paper. I like the contrast of
Lastly, I got a jump on Christmas by making some very quick tags using the stamp and ink in the kit and adding some leftover die cut snowflakes. I’ll tuck these in my Christmas wrapping stash for use at the end of the year.
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