PAPER PUMPKIN THANKS REPURPOSED

I bet this will come as a huge surprise to you, but I LOVE MY PAPER PUMPKIN SUBSCRIPTION! It is just amazing how those Stampin' Up! designers can keep coming up with all of the fabulous ideas month after month after month! 

The February 2015 kit was no exception. Here is what the eight thank you cards in the cute kit look like if you put them together as per the instructions included:

The components of this kit are simply astounding: the exclusive Layers of Gratitude stamp set (many of which I will be showing you in the upcoming photos), TWO Stampin' Spots, one in Daffodil Delight and one in Pool Party, eight (very impressive!) accordion card bases, eight adorable kraft boxes, 48 felt letter stickers, six yards of orange and white baker's twine, and 24 adhesive strips. Whew! It wears me out just thinking about all these creative goodies that I can use however I want!

Well, it seems like practically FOREVER that I've been interested in the process of creating books. As soon as I laid my eyes on this kit, I decided that was exactly what I wanted to do with it. Well, at least one of them! 

For my book, I added one more ink color: Calypso Coral. The Calypso Coral, Daffodil Delight, Pool Party trio are enchanting indeed. 

I started by changing up my book cover a bit from the kit instructions. As you can see in the above photo, the kit's covers were minimally decorated and tied closed with a simple bow created from the baker's twine that came in the kit.

Do you see the cute Calypso Coral dot on the circles in the photo below? That was one more of the stamps that the kit provided. And one that I am sure I will use OFTEN! Think of all the cute polka dot backgrounds I can make with this stamp. 

Here I will tell you what I added to my book from my personal stash, the few things that did not come with the kit: Scraps of Crumb Cake cardstock, the Calypso Coral ink and the teeny silver brads. That's it!

This is a photo of what the front of my book looks like closed:

Here it is from the back:

The cuteness of the stamps continues when the closure is released:

The book pages are attached to the base of the book case. Here they are somewhat spread open:

Because I wanted to utilize all eight of the accordion pages, I cut a piece of Crumb Cake cardstock to measure the same size as the rest of the pages and attached it to the last page. I then anchored it with glue inside the book cover. Obviously I used two of the stamps to decorate even this piece:

Here it is again partially open, but showing the base piece:

Another view: Isn't it just the CUTEST?

I took photos of the individual pages in the three colors I used. The only stamp that I did not show close-up is the rows upon rows of triangles.

This page of thick lines is just one line stamped over and over again:

This stamp is just two rows. 

They fit together exactly to make a stack of the cute designs as high as your little heart desires:

And these big lopsided circles are just one stamp that you can position 

on a page any which way you'd like. Wondrous!

This is the bottom flap of the front in an open position:

I am so pleased with how this turned out! So many times in the past, I have created a book only to discover that I didn't want to tarnish its purity by adding anything to it. So I have a bunch of handmade books that contain absolutely nothing. Of course, I have filled books also, but more frequently they stay pristinely EMPTY. 

This one though I do have plans for! The size of the pages are perfect for little mini prints of my Instagram photos. I plan to have printed eight of my faves and adhere them to the pages. 

Now, here is my problem. And I would love your input: Do you ever have Instagram prints made commercially? If so, where do you have them done? I am interested in 2" square prints, or somewhere around that size. 

If you would like to see my assortment of photos I am going to be choosing from, here is the link to my Instagram account. While you are there, do you have any opinions of which photos I should put in my Paper Pumpkin book?

Check out other entries in the My Pumpkin Challenge. Lots of really great ideas!

Bookish

Smiles.