Happy birthday to us! March 2018 is Paper Pumpkin’s 5th anniversary, and along with celebrating five amazing years of creating and sharing together, we also wanted to find a way to say thank you to our friends with an amazing March kit which includes a fantastic, FREE gift—a pack of beautiful wood embellishments.

Because this is such a special anniversary for Paper Pumpkin, a lot of love went into creating this kit, and we hope you’re as crazy about it as we are. Its vintage floral design with seed packet envelopes is a first for Stampin’ Up! and we have to say—the Paper Pumpkin team just about fell out of their chairs when they first saw it. It’s uniquely beautiful, collectible, and almost sure to go down in Paper Pumpkin history as an all-time customer favorite!

So don’t wait another minute! Watch the monthly unboxing video, pour yourself some tea, then unwind while you make these cards and bask in their vintage vibe.

Besides the exclusive stamp set and Early Espresso ink spot, each May Good Things Grow kit contains 8 card bases, 8 card panels, 8 envelopes, 4 die-cut element sheets, 1 laser-cut element sheet, 1 sticker strip sheet, 4-1/2 yds. purple ribbon, 16 yds. white linen thread, 16 antique brass brads, 12 pink pearls (in 2 sizes), 12 purple pearls (in 2 sizes), 4 purple pearls, 275 dimensionals, and 100 adhesive dots.

If you’re new to Paper Pumpkin, you may not know that our suggested projects and instructions are just the beginning of what you can do with our fun kits. Feel free to break the mold and try something entirely new, like our fresh and lovely Hello card made using Crumb Cake Cardstock.

Our concept artist adhered a designed panel from the March kit and a Fresh Fig Cardstock banner to the card front. She then added a stamped Whisper White Cardstock panel spattered with a bit of Fresh Fig ink and colored with Stampin’ Blends. She finished by popping up the panel and sentiment with dimensionals and tying with a White Baker’s Twine bow doubled up with Linen Thread. This card is truly easy to make, and who wouldn’t love receiving it from a friend?

This card’s sweet floral centerpiece was created with kit elements, Crumb Cake Cardstock branches (made using the Big Shot and the Sweet Cake Framelits Dies), and wooden embellishments included with this very special fifth anniversary kit. Finish it off with a Baker’s Twine bow and a few pink pearls and you have what may be one of the prettiest Mother’s Day cards ever.

We created this last card by adhering one of the card panels included with the kit to Powder Pink Cardstock; we then layered over it with a Vellum Cardstock rectangle stamped with a heart in Whisper White Craft ink.

We finished with die-cut flowers, wooden elements, and a banner made using the Birthday Banners Stamp Set and cut using the Big Shot and the Bunch of Banners Framelits Dies. (The inks used to stamp the banner are Fresh Fig and Whisper White Craft.)

Check our Pinterest page to see more amazing ideas, and be sure to share your own ideas on social media.

This post wouldn’t be complete without showing off a few card samples made using the wooden elements our Paper Pumpkin subscribers received for FREE with this month’s anniversary kit.

The Happy Birthday card is made from Fresh Fig Cardstock and features a scalloped circle cut from Fresh Florals Designer Series Paper Stack using the Big Shot and Layering Circles Framelits. Embellish the card with elements from the kit, the free wooden embellishments, and a banner made using the cute Pear Pizzazz-striped paper from the Coffee Break Designer Series Paper. Such a pretty card. You could make multiples of this one and keep them on hand so you’re never caught without a handmade birthday card to give to a friend!

If you want to have crazy fun with the wooden elements, try painting them as we did with Whisper White Craft ink mixed with a few colored ink drops. Add an embossed panel made using Pool Party Cardstock, the Big Shot, and the Petal Burst Textured Impressions Embossing Folder. Don’t forget the cheerful-looking banners in Melon Mambo Cardstock and Peekaboo Peach Cardstock stamped in Peekaboo Peach ink—they really make the card pop. Finally, stamp the sentiment (from the Window Shopping Stamp Set) in Pool Party ink on a piece of Whisper White Cardstock, add it to the card front, then finish with a sprinkle of Rhinestone Basic Jewels. This card might take a little time to make, but it sure is worth the effort!

Finally, this beautifully understated card (a perfect masculine card, by the way!) was created using Crumb Cake Cardstock. Our artist layered the card front with a designed panel from the kit, a Whisper White Cardstock piece, and a Very Vanilla Cardstock piece stamped in Crumb Cake ink. She then added lots of warm-looking wooden elements and a Linen Thread bow for an extremely versatile look that could be adapted for many occasions.

If you want even more inspiration and ideas to help you use your wooden embellishments we’ve got you covered! We reached out to some Stampin’ Up! demonstrators and asked them to show us how they are using their free gift. Click here to see projects from demonstrators like the ones shown here! We have a lot more to share!

We hope you loved the March kit and the free wooden embellishments! And sincere thanks to everyone for supporting Paper Pumpkin and helping us reach our fifth anniversary. Make sure you’re following us on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and YouTube for all the latest and please, please, please stay subscribed to Paper Pumpkin! There are even more amazing kits on their way in 2018, and we don’t want you to miss a single one!