Spring cards Paper Pumpkin December 2023 & March 2023 alternates & mashup

As you can imagine, I’ve collected quite a few unfinished cards over the years, as well as unfinished card kits. These are affectionately known as “PhD’s”….Projects Half Done!! LOL Lately I’ve been trying to finish those projects up… add sentiments where needed and combine leftover pieces with items in my stash to finish a kit up. 

Recently, I pulled a very springtime kit out and looked at all the leftover pieces. The December 2023 “All The Best“ card kit was so cheery with its blue card fronts, yellow florals and light green foliage. I had made a bunch of cards with the kit way back when it came out, then put the rest of the kit away for a rainy day. Ahem. I guess today was that rainy day! So I pulled everything out, and made these from the card base fronts from the kit, plus leftover floral and label pieces:

I created the sentiments by combining words from different stamp sets since I didn’t really have any spring time greetings (other than Easter!) 

In the next set of photos,  I used the back side of the original card base (which was plain blue) as my background. I embossed panels for more background interest (from the cut up envelopes), added some die cuts to fill empty spaces (tiny  leaves from the Heart Shaped Bundle) and finished off with a few jewels.

And last but not least , I made an Easter card by stamping the pot and lilies from the March 2023 Paper Pumpkin kit. I used the last of the original plain blue card base back half and embossed another white panel from yet another envelope. I stamped the greeting from the retired Easter Bunny stamp set, but it was a single line stamp so I stamped the left half then the right half so that it fit better on the banner label from the kit. I’m amazed that I didn’t botch that!  Then I added a small piece of the original card front was tucked under the pot/greeting (because I could) and I added a die cut from Spring Bloom Dies to the lower left corner.

I did warn you that this was a mash up of various sets from the last several years, didn’t I? LOL And yes I had to pull back some older sets I had been thinking of downsizing away! Oh well…

Thanks for stopping by…Have a wonderful day!

3"x3" cards over the years

I often make 3"x3" or 2.5"x3.5" cards and include them as little "thank you's" with orders I get at my Etsy shop.  And over the years, I've made a lot of them! So I thought I'd share a few. 

These were made using the Daffodil Afternoon Designer Series Paper  on an embossed Distressed Brick panel. I LOVE the little dragonfly accent!! I often use a mini dragonfly or a tiny butterfly to jazz up the little cards: 

And these are made with the Fitting Florets DSP. Can you see the Decorative Circle punch of vellum behind the fussy cut flowers? I wanted a little something to separate the florals from the background, but not anything that solidly blocked the background either...

And these cuties are from the Penguin Playmates DSP pack:

I found these on my Instagram account (KikumiDesigns) and snagged a few screenshots of some older designs. These were made using prints from the Ornate Garden DSP pack. These little "book binding" cards are so perfect for using up scraps of printed paper:

The top card below is also from the Ornate Garden DSP pack (it's my fave of them all) and the one below was from Berry Delightful DSP pack:

And these were made with the Forever Fern DSP. That DSP sampler card kit was super popular and flew out the door of my shop!

I'll post others as I find the photos, or make new ones! Thanks for stopping by...

Mixed Florals Memories & More Cards

I was challenged the other day....to create a card using any of the card sketches in the current catalog and using any or all of the pieces in a kit I was sent. The kit had a blue card base and several cards from the Mixed Florals Memories and More Cards pack. The Memories and More Cards pack includes floral panels, sentiments, and a few sticker sheets. They're great to make some easy cards but also for scrapbooking. Anyhow, here's what I came up with:

And I had some elements left that I added to the inside of the card as well. 

Quick and easy...love it! Can't wait to make more with this set...stay tuned for when I do (though I'm really bad about posting so I do hope I follow up...)

Hello Fabulous card with Bird’s Eye View

OMG isn’t this a darling card with the PERFECT sentiment? It's just one of the options you can put together with the birds (and eyewear) in the Bird's Eye View stamp set!

I found a Pinterest pin by Stamping with Aloha with this design, totally different paper AND different sentiment AND different coloring of the bird. Still, definitely inspired by it but looking quite different! That's often what happens with Pinterest pins...I don't have the set they used, or the same paper or dies but using what they share as inspiration...and voila!!

Since there's little room to write anything without it showing, I added an extra panel inside (as I often do) so that any writing doesn't show on the front of the card. So this is what you see when you lift the first panel (the one with the bird):

And here's the true inside of the card, with a sentiment and a stamped little bird. 

This was a super fun card to make! Thanks for stopping by...

Bee My Valentine flip it cards

This is a throw back to last year’s adorable bee DSP and one particular card I designed with it. I die cut several bases, but didn’t get to finishing them all (I think I finished and sent one out),  nor did I post any. So this is kind of a throw back to last year, and yet not.

The Sizzix die set that I used to create these cards is likely a decade old if not older. I bought my first die cutter way back in 2013 and I’m guessing this was purchased shortly after that. I seem to pull it out every couple of years, make a card with it, then put it away for another rainy day!

This is a flip card …so as you open the card, the greeting “flips” or swings and you see the back side of it. 

And since you might want to write IN the card without it showing when the card is closed up, I affixed and extra piece of die cut white card stock inside:

Hope you enjoyed the little quasi throw back to last year! Thanks for stopping by & have a wonderful day!