Paper Pumpkin Subscription Box Review – September 2017

Paper Pumpkin is a monthly paper crafting subscription box from Stampin’ Up! They send everything you need for a creative paper project right to your door.

This box was sent to us at no cost for review. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes.)

The Subscription Box: Paper Pumpkin

The Cost: $19.95 per month + free shipping in the USA, $26.95 + free shipping in Canada

The Products: Everything you need to design a creative paper project with stamps, ink, accessories and more. (Please note per their FAQ you will need adhesive for some monthly projects.)

Ships to: The United States & Canada

Check out all of our Paper Pumpkin reviews and the Craft Subscription Box Directory!

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The instruction leaflet is not as informative as the how-to-video on You Tube, which I prefer to watch prior to starting the project. I use the instruction leaflet as a guide when I get stuck on a step.

This month’s theme is “Paper Pumpkin Layered Leaves”.

Enclosed in this month’s box is an informational flyer regarding their October and November boxes. The upcoming boxes are “made to match projects, perfect for giving”. So, make sure you subscribe by the tenth of the month to receive that month’s box.

This month’s ink pad is in the color, “Cajun Craze” and the photopolymer stamp set has leaves and three sayings, “Thank You”, “Keep Calm And Be Thankful”, and “Be Filled With Thanks Each Day”.

Here’s the acrylic block with the leaf photopolymer stamp. I stamped the leaf onto the watercolor leaf cut-out. Plus, it looked as if the stamp barely fit onto the acrylic block, I had to maneuver the stamp onto the block to ensure a perfect fit.

Here I am stamping the leaves to adhere to the card base. It would have been better to just have the leaves stamped and not pile various leaf shapes onto the die cut leaves.

Here is the assortment of leaves that I assembled onto the cards.

Here I stamped the die-cut tag with the saying,”Be Filled With Thanks Each Day”. I attached the tags to the cards and the pillow box. I adhered the bow onto the tag with an adhesive dot rather than threading the twine through the cut-out hole.

Here is the finished project of the leaves assembled and placed on top of the card base along with a single leaf. The card on the left I tied the twine onto the cut-out hole as per the instructions which didn’t look right and it was cumbersome to assemble. So, the card on the right I tied the twine in a bow and stuck in onto the card with an adhesive dot.

Here I assembled the leaves onto the card base without the die-cut tags. I thought this looked a lot better without the tag because the tag was hiding the beauty of the leaves.

Here is the pillow box assembled with the leaves and the tag that says, “Be Filled With Thanks Each Day”.  I tied the twine around the pillow box and adhered the leaves with the small clothespin to the pillow box while assembling the clothespin broke. These would be great for treats or gift cards.

There was an excessive amount of leaves to layer onto the watercolor die cuts. It would have been better to have as stickers or include a fast drying tacky glue. And the gold foil stickers didn’t peel off completely and the twine started to separate. There was more assembling of leaves than actual stamping. My friend suggested to lay the leaves out as decoration on my coffee table or use the leaves as garland.

Verdict: This month’s Paper Pumpkin craft screamed fall with all the excessive amount of leaves displayed on the pillow boxes and note cards. I preferred the note cards over the pillow boxes. This month’s project was not my favorite and I did not like it. I felt the leaves were over kill and sticker leaves would have been my preference over sticking leaves with the adhesive dots and there was no thought or variation in the whole process. How the pillow boxes were assembled is more for decoration than gifting. Overall the leaves were a great representation for the fall season even though it reminded me of sending Thanksgiving cards. This crafting kit is well worth the $19.95 a month subscription. This box has good quality paper products and crafting supplies.

What do you think of this month’s Paper Pumpkin box? Have you tried a monthly crafting kit before?