Lil' Punkin's B-Day

I had the coolest Etsy order last week!  The community our summer cottage is in had a craft fair for the residents.  It was held outside at our pavilion and it was COLD!!!!  Totally worth it though 'cause I sold a bunch & a couple custom orders were placed. :)  I brought a bunch of goodies I had on hand, including these cards.  One of the gals that stopped by was excited to find out that I also had an Etsy shop because after getting a couple cards & seeing the pumpkin cards, she contacted me about making a pumpkin banner for her little gals birthday this month.

The theme for the party was pumpkins- how stinkin' cute!!!!!!  I pulled out my PTI pumpkin die and lots of pumpkiny colors & embellies.  So much fun to make & I'm so happy that she loved it.

In the process of making this inspiration struck.  I just finished that piece on Monday, so hopefully I'll get some pics up here soon. :)  Inspiration hit DH too.  He was looking at the banner as I had it set up to assemble and he said "The pumpkin looks kinda flat.  Can you add some extra texture like those dots?"  He meant the Swiss dot folder (which he bought for me when he got me a Cuttlebug years ago- such a great idea!)  Sadly, it just wouldn't cover the whole pumpkin and was a hot mess when I tried.  Then I thought- what about using the pumpkin ridge die (meant to cut slices of the pumpkin) and embossing the lines on instead?  Can you believe I had the foam/rubbery layer that helps you do this and NEVER used it?!?!  My husband was a genius to suggest added dimension AND I used another tool that I had never used.

Well enough of my babbling.  Hope you enjoyed this banner and are inspired to get out some goods you have and haven't used yet. ;)  While we are on the subject- have any of you joined the "50 in 50" group on Facebook?  A friend just told me about it.  The goal is to make 50 projects, in 50 days, without buying anything.  You make whatever you want and try to use up what you already have instead of buying new stuff.  I'm thinking I might have to join so I force myself to get more done!

Let me know if you've tried it!  I'd love to hear thoughts. :)