I am really impressed with the July Paper Pumpkin kit!  Stampin' Up! has definitely raised the bar in the quality of the kit by coordinating with THREE new suites - Woven Threads - Garden Lane - Come Sail Away.

As usual when i open my kit, I take out all the pieces and lay them all out on the table in front of me, and then I look at the picture in the instruction sheet to see what we're "supposed" to make.  And then I imagine....  What I saw right away in this kit were 18 card mattes (by cutting the card bases in half), another 12 decorative pieces (again by cutting the 6 included pieces of DSP-like paper in half), and AMPLE other embellishments.

I have been waiting to create with my Perennial Essence designer series paper, and Sunday afternoon seemed as good a time as any.  This paper is so colorful and so beautiful, you could almost just frame each piece as it is and hang it on the wall - in fact I have heard of people doing just that.

Men like to receive nice cards too, and Stampin' Up! has a number of stamp sets and papers that meet the needs of more "manly" or "masculine" cards.  The garage suite makes wonderful cards for men, and with very little effort.  All the different sides of the Designer Series Paper coordinate well, and two sheets have great car and bike designs you can fussy cut and use as embellishments.