Welcome to our Blog Hop for the Karen Burniston + Brutus Monroe collaboration week. Yesterday the Brutus Monroe team had a hop and today it's our turn.
For my video and project I am teaching an easy adaptation of the Katherine Label Pop-up to double the mechanism so you have labels popping up on both sides of the card. To decorate, I am using a fabulous clear stamp set from Brutus Monroe called Topsy Cakes.
This is a simple and cute little card that measures 4" tall by 4.5" wide when closed. The patterned papers are all from KaiserCraft (#P371 Icing, #P370 Chocolate Drops and #P2485 Quilted) but this card would look just as cute with any birthday-themed patterned paper. I drew the colors from the paper for coloring the cakes with my Prismacolor colored pencils.
As the card opens the two labels start to lift and move.
Once open, the two labels suspend over the card. The cakes are all stamped, colored and fussy-cut. The greetings are from the stamp set.
I embellished with sequins and the various labels that come in the Katherine Label die set.
Would you like to WIN the Katherine Label die set? Simply leave a comment on this post by May 23, 2018 5 pm CDT and you're in on the drawing. I will contact the winner by e-mail for a mailing address.
You can find Karen Burniston die sets (KB Riley LLC) at independent craft stores throughout the world or on our website. Here are some shopping links for the items used in the video:
OK, ready to get hopping?! Check out the other six spots on the hop to see their beautiful creations as well as to leave comments for more prize chances. Each designer has a prize die to award to one lucky commenter, so get those typing fingers ready!
It's a busy busy week for the Design Team as we both show off our brand new Spring Release dies (available first week of June) and collaborate with the Brutus Monroe Design Team to show off products using both brands.
Each day this week there will be card(s) posted by members of the Design Team on their own blogs and on our social media channels. On Thursday of this week we will all participate in a blog hop where you can comment on each blog for the potential to win a die set. I will also have a new video tutorial for the hop.
Today I'm sharing a fun combination with our newest dies combined with the Floral Frenzy Background stamp from Brutus Monroe.
I cut a 4.5" x 9" strip of green cardstock and scored it in the middle to create a 4.5" square top-fold card. I stamped the Floral Frenzy stamp three times with black ink onto white cardstock, colored the flowers with Prismacolor pencils, and then used the largest of the Squares- Crosshatch shape dies to cut them out. Each square was then matted with a 4.25" square of black cardstock.
Something I like to do to tie in the look of a black-outlined stamped image with die cut embellishments is to add black line detailing to the die cuts. For the scalloped square that comes included with the Upsy Daisy Pop-up, it's easy to just use the die as a stencil to add the black line square and then dot each of the press dots with the same black pen. I also added pen detailing to the bee's wings from the Flowers and Bee die set.
For the Upsy Daisy, I did something different with the squares. I turned them to a diamond orientation and then attached the outer two to the platforms as usual. (Video tutorial coming soon on the Upsy Daisy!) Then, instead of suspending a third square with twine, I attached my middle square to the right one using a pop-dot. When closed, the center square ends up over the top of the left square, but as the card opens, everything slides into position.
I used my leftover colored stamped background to cut decorator squares for the outer two panels and used the flower die that comes included in the Upsy Daisy for the center panel. Once again I added pen detailing to make the die cut flower tie in to the stamped flowers. The banner behind the greeting is included in the Upsy Daisy. The "hello" is from Word Set 6 - Summer.
Preview the Spring 2018 Die Release in this video:
The Spring 2018 Release will be available in stores and on our website shipping the first week of June. You can pre-order from our website OR (and this is my favorite) - call your local store and ask them to pre-order the dies for you. We are shipping store orders first, so this would be the fastest way for you to get these new dies, but also, we just really need to support our local stores whenever possible. If you are sadly without a local store, here are some links to the dies used on today's card, plus the gorgeous background stamp on the Brutus Monroe website.
See you back here on Thursday for our fun Blog Hop!
Starting today the Design Team is free to share projects made using our Spring 2018 collection. These 12 new dies will start shipping to stores the last week in May with website order being shipped in the orders received starting the first week of June. If you're interested in purchasing any of these dies, please consider giving your local store a chance for your business. The store orders will go out first and you'll save shipping charges by shopping locally.
I like to think of the dozen new dies as falling into four categories: Pop it! Say it! Charm it! and Shape it! Watch the preview video here:
We also have a downloadable/printable catalog supplement for this collection - view it here: Spring 2018 Catalog
Pop it!
There are three new pop-up dies that offer a little something for everyone.
The Circle Charm Pop-up is absolutely generic, plus easy and quick to assemble. The pivoting action of the front circle provides double-duty decoration because it will pivot to the inside as the card is opened.
I like to think of the Circle Charm Pop-up die as a hybrid between a Pivot Card and the Charm Accordion. Watch for the assembly video in the coming week to show how it can be changed up and amped up. The set includes 11 individual dies, giving you lots of circle and ring combinations for your pop-up. For this card I easily converted the solid circles to rings and then chained them through the pop-up so that the large lanterns (Camping Charms) all hide behind each other when the card is closed but then reveal as the card opens.
The Tent Pop-up is the most specific of the new pop-ups, but is packed with value for creating a complete scene. You get everything - the tent, rivets, extra platform, stump, pop-up fire pit and rocks. Add in the Camping Charms for even more accessories and Word Set 6 for some great greetings.
Obviously you can use this tent for camping and outdoor cards, but also think of it more generically. It's a great guy card, for Father's Day or any day. You can make it a beach tent. It works great as a play tent for kid cards and invitations. How about a card for a teacher to say "enjoy summer vacation"? Could it be styled like an A-frame log cabin? A gnome house? This is why I love die cutting - you can so easily change things up!
The Upsy Daisy Pop-up is full of possibilities with adaptable platforms that will raise items high in the card and shift them over the outside edges of the card. With the pieces included, you can easily string together three decorative squares and as the card opens, the outer two will lift, separate and pull the middle one up. It's the type of card you'll want to open/close/open/close.
When you open the Upsy Daisy all the way until it's almost flat, you'll get the greatest lift and separation on the squares. Take the slack out of your twine, however, and you can stop the card open at 90 degrees (traditional pop-up display) and the squares will sit close together as shown in the card below. Watch for an assembly video later this week to show even more possibilities with the Upsy Daisy.
Say it!
There are two new dies to help you caption your cards perfectly. The Alphabet is uppercase and sized to coordinate perfectly with the previously-released Numbers set.
Then we have Word Set 6 - Summer, which can be mixed and matched within the set to make some great combinations, as well as mixed with previous word sets for even more possibilities.
Charm it!
Charm dies have become the perfect little accessory dies for our brand. By leaving them as charms, they can be suspended on all the generic pop-ups, including the Charm Accordion to add detail. Our customers report that they love the option to decorate a card using image dies without necessarily always needing to stamp and color images. Obviously the pop-up dies work well to showcase stamped images, too, but it's nice to have the option to decorate with dies.
The Camping Charms is the largest of the new sets. We wanted a mix of sizes in this set with some being smaller and sized to match the scale of the Tent Pop-up but then also a couple of larger charms to work well on the fronts of cards and on the other pop-ups. All of these charms work wonderfully with our animal die sets to accessorize. Simply cut off the hang holes and they become props.
The Sweet Treats Charms are small, adorable and might make you hungry. Again, they can look so cute being held by the Animal dies, or used on any of the pop-ups for a summery (or should I say "yummery"?) theme.
The Beach Charms will coordinate perfectly with the previously-released beach-themed dies, but can also be used independently. I particularly like the idea of using the flamingo with the House and Fence die set to fill the yard!
Shape it!
And finally, we have added some much-needed generic nested shape dies to our brand. Each set includes 7 dies, four of which have a fun crosshatch pattern on the edges and three that are solid shapes with a decorative score line for a classy polished look. The largest shapes are sized to fit a standard A2 card leaving a thin border, but they also work well on larger cards. The crosshatch pattern is generic but visually interesting and drawing it brought me right back to my engineering days!
Throughout this week you'll see ideas from the Design Team using the new release, as well as the products showing up on the website for pre-order, and videos being uploaded onto the product pages. Also join us on Thursday for a blog hop featuring a mix of Karen Burniston branded dies with Brutus Monroe products. You can hop through our team's blogs to get inspiration for mixing the two lines together and be in on prize opportunities, too.
It's time for our monthly Designer Challenge and this month I challenged the team with a theme of Paradise. They were welcome to interpret the theme any way they chose and while you'll see plenty of inspiration for tropical scenes, you'll also find some other paradises in the mix. The team has, once again, blown me away with their creativity.
I was in California teaching at an event this last weekend and found myself with exactly one day (GULP!) to get my card and video done. Luckily, a recent card I'd posted in our new Karen Burniston Pop-up Peeps Facebook Group had received requests for a video tutorial. "Paradise" for me is when I have an idea that I can execute quickly!
This is a fun alternate orientation for the Cupcake Pop-up. Rather than use it in a top fold card, I switched to a side-fold card so I could incorporate a cupcake-shaped window on the front of the card, lining up with the decorator cupcake inside. It's a simple technique but a great way to mix things up. Watch how I did it in this video tutorial:
This card measures 5" x 5" when closed and will mail in an A7 envelope. On the front of the card I've used one of my very favorite Funny Bones stamps. The kitty is peeking through the cupcake-shaped window.
Once open, the scene expands. The cat is sitting atop a framed "Happy Birthday" square that lifts up and slides to the left attached to the box section of the Cupcake Pop-up. This also reveals the decorator cupcake, attached to the lower section of the pop-up and placed to line up perfectly with the window. The patterned paper is Doodlebug's "Kitten Smitten". The Happy Birthday stamp is Hero Arts.
I wrapped baker's twine around the card three times and tied it inside the card. I wove one end through the cat's paws and then tied a knot and let it hang. The other end of the twine is also knotted. I took inspiration for styling the cat from the paper - adding gray ears and stripes.
The inspiration card was one I made for Rebecca's birthday last week.
If you'd like to make this card yourself, please ask for Karen Burniston die sets at your local shops. They'd love your business and we'd love theirs! However, if you are sadly short on local shops, you can always shop online. Here are the links:
Let's check out the amazing Paradise cards by the Design Team. If you click the designer's name you'll be linked to her blog post where you'll find more photos and a supply list.
Fran Sabad created this amazing pirate-themed Palm Tree Pop-up card illustrating her idea of paradise - a deserted island with buried treasure! I love her triple tree cluster with attached hammock. Brilliant!
Karen Aicken considers the great outdoors to be her idea of paradise and then she made a brilliant version of it in card form. I love her use of the Christmas Tree Pop-up as an evergreen tree for her amazing yeti scene.
Kelly Booth says Paradise is by the ocean with friends and this card illustrates that perfectly. I love the crab hanging out in the hammock and the other Sea Animals frolicking in the surf. Perfection!
Shelly Hickox finds paradise in her garden and used it for inspiration for this absolutely gorgeous Flower Pot Pop-up card. The details are so pretty. What an exquisite card!
Frances Byrne created a gorgeous tropical island for her idea of Paradise. I love her mix of dies and stamps. Plus, Frances decorates both ends of the interior card so the scene looks wonderful from any angle. Such precision! Love it!
Summer Hills-Painter combined some gorgeous sophisticated paper with the Spinner Square die set for this vision of paradise. I love how she put a blank square opposite the pop-up square inside the card and the classy crisp elegant feel to everything.
Helen Cryer finishes us out this month with a fabulous double-fold card to allow for offset Palm Trees. I love Helen's signature bunting as decor and her bright cheery colors on everything. The shoreline and waves are also very clever and beautiful.
As usual, I am incredibly inspired by the talented team. Join us next month on Wednesday, June 6, 2018 for our next Designer Challenge with a theme of "The Great Outdoors".
For this month's Paper Pros challenge the theme is Spring Flowers. My project uses the Tag Book Pop-up die set with the pop-up parts cut from a transparency.
I cut the tags and hinge from a sturdy white cardstock and then used Distress Oxide inks to turn them into a mottled blue. I added a cheerful piece of green polka dot paper (KaiserCraft, from my stash) to the outer ends of the tags and some pink gingham ribbon across the seams.
The Cherry Blossoms are made using the Tree Pop-up die set. I chopped up several trees into branches and added them to the clear panels and to the background of the card.
The Tree Pop-up die set comes with a die to cut 6 flowers at a time. I cut them from white and also from a pink Distress Oxide background. After die cutting I added pink centers using a paintbrush handle and pink ink. The "Hello" greeting was die cut from pink and brown, layered and added to the background.
Here is the assembly video for the Tag Book Pop-up:
Make sure you check out the fun Spring Flowers cards by the other Paper Pros.
Yesterday I spent a great day at Croppin' Bug for their annual retreat and education event. In between my morning class and the evening Make 'n Take event I got a chance to join the croppers and make something JUST.FOR.FUN! (I know!)
The first step, naturally, was to go shopping. I spied an adorable piece of paper from Doodlebug's "Kitten Smitten" collection and knew it would work perfectly with the Twist Panel and Cat and Dog die sets.
This card is a 5" x 6" top fold card.
To make the cat looking to the side instead of forward, I simply moved the die over and used the built-in stencil feature to draw in the face off-center. I added a pair of sassy spectacles to the middle cat, using Tiny Accessories 1.
I made the wavy borders using the edge die that comes with the Twist Panel set. You can learn how to use these die sets by watching the assembly videos below:
Here are shopping links for the items used in the card:
Welcome to our April Designer Challenge with a theme of "Hip to be Square!" I challenged the team to use squares in their projects this month.
You'll see lots of inspiration this month for using the Spinner Square Pop-up die set and others. For my project and video I had an idea to do a double window card with the Spinner Square so that you would see all the overlapping layers in the closed position and then the scene would reveal itself as the card opens.
Watch the full video tutorial below:
In keeping with the theme, I chose a square card. This card measures 5x5 and will mail for a single stamp in an A7 envelope. In the closed position you can see palm fronds behind the sun.
As the card opens the spinner arm moves from behind the sun, revealing another palm tree and a hitchhiking crab, holding a heart. The sun appears to be suspended in the opening, attached to a transparency.
I challenged myself on this card not to fill every inch of available space with color and elements. I wanted it uncluttered, even though there's a lot going on. For the crab, I went with a brown color scheme so the heart would really stand out in her claws. I added Wink of Stella glitter pen to the crab and to the sun for a little sparkle.
As I mentioned in the video, I encourage experimentation with this technique. My original idea was to have the sun atttached to the blue paper in the background so it would only be revealed when the card opened. In that case, as the square moved out of the way you would see the sun through the second window. However, the sun looked a little small and lost in the background, so I moved it up onto the transparency as a floating element instead.
Another idea would be to have an animal in the background and another on the spinner arm so that one moves out of the way and reveals the other.
Oh, and one last idea - you could remove the transparency from the small window and put an object on thread across the opening and then wind it up and close the card. Open the card and that item spins in the window! So many possibilities!
Karen Burniston die sets are available at independent and online craft stores throughout the world. You can also shop on our website. Here are links to the items used in the video. The blue striped paper is an older Echo Park design (retired) from my stash, so just substitute something similar.
Get ready for another round of amazing inspiration by the talented Design Team. In each case, I encourage you to click their name, which will open their individual blog posts in a new window. You'll be able to see more photos, tips, full supply lists, etc.
Fran Sabad chose fun hip colors for her soda pop Spinner Square card. I love how fresh and exciting this card is - such a great mix of stamps and papers.
Kelly Booth had a very clever idea to use square panels on the Twist Panel die set instead of the included rectangles. She substituted decorator dies from the Spinner Square set to give a similar look, but in a very "hippo to be square" way. Also - that coloring! Swoon!
Shelly Hickox is the queen of fussy cutting Graphic 45 paper into individual elements that she then combines in amazing ways. This Spinner Square card is exquisite. I love how she placed the butterflies so they both spin out on the arm at different angles.
Summer Hills-Painter made this absolutely fabulous kid-themed building blocks Spinner Square card. The coloring on the block people is amazing! I also love the mix of elements in the background as the card opens.
Helen Cryer has tremendous talent for mixing patterns and colors into exquisite cards. For the challenge she used the Charm Accordion and mixed in elements from other die sets for a bright and cheerful birthday card. I love the open frames with items suspended across the openings. Gorgeous!
Karen Aicken made this stunning mermaid-themed card and there are so many clever elements. She tripled the mermaid's hair and tinged her skin blue. She converted the shark into a dolphin! Always be a mermaid, indeed!
Frances Byrne dropped the mic with this terrific Spinner Square card. I am in awe of all the perfectly placed and colored images and the entire vibrant fun feel to this party. Also notice her fun highlighting of the Number 6 with white dots. Love this!
As usual, the team has blown me away with their talents and expertise. Join us next month on Wednesday, May 2, 2018 for our next Designer Challenge with a theme of PARADISE! Can't wait!
Our monthly no-pressure for-fun Paper Pros challenge has a theme of GREEN. This could only mean one thing . . . frogs!
I decided on a 4.5" square side-fold card and the Twist Panel die set. I went stash diving to find a couple of frog stamps and the greetings. I colored the frogs with colored pencils and fussy cut them out. The frames and banners come included with the Twist Panel set. The "Celebrate" word is from Word Set 2.
As the card opens the panels start to lift and twist.
Because I chose a side-fold card, the panels end up as a vertical stack in the open position.
The rubber stamps are all old ones from my stash. The large frog is Bullfrog, by All Night Media (1982). The small frog is Froggie, by Hook's Lines & Inkers, (1993) and the Wart's New is Art Impressions (1996). The Happy Birthday is a clear stamp from Pebbles. To highlight the scalloped frame I used a gel pen to add stitch lines connecting the dots.
Here is the assembly video for the Twist Panel die set:
Make sure you check out the blogs of the other Paper Pros who are participating this month to see more GREEN inspiration.
Welcome to our March 2018 Designer Challenge with a theme of Coffee & Cake. I challenged the team and our guest designer to use either the Coffee Cup Pop-up or the Cake Pop-up for a card.
For my card and video I couldn't decide which die to use, so I decided to combine them. The bottom two layers of the cake are used as a pedestal for the coffee cup - a completely reasonable celebration of such a magnificent beverage! Watch how I did it here:
In the closed position this card measures 5" x 6" and will mail easily in an A7 envelope. For the front decoration I mimicked the look of the pop-up, trimming pieces of the cake and scalloped trims and then topping with one of the Coffee Charms, styled in the same colors as the pop-up version. The spotted patterned paper is an old piece of Bella Blvd. paper called Thankful. The other papers were just scraps from my stash.
Once open, the pop-up pedestal expands, revealing the coffee cup, which holds a gift card. The ribbons are stamped in bright colors, embossed with clear powder, and then trimmed into individual strips.
The scalloped trim pieces that come included with the Cake Pop-up would normally act like frosting, but for this card I wanted to decorate the two tiers as platforms, so I turned the trim scalloped-side-up to act as a decorative molding instead. The Coffee Charms adorn the upper platform while the beans that come included with the Coffee Cup Pop-up decorate the lower platform.
Karen Burniston die sets are sold at many of your favorite local and online retailers worldwide. We are always looking for new retailer partners, so please ask for these products at your local store.
As usual, the team really hit it out of the park with their cards this month. We also invited a guest designer to participate this month. In all cases you can click on the designer's name to open their blog post in a separate window. Those blog posts will give you more photos, information and supply lists for their particular cards.
Coffee Cup Pop-up Cards
Karen Hasheck is joining the challenge this month as a guest designer. Her Coffee Cup pop-up card features a great color scheme with pops of royal blue. Click over to Karen's blog to see more of her work and find links to her YouTube videos. Karen also runs a children's charity challenge blog called Send a Smile 4 Kids to collect and distribute cards for hospitalized children. How amazing is that?!! We are thrilled that she was able to join us this month.
Karen Aicken chose such an exquisite color scheme for this card. I love her choice to use the Birthday Charms hat on the front of the cup. So lovely!
Fran Sabad also chose an amazing color scheme for this refreshing card. I love all the floral accents and the pretty elements.
Kelly Booth found a twenty-year-old logo stamp in her stash that was the absolute PERFECT choice for the Coffee Cup. Plus, the stamp is still available! Love the crisp colors to this happy card.
Shelly Hickox has such a way with textures. This masculine version of the Coffee Cup pop-up for her son's birthday is perfection. By the way - if you're looking to impress a man in your life with a handmade card - try a pop-up card!
Cake Pop-up Cards
Frances Byrne created this delightful cake card using stamped birds and bright fun colors. I predict that a lucky 8-year-old is going to be very impressed with this card!
Summer Hills-Painter was very clever with this idea to swap out the top tier of the cake for palm trees for a tropical-themed birthday card. Mermazing indeed!
Helen Cryer has such a talent for combining patterned papers. This beauty includes bunting on top of the cake and a floral surround. Gorgeous!
How inspiring! Hopefully these ideas by the team have your mind buzzing with wonderful pop-up ideas. Join us next month, on Wednesday, April 4, 2018 for our next challenge, with a theme of HIP TO BE SQUARE - we will all be incorporating a square or squares into our projects.
We are proud to be a sponsor of the Save the Crafty YouTubers Video Hop.
A huge thanks to Justine Hovey for organizing this huge event. She explains it so well:
"Our Save the YouTuber hop was put together in order to help out the many crafters that are affected by new YouTube rules that require a number of views and subscribers in order to earn money. Some of the biggest names in the industry, along with some companies, have come together to help those in need and to bring YOU, the audience, some amazing new tutorials from artists you may have never seen before. After you are finished watching each video, you can click the link in the YouTube video description to check out the next person on the list. The more videos you watch and comment on, the better your chances are to win 1 of over 120 prizes!”
For my video I show a fun combination of the Twist Panel die set and the Coffee Charms die set. If you leave a comment on the YouTube video (click to watch and comment on YouTube, not here on the blog) by February 26, 2018, you are entered into a drawing to win the two die sets I used in the video, or a $25 Simon Says Stamp gift certificate, or two Catherine Pooler Designs ink pads. (Note - the ink pad prize is for US residents only.)
Now because the hop is so huge, we were instructed to create shorter videos of around 6 minutes. As you can imagine, it was hard to teach all the parts of this card in that amount of time, so if you end up winning or purchasing these dies you'll probably want to watch the full assembly videos, which can be found here: http://karenburniston.com/videos
This card measures 4.25" x 5.25" when closed, so it will fit nicely in an A2 envelope for mailing and plan on the extra ounce stamp because of the thickness. To make the coffee rings I used a plastic cup and brown ink. The rectangle window and frame were cut using pieces from the Twist Panel set. The coffee cup and hearts came from the Coffee Charms. This is also my card for the Paper Pros February "Love" challenge as I love, love, love my coffee!
As the card is opened the panels start to twist and open. You can see how the coffee cup is attached to the back of one of the panels so it is visible in the closed position, but then disappears as the card is opened.
To decorate my panels I dangled Coffee charms from frames cut with the pieces that come in the Twist Panel die set. (There are 15 dies included in that set, so you have everything you need for decorating!) I used strips of washi tape around the transparency window pane and added a rectangle at the bottom as a place to sign the card. The patterned paper is an old piece of Little Yellow Bicycle (FLH-107) from my stash.
The Catherine Pooler Designs Inks are so vibrant - they worked perfectly to color the Coffee Charms. The coffee stamp came from Hobby Lobby.
Karen Burniston die sets are sold at independent and online stores throughout the world. As always, we encourage you to ask for the dies at your local stores. If you are sadly without a local store, you can always shop on our website OR at Simon Says Stamp.
