Dad Charm Accordion - Paper Pros Challenge

Today's Paper Pros challenge theme was set by Shelly Hickox to make masculine birthday cards. What I really needed to make, though, was a Father's Day Card, so I went rogue!

I wanted to use the Charm Accordion die set, which creates an adorable little 2-page Accordion in one pass. Then, you can use the included hinge dies to expand the album into a 4-page, or 6-page, etc. See how this is done by watching the assembly video for this die:

But . . . I wanted a 3-page album and I didn't want to hinge just one page onto the end.

So what I did was to start with a 4.5" x 12" strip of cardstock and folded it at 3.5" from the end. Then I placed the fold right up to (but not crossing) the edge of the die. I used temporary removable tape to keep the cardstock aligned with the die.

After die cutting, I had a 3-page album! I used a trimmer to take off any excess cardstock from the third page, so it would match the width of the other two pages (3.25")

The other modification I made to the album was to make an elongated charm frame by gluing two charm frames between each page and then trimming out the center with scissors. This will allow me to hang a larger charm between the pages.

From here it was just a matter of decorating. Both sides of the album got panels of patterned paper. I used the die to cut the pages and then trimmed 1/8" from each edge of the paper. A labelmaker was used for the greeting.

The chipboard letters were from my stash and fit the squares perfectly. I also found the metal tool charms in my stash and knew they would be perfect for my Dad's card, since he is a mechanic and always has tools in his pockets. Since the metal charms are heavy, I used metal jump rings instead of the paper jump rings that come in the set. 

I did use a paper jump ring for the heart charm in the lower right corner. This view shows the other metal tool charm.

Check out all the other masculine cards on the Paper Pros blogs here:

Shelly Hickox
Kelly Booth
Fran Sabad
Raquel Mason
Frances Byrne
S@ndy Diller
Caz Counsell
Karen Aicken

You can find my new dies at many retailers, both local and online, as well as on our website here:

Karen Burniston Die Storage Idea (VIDEO)

Happy Wednesday!

Today I'm sharing a video showing a storage idea for my new dies. Kelly Booth mentioned that the Ellen Hutson storage sleeves were the perfect size to fit my new packaging. She was right! I ordered the Large and Small sizes and the sleeves are durable and heavyweight and just perfect for this storage idea.

I made a quick video to show how I'm using the sleeves and magnet strips to store my dies:

If you like this idea, here are some shopping links for the supplies:

June 1, 2017 - We're officially OPEN! Plus, a squirrel.

Happy June, my favorite crafters!

We've officially changed the status of our brand new website KarenBurniston.com from "preorder" to "available now!" All dies are in stock and shipping immediately. Retailer orders placed in May have all shipped, so you may also find these dies at your local shops. If not, ask them to consider bringing them in - it's a great way for you to support your local shop and save on shipping. If you are sadly without a local shop, you can always order direct from our website,  and yes, we ship internationally! (Australia - check Craft Giraffe. England - Crafts U Love is taking pre-orders)

I wanted to post a little tutorial today in honor of our opening, and Karen Aicken was the inspiration. I woke up to a lovely e-mail from Karen - she received her order this week and has been busy! I can't wait to share Karen's cards as she posts them on her blog in the upcoming days and weeks. Karen mentioned that she planned to use felt for the squirrel from the Woodland Animals, but not on his face because the stencil feature wouldn't work well on the felt. Naturally this got me thinking of how someone might use the stencil feature on felt.

First, if you haven't had a chance to watch the assembly video for the Woodland Animals, here it is:

For my felt Squirrel, I started with a scrap of printer paper and drew the face using the die as a stencil. I also cut a piece of felt large enough for the squirrel.

OK, this is the part of the blog post where I have to apologize for my rusty embroidery skills. I did fine with the simple backstitch for the mouth and nose, but when it came time to do the french knots for the eyes . .. well, I didn't exactly remember how to do them. Did I look it up on YouTube like a smart person? Of course not! I wound the floss around the needle a couple of times and just went for it. The first eye looked great. The second eye looked . . . big! Did I pull it out and start over? Please. Do you even know me? Heh.

I figured it would give the squirrel character! Yeah, that's it!

After stitching (I used two strands of embroidery floss, by the way) I carefully tore away the paper.

Ta da! One cute little stitched face for Squirrelly-one-big-eye. Next came the die cutting. Lining up the die is easy because you can see the stitched face through the die.

Since the dies are wafer-thin, you may need to use a metal shim to cut through felt. I used a Precision Plate in my Sizzix Big Shot. If you're using a different machine, my suggestion is to look up on YouTube "cutting fabric with a _____ machine" While you're there, check out the MULTITUDE of videos for how to properly make a french knot. Heh.

I cut the belly die from ivory felt and then assembled as usual. As an optional step, you could glue the felt squirrel to a cardstock squirrel for stiffness, which will be good for pop-up cards. (My favorite!)

If you do choose to back the squirrel with cardstock you might also try adding tape over the seam between the tail and the body on the back of the cardstock. This will keep your thread from pulling through if you want to stitch the line. The cardstock on the back will give you an easy guide for the stitching. The next time I do this I might try brown embroidery floss for the line so it's a little more subtle, but still creates the definition. Oh, and I'll make the eyes the same size, too.

It's good to have goals!

Voila! One cute felt squirrel all ready for a project! 

Here are handy direct links for the Spring 2017 collection.