Confetti Christmas Tree Pop-up Card

My office is REALLY messy. Like, take the biggest craft supply hoarding mess you can envision and then triple it.

It's overwhelming to think about cleaning this office. There's just so much to go through. So much to purge. So much to organize.

Most of the time I opt for a snack instead.

But this week I did decide I would tackle just one corner. It took several hours, but I was able to purge a lot of old class materials and reclaim cabinet and drawer space for things that didn't have a home. Progress!

One of the things that I discovered in the mass was a partial Christmas Tree pop-up card. It was a green tree inside a plain white card with a red cardinal and a glittery star. Perfect! I decided to finish it as a warm-up card for next week's Designer Challenge, which has a theme of "Trees, Please!"

I started with the interior of the card. The tree was assembled in a folded white card, but I wanted to use a single-piece red backing card, so I carefully cut on the fold line of the white card to separate it into two white base pieces under the tree. I then trimmed down the outer edges of the white so I would have a nice border inside a standard A2 card (4.25" x 5.5" when folded) cut from red cardstock.

To further decorate the tree, I added glue to the bottom third of the tree and dumped silver confetti pieces over the glue. I also dotted glue randomly around the white card and added confetti to the background. In keeping with my sparkly theme, I added some rhinestones to the upper part of the tree. The greeting is two stacked layers from Word Set 3 - Holiday brushed with red ink and attached in a curved line.

As the card is closed the tree will pop down and lie flat.

For the card front, I used the larger tree charm from the Winter Charms die set and styled it with the same "confetti dip" as the pop-up tree. I used a stamp set from Darkroom Door (Christmas Reindeer) to add the script to the background - stamped in Versamark ink and then brushed with Pearl Ex powder. I used the Nature Edges die set to add the snow drifts and stamped Joy (same stamp set) on the bottom drift.

My finished card fits in a standard A2 envelope for mailing.

Learn the assembly of the Christmas Tree Pop-up die set by watching this video tutorial:

My die sets are available throughout the world at independent and online retailers. You can also find them on our website. Here are links to the items used on my card:

Gingerbread Cookie Jar Pop-up Card

Happy Thanksgiving! (And to folks outside the US . . . Happy Thursday!)

Today I'm sharing a fun adaptation of the Flower Pot Pop-up die into a clear cookie jar, filled with gingerbread people.

My card measures 5x7 when folded. I went with a very simple and clean card front.

As the card opens, the cookie jar starts to rise up.

Once open, the card reveals a fun tabletop scene. To create the card's interior, I cut the woodgrain paper (old Kaisercraft, from my stash) into two panels, 6" tall x 4.5" wide. I placed the panels temporarily onto my 10x7 white cardstock base to determine where to cut the pop-up mechanism and then taped the pop-up die over the two panels in the centered position, leaving a little gap between the paper so it wouldn't bunch in the fold of the card later. I lifted the two paper panels, now held together with the die, and ran them through my machine to cut the two tabs to hold the flower pot.

To convert the flower pot into a cookie jar, I cut the side pieces from medium clear plastic and cut them into individual panels. When using thick plastic, it needs to be hinged with something that folds easily, like cardstock. I used just slices of flower pots cut from cardstock to create a bottom band and an upper band. These two cardstock bands hold the shape of the flower pot. The upper band (red) also hides the connection points for the lattice strips, which were cut out of green cardstock. The bottom band is also red, attached inside the pot. I didn't like seeing the adhesive through the plastic, so I cut individual pieces of green spotted paper for the outside of the pot. (Eagle eyes will see where one of my green spotted panels is lifting a bit in the corner and yes, I have glued that down but was far too lazy to retake all the photos!)

The cookies are all made with the Winter Charms die set. I had some corrugated kraft cardstock in my stash that worked perfectly to make the cookies, plus the ridges added a fun texture to the cookies. I brushed the edges with Rusty Hinge Distress Ink. I used letter stickers from my stash to spell out "cookies" on a small label from the Katherine Label Pop-up set.

I thought it would be fun to create a plate of cookies, so I used decorator pieces from the Snowman Twist Circle die set to create the plate. I used the eyes and buttons that fell out of the large cookie overlay to add crumbs on the table.

In this top view you can get a sense for how the cookies fill the jar. Four big cookies are attached to the lattice strips, with two hanging down into the jar and two sticking up out of the jar. Then I filled in with one more large cookie and eight small cookies, all attached to the clear sides of the jar.

For the greeting block, I used the Word Set 3 - Holiday die set, and cut the greeting twice from white cardstock, stacked them and brushed the bottom with red ink. I curved the greeting to match the shape of the small oval from the Katherine set. I'll sign the card on the oval. I also added one more small cookie and some crumbs.

We have a BLACK FRIDAY thru CYBER MONDAY promotion going on! All orders in the US will receive FREE SHIPPING, plus any order (including international orders)  over $100 may choose a free Word Set die set. Get the details here: KarenBurniston.com Black Friday Newsletter

If you're interested in the dies I used on my Cookie Jar Card, you'll find them at independent craft stores, some of your favorite online stores, and on our website as well. You'll also find assembly videos and instruction sheets on our website. 

Happy Holidays!

November Class Projects plus Paper Pros Challenge

Today is our monthly for fun Paper Pros challenge with a theme of Winter Birthday, which worked out perfectly with one of the cards I'm teaching this week.

For tomorrow's class at Scrapp'n Savvy, we will be making three cards. The first (my Paper Pros card), features the Snowman Twist Circle (minus the snowman) to make a distinguished penguin birthday card. A clear panel on the front of the card allows the penguin to peek out in the closed position. Then, once opened, the circle spins him up into the center of the card, holding a gift. Opening the card also reveals a white circle as a place to write a personal message and sign the card.

The penguin from the Winter Animals set is wearing fancy dress courtesy of the new Tiny Accessories 1 die set, which adds the top hat, monocle and bow tie. 

Also on the agenda for tomorrow's class is a Katherine Label Pop-up card featuring the new Cat and Dog die set. I've always loved this Riley and Co. Funny Bones stamp and it worked perfectly for a funny card to send to a friend. By rolling down the corner of the card, the kitty peeks out, and then rises up with the pop-up as the card is opened.

Also on the agenda for tomorrow's class is a combination of three new dies - the Tag Book Pop-up, the Flowers and Bee, and Word Set 4 - Just a Note for this pretty "hello" card.

As usual, it's an ambitious class, but we'll do our best to leave with three finished cards. If you're in class, here's what you need to bring:

• Die Cutting machine with plates and platforms for wafer-thin dies.
• Removable tape to hold dies in place.
• Pokey tool to eject dies
• Liquid glue in a fine tip bottle - VERY IMPORTANT - there are small pieces on these cards and you need to be able to glue them down. (You might bring your Xyron X sticker maker if you have one)
• Other adhesives - tape runner, double-sided tape, small glue dots, pop-dots
• Pens - black pen to add stripes to the bees. White gel pen to color the cat's tail and paws. (I will bring some white pens to share, but bring one if you have one)
• Save the card photos to your tablet or phone OR print them out to refer to in class.
• Optional tools - embossing stylus to shape flowers, brayer to press down glued items
• Optional decorating items - brown ink with a blending tool, Wink of Stella or similar glitter pen

If you are in class tomorrow, you will receive TWO dies in your class kit - the Tiny Accessories 1 and the Flowers and Bee. The other three new dies from the Fall release will be available to purchase at Scrapp'n Savvy and yes, I am bringing enough for every student in both classes to be able to purchase the new dies. 

 For folks outside of the Houston area, here are links to the dies used in the class cards:

Karen Burniston Designer Challenge 03 - Gingerbread!

Happy November and welcome to our monthly Designer Challenge!

This month you're going to be treated to mouth-watering projects by the team. I challenged them to work some sort of Gingerbread element into their projects and, shall we say . . . WOWZA!

This is also the week where we revealed our Fall 2017 5-die Mini-Release, including the Cat and Dog die, which is designated as our hurricane relief charity die for the first 1,000 sold. See this release in our flip catalog here.

For my gingerbread project I definitely wanted to showcase the new Tag Book Pop-up, and it struck me that the decorator pieces could be styled to look like cookie sheets. I used the Winter Charms to add the cookies and Word Set 3 - Holiday to add the greeting. Learn this project by watching the video tutorial:

For the front of the card I wanted to include a larger cookie. To make the larger cookie sheet I trimmed the decorator tag into a rectangle and then trimmed it with the beaded strip die and used the paint distressing as shown in the video. It created the perfect size cookie sheet to fit the larger gingerbread cookie charm from the Winter Charms set. The banners and heart are included in the Tag Book set.

I chose a "mod" holiday palette for this card - pink, green and red. The pink gingham patterned paper is an older My Mind's Eye design. The red paper is Bo Bunny and the green spotted cardstock is from Bazzill. 

The cookie sheets are made by cutting the pieces from silver mirror board and doubling the beaded trim to make a lip. I covered the pieces with black paint and then immediately wiped it off with a paper towel, giving that oven-baked well-worn look to the cookie sheets.

The gingerbread cookies are made using the small tree and man charms from the Winter Charms set, plus the hearts from the Tag Book set. Each cookie is stacked with two layers and then highlighted using the stencil features on the dies and a white gel pen. I brushed the edges with a little brown ink as well. For authenticity, you might also try breaking a cookie.

The Tag Book goes together quickly and has no theme, so you'll be able to use it year-round for any occasion. It also has so many great decorator dies included in the set. If you're looking for a high value pop-up die, this is a great choice!

Ready to give this project a try? You can find my dies at independent and online craft stores throughout the world or order directly from our website. Here are links to the products used in the video:

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The Design Team really hit it out of the park this month. I encourage you to click their names to visit their individual blog posts, where you'll find more photos and information about their gorgeous projects.

Helen Cryer is the queen of gingerbread house projects and you can see why with this stunning card featuring the House and Fence die set in gingerbread splendor. 

Fran Sabad made this darling Tag Book Pop-up featuring a whole gingerbread scene. I love the way she used the beaded trims on the arms of the pop-up and the festive styling of this card. 

Frances Byrne used the new Tag Book Pop-up for a charming gingerbread scene, including fitting the house from the House and Fence die set onto the tag. Brilliant! I love the cheery feel to this fun card.

Kelly Booth continues the Tag Book fun with this dog-themed card. I love how she turned the decorator House die into a gingerbread dog house! Brilliant!

Karen Aicken continues the fun with the Tag Book by using the pieces to make gift tags. These are absolutely darling! Make sure you head over to her blog post to see each tag closer. Such a clever dress-up to a gift.

Shelly Hickox cleverly converted the Cupcake Pop-up into a snow globe for the challenge. I love the little gingerbread man in the globe wearing the cap from the Winter Animals set. Another Shellypiece!

Such fabulous inspiration this month for crafting paper gingerbread goodness.

Join us next month on December 6th, for our Designer Challenge with a theme of "Trees, please!" The holiday and winter projects will all incorporate a tree.

Happy Crafting!