Karen Burniston Designer Challenge 25: Enjoy the Ride!
September 04, 2019
Happy September everyone!
First just a little update on die releases - we elected not to release anything specifically Christmas/Holiday this year. Our July release contained so many dies that can be styled for holiday (Photo Collage, Triple Flip, Barn, Train, Family Room) that we felt our existing holiday dies would pair nicely with any of the new ones to "holiday" them up. Look for new Christmas-specific dies next summer. We are planning a small release in November, but the dies will be generic.
Our theme this month is Enjoy the Ride. The challenge is to use our Rocket Pop-up or Train Pivot Panels for a card of any theme. To illustrate how well our newest pop-ups can be styled for Christmas, I decided to use our Train Pivot Panels for a Beary Christmas card. It's the Polar (bear) Express, if you will.
This card measures 4.25" x 5.5" when closed and will mail in a standard A2 envelope. The patterned papers are very old ones from my stash (We R Memory Keepers Peppermint Twist collection from 2011.) The front of the card is created with two layers of Outdoor Scene hills and clouds, plus the Winter Animals bear holding the wreath from the Christmas Animals. To create the custom greeting, I combined the "B" and "a" from Birthday (Word Set 2) with the "Merry Christmas" die from Word Set 3.
Open the card and the train pops up. I altered the train cars to be flat cars (thanks to Sandy Diller for that idea) and used the smallest cloud from the Outdoor Scene as engine smoke (credit to Lois Bak). The tracks and crossing sign are from the add-on Train Elements die set.
Because the bears were so tall on the train cars I used the bear die to cut away the shape of the head from the upper part of the pop-up. The video teaches this technique and it's a good one to use any time you plan on filling the first two cars with tall items.
If you'd like to create your version of this card, here are the links to the supplies I used.
And then there were 8. Eagle-eyed observers will notice a missing face from the Design Team graphic this month. After a decade (yes, a decade!) of being on my Design Teams, Shelly Hickox has decided to retire. Between a recent move and a new grandbaby, Shelly has plenty to keep her busy and wants to free up time to focus on family and travel. We will miss her incredible creations (I like to call them Shellypieces) and wish her the very best.
Let's take a look at the incredible Enjoy the Ride creations by our talented team. Make sure you click their names to open their blog post in a new window. You'll find the links to their supplies plus more photos, tips, tricks, techniques, even videos on their individual blog posts.
Karen Aicken has a signature technique with the Train Pivot Panels - she uses the die as a generic multi-tier pop-up in a top-fold card by simply turning it and then decorating each section in any theme. This month she took that idea one step further by cutting the Train out of a clear material to animate the Rocket and Space Charms so they really appear to be floating. Because folded acetate tends to spring back, Karen's card opens on its own! What a fun effect when her grandson pulls the card out of the envelope!
Fran Sabad also combined both the Train Pivot Panels and the Rocket Pop-up for this adorably bright and cheery Enjoy the Ride card. There are so many occasions where you might send an Enjoy the Ride card - birthday, congrats, retirement, new baby, travel, etc. I love all the little touches on Fran's card.
Lois Bak created a Christmas Train that is both holly and jolly! She happened upon some puffy stickers in a craft store with a Santa that perfectly fit in the window of the train. I love the beautiful evergreen scenery she used as a backdrop and the festive red and green puffs of smoke (use the wheels of the train for this effect). So merry!
Frances Byrne also made a Christmas Train, this time incorporating some cute stamps. Our dies coordinate so nicely with stamps - it's a great pairing. I particularly love Frances's choice of the Crosshatch Rectangles in the backdrop for edging and the way she shortened "holidays" to a "Ho Ho Ho" greeting. Festive and fun!
Kelly Booth created a personalized train Tag Book for a friend's retirement. She mixed the perfect school stamps and papers with the dies for this one-of-a-kind treasure. I love the color scheme of this card and Kelly's signature coloring skills. Fabulous!
Summer Hills-Painter's card is a blast! She used the Rocket Pop-up, Space Charms and Enjoy the Ride dies for a birthday card that's out of this world. I particularly like all the brightly colored rhinestones that decorate the alien ship on the front of the card. Plus her triple flame on the rocket. Love this to the moon and back!
Sandy Diller created a steampunk train birthday card and it is ahhhmazing! She added a wing to the side of the engine to match the styling of the patterned paper and her cloud is attached to an acetate strip so it moves with the pop-up as the card opens and closes. The gears filling the train cars are the perfect choice for this steampunk work of art.
Well I hope you enjoyed the ride through these fabulous transportation creations. Join us next month on Wednesday, October 2, 2019 for our next Designer Challenge with a theme of AUTUMN. I can't wait to see all the beautiful fall colors in next month's theme.
Happy Crafting!