Karen Burniston Designer Challenge 40: Swirling Snowflakes Pop Up Card

Welcome to our December Designer Challenge. Our theme this month is to use our new Mini Pops Pop-up in a card of any theme. I am showing how to use our smaller pop-up ball die, the Bitty Ball Pop-up, to animate the Mini Pops platforms, decorated with snowflakes from our Holiday Charms set.

Learn how to make this card by watching the full YouTube video here:

My card is top fold and measures 6" wide by 5.5" tall when closed. On the front of the card I went with a simple lead-in using the Long Nature Edges and the Christmas Trees Pop Stand for the tree. To create a closure I used ribbon and a sewed-on snap closure and button. The ends of the ribbon are attached to the back of the card.

Open the snap to release the card, which springs open and reveals a forest surrounded by swirling snowflakes. The greeting is our large Merry Christmas die. In addition to the two snowflakes in the Holiday Charms, I also used the small snowflake from our Snowman die set.

In addition to the Mini Pops platforms used in the card itself, I also added them around the ball so that the snowflakes would appear suspended. I attached two trees to the ball and then added another tree attached to the first one. The 3D tree expands as the card opens, but folds flat for mailing.

Ready to give this card a try? For papers I used white, shimmer white, glitter white, gold metallic, green and brown from my stash.  Here are the dies and other supplies:

Now let's take a look at the wonderful creations by our talented Design Team. We've also invited a former DT member, Summer Hills-Painter, to be a guest designer for this challenge. For each of these cards you can click on the name of the designer to go to their blog post for more photos, supply lists and, in some cases, videos.

Karen Aicken made this very clever lift flap card with the Mini Pops inside. This is a great adaptation of the Fancy Label Accordion to create a different style card. I love the pops of color on the inside.

Frances Byrne made a wonderful slimline card featuring a snowman and forest on the Mini Pops platforms. What a clever idea to use the snowman's head for the title on the front!

Sandy Diller cleverly cut the Mini Pops spiral out of clear and doubled it for a long spiral full of birthday goodies. She also animated the greeting label, made using the new Slim Frames die set.

Lois Bak also made a slimline card with a wonderful scene. This one uses the Sleigh on the front, plus the Christmas Animals reindeer and the lights from the Holiday House as the reins. Then inside she has a fabulous scene with Santa and Mrs. Claus plus a tree, all animated with the Mini Pops.

Fran Sabad created these super cute gift tags using the spiral from the Mini Pops inside to animate the snowflakes. I love her styling of the Snowman, having him looking up at the swirling snow and creating a hat with a circle die.

Summer Hills-Painter joins us as a guest this month with this wonderful slimline card featuring the Mini Pops and our new Holiday House, among others, all decorated into a gingerbread town. This looks delicious enough to eat!

Join us next month for our first Designer Challenge of 2021. The theme is Thinking of You and it will be posted Wednesday, January 6, 2020. 

Happy Crafting!