Karen Burniston Designer Challenge 74: Jack-o-Lantern
October 04, 2023
Welcome to our 74th monthly Designer Challenge with a theme of JACK-O-LANTERN. I challenged the team to incorporate one or more jack-o-lanterns into their challenge card.
For my card and video I combined the mechanism from our new Stocking Pop-up with the Iron Fence Pop-up for a fun and very interactive Halloween pop-up card.
Learn how I made this card by watching the full video here:
My card measures 7" wide by 5" tall and will mail in an A7 envelope. The front of the card features repeated jack-o-lantern overlay Halloween Borders over rectangles from the Rectangles and Labels - Crosshatch set. The greeting is from our new Small Script- Halloween set. All of the papers came from my scrap bin (my favorite place to shop!)
Open the card and three fences pop-up and a giant jack-o-lantern rises from behind the center fence. (It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!) The fences are from our Iron Fence Pop-up die set with the center one animated using the mechanism from the Stocking Pop-up. The large jack-o-lantern is created using a circle from our Circles - Crosshatch set and face/stem from Character Add-ons 1.
I used Halloween Borders for the small jack-o-lanterns on the fence and the bats in the moon. I also added characters from our Skeleton and Bat die set. The trick or treat greeting came from the Small Script - Halloween set.
As I mentioned in the video, the triple-fence-with-slider combination is perfect for adapting to other themes. The fence can be styled for garden, Christmas, Easter, fall, 4th of July, etc. The idea with these monthly videos is to simply spark an idea and I love to see alternate interpretations. To make this card exactly like mine, here are the dies and supplies I used:
Time to check out the wonderful JACK-O-LANTERN inspiration from our team. In each case you can click the designer's name to open their blog post in a new window. On their blog posts you'll find additional photos, supply lists and, in some cases, even videos!
Nicky Foden went all out with an amazing haunted Castle card. The sliding pumpkin closure on this card is especially clever and Nicky has a full photo tutorial on her blog post for the steps to make this spooky masterpiece. Love it!
Jen Webster dressed up a jack-o-lantern character as a scarecrow for a Thanksgiving themed card. What a great way to expand the use of jack-o-lanterns beyond Halloween! Her coloring is, as usual, absolutely exquisite!
Jen also posted this card on her blog that matches the theme so I'm including it as well. What an amazing creation combining the Barn Pop-up with the House and Fence Pop-up plus several animals decked out in their costumes for a night of trick-or-treating. Fun, fun, fun!
Frances Byrne created a jack pumpkinhead character with a sparkly purple cloak and I love it! This is the perfect example of how our new dies blend in seamlessly with the dies that came before so that each year you're building on the collection for new looks. Fabulous!
Lois Bak also shows a great mix of dies in this Little Labels Pop-up slimline card. I love how the new skulls border fits the lower level of the Little Labels perfectly. Plus she's made her skeleton quite dapper with a top hat from Tiny Accessories 1. Cute!
Sue Small-Kreider knocked it out of the park with her amazing interactive pumpkin cart project. You really must click over to her blog to see all the features of this card, including a slide-out drawer with pop-up creepy hands and a light-up feature! Sue is particularly talented at repurposing dies to get new shapes/looks. So creative!
Sandy Diller made a light-up jack-o-lantern card using the Surprise Ball for the pumpkin. Be sure to click to her blog to watch the video. I love how Sandy has mixed in newer dies with favorites. The witch holding the Halloween balloons and the cute spider on Jack's nose take this card over the top! Love it!
Suzanne Smit converted the Fancy Label Accordion into a pumpkin-shaped accordion with the same concept as the Landscape Rectangle Accordion modified for Add-ons. I love how she added the new jack-o-lantern border along the bottom of the accordion. So sweet!
Fran Sabad will be back next month, so for this month's challenge let me share one of my favorite jack-o-lantern cards from Fran featuring a bunch of our Halloween-themed dies.
Hopefully we've inspired you for Halloween cards and more. Join us next month on November 8, 2023 for Designer Challenge 75 with a theme of WHAT'S COOKING? We will be showing off our new Oven Pop-up die set.
Also be on the lookout for the Mission Poppable challenge for October. It will go up next week. You still have time to join in the fun of our September Mission Poppable challenge.
Happy Crafting!