Karen Burniston Designer Challenge 63: Snowman!

Welcome to Designer Challenge 63 with a theme of Snowman! This month I challenged the team and our guest designer to create a card featuring a snowman. You are in for an absolute treat with all their creative and stunning snowman cards. 

For my card and video I took inspiration from a piece of Maja Designs Gingerbread paper from their Happy Christmas line. I thought it would be fun to make a pop-up ball gingerbread snowman.

Learn how I made this card by watching the YouTube tutorial here:

My card measures 5" x 6" in the closed position with 3/8" gusseted folds. It will fit (barely) in an A7 envelope, but I recommend a bubble mailer for this type of card. The closure is a pivot flap closure like the one from Designer Challenge 62, but this time designed to fit a larger card that will accommodate all three ball sizes. The greeting "Sweet Christmas" was created by combining words from You're Sweet and Merry Christmas. To style every element as a gingerbread cookie I cut the pieces from brown cardstock and then highlighted (purposely imperfectly) with a white pen to look like piping.

Open the card and the gingerbread snowman springs up. He sits on a plate made with our Circles - Crosshatch die set with smaller gingerbread cookies sprinkled on the plate. Both the plate and the snowman spin in the card on a brad.

The structure of the snowman is made by stacking all three ball sizes: Mini Ball, Bitty Ball and Surprise Ball. All the accessories for the snowman are from the Snowman Add-ons die set. I cut them from gingerbread colors with white pen detailing for icing.

The measurements for this type of card and built-in closure will work for double-ball characters as well. To make a removable character, mount the character on an oval or diamond and then tuck the ends under cardstock strips attached to the card. Ready to give this card a try? Here are the dies and supplies used on my card:

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Now let's take a look at the wonderful Snowman inspiration by our talented Design Team and guest designer. 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!

Karen Aicken received plenty of gasps when she posted her amazing Woven Basket Box Card featuring a snowman, street lantern and white Christmas tree. This card is so gorgeous!  I love Karen's color scheme of white, black and gold for this card. The bow on the hat and the twine scarf are perfection! Click over to Karen's blog for a video on this card. Amazing!

Nicky Foden made an amazing card for the challenge and on her blog post she's showing you exactly how she did it. This is SOOOO CLEVER! She made the card base using the Slim Flaps and Frames die set as a flap book that creates all these different snowmen. Can you imagine all the fun if this showed up in your mailbox?! It's just amazing clever and unique. Fabulous!

Jen Webster shows off her amazing coloring skills with this adorable Little Labels Pop-up card. The snowmen are all so delightful and happy. I love all the different looks and expressions she created. Make sure to click over to her blog post so you can see the equally impressive card front, with even more happy snow fellas! Such talent!

Lois Bak combined our Snowman Pop-up die set with our Christmas Tree Pop-up for a double dose of pop-up holiday fun! This card is sure to delight the recipient plus it makes such a nice decor piece. I love all of Lois's brightly-colored circle decorations on the tree. Click to her blog to see the great card front. Love it!

Fran Sabad created a removable snowman pop-up card and I adore her color choices here. She paired the pop-up snowman with smaller snowmen plus the snowflake border from Long Nature Edges 2. Be sure to click over to Fran's blog to see the equally stunning card front. Spectacular!

Suzanne Smit always adds such fun details to her cards. I love this scene of Snowmen having fun with an Ice Cream Sundae. Who would have thought to put chocolate syrup dripping on a snowman?! Suzanne, that's who! This card makes me smile. Click over to her blog for more details. Brilliant!

Sue Small-Kreider created an entire snow family for the challenge and between this blog post and three more after it, she walks you through exactly how to create each member of the snow family. What a delightful creation with so many custom details, like Junior's cap and Mama's shawl. I LOVE IT! Click over for more info.

Sandy Diller created an absolutely BRILLIANT card with Frosty doffing his cap. She used the Mailbox die to create the action and you'll definitely want to head over to her blog to learn how she repurposed the mechanism to use in this way. This card featured great colors plus Sandy's signature tone-on-tone snowflake embossing. So clever!

Frances Byrne created a wonderful gatefold card to accommodate a removable 3-layer snowman and a smaller snowgirl. I LOVE Frances's use of the Gnome Mini Ball Add-ons to create snow braids for the girl plus a fun stocking cap. She also used the Snowman Add-ons on the front of the card to make a big snowman face. Brilliant ideas here! Be sure to click over to watch a video of this card in action.

Karen Hasheck is our guest designer for this month. Karen posts regularly with our dies on her blog and YouTube channel, showing some great cards with fabulous techniques. She is a member of the Send a Smile 4 Kids design team, a charitable organization. When I asked Karen to be our guest for this month's challenge I mistakenly told her the theme was SNOW. Karen ended up making a brilliant Snowman card that fit the actual theme perfectly! Karen combined the Mini and Bitty balls for her 2-layer snowman. She also cleverly used several of our snowflake dies to make a stencil. Be sure to click over to her blog to see the front of this card, more about the techniques and a video of this card in action. Thank you to Karen for sharing her talents with us this month.

Well I hope you are inspired to create some Snowman cards of your own. Join us next month on Wednesday, December 7th, for our next Designer Challenge with a theme of FIREPLACE DIE THROUGH THE YEAR - we will be showing a card using the Fireplace Pop-up for every month of the year. 

Happy Crafting!

Sneak Peek - Karen Burniston May 2022 Release

Today we are starting a week of sneak peeks for our May 2022 release. We have eight new dies that will start shipping to stores this week. For those without a local store option, the dies will be available for ordering from our website, KarenBurniston.com, starting May 16, 2022.

Learn about these dies by watching the preview video here:

Throughout this week the Design Team will be sharing ideas for the new dies on their blogs. You'll find links to the designer blogs in the sidebar of this blog.

If you're looking for the other ball dies featured in the video they are here: Surprise Ball Pop-up, Bitty Ball Pop-up

Next Monday we will have a blog hop that includes prizes for leaving comments and the new dies will be available for purchase from our website. In addition to the eight new dies we will be releasing three new Exact Packs and our June Spotlight Workshop kits. Spotlight kits can also be ordered through participating stores.

Stay tuned for lots of ideas and videos this week!

Happy Crafting!

Sneak Peek - Karen Burniston November 2021 Die Release

Today we are starting a week of sneak peeks for our November 2021 release. We have eight new dies that will start shipping to stores this week. For those without a local store option, the dies will be available for ordering from our website, KarenBurniston.com, starting November 22, 2021.

Learn about these dies by watching the preview video here:

Throughout this week the Design Team will be sharing ideas for the new dies on their blogs. You'll find a list of links in the sidebar of this blog.

If you're looking for the foundation dies for the new Add-ons and shadow die, they can be found here: Bitty Ball Pop-up, Happy Birthday

Next Monday we will have a blog hop that includes prizes for leaving comments. 

Stay tuned for lots of ideas and videos this week!

Happy Crafting!

Karen Burniston Designer Challenge 51: Window Cards

Welcome to our November Designer Challenge with a theme of Window Cards. I challenged the team to incorporate a window or clear front to a card of any theme.

For my project and video I'm showing how to create a window card to fit our Bitty Ball Pop-up. This technique can also be used with the larger Surprise Ball Pop-up.

Learn how to make a window pop-up ball card by watching the full YouTube video:

My card measures 6x6 in the closed position and will mail in a square envelope for extra postage. This card uses two patterned papers from PhotoPlay and a red polka-dot paper from my stash. The closure is a piece of silver elastic cording that loops over a decorative snowflake brad. The brad is elevated using spacers from our Flap and Closure die set. To easily make window frames I combined the trapezoid decorator dies from both ball sets.

Open the card and the ball pops up, revealing the cute Christmas gnomes made using our Tiny Gnomes die set. The Merry Christmas greeting is from our Word Set 3 - Holiday set. The circles are from our Crosshatch Circles die set.

I paid attention when die cutting the decorator trapezoids for the ball that the words would be oriented correctly in the finished ball so it would read HO HO HO and not OH OH OH!

Ready to give this card a try? I definitely invite you to try the technique for cards of other themes. The Bitty Ball is completely generic and can be decorated with any elements to shine through the windows.

 

NOTE: Amazon links are affiliate links where I receive a small commission on the sale at no cost to you. 

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Now let's take a look at the awesome window and clear cards created by our talented design team. For each of these cards there is a full blog post, supply list and, for some of the cards, a video as well. Click the designer's name to visit the blog post, which will open in a new window.

Karen Aicken made this absolutely stunning clear-front card featuring the Holly Pattern Plate cut from foil. It is so elegant and pretty. Click over to Karen's blog for a video of this card.

Kelly Booth made two great cards for the challenge. Both are top-fold Rockin' Rectangle cards where you can see the reindeer through the window and then the rectangle pops-up, rocks, and reveals the greeting as the card opens. Merry and Bright!

Lois Bak made a cute Thanksgiving turkey card using the Katherine Label Pop-up die set. The turkey in the window is attached to the pop-up so it lifts up as the card opens. Lois also used the Autumn Elements to decorate this adorable card.

Sandy Diller was very creative with this Thanksgiving Photo Collage card. The forks are visible through the window and then as the card opens they move from horizontal to vertical, attached to a swing arm of the pop-up. Click over to her blog for a video of this lovely card in action.

Frances Byrne used the Rockin' Rectangle in a side-fold card to animate some cute Christmas stamps. As the card opens the rectangle lifts, rocks and reveals the inside greeting. Frances used a clear front to this card and I love the use of our Alphabet and Border Blends dies mixed in.

Fran Sabad also used the Rockin' Rectangle this month. Her beautiful fall-themed hello card features our Autumn Elements die set shaded beautifully on the pop-up. The colors on this card are so rich and beautiful and I love the stenciled background to set off the die cut elements.

Well I hope you feel inspired to make window cards. Join us next month on December 8, 2021 for our next Designer Challenge with a theme of MOD HOLIDAY! We'll be making holiday cards in non-traditional colors. 

We started our Mission Poppable hashtag with Designer Challenge 45 and have been delighted with the projects posted. For the October challenge our winner (by random draw) is Patty Beers, who posted a delightful haunted Tiny House card.

Each challenge will bring a new mission and you have a month to complete it. You are welcome to post more than one card for the mission, which will increase your chances to win by random draw.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to make your own card following this month's challenge theme of "WINDOW CARDS" Make sure your card features some sort of peek-a-boo effect plus uses our die(s) heavily. Post your card on Instagram using the hashtag #missionpoppable OR on our Facebook Group Karen Burniston Pop-up Peeps OR both. If posting in the Facebook group, please add it to the photo album for this month's challenge, which you'll find in the Media section of the group. You have until the next Designer Challenge date (December 8, 2021) to complete your mission. This message will not self-destruct because I don't know how to do that.

We will choose a winner by random draw from all the cards for a $25 credit to our website. The winner will be contacted via messenger or e-mail. 

Make sure if you're posting on the Karen Burniston Pop-up Peeps Facebook Group that you follow the rules of the group. Outside product is allowed, but not for the pop-up portion of the card. Cards posted on the group must heavily feature our brand. You can find us on Instagram @karenburnistonbrand and also my personal account @karenburniston

Happy Crafting!

Headless Jack Halloween Pop-up Card

OK, so you know how sometimes an idea just gets into your head and you have to get it out? This was one of those cards.

This card measures 5" x 8" in the closed position. On the front I created a collage using dies from our Haunted Tiny House Add-ons set. The purple cardstock behind the collage is made by using our Tiles Pattern plate with an embossing sandwich instead of a cut sandwich. The closure features black elastic cording stretched into a rectangle shape. The spacers and washers came from our Flap and Closure die set. The metal spider charm was from my stash.

Release the closure and the card will spring open, revealing the headless character, made from the Bitty Ball Pop-up die set and Character Add-ons 1.

For the cloak I used the same embossing trick with the Tiles Pattern Plate to give it an embroidered feel. The smile die from the Bitty Ball made the perfect evil eyebrows. I used black mirror card for the face components.

The background of the card's interior is made using our Halloween Scene die set and Happy Halloween, plus a circle die (or use a punch) for the moon. The patterned papers are just old ones from my stash.

In case you missed it, earlier this week I posted a new video showing all the best assembly tricks for our two pop-up ball dies.

Ready to give this card a try? Here are links to the die sets used on the card.

 

 

 

VIDEO: Tips and Tricks for best assembly for Surprise Ball and Bitty Ball Pop-ups

Hi all,

I've been wanting to record a new video with best practices assembly tips for our pop-up ball dies. I've started adding trapezoids inside the balls to strengthen the rubber band sides so they can be made with two rubber bands instead of one.

I recorded the video live, meaning talking to the camera, so it's definitely longer than my typical assembly videos. If you're just interested in the tips and tricks for assembly you'll get through that in the first 25 minutes. The final 20 minutes is me finishing out the bear styling and the card.

The card I made measures 6x6 when closed. I added a flap from our Flap and Closure die set and then used a decorative brad from my stash along with a large loop of elastic to keep the card closed. The elements on the front of the card are from Winter Animals, Picnic Elements, Border Blends Party and Word Set 4 - Just a Note.

Unhook the elastic loop from the brad to open the card. The big bear pops up, holding a picnic basket and a pie. I also used the Hello die set for a greeting. The head of the bear is made using the Bitty Ball Pop-up and the body using the Surprise Ball Pop-up. For cardstock I used our Exact Pack 4, featuring 100 lb. cardstock from The Paper Cut.

I chose to make this a Hello card, but it could have easily been another occasion. It would also be fun to make it a Christmas bear.

Ready to give this card a try? Here are links to the supplies used in the video.

 

Sneak Peek - Karen Burniston August 2021 Die Release

Happy August!

Today we are starting a week of sneak peeks for our August 2021 release. We have fourteen new dies that will start shipping to stores later this week. For those without a local store option, the dies will be available for ordering from our website, KarenBurniston.com, starting August 9, 2021.

Learn about these dies by watching the preview video here:

Throughout this week the Design Team will be sharing ideas for the new dies on their blogs. You'll find a list of links in the sidebar of this blog.

If you're looking for the foundation dies for the new Add-ons and shadow die, they can be found here: Bitty Ball Pop-up, Tiny House Pop-up, Merry Christmas

Next Monday we will have a blog hop that includes prizes for leaving comments. 

Stay tuned for lots of ideas and videos this week!

Happy Crafting!

 

 

Karen Burniston (KB Riley) with Sassy and Crafty Instagram and Blog Hop

Welcome to the Karen Burniston (KB Riley) & Sassy and Crafty Blog Hop! Our Design Team members are excited to share their inspiring creations using some of the fabulous products from both these companies.

 

To celebrate our blog hop we have four great prizes to give away. You will have the chance to win one of two $25 Gift Certificates to use on the Karen Burniston (KB Riley) website or one of two $25 Gift Certificates to use on Sassy and Crafty website.

 

Make sure you join the hop and comment on everyone's blog post for your chance to win one of these prizes. Winners will be randomly chosen from the comments left on ALL THE POSTS received by Saturday 15th May 2021.

 

For my card I created a 5x6 window card and used the Bitty Ball Pop-up die set with the billboard technique and then decorated with the Sassy and Crafty Read, Relax, Repeat stamp set. To make the window, billboard and circle embellishments I used our Crosshatch Circles set. For the closure I used our Flap and Closure die set.

The billboard technique is a great way to use either of our pop-up ball dies to animate a large canvas to hold stamped images.

Tanya made two awesome cards for the hop. This first one uses our new Slim Flaps and Frames die set to make a 4x9 four panel slimline. 

 

Inside she's animated the Sassy and Crafty Cheers stamp set using our Mini Pops Pop-up die set.

 

Tanya also made a second card and it's a stunner! For the front of this 5x7 card she added to opposite flaps from our Flap and Closure die, surrounding a Crosshatch Circle and Thank You. 

Inside is pure magic! Tanya used our Photo Collage Pop-up to animate the Sassy and Crafty Sugar Rush stamp set. She used our big script You're Sweet! greeting, plus our Border Blends-Party. Amazing!

 

Ready to keep hopping? Here are the participants in the blog hop. Be sure to leave comments to be in the running to win website cash from both companies. 

 

Sassy and Crafty

Karen Aicken

Candice

Frances

Justin

Kelly

Alison

Fran

Julissa

Sandy

Mindy

Lois

Karen B. and Tanya <---- YOU ARE HERE!

 

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!

Karen Burniston Designer Challenge 37 - In the Wild! Pumpkin Costume Card

Welcome to our September 2020 Designer Challenge.

Our theme this month is "In the Wild!" and I challenged the team to create animals by combining our Surprise Ball Pop-up with the new Bitty Ball Pop-up. 

For my card and video I wanted to show how the pieces in Animal Add-ons 1 can be repurposed to make a raccoon. I also thought it would be fun to show how any of the stacked animals can wear a pumpkin costume for Halloween.

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

This card measures 6x6 when closed, so it will require additional postage, both because it's a square but also because the bead closure on the front adds thickness to the card. I recommend a bubble mailer. The silver elastic cording is attached to the back of the card and stretches across to hook onto the bead/brad, keeping the card closed.

Lift the cord off of the bead/brad and the gatefold card will spring open, revealing a raccoon all ready for trick-or-treating in a pumpkin costume. The Happy Halloween greeting is from Halloween Charms and the backing oval is from our Ovals - Crosshatch set.

The pumpkin costume will fit any animal.

You also have the option to make animals (with or without pumpkin costumes) by stacking two of the same size ball dies. A note, though. The Bitty Ball die set includes animal accessories (arms, smile, pointy nose) that you will need to make the animals in Animal Add-ons 1. If you only want to invest in one ball die and animals are what you primarily want to make, then I would recommend the Bitty Ball. If you are looking for an Add-on set to use with your Surprise Ball only (no Bitty Ball) then I would recommend Animal Add-ons 2 because it includes arms. Hopefully that makes sense.

Want to give this card a try? Again, you can make the head, arms, legs and tail into any animal, so get creative with who will be wearing your pumpkin costume. Here are links to the supplies used. The plaid paper is from Echo Park in their Celebrate Autumn line from a couple of years ago. The paper on the pumpkin is a very old sheet of Basic Grey from my stash. The silver elastic cording is from Michaels, where you can also find plastic beads.

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Are you ready for more animal inspiration? Check out these amazing cards by our incredibly talented design team!

Fran Sabad made this masterpiece of a card to celebrate her daughter's first wedding anniversary. I actually attended that wedding, which I was surprised to learn was just one year ago, when it feels like a decade! There are so many amazing details to this card, but especially that the hippos rotate and kiss!

Karen Aicken did something very clever with her batty bitty ball - she put the Surprise Ball on top for a bigger head than body! Brilliant! Karen hand cut the wings and has a YouTube video explaining the details and tips/tricks for her card. Definitely check it out!

Kelly Booth has a favorite color and it's on full display with this wonderful teal elephant. I adore the way Kelly has added the flowers from the Flip Frame die set to make a flower tiara for the elephant. The matching small elephant from the Safari Animals on the front of the card is perfection.

 

Sandy Diller made a sweet birthday card using a Bitty/Surprise stacked elephant in bright fun colors. I particularly like the way she snipped out some of the individual fronds from the Fronds Pattern Plate to decorate her interior greeting strip. And whiskers as elephant hair is brilliant!

Frances Byrne made this absolutely stunning lion card. I adore the scene she created on the front circle using the new Landscape Scene. Her use of the crosshatch circle die to create a mane is a stroke of genius. Love it!

Lois Bak fashioned her favorite mouse for this magical birthday card. This is a great example of combining pieces from other die sets to expand your menagerie (circle dies for ears) as well as clever panel decoration to make clothes. Awesome!

Please join us next month on Wednesday, October 7th (my 25th anniversary!) for our next Designer Challenge with a theme of "Inspired by -" we will be taking inspiration from each other for this fun challenge.

Happy Crafting!