Karen Burniston Designer Challenge 60: Labels!

Welcome to our August Designer Challenge with a theme of "Labels." I challenged the team to create a card featuring a label as or on the pop-up. This is also the first Designer Challenge with our newly expanded team so you'll have supersized inspiration this month and going forward.

For my card and video I have combined the mechanisms of two of our pop-up dies; Landscape Rectangle Accordion and Little Labels Pop-up. I also used our Crosshatch Labels and the result is a card filled with labels and label frames and perfect for showcasing any of our charm sets.

Learn this technique by watching the full tutorial on YouTube here:

Because I added the large label frames to the card and didn't chop off the overhang, the card measures 4 1/8" tall by 6" long. My suggestion is an A7 envelope for mailing. The front features the "crabby" crab (pre-coffee!) styled with a frown and crabby eyebrows. The crab is from our Ocean Animals die set.

Open the card to reveal the entire scene. The Little Labels Pop-up has been altered to fit inside the fold, creating two pop-up frames perfect for dangling charms. The crab has turned happy with a mug of coffee. The greeting is one of my favorite stamps from Riley and Company.

The Coffee Charms are assembled on both the front and the back (double-sided) to look good from all angles. They are attached using 10mm metal jump rings.

Because the pop-up ended up covering two of the happy crab's legs I cut a second one and glued just the legs to the side of the pop-up. 

The papers I used are old ones from my stash. Here are supply links to the dies and supplies used in the video:

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Now let's take a look at the wonderful Labels inspiration by our talented Design Team. This is the first DC for our expanded team, so be sure to bookmark their blogs. 

Frances Byrne shows how perfectly the Little Labels Pop-up works to showcase all your favorite stamp sets. I love how she also incorporated the grass from the Long Nature Edges along the bottom of the pop-up and used the Mini Alphabet for a custom greeting. This card is Dino-mite! 

Jen Webster combines several die sets to make a gorgeous Landscape Rectangle Accordion with a scene from the garden. I just love all the layers of fun elements and her excellent coloring. This card would brighten anyone's day!

Karen Aicken created an absolutely stunning anniversary card using the Paper Frames Pop-up. There are so many textures working seamlessly in this card, including some shiny iridescent elements. Make sure you click to Karen's blog to watch a video walk-through of this card. So pretty!

Sue Small-Kreider has created a full photo tutorial for how she created this clever easel card using several of our die sets. The pop-up bee and hive spins as the card opens, for an exciting reveal that you can see on video if you click to Sue's blog post. Such a sunny and sweet card!

Lois Bak created a wonderful sea-inspired Happy Birthday card featuring the Little Labels Pop-up. I love how she's mixed the Ocean and Sea Animals sets and used cute little googly eyes. I also like how she subdivided the front of the slimline card into two areas. Sometimes the long cards can be difficult to fill but this is a great tip for how to use the space. Wonderful!

Suzanne Smit shows a wonderful feature of our Little Labels Pop-up - that you can cover the labels and have it pop up anything! In this case Suzanne made an entire Summer Camp scene and you can almost feel the cool mountain breeze and hear the rush of the river. What a gorgeous, creative card!

Sandy Diller brought such a smile to my face with this card. It's so clever! Congratulate YourSelfie! I love how she added a label in the middle of the Photo Collage Pop-up to hold the Tiny Gnome holding a selfie stick. Plus all the little gnome selfies are precious. Make sure you click to Sandy's blog for more information, including a video tutorial. Love this so much!

Nicky Foden created a full photo tutorial for this amazing Paper Frames Pop-up slimline birthday card. The black elements make everything "pop". (Pun intended) I also love how Nicky's stacked labels feature the inside label turned so that the curves are opposite each other. The effect is lovely. Gorgeous creation!

Fran Sabad has a Fancy Label Accordion dedicated to summer friendship. I just love the entire scene she created by combining several dies. I love that the animals are all paired up with a bestie and that several are wearing cool shades. Fran really shows here how building a collection of our dies can make for some wonderful combinations as many of the die sets coordinate perfectly with each other. Fabulous card!

Well hopefully the team has inspired you to make some pop-up LABELS cards of your own. Join us next month on Wednesday, September 7, 2022 for our next Designer Challenge with a theme of JUST... The team will be making cards featuring greetings that start with the word "Just". We hope you will join us!

Happy Crafting!

Fathers Day Pop-up Card

For this month's Paper Pros challenge the theme was to be inspired by one of my previous videos to make a new version.

I decided to revisit the video I created for Designer Challenge 20 that featured a mash-up of the Woven Basket Box Card with the Coffee Cup Pop-up die set. 

Katie (she's a Puggle) refused to move out of the way so she is making a cameo in this little preview video and was interested in the card only to see if it contained anything edible. It did not. Poor Katie. 

This is a standard top fold A2 card. The front is very simple, made with the Outdoor Edges die set and paper and cardstock scraps from my stash.

Open the card to reveal the pop-up basket, made with red plaid paper. The pop-up combines the Woven Basket Box Card with the mechanism of the Coffee Cup Pop-up. 

The filling is a combination of the Outdoor Edges, plus a few decorator trees from the Evergreen Pivot Panels. The small lantern from the Camping Charms hangs from twine on the front of the basket.

Learn this technique by watching this video:

Here are supply links for the products used:

April 2019 Scrapp'n Savvy Class Projects

Happy Easter everyone!

I'll be at Scrapp'n Savvy this Wednesday, April 24, 2019 teaching two sessions of this quarter's Pop-up Cards class. All pieces are pre-cut in the kit and you also receive a die to take home. The die in your kit will be the Oval Frames Pop-up and if you already own it you'll be able to trade at the end of class for something equivalent from the trunk show.

Our first card will feature the Oval Frames Pop-up in a pretty thank-you card with a coffee theme. (Note: technically the beverages could be tea or hot cocoa, so if you want to change the theme just flip the stamped greeting oval to the blank side) The decorator dies are the Coffee Charms, Flowers & Bee and Crosshatch Ovals.

Our next card will feature the Circle Tag Book Pop-up, decorated in a birthday theme with our Feathered Animals, Word Set 2, Birthday Charms, Tiny Accessories 1, Border Blends - Argyle and Crosshatch Circles.

Our final card will be a bottom-fold window card with the Ice Cream Sundae Pop-up. It is decorated with our Crosshatch Circles and You're Sweet die sets and features a fun elastic/bead/brad closure technique.

Here are the tools you'll need to bring to class to make the cards:

• Scissors
• Glue with fine tip
• Tape Runner
• Pop Dots or foam tape
• Mini glue dots (perfect for sequins)
• Strong double-sided tape (red liner or scor tape)
• Tweezers or a QuikStick for assembling the ostrich
• Bone Folder
• Paper piercer and a small piece of foam to pierce into
• Pen or pencil
• Brown ink and a blending tool (optional, but nice on the lids of the coffee cups)
• Phone or tablet to take pictures of the originals OR just load the pictures from this blog post onto your phone or tablet

See you soon!

Karen Burniston Designer Challenge 20 - Happy Easter or Spring

Can you believe it's April already?! 

This month we're taking on the challenge to make Easter or Spring cards. The projects by the team are spectacular as usual. For my card and video I wanted to see how well the Woven Basket Box Card could be turned into a pop-up using the mechanism from the Coffee Cup Pop-up. It worked exactly as intended! For anyone new to my Designer Challenges, I normally try to show a new twist or combination with the dies to get more mileage from your collection. Many people are collectors of the brand, so this is a way to take two different pop-up dies and use them together to create something new. Here's the video:

For this card I started with beautiful patterned papers from Blue Fern Studio. I was able to find a source for the interior design (supplies linked below) but not the outside paper (Spring Parade April Medley). A challenge in our industry among YouTubers and teachers is the short product lifespan of patterned papers. This technique, however, will work wonderfully with any papers. I kept the front simple with just a rectangle of patterned paper and a crepe ribbon bow. The card measures 4.25" x 5.25" when folded.

Once open the pop-up woven basket is revealed. By combining the mechanism from the Coffee Cup with the decorator pieces from the Woven Basket a completely different look is achieved. For the greeting block I took inspiration from a card by Helen Cryer where she added a square over the center of the napkin to cover the slots. I strategically placed the Happy Spring greeting to cover the seam between the two napkin halves.

To style the bunny I took inspiration from a famous literary rabbit and fashioned a blue jacket from a second cut of the bunny die. The Spring Animals die set comes with an adorable little basket for the bunny to hold, but I wanted him to hold a carrot from the garden. I used the carrot nose from the Snowman die set along with the ostrich's neck feathers from the Feathered Animals (cut in half) to fashion a carrot. 

Ready to give this card a try? I definitely encourage you to "shop" your own collection of pretty papers. The papers for the woven basket were just random papers from my scrap bin. In terms of the basket itself, do plan to use patterned papers instead of cardstock. The lighter the better on the pop-up with this mechanism, so your card will stay open for display. Here are links to the supplies I used:

One of the things that we tell our Design Team is that family always comes first. This is why you will sometimes find a team member or two on sabbatical as something else needs their full attention. Worry not - they will be back! Many of these talented ladies have been on my design team for nearly a decade, if you can believe it. What a blessing! Please consider giving a click to your favorite cards below and leaving a comment on a blog or two. Everyone loves comments!

Karen Aicken styled the cute little chick from the Spring Animals to perfection on this Upsy Daisy Easter card. The colors and details are amazing!

Irene Mendes really shows her talent for soft, pretty and elegant combinations with this Twist Panel Easter card. I love her choice to make it a side-fold card with a vertical panel stack.

Kelly Booth knows how to style hip Spring Animals. Check out the pink and blue bunnies with sweet white feet! This Upsy Daisy Easter card is sure to delight!

Summer Hills-Painter created the perfect Easter scene with this Tag Book creation featuring the Easter Charms. I love how the panels create a beautiful Easter landscape.

Frances Byrne has an absolutely darling Oval Frames Pop-up featuring the Spring Animals and Garden Charms. Notice the bunny peeking out of the grass. Adorable!

Sandy Diller has been rocking the Woven Basket Box Card. Check out this array of amazing makes. Her Easter basket is bright and full of treats. Then she made a doublewide steampunk basket and a masterpiece large basket for her mother's birthday. Awesome!

Lois Bak created this blooming bouquet to celebrate the reason for the season. In my Lutheran upbringing, when the pastor calls out "He is risen!" the congregation responds "He is risen, indeed!" and so naturally I cannot see this card without saying that in my head. What a gorgeous basket.

Fran Sabad converted the Frame Pull Pop-up into a waterfall and then created the sweetest story with the Spring Animals. What fresh colors and adorable styling.

Another amazing challenge. Join us next month, on May 8, 2019 for our next challenge with a theme of CONGRATS! 

Happy Crafting!

Karen Burniston Designer Challenge 12 - Charmed!

Happy August! 

For this month's Designer Challenge the theme is "Charmed" and the team was challenged to use any of our Charm dies for a card of any theme. 

Last month I posted an Upsy Daisy window card called My Knight Pop-up Card and got several requests for a full video tutorial on the technique. I decided to make a coffee-themed version for this month's challenge. Here is the full video tutorial:

When closed, this card measures 4.25" x 4.25" (10.8 cm x 10.8 cm) and will fit nicely in an A2 envelope and mail for a single stamp. The technique for getting the stamped or line drawn look is to cut and assemble the coffee charm out of all white cardstock and use the stencil features of the dies plus tracing around the edges to achieve the look. 

As the card opens the colorful coffee cup starts to lift up, attached to a platform from the Upsy Daisy Pop-up die set.

Once open, the colorful coffee cup stands on the table in front of the card along with a banner saying hello. The greeting is a Funny Bones (Riley and Co.) stamp. 

Karen Burniston (KB Riley) die sets are available at many independent craft stores throughout the world. If your local craft store doesn't carry our line, please ask them to contact us. We're always looking for more retailer partners and it would be great to be in your area. If you are sadly without any local stores, you can always shop online. Here are links to the products used in the video.

These six Charmed cards are sure to knock your socks off! Click on each designer's name to check out their blog post, where you will find more photos, supply lists, tips, etc.

Summer Hils-Painter created this mocha-rrific Tag Book Pop-up featuring the Coffee Charms. I just love the color scheme on this card and the mix of stamps and dies. Perfection!

Fran Sabad created this wonderful tropical Circle Charm card as a congratulatory card. I love the way she created the palm tree element using the Beach Charms.

Frances Byrne created this fabulous coffee-themed Upsy Daisy card. Such a great mix of charms, larger dies and the Alphabet set. The pink/brown color scheme is so chic!

 

Karen Aicken created this masterpiece of a charm star book using the Charm Accordion. WOW! This is just tremendous! I love all the charms dangling in the openings and the clever scalloped edging to the pages.

Helen Cryer always has such a way with color and pattern. This Charm Accordion is no exception and I love her signature technique of cutting a circle through the back of the card as another place to dangle a charm. Helen mixed the Beach and Sweet Treats charms.

Kelly Booth created this seascape staggered Charm Accordion and it's wonderful from all angles! I love the styling on the flip-flops from the Beach Charms and the cute coloring of the crab from the Sea Animals.

So? How about it? Do you feel CHARMED?! I know I do! Join us next month on Wednesday, September 5th for our next Designer Challenge with a theme of "House".

Happy Crafting!

Karen Burniston Designer Challenge 07 - Coffee & Cake

Welcome to our March 2018 Designer Challenge with a theme of Coffee & Cake. I challenged the team and our guest designer to use either the Coffee Cup Pop-up or the Cake Pop-up for a card.

For my card and video I couldn't decide which die to use, so I decided to combine them. The bottom two layers of the cake are used as a pedestal for the coffee cup - a completely reasonable celebration of such a magnificent beverage! Watch how I did it here:

In the closed position this card measures 5" x 6" and will mail easily in an A7 envelope. For the front decoration I mimicked the look of the pop-up, trimming pieces of the cake and scalloped trims and then topping with one of the Coffee Charms, styled in the same colors as the pop-up version. The spotted patterned paper is an old piece of Bella Blvd. paper called Thankful. The other papers were just scraps from my stash. 

Once open, the pop-up pedestal expands, revealing the coffee cup, which holds a gift card. The ribbons are stamped in bright colors, embossed with clear powder, and then trimmed into individual strips. 

The scalloped trim pieces that come included with the Cake Pop-up would normally act like frosting, but for this card I wanted to decorate the two tiers as platforms, so I turned the trim scalloped-side-up to act as a decorative molding instead. The Coffee Charms adorn the upper platform while the beans that come included with the Coffee Cup Pop-up decorate the lower platform.

Karen Burniston die sets are sold at many of your favorite local and online retailers worldwide. We are always looking for new retailer partners, so please ask for these products at your local store. 

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As usual, the team really hit it out of the park with their cards this month. We also invited a guest designer to participate this month. In all cases you can click on the designer's name to open their blog post in a separate window. Those blog posts will give you more photos, information and supply lists for their particular cards. 

Coffee Cup Pop-up Cards

Karen Hasheck is joining the challenge this month as a guest designer. Her Coffee Cup pop-up card features a great color scheme with pops of royal blue. Click over to Karen's blog to see more of her work and find links to her YouTube videos. Karen also runs a children's charity challenge blog called Send a Smile 4 Kids to collect and distribute cards for hospitalized children. How amazing is that?!! We are thrilled that she was able to join us this month.

Karen Aicken chose such an exquisite color scheme for this card. I love her choice to use the Birthday Charms hat on the front of the cup. So lovely!

Fran Sabad also chose an amazing color scheme for this refreshing card. I love all the floral accents and the pretty elements.

Kelly Booth found a twenty-year-old logo stamp in her stash that was the absolute PERFECT choice for the Coffee Cup. Plus, the stamp is still available! Love the crisp colors to this happy card.

Shelly Hickox has such a way with textures. This masculine version of the Coffee Cup pop-up for her son's birthday is perfection. By the way - if you're looking to impress a man in your life with a handmade card - try a pop-up card!

  Cake Pop-up Cards

Frances Byrne created this delightful cake card using stamped birds and bright fun colors. I predict that a lucky 8-year-old is going to be very impressed with this card!

Summer Hills-Painter was very clever with this idea to swap out the top tier of the cake for palm trees for a tropical-themed birthday card. Mermazing indeed!

Helen Cryer has such a talent for combining patterned papers. This beauty includes bunting on top of the cake and a floral surround. Gorgeous! 

How inspiring! Hopefully these ideas by the team have your mind buzzing with wonderful pop-up ideas. Join us next month, on Wednesday, April 4, 2018 for our next challenge, with a theme of HIP TO BE SQUARE - we will all be incorporating a square or squares into our projects.

Happy Crafting!

Happy Crafting!

Save the Crafty YouTubers Video Hop

We are proud to be a sponsor of the Save the Crafty YouTubers Video Hop. 

A huge thanks to Justine Hovey for organizing this huge event. She explains it so well:

"Our Save the YouTuber hop was put together in order to help out the many crafters that are affected by new YouTube rules that require a number of views and subscribers in order to earn money. Some of the biggest names in the industry, along with some companies, have come together to help those in need and to bring YOU, the audience, some amazing new tutorials from artists you may have never seen before. After you are finished watching each video, you can click the link in the YouTube video description to check out the next person on the list. The more videos you watch and comment on, the better your chances are to win 1 of over 120 prizes!”

For my video I show a fun combination of the Twist Panel die set and the Coffee Charms die set. If you leave a comment on the YouTube video (click to watch and comment on YouTube, not here on the blog) by February 26, 2018, you are entered into a drawing to win the two die sets I used in the video, or a $25 Simon Says Stamp gift certificate, or two Catherine Pooler Designs ink pads. (Note - the ink pad prize is for US residents only.)

Now because the hop is so huge, we were instructed to create shorter videos of around 6 minutes. As you can imagine, it was hard to teach all the parts of this card in that amount of time, so if you end up winning or purchasing these dies you'll probably want to watch the full assembly videos, which can be found here: http://karenburniston.com/videos

This card measures 4.25" x 5.25" when closed, so it will fit nicely in an A2 envelope for mailing and plan on the extra ounce stamp because of the thickness. To make the coffee rings I used a plastic cup and brown ink. The rectangle window and frame were cut using pieces from the Twist Panel set. The coffee cup and hearts came from the Coffee Charms. This is also my card for the Paper Pros February "Love" challenge as I love, love, love my coffee!

As the card is opened the panels start to twist and open. You can see how the coffee cup is attached to the back of one of the panels so it is visible in the closed position, but then disappears as the card is opened.

 To decorate my panels I dangled Coffee charms from frames cut with the pieces that come in the Twist Panel die set. (There are 15 dies included in that set, so you have everything you need for decorating!) I used strips of washi tape around the transparency window pane and added a rectangle at the bottom as a place to sign the card. The patterned paper is an old piece of Little Yellow Bicycle (FLH-107) from my stash.

The Catherine Pooler Designs Inks are so vibrant - they worked perfectly to color the Coffee Charms. The coffee stamp came from Hobby Lobby.

If you are just getting started with hopping I suggest you start on Justine's post here: Save the Crafty YouTuber Video Hop

Karen Burniston die sets are sold at independent and online stores throughout the world. As always, we encourage you to ask for the dies at your local stores. If you are sadly without a local store, you can always shop on our website OR at Simon Says Stamp.

Have fun on the hop!

Feb 2018 Class Cards - Scrapp'n Savvy

This Tuesday I'll be at Scrapp'n Savvy teaching two sessions of this card class. Both sessions are sold out, which is really very kind of all my regular students, who sign up for my classes without having any clue what they'll be making. (Thanks, my friends!)

We'll be making a coffee card, using the new Coffee Cup Pop-up, Coffee Charms and accessorizing with square from the Spinner Square. The greeting square can be flipped if you prefer to change out the greeting and make it more of a hot chocolate/apple cider card. The finished card measures 5" x 5.5" and can be mailed in an A7 envelope.

We'll also be making a birthday card using the Cake Pop-up, accessorized with Happy Birthday and labels from the Katherine Label Pop-up. The finished card measures 4.5" square and can be mailed in an A7 envelope.

You'll be receiving the Spinner Square die in your class kits, and you will do some of the cutting on this card with your die. This card uses the Spinner Square Pop-up, Sea Animals, Palm Tree and Tropical Scene dies. The finished card measures 4.25" x 5.5" and can be mailed in an A2 envelope.

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
• Black pen to color in the crab's eyes. 
• Save the card photos to your tablet or phone OR print them out to refer to in class.
• Optional - brayer to press down glued items
• Optional decorating items - inks for edges, Wink of Stella or similar glitter pen

See you Tuesday!

Winter 2018 Die Assembly Videos - Royalty and Coffee Dies

Just one week left until our Winter 2018 die release starts shipping. My goal is to have all of the assembly videos up before the dies ship and I'm plugging away on them. So far I've completed videos for the Royalty dies (Castle and Accessories) and the Coffee dies (Coffee Cup and Charms) See those videos below and also on the product pages linked below each video.

Shop: Castle Pop-up Die Set

Shop: Knight and Dragon Die Set

Shop: Princess and Mermaid Die Set

Shop: Word Set 5 - Royalty Die Set

 

Shop: Coffee Cup Pop-up Die Set

Shop: Coffee Charms Die Set

All of the new dies, plus a restock order of the Tag Book Pop-up will start shipping February 1, 2018. Stores around the world have already ordered, so definitely ask for these products at your local store if you are lucky enough to have one. Even if they don't carry our products now, please ask if they'll order them in for you. We make it easy for retailers with convenient online ordering and low minimums, or they can order through a distributor. 

And now . . . back to making videos!