Karen Burniston Designer Challenge 31 - In Case You Missed It

Happy March!

Our theme for this month's Designer Challenge is In Case You Missed it (ICYMI) where I challenged the team to repost an older Designer Challenge (DC) card and to be inspired by it to create a new version. For my card and video I took inspiration from Designer Challenge 23: Picture This! where I first taught how to assemble the Photo Collage Pop-up die set. 

My inspired version is a birthday card for John, who turns 50 in a few days. I wanted to try the Photo Collage in a clear front card. For an added challenge I also added 50 birthday candles.

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

The card measures 5" x 6" in the closed position and fits nicely in an A7 envelope. The clear front allows the Photo Collage to be seen in the closed position, so some of the photos and candles are attached to the back of the pop-up inside. Other photos and candles are attached to the front of the plastic. For those elements I made sure to attach the same shaped object to the inside of the plastic so the adhesive would be hidden. The "fifty" title was die cut using our Alphabet set with two layers stacked on top of each other for a subtle tone-on-tone look.

As the card opens the elements that are attached to the back of the pop-up "disappear" to the back and the photo collage starts to twist open.

Once open, the interior scene is revealed, with 9 photos attached to the pop-up. The paper is an older piece of Simple Stories patterned paper from my stash. I clipped the "happy birthday to you" greeting from the paper. The candles are made by adding washi tape strips to yellow cardstock before cutting the candles. 

2020 is a milestone year for us. We both turn 50 this year (but I shall enjoy my 40's for a few more months, thank you very much!) and our 25th wedding anniversary is in October. 

Ready to make your own personalized milestone birthday card? Here's what you need:

Get ready for amazing ICYMI inspiration with these fabulous Design Team projects. For each project you may click the designer's name to open a new tab with their blog post. On their blog posts you'll find supply lists, more photos, tips, videos, etc. Click away!

Kelly Booth was inspired by two cards she made for DC22 Beach Day. She combined elements from both cards into a brand new Surprise Ball card celebrating a day at the beach. I love her shaped belly band and the way she used the hexagons from the Surprise Ball as labels on the card.

Karen Aicken took her inspiration from last month's challenge, DC 30 Double! She repeated her clever doubling of the Cupcake Pop-up into a side fold card and then covered the cupcake shapes with squares to convert the card into an any-theme generic pop-up. Brilliant and so pretty!

Sandy Diller chose her inspiration card not from a previous Designer Challenge, but from a fun birthday card she made for a friend using the Gift Pivot Panels. Her new version is for her son's birthday, and features bright happy colors and a mix of dies and stamps. I love how she used an inset of solid orange inside the card to set off the pop-up.

Fran Sabad was inspired by her rocket/train mash-up card in DC 19 Enjoy the Ride for the styling of her adorable Easter card using the Train Pivot Panels. The details in this card are incredible! Notice all the fun cargo in the train cars and the generous sprinkling of eggs for the hunt. Love this!

Frances Byrne made an adorable card for DC 23 Picture This! featuring Frankie, her grandpuppy. She took inspiration from that card to create a new Frankie card, this time with the Tag Book Pop-up featuring designer dies pulled from the Photo Collage set. What a sweet birthday pup and a fabulous card!

Lois Bak found inspiration in the card she made for DC 27 Holiday Accordions. She created a new version of her Charm Accordion card, this time for St. Patrick's Day. I love the addition of the solid front panel to the card. It allows a big surface to add a fun stamp. 

Well there you have it. Another great batch of inspiring cards by our Design Team with a chance to go back and see some gems you may have missed the first time. Join us next month on April 8, 2020 for our next challenge with a theme of TREE.

Happy Crafting!

Karen Burniston Designer Challenge 30 - Double!

Happy February!

Our Designer Challenge for this month has a theme of "Double!". I challenged the team to double up their pop-ups for a card of any theme. They could either use two of the same pop-up in a card, or combine two different pop-ups in an interesting way.

The team has been posting some very fun animals created by stacking our Surprise Ball Pop-up. You'll see several double-ball animals for this month's challenge. I wanted to try my hand at a double-ball animal and came up with a lizard. The offset stacking of the Surprise Balls makes for a different look at allows the animal to pop out further than the limits of the card - always a fun effect!

Learn how I made it by watching the full video tutorial:

My card measures 6.5" square when closed. It is held closed by using the flap from the Flap and Closure die set on the right edge of the card and then a magnet/ribbon closure. The papers are older ones from my stash. I used a few dies to decorate the front of the card, including the Circles - Crosshatch, a balloon from the Explosion Pop-up, Border Blends - Party and Word Set 2 - Birthday. 

Lift the ribbon to release the card. A cute lizard pops up on the right side of the card. Spin the lizard to see all sides. I used the Crosshatch Circles set for the greeting circles, the eyes and the mouth. The other circles come included in the Surprise Ball set. The tail and legs are hand cut.

To make nostrils, I used the inner parts of the lamb ears from the Chicken, Pig and Lamb set. 

Want to make your own lizard? What other animals can you style using this technique of an offset stacked Surprise Ball set? Here are the supplies used on my card:

Get ready for DOUBLE the inspiration with these fabulous Design Team projects. For each project you may click the designer's name to open a new tab with their blog post. On their blog posts you'll find supply lists, more photos, tips, videos, etc. Click away!

Frances Byrne created this fabulous stacked Surprise Ball penguin. The sleeve-style card keeps the animal flat for mailing and then offers such a fun surprise as it slides out and pops up. Such a clever and fun design.

Fran Sabad's double stacked Surprise Ball is decorated as a birthday piggy. Squee! I am so impressed with how the team manages to find “pieces and parts” for the animals from other die sets.

Frances Byrne also made this amazing double Surprise Ball panda. Incredible! Click over to her blog post to read how she made bamboo for her panda. So creative!

Lois Bak made a large card to hold two side-by-side Surprise Ball billboards. Such a special card for the happy couple. 

Lois also made a stacked Surprise Ball minion card with a banana-pull tab. What perfect styling to recreate these popular little cuties.

Sandy Diller created a full YouTube video to teach this stunning combination of the Fancy Label Accordion and Heart Pivot Panels. I love this clever combination for an over-the-top way to say I Love You!

Kelly Booth combined the Woven Basket Box card with the Coffee Cup Pop-up for a sweet Valentine's bouquet. I love the mix of woodgrain with the pinks and reds. So sweet!

Kelly Booth made a second version of her Woven Basket/Coffee Cup mash-up, this time with a bouquet of Love Charms delivered by the Feathered Animals. Absolutely adorable!

Karen Aicken always has great ideas for how to repurpose and stretch die sets. Her challenge card is the perfect example - turning the Cupcake Pop-up sideways and doubling it, then embellishing with the Gift Card Label. I love these soft pretty colors and the generic repurposing of the cupcake set.

Well that's a wrap on another challenge full of great inspiration by the team. Join us next month on Wednesday, March 4, 2020 for our next challenge with a theme of Treasure!

Happy Crafting!

 

Karen Burniston Designer Challenge 29 - Hearts!

Welcome to our first Designer Challenge of 2020. This month our theme is "Hearts" and you'll find some lovely heartfilled cards by our Design Team to inspire you.

For my card and video I am showing how to use the Surprise Ball Pop-up to animate a circle billboard, suitable for any theme. In keeping with the challenge I decorated mine for Valentine's Day.

Learn the technique by watching the full YouTube video here:

This card measures 5.5" square when closed. The front is decorated with patterned paper (Crate Paper Main Squeeze, from my stash) and two love note charms from the Love Charms. The scalloped edge pieces were made using the Tropical Scene die set.

Because of the bulky bead closure, it would need a bubble mailer, but I plan to give it in person. You can always swap out the closure for something more mail-friendly, like a tie closure, belly band or magnets.

Once the closure is released, the billboard will pop-up, attached to the Surprise Ball. The billboard is created on a base of the largest Crosshatch Circle and decorated with Love Charms and our Happy Valentine's Day word die. The inside patterned paper (PhotoPlay Candy Hearts) is also from my stash. 

Here are the supplies used in the video. This technique would work wonderfully for any theme by swapping out the papers and embellishments.

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Let's take a look at the wonderful inspiration by our talented Design Team. 

Frances Byrne created this fabulous Circle Tag Book featuring the Heart Pivot Panels. Love the touches of cream and gold to highlight the red/pink color scheme. 

Karen Aicken combined red and kraft for this fabulous Surprise Ball Valentine. I especially love the paper yoyo on the top of the ball. Check out Karen's blog for a video of this card in action.

Fran Sabad made two cards for the challenge showing the Heart Pivot Panels two ways - in a standard card and then combined with the Twist Panel Pop-up. The foil elements and patterned hearts are gorgeous.

Sandy Diller cleverly combined the Tag Book Pop-up with the Heart Pivot Panels to create this unique card with elements of both pop-ups. She has a full video tutorial for how she made it on her blog post, so be sure to click over and watch it. Love the combination of pink and teal on this.

Lois Bak created this magnificent light-up Surprise Ball Valentine. She has more information and a video of the card in action on her blog post. This is such a cool effect and the EZ-Lights from Pear Blossom Press work so wonderfully with our pop-up dies that we are now carrying them on our website.

Kelly Booth created two amazing cards for the challenge. First up, she combined the Circle Tag Book and Heart Pivot Panels for a fun vibrant Valentine. I like how she added the Love Charms to the pop-up.

Kelly's second card is absolutely adorable, combining our Surprise Ball Pop-up with cute googly-eyed stamped frogs. One of the frogs is on an action wobbler for even more interactive fun.

Hopefully you feel inspired by a hearty helping of heart-filled cards. Join us next month on Wednesday, February 5, 2020 for our next Designer Challenge. 

Happy Crafting!

 

Karen Burniston Designer Challenge 27: Holiday Accordions

Happy November!

For our challenge this month the theme is Holiday Accordions. The team was instructed to use either our Charm Accordion die set or our Fancy Label Accordion die set to make a card celebrating the upcoming holidays. 

My card and video is a technique for using the Fancy Label Accordion to create a bigger version of the Charm Accordion by adding your own little charm frames between the pages. Watch the video to learn this technique.

The Fancy Label Accordion measures 4.75" square when folded up, so it can be mailed in an A7 envelope. I decorated the outer frames with the companion Fancy Flourish Frames die set by coating the outer frames with tape runner, adding the frames, and then sprinkling glitter onto the leftover adhesive.

Open the card to reveal a fun 4-page accordion with extra charm frames in between the outer pages, holding a small snowflake charm from the Winter Charms set. 

In the video I show how you can change the location of the face of the Snowman die to create different looks. The greeting is a Paper Smooches stamp set from my stash.

Want to give this card a try? Here are links to the products used:

 

Let's look at some additional Holiday Accordion inspiration by our talented design team. 

Karen Aicken used the Charm Accordion for this delightful card that has treasures on each page and even displays on the back as well. If you pop on over to her blog there's a video of this card in action. Love it!

Fran Sabad also used the Charm Accordion and decorated it as cookie sheets with gingerbread cookies. So sweet! (pun intended)

Helen Cryer shows off the Charm Accordion with a mixture of the Winter Charms die set plus some premade embellishments from a collection pack. I love the addition of the ribbon bow over the snowflake!

Frances Byrne shows how perfectly the Fancy Label Accordion can be used to showcase stamps. I love that she added a solid panel as the final page to her album. Adorable!

Lois Bak created a staggered Charm Accordion with a solid panel front. What a great idea to spell out NOEL on the pages!

Sandy Diller demonstrates how the Fancy Label Accordion can be used to make a 2-page card. She packed the Sleigh with cute penguins and used our Enjoy the Ride die set as a title. I love the way the snowflakes are used as frame decor.

Kelly Booth created a lovely 3-page Fancy Label Accordion to celebrate Thanksgiving. She used gorgeous plaid papers and sweet stamps. Such a clever way to do the greeting, too.

Kelly Booth made a second holiday accordion for the challenge, this time to showcase Christmas stamps. I love how she added the banners across the first two pages.

Join us next month on December 4, 2019 for our next Designer Challenge with a theme of Surprise! We will be showcasing the new Surprise Ball Pop-up and the new Parcel Pop-up die sets for cards that surprise and delight!

Happy Crafting!

 

Karen Burniston Designer Challenge 26: Autumn

Happy October!

Our Designer Challenge this month has a theme of Autumn. The team has once again knocked it out of the park with their fabulous creations.

For my project and video I'm teaching a fun technique for doubling our Pivot Panels die sets. To demonstrate I've used the House Pivot Panels, but this technique works with any of them. I also used the Tree Pop-up and Nature Edges.

Learn how to make this card by watching the video tutorial:

To make a double pivot panels card you'll want a landscape 5x7 card (or larger). For the front of my card I have a simple lead-in using the same styling as the interior. (My favorite way to make card fronts.)

Open the card to reveal a forest of trees behind an autumnal village. The video shows how to attach two pivot panels die sets together to create a longer pop-up. You also have room behind the pop-up to add another platform as I did, or even to fill it with a third pivot panels. (You decide!)

Here's a closer look at the houses and trees. The patterned papers (Photo Play) do all of the work creating the fall colors. The greeting is from Word Set 7.

Want to give this technique a try? Here are the products used in the video:

Let's look at some additional autumn inspiration by our talented design team. 

Frances Byrne kicks us off with a gorgeous Photo Collage card featuring vibrant autumn elements and colors. I love how Frances seamlessly mixes die cut elements and stamps into fabulous scenes.

Kelly Booth pays homage to pumpkin spice season with a fabulous Coffee Cup pop-up in fall colors. Notice the festive speckled cup and stenciled napkin edge. I'll take a venti, please!

Karen Aicken amuses with a Spinner Square card featuring a Funny Bones sentiment. I love how she created a custom inked background and also used the happy die from Word Set 7 to completely fill the front of the card. What a great technique!

Sandy Diller made a vibrant and beautiful staggered Charm Accordion to celebrate the season. I love the pumpkin scene she created along the bottom of her card plus the solid panel front cover.

Lois Bak used the Rockin' Rectangle and some fun Riley and Company stamps for a Thanksgiving card that's sure to delight. The front features the Autumn Elements layered into a lovely embellishment.

Fran Sabad also used the Rockin' Rectangle and also used Riley and Company stamps but with a different effect. Fran made a window card and fun apple-picking colors. What a great way to welcome fall on the farm.

Hopefully we've inspired you to craft up some autumn goodness. Join us next month on Wednesday, November 6th for our next Designer Challenge with a theme of HOLIDAY ACCORDIONS. The team will be using our Charm Accordion or Fancy Accordion to make holiday cards. 

Happy Crafting!

 

Karen Burniston Designer Challenge 25: Enjoy the Ride!

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!

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Happy Crafting!

Karen Burniston Designer Challenge 24: Fun on the Farm

For this month's Designer Challenge we have a theme of Fun on the Farm where I challenged the team to use the new farm-themed dies on a card.

For my video I wanted to teach a technique of combining the Family Room Pop-up with the floating floor from the House & Fence Pop-up to make a top-fold double floating floor family room card. To make it fit the theme I decorated mine using the farm dies, but this is a generic technique that can be used for many themes. Learn it by watching this video.

The card measures 4.75" x 5.5" in the closed position. The front of the card is a simple lead-in to the magic inside.

When the card opens, the entire pop-up scene comes to life. 

Here are a couple other versions of this card that I made at a recent retreat. The Halloween version uses the same two base dies - Family Room and House & Fence, plus our Halloween themed dies - Scene, Elements and Charms.

Then I tried it in a Thank You theme. This one adds Word Set 4, Thank You and the Memory Charms.

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

 

Let's take a look at the great ideas by our talented Design Team.

Fran Sabad is planning a wedding for her youngest daughter at their family farm so this theme was perfect to celebrate the upcoming nuptials.  

Frances Byrne combined the Barn with the Family Room to make this super cool hang out for cows.

Karen Aicken made the most exquisite Christmas Barn. I love all the incredible details. Make sure you click over to see the other photos of this spectacular card.

Sandy Diller made a double floating floor to animate the Barn and then added cows to extra supports. Fabulous!

Kelly Booth made a super fun birthday card using the Barn and animals, plus Tiny Accessories sets.

Lois Bak created a fun fold card and then dressed up the farm animals in fun costumes from our Tiny Accessories sets. 

Summer Hills-Painter was inspired by a recent technique Karen Aicken shared for creating a single large flip with the Triple Flip card. There's a fun reveal when the tab is pulled - click over to Summer's blog to see it.

Well we hope you are inspired by all these ideas for using the farm dies for all seasons and occasions. Join us next month on September 4, 2019 for our next Designer Challenge with a theme of Enjoy the Ride.

 

Karen Burniston Designer Challenge 23: Picture this!

Happy July! And to my fellow Americans, have a patriotic and fabulous 4th of July.

This month's Designer Challenge has a theme of "Picture this!" where I challenged the team to incorporate a photo or photos into a card of any theme. For my card and video I'm teaching how to assemble the brand new Photo Collage Pop-up die set which will start shipping on July 15, 2019. My friend Rebecca and I have done a lot of fun things over the last few years so I wanted to make a "hello" card featuring photos of our fun activities. Watch the video to learn about this die set.

To use the Photo Collage Pop-up with photos, you'll need 8 (or more) photos sized to 1.25" square. This is easy to do on a computer using a photo editing software like Photoshop or Microsoft Word. However, if you are not technically inclined but you live anywhere near a Walgreens (sorry to my international viewers - you'll have to find if your local drug store will make a similar collage print) you can take advantage of their 4x4 collage print option to easily size your photos to fit. Here's a video showing how:

This card measures 4.25" x 5.5" when folded and will mail easily in an A2 envelope. For the front decoration I mimicked the feel of the inside, adding two more photos and then the camera charm from the new Memory Charms and the word Hello from Word Set 6 - Summer. The patterned paper is an old Jillibean Soup design from my stash. 

As the card opens the collage starts to twist and expand. I must credit our very talented design team for the inspiration to make some of the photo frames in colors instead of leaving them all white. I chose colors that would pop against the patterned paper.

Once open you can see the entire photo collage. Eight photos are attached to the pinwheel spinner. The die set also includes the push pins, binder clips, ticket and the word "smile."

We are taking pre-orders for the new dies now, with shipping starting July 15, 2019 in the order received. We do ship all store orders first, so if you're lucky enough to have a local store, please ask for our products. Here are links to the products used in the video:

 

Let's take a look at the creations by our very talented Design Team. First I want to extend a huge thank-you to Irene Mendes, who answered our Design Team call last year and was selected to join the team for a six month term. She brought beautiful creations to our team and we are so grateful for her talents. She is stepping down as an official team member but we will continue to see her beautiful works on the Pop-up Peeps group and her blog.

Kelly Booth made a special personalized card for her son-in-law's 40th birthday. What a wonderful trip down memory lane for the lucky recipient. Kelly also added extra photos to the collage and used a 5x7 card size so they'd all fit.

Karen Aicken used the Triple Flip die set to create a custom card for her grandson's 7th birthday. This is a great mix of colors, patterns, borders and more. The birthday boy is going to delight in pulling the arrow and watching the rectangles flip.

Frances Byrne expanded the number of photos on the Photo Collage Pop-up to 10 and filled it with pictures of her grandpuppy. I love everything about this card, from the colors to the fun captions to the clever use of the "sweet" portion of the Home Sweet Home die set. 

 

Fran Sabad and Frances both chose to focus on grandpuppies with the Photo Collage this month. Fran made some great choices here, including patterned photo frames and the addition of the dog die from the Cat and Dog. Precious!

Sandy Diller's parents will soon celebrate their 75th wedding anniversary. Yes, you read that right! What a wonderful celebration and cause for a very special card. Sandy shows on this Photo Collage how to use fewer photos to keep the focus on just a few milestone images. I love the border around the inside as well. The Happy Ever After die works perfectly as a card front. Congratulations to the happy couple!

Lois Bak surprised her daughter with a commemorative card from their trip to Sea World. Using the Photo Collage Pop-up not only creates a dynamic exciting card, but a treasured keepsake as well. Lois used a background paper of cork board, for a very realistic bulletin board effect, and mixed in the Sea Animals into the collage.

Summer Hills-Painter created a personalized birthday card for her children's grandmother. I love her choice to use the photo frames from the Photo Collage Pop-up on the Triple Flip. What a great way to make a card also be a gift for a beloved grandparent.

Helen Cryer is currently moving her family across the country but found a little break for crafting a card for the challenge. I just love how she used the Photo Collage Pop-up with bright fun elements for this happy Thank You card. Oh, and apparently binder clips are called "bulldog clips" in England. The more you know!

Shelly Hickox recently moved to a new state and is working on a new craft space. We're so happy to have her back! In this card Shelly uses the Photo Collage Pop-up without the photo frames and instead adds some fussy-cut elements to the pop-up for a dynamic, pretty card.

Such an amazing array of inspiration this month. One thing that the team has reported is that cards that are personalized with photos are much appreciated by the recipients. The Photo Collage and Triple Flip die sets also work wonderfully in scrapbooks and mini-albums. I hope you are inspired to give them a try!

Join us next month on Wednesday, August 7, 2019 for our next challenge with a theme of FUN ON THE FARM. We will be showing off the Barn Pop Stand and related farm dies. 

Happy Crafting!

Karen Burniston Designer Challenge 22: Beach Day!

I love this month's challenge! The theme is Beach Day and the team will definitely inspire you with their cards below.

For my video I'm combining the mechanism from the Ice Cream Sundae Pop-up and then decorating it with the Castle Pop-up, Beach Charms, Tropical Scene and Word Set 6 - Summer. 

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

This card is a top-fold A2 size, 4.25" x 5.5" when folded, so it will mail easily in an A2 envelope. The front of the card is a simple lead-in made with leftover materials.

Open the card to reveal a pop-up sandcastle, complete with drawbridge. The Beach Charms give the pop-up some color and whimsy. 

Because the flamingo and beach ball are attached to the angled platforms of the pop-up, (using clear extender strips) they will move outward as the card is opened and then tuck back in when the card is closed. 

Ready to give this card a try? Here are the product links:

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Ready to toss off those flip-flops and feel the sand on your toes? Check out these inspiring makes by the Design Team.

Frances Byrne made this delightful Oval Frames Pop-up beach scene featuring an ice-cream loving crab duo and a serene scene revealed in the ovals. This is a card with so many thoughtful details and a beautiful mix of scale. Add this to my Frances-Favorites pile. (Hint - it's a very large pile!)

Irene Mendes has the amazing ability to seamlessly combine paper elements with die cut elements. This month's card is no exception, with the Oval Frames Pop-up decorated beautifully in a seaside theme. Notice that among her patterned elements are dies mixed in - the pail and shovel and the clouds - and yet everything feels cohesive. Love this!

Karen Aicken focused on all the beach-themed decorator dies to style them wonderfully with inks and then created a diorama card to show them off. She teaches the entire diorama technique, so definitely click over to her blog to learn how to do this. From freckles to googly eyes Karen has thought of everything with this fun card.

Kelly Booth has been rocking the technique from last month's challenge video - to create a stage using the bottom tier of the Cake Pop-up. This is such a fun island! The crab is stealing flip flops, the shark is checking things out and the sun blazes bright behind the palms. Tucking a square behind the sand is also a great look to this delightful card.

Fran Sabad created two cards for the challenge. This first one, featuring several dies layered to create a sandcastle birthday scene, is amazing. The Rockin' Rectangle provides the action, but she's layered in many other dies. Such a great way to really maximize your collection by mixing between the sets.

Fran's second Rockin' Rectangle beach card is a window card and features stamped and colored images. Another great way to get maximum value from a die set - to mix it with decorator stamps and dies from your collection and also to vary the assembly. Try window cards, top fold cards, doubled cards, etc. with this die.

Lois Bak also created two cards for the challenge. First up is a Circle Tag Book featuring an excellent mix of patterned paper, dies and stamps. I love her double stripe details and the chic look of elements against white backdrops.

 

Lois also made this wonderfully-layered Rockin' Rectangle card. Her use of photorealistic papers makes the scenery come to life. I love the palm trees in the distance behind the pop-up and punch of red from the crabs. Beautiful!

Sandy Diller created the perfect beach chair and as I listen to the rain falling steadily outside I certainly wish I was at Sandy's beach instead! Notice her excellent inking of the edges and palms, plus the vellum clouds and peeking sun. Fabulous details in this serene and lovely card.

Kelly Booth posted another card for the challenge and it's an amazing mix of beautiful colors and beachy goodness. This Upsy Daisy card features several dies mixed to perfection. Kelly's eye for color is exquisite.

Well I don't know about you, but I feel beachy keen after all that wonderful inspiration. Join us next month on July 3, 2019 for our next Designer Challenge with a theme of PICTURE THIS! We will all be incorporating photos into our challenge cards. We will also be free to use dies from our July release. Plan on sneak peeks starting on June 24, 2019 with shipping expected mid-July. There are 20 dies in the collection.

Happy Crafting!

Karen Burniston Designer Challenge 21: Congratulations!

Happy May!

For this month's Designer Challenge the theme is Congratulations! Graduation season is coming up soon, so here's a fun way to repurpose the Cake Pop-up die set into a stage for a graduation scene.

Watch the video to learn the technique:

This card is a standard A2 size, 5.5" x 4.25" (top fold) when closed. For the front of the card I chose a minimalist design - just the leftover woodgrain paper and then a triple layer of Congrats where the black layer is slightly offset for a shadow. The graduation cap from Tiny Accessories 2 adds the finishing touch.

Open the card to reveal a pop-up graduation stage complete with graduate, year and greeting. The owl is from the Feathered Animals set and the year is made using our Numbers set.

In this close-up you can see the clear supports that create the gravity-defying scene. The video also shows a fun technique for fashioning a graduation robe for the owl. 

You can use this same technique to make robes for any of our animals. Here are a few examples. (Spring Animals, Woodland Animals, Knight and Dragon)

 Ready to give this card a try? Here are the dies and supplies used in the video:

Let's see the divine congratulatory (and thank-you) inspiration made by the team this month. As I mentioned last month, we have three design team members who are in the process of moving, so they will be out for a few months but will be back!

Sandy Diller focused on the thank-you side of congratulations gifts with this amazing mash-up of the Coffee Cup Pop-up and the Ice Cream Sundae Pop-up. By robbing the mechanism from the coffee cup, Sandy was able to make a standing sundae without a back wall to the card. This is so impressive and easy to do. You can learn how by watching Sandy's full YouTube tutorial on the technique. (And please give a subscribe, too - I know from experience the work that goes into these videos and your support is the currency of motivation!)

Karen Aicken combines and customizes dies in ways that are so clever and polished. I love what she's done here with the Oval Frames Pop-up by removing the front frame and focusing instead on a pop-up 4-panel oval spread - room to spell out CONGRATS. Then she added another oval with the sweet owl that rises with the pop-up.

Kelly Booth used her master coloring skills on a cute stamp to add to the front of the Frame Pull Pop-up. Our word sets with connected phrases, like Word Set 8 - Congrats, work perfectly on the pop-ups as you see here. This card will definitely bring smiles!

Fran Sabad made a congratulations Tag Book for a new baby. It's a wonderful mix of stamped and colored imagery alongside die cut Baby Charms. The new parents are sure to display this beauty! 

Frances Byrne also created a congratulations for a new baby card with this cute Frame Pull Pop-up. I love how the Baby blocks charms fit perfectly on the inner pop-up. The color scheme is so sweet and classy. Adorable!

Lois Bak also celebrates baby with this month's theme. This double Woven Basket Box Card is filled with charm. She's added the Baby Charms, flowers, Spring Animals and bright balloons. What a charming display piece to celebrate a new arrival.

Irene Mendes focused on a thank you card (new parents and graduates always need thank you cards!) featuring the Spinner Square pop-up, soft pretty colors and loads of clouds. As usual, Irene's card is an exquisite mix of colors and images.

I say this every month, but isn't this team spectacular?! Join us next month, on June 5, 2019 for our next challenge with a theme of Beach Day! We will all be making cards with a tropical/beach theme.

Happy Crafting!