Karen Burniston Designer Challenge 86: Haunted Location Pop-up Skeleton Card

Welcome to our October Designer Challenge with a theme of "Haunted Location." I decided to make a spooky graveyard for my location and then, as a centerpiece, to style the Snowman Pop-up die set as a famous skeleton.

Learn how I created this card by watching the full video tutorial here:

My card measures 5" x 6" when closed and features backgrounds made with Distress Oxide inks. I used Circles - Crosshatch for the moons, Halloween Scene for the bats, Halloween Borders for the bones and Small Script- Halloween for the script greetings.

The graveyard, tree, spider and web are from Halloween Scene. The birds, jack-o-lantern, hands and "Boo!" are from Halloween Elements. The skeleton (Jack) is made using the Snowman Pop-up.

To animate the graveyard I used the base piece from the Snowman Pop-up - one behind each half of the graveyard. The base was then also used to animate the moon and the trees, creating a triple layered scene,

Ready to give this idea a try? Here are the dies and supplies I used on my card:

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Let's take a look at how our talented Design Team interpreted the HAUNTED LOCATION challenge. In each case you can click the designer's name to go to their blog or social media post where you'll find additional photos, supply lists and, in some cases, videos!

Sue Small-Kreider created a haunted Adirondack chair in a pumpkin patch. She cleverly used the Spinner Square behind the chair to animate three ghosts. Just imagine sitting in the chair and feeling those creepy hands touching the back of your knees. EEK! Be sure to click over to Sue's blog for a process video on this card. Love it!

Ken Chien has epically recreated the Overlook Hotel from The Shining. There are so many levels and reveals on this card that it's definitely worth a click over to KC's IG to watch the video of this card in action. Excellently eerie!

Suzanne Smit created a haunted pirate ship in the style of Pirates of the Caribbean. I just love the giant Octopus! Be sure to click over to Suzanne's blog to see additional photos and details of this haunted vessel. Spooktacular! 

Nicky Foden created a delightful haunted castle card using a triple Spinner Square. I just love all the details in this card, including Nicky's signature white pen detailing. Click over to her blog for more information. Scary good!

Jen Webster created a haunted forest using the Tiny Trees Pop-up and vellum ghosts from the Halloween Elements set. Take a stroll through Jen's creepy woods . . . if you dare! Click over to see more details for this great card.

Lois Bak invites you aboard the Haunted Express with this wonderfully shiver-inducing train card. Love that ghost driver and the great graveyard backdrop. Click over to Lois's blog to see the card front. Wickedly wonderful!

Sandy Diller shivers our timbers with this haunted pirate ship. Love all the layers of fun in the boat and her great postage frame collage on the front of the card. Skeleton fish! Frighteningly delightful and clever! Click over for a video of this card in action. 

 

Well I hope you are sufficiently inspired with some hair raising ideas for haunted cards. Join us next month on Wednesday, November 6th for our next Designer Challenge with a theme of AUTUMN OR CHRISTMAS CHEER - we will be celebrating the season.

Happy Crafting!

Karen Burniston Designer Challenge 74: Jack-o-Lantern

Welcome to our 74th monthly Designer Challenge with a theme of JACK-O-LANTERN. I challenged the team to incorporate one or more jack-o-lanterns into their challenge card.

For my card and video I combined the mechanism from our new Stocking Pop-up with the Iron Fence Pop-up for a fun and very interactive Halloween pop-up card.

Learn how I made this card by watching the full video here:

My card measures 7" wide by 5" tall and will mail in an A7 envelope. The front of the card features repeated jack-o-lantern overlay Halloween Borders over rectangles from the Rectangles and Labels - Crosshatch set. The greeting is from our new Small Script- Halloween set. All of the papers came from my scrap bin (my favorite place to shop!)

Open the card and three fences pop-up and a giant jack-o-lantern rises from behind the center fence. (It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!) The fences are from our Iron Fence Pop-up die set with the center one animated using the mechanism from the Stocking Pop-up. The large jack-o-lantern is created using a circle from our Circles - Crosshatch set and face/stem from Character Add-ons 1. 

I used Halloween Borders for the small jack-o-lanterns on the fence and the bats in the moon. I also added characters from our Skeleton and Bat die set. The trick or treat greeting came from the Small Script - Halloween set.

As I mentioned in the video, the triple-fence-with-slider combination is perfect for adapting to other themes. The fence can be styled for garden, Christmas, Easter, fall, 4th of July, etc. The idea with these monthly videos is to simply spark an idea and I love to see alternate interpretations. To make this card exactly like mine, here are the dies and supplies I used:

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Time to check out the wonderful JACK-O-LANTERN inspiration from our team. In each case you can click the designer's name to open their blog post in a new window. On their blog posts you'll find additional photos, supply lists and, in some cases, even videos!

Nicky Foden went all out with an amazing haunted Castle card. The sliding pumpkin closure on this card is especially clever and Nicky has a full photo tutorial on her blog post for the steps to make this spooky masterpiece. Love it!

Jen Webster dressed up a jack-o-lantern character as a scarecrow for a Thanksgiving themed card. What a great way to expand the use of jack-o-lanterns beyond Halloween! Her coloring is, as usual, absolutely exquisite!

Jen also posted this card on her blog that matches the theme so I'm including it as well. What an amazing creation combining the Barn Pop-up with the House and Fence Pop-up plus several animals decked out in their costumes for a night of trick-or-treating. Fun, fun, fun!

Frances Byrne created a jack pumpkinhead character with a sparkly purple cloak and I love it! This is the perfect example of how our new dies blend in seamlessly with the dies that came before so that each year you're building on the collection for new looks. Fabulous!

Lois Bak also shows a great mix of dies in this Little Labels Pop-up slimline card. I love how the new skulls border fits the lower level of the Little Labels perfectly. Plus she's made her skeleton quite dapper with a top hat from Tiny Accessories 1. Cute!

Sue Small-Kreider knocked it out of the park with her amazing interactive pumpkin cart project. You really must click over to her blog to see all the features of this card, including a slide-out drawer with pop-up creepy hands and a light-up feature! Sue is particularly talented at repurposing dies to get new shapes/looks. So creative!

Sandy Diller made a light-up jack-o-lantern card using the Surprise Ball for the pumpkin. Be sure to click to her blog to watch the video. I love how Sandy has mixed in newer dies with favorites. The witch holding the Halloween balloons and the cute spider on Jack's nose take this card over the top! Love it!

Suzanne Smit converted the Fancy Label Accordion into a pumpkin-shaped accordion with the same concept as the Landscape Rectangle Accordion modified for Add-ons. I love how she added the new jack-o-lantern border along the bottom of the accordion. So sweet!

Fran Sabad will be back next month, so for this month's challenge let me share one of my favorite jack-o-lantern cards from Fran featuring a bunch of our Halloween-themed dies. 

Hopefully we've inspired you for Halloween cards and more. Join us next month on November 8, 2023 for Designer Challenge 75 with a theme of WHAT'S COOKING? We will be showing off our new Oven Pop-up die set.

Also be on the lookout for the Mission Poppable challenge for October. It will go up next week. You still have time to join in the fun of our September Mission Poppable challenge.

Happy Crafting!

 

Karen Burniston Designer Challenge 62: Halloween or Fall

Welcome to our October Designer Challenge with a theme of Fall or Halloween.

For my card and video I'm teaching how to make a removable Mini Ball Pop-up Character card with a fun fold tab closure. I made a Halloween card to match the Challenge theme, but this technique can be used for any stacked Mini Ball characters.

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

My card measures 5" x 4.5" in the closed position, but also includes a 0.25" gusseted fold, so it will require extra postage to mail. The front of the card features our Happy Halloween and Skeleton and Bat die sets.

Pull the tab to release the closure, allowing the pumpkinhead character to spring up. The pop-up is made using our Mini Ball Pop-up as the foundation and then decorated with Character Add-ons 1. The character is mounted onto an oval from our Ovals - Crosshatch and the ends of the oval are slid under cardstock strips inside the card, keeping the character from jumping all the way out of the card when it opens. I also used the optional new Mini Ball Double-Ups to make cutting trapezoids, hexagons and shoes faster with a duplicate set of decorator dies to fit the Mini Ball Pop-up.

The character is removable for display. In the background of the card I added two stacked ovals and a greeting created with our Mini Alphabet and Numbers set.

The inspiration for this card was a similar card I taught as a class. For the Lion version I used the same measurements but decorated the Mini Balls with Mini Ball Add-ons 2 - Monkey and Lion. The "love you" comes from Word Set 9 - Love.

Ready to make your own Removable Character Card? The paper I used in the Halloween card is Creepy Candy, from Echo Park. The other papers are just older stash designs. Here are links to the dies and supplies used:

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Now let's take a look at the wonderful Fall and Halloween 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!

Sue Small-Kreider went all out with this amazing haunted house diorama card combining the Fireplace and Family Room die sets. You'll definitely want to click over to her blog post to view the video and the photo tutorial. Sue has cleverly used a Double-Ups die to make a window frame! This card is epic!

Frances Byrne created a 5x7 card with plenty of room for her haunted scene. I love her use of a Pivot Panels die as a generic platform, allowing for flying bats and ghosts. This is a great example of how our dies always build on what came before. Love this creepily cute card!

Nicky Foden challenged herself to make a fall-themed anniversary card with a bench swing. She cleverly altered our Garden Bench die to make it appear to be a swing and I'm obsessed with it! Make sure you click over to her blog post for a full tutorial. Amazing card and beautiful fall colors!

Karen Aicken has been using the new Bats Slim Pattern Plate in a variety of vibrant non-traditional ways and I am HERE FOR IT! This rainbow-colored Explosion card is so unexpected for a Halloween card and yet so perfect. Fabulous creation!

Sandy Diller created two eerie coffin cards featuring our Frame Pull Pop-up to pop the lids of the coffins. Be sure to click to her blog post to see a video of these cards in action and to get the measurements of her coffins. Clever, clever, clever!

Suzanne Smit created this delightful spooky scene and I adore her choice of using teal as a background color. Another great example of mixing newer dies with favorites from previous releases. Such a cute idea to have the bat holding a treat bucket, too! Love it!

Fran Sabad used the Mini Ball and Mini Ball Add-ons 1 - Gnomes to create a witchy gnome with green braids! What brilliant styling to make the gnome into a witch. I love how she shaded the pumpkins, too. Be sure to click over to see the equally amazing card front. Love this!

Lois Bak depicts the scariest house on the block with this wonderful haunted House and Fence card. The details are creepilicious! She shows how easily the Bats Pattern Plate can be used on a portrait-style card by simply cutting a second one and stacking them. Wonderful card!

Jen Webster has created a delightful and vibrant Fancy Label Accordion card with trick-or-treating skeletons exploring a spooky neighborhood. I just love how Jen accents die cuts with markers and all her amazing details. Boo-tiful! 

John Watterson is our guest designer for this month. John is a member of the Diamond Press Design Team and his creations are frequently shown on HSN. John loves to experiment with our dies to create new interesting combinations and effects. His first card is really two cards, because the Frame Pull on the front can be pulled open to reveal a delightful spooky scene, and then, when the entire card is opened, the Heart Collage Pop-up reveals a haunted collage. Amazing!

John's second card is so brilliant - he's once again used the Frame Pull Pop-up on the front of the card, but instead of pulling the tab, you push it, popping open the coffin and sitting up the skeleton. Inside he made a doubled Katherine Label with a gang of trick-or-treaters. Such a clever way to use die pieces and parts as costumes! Be sure to follow John on Instagram to see more of his work. We thank him for lending his talents to the challenge this month.

Well we hope you are inspired to make some fall and Halloween-themed cards of your own. Join us on November 2, 2022 for our next Designer Challenge with a theme of SNOW! 

Happy Crafting!

Sneak Peek - Karen Burniston August 2022 Release

Today we are starting a week of sneak peeks for our August 2022 release. We have thirteen 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 Sept. 5, 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.

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. 

Stay tuned for lots of ideas and videos this week!

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.

 

 

 

Karen Burniston Designer Challenge 50: Haunted! (Haunted House Pop-up)

Welcome to our October 2021 Designer Challenge with a theme of Haunted! The team was challenged to make Halloween Cards. This is our 50th Designer Challenge. Whoo hoo!

For my card and video I created the assembly video for the Haunted Tiny House Add-ons, which requires the foundation die  Tiny House Pop-up.

Watch the full assembly video to see how I made this card:

My card measures 5" x 5" when closed, which means it will fit in an A7 envelope for mailing. For the front of the card I layered two Echo Park patterned papers, added a thin border from our Border Blends - Arglye set, and then created a spooky scene with the Landcape Scene, Haunted Tiny House Add-ons and Happy Halloween dies. I was inspired by Karen Aicken to double the tree to make it bigger. You'll see her card when you scroll through the Designer cards below.

Open the card and the haunted house pops up, decorated with all the pieces included in the Add-ons set. 

The Landscape Scene includes the tree and the circle die that's perfect for a moon. The rest of the elements come included in the Tiny House Pop-up and Haunted Tiny House Add-ons sets.

Ready to give this card a try? All patterned papers are Echo Park. Here are the other supplies used in the video:

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 Halloween 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.

Fran Sabad made an absolutely haunting (see what I did there?) spooky castle card featuring a pop-up vampire inside. The colors are amazing and Fran chose to have a flap fold to the back of the card instead of the front to not obscure any of the scene.

Frances Byrne also made a pop-up vampire card featuring the Halloween Scene, Halloween Elements and Iron Fence Pop-up. I particularly like her choice to use the creepy hands from the Halloween Elements set as vampire hands. Brilliant!

Lois Bak chose to make a Pumpkinhead character for her card. I love her choice to hold the card closed with a decorated belly band. She has also incorporated the Holiday House and some of our other Halloween decorator dies. Delightful!

Sandy Diller blew us away with this clever haunted pop-up Barn card. What a great idea! I love how she's decked out the farm animals in costumes. So many great details on this card, including the crooked doors and spiderized weather vane!

Kelly Booth made this clever gatefold slimline card where two angled platforms from the Mini Pops set lift up ghosts and a string of banners above the cemetery below. The eerie night sky is stunning!

Karen Aicken shows how well the small elements in the Haunted Tiny House Add-ons set also work with our other House dies to turn them into haunted houses. For this fabulous card she used the House and Fence Pop-up. So many great details and clever touches in this card. I love how Karen made custom trees using the Landscape Scene for the backdrop of this card.

Well I hope you feel inspired to make Halloween cards. Join us next month on November 3, 2021 for our next Designer Challenge with a theme of WINDOW CARDS! 

We started our Mission Poppable hashtag with Designer Challenge 45 and have been delighted with the projects posted. For the September challenge our winner (by random draw) is Christine Roy, who posted two great Charm Accordion projects.

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 "HAUNTED!" Make sure your Halloween card features 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 (November 3, 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!

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 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!

Karen Burniston Designer Challenge 13 - House!

Happy September! It's been a busy few days already with the September Release now available for pre-order on KarenBurniston.com as well as the announcement of three new Design Team members, expanding our team from seven to ten. For this month's challenge the theme is House, and team members were instructed to create a card of any theme but incorporating either the House & Fence Pop-up die set OR the new House Pivot Panels die set OR some sort of house image from a stamp set or paper.

For my card and video I decided to use the House Pivot Panels for a Halloween card, also using the new Halloween Charms. I thought it would be fun to cut a house-shaped window (you know me - I never met a pop-up card that wasn't calling out for a window! grin) into the front of the card to line up with one of the pop-up houses when the card is closed. Watch the video to learn this technique:

My card is a landscape A2 card - 4.25" x 5.5" when closed, and will mail easily in an A2 envelope. I used the Circles-Crosshatch set for the rings on the card's front and the Halloween Charms to decorate. All of the papers on my card were just old ones from my stash.

As the card opens, the House Pivot Panels start to pop-up.

Once open a neighborhood pops up, perfect for Trick-or-Treating. 

Here's a closer look at the houses, cut from solid colors of cardstock. I stamped the yellow ones with an old spider web stamp from my stash. The "Halloween Hello" stamp is from a Stampin' Up! set of the same name. I glued the moon charm to the back of a chimney so it floats above the houses and then attached one of the bat charms to the moon.

Our products are sold at independent and online retailers throughout the world. We are always looking for more retailer partners, so please ask for our products at your local stores. Otherwise, we do sell on our website. New dies will start shipping September 10, 2018. Here are the links to the products used on my card:

We're excited to have our new team members joining in for this month's challenge. If you're new to our challenge format, our design team members post their challenge creations on their own blogs on the first Tuesday of each month. (*Next month we're a week later) Then, on Wednesday I post a compilation blog post (you're reading it!) including my card and video for the challenge as well as photos and links to each of their projects. You are highly encouraged to click the name of each designer to visit their blog (in a new window, so no worries about losing this post if you click) to see more photos, full supply lists and tips about their individual projects. Let's start with our three newest members:

Sandy Diller (Arizona) was on the Design Team during my licensing days and we were thrilled when Sandy applied for an expansion slot. She not only creates amazing combinations with the die sets, but also teaches cards on YouTube. For this month's challenge she created a double floating floor using the House & Fence die and then crafted the most amazing picturesque property, complete with matching dog house! So clever!

Irene Mendes (Portugal) has an amazingly soft, pretty, layered style that works beautifully with our dies. For this Tag Book she incorporated some gorgeous papers and house elements to decorate. We are excited to welcome Irene as our fourth international Design Team member. (Note: her blog is easily translated using the translate button at the top of the blog page.)

Lois Bak (Florida) has been wowing us with her clean, classy style with clever touches and tons of whimsy. Lois incorporates a mix of stamps and blending techniques into her projects for beautiful results. For this challenge she created a 3-page Fancy Accordion card featuring the Fancy Flourish Frames and some sweet home-themed stamps. I like Lois's choice to start with a mountain fold on the Fancy Accordion so the first label will fold inward.

Shelly Hickox (Mississippi) combined the House Pivot Panels with the Twist Panel die set plus some of our Halloween dies for an absolutely spooktacular card. Check out the clever and unique ways she styled each house in this chilling pop-up neighborhood. Amazing!

Frances Byrne (Australia) used the new House Pivot Panels in the Tag Book die set for a holiday card in a fresh mod color scheme. I love how her patterned paper seamlessly integrates with the row of house. She also used the perfect greeting stamps for the theme. So festive!

Kelly Booth (Arizona) created a new home card using the House Pivot Panels with the Twist Panel die set. What a great color scheme for this card. I love, too, how Kelly used the Happy portion of the Happy Birthday die with a decorator house for the front of the card. Gorgeous!

Karen Aicken (Canada) shows an awesome combination of both Pivot Panels die sets - the Evergreen and the House. She created a row of trees and houses to mix up the look. It's a wonderful color scheme for a Thanksgiving card. So pretty!

Fran Sabad (Kentucky) created an absolutely darling little elf village for this holiday card using the House Pivot Panels. What a wonderful mix of stamps, dies and papers. Everything about this card is made of happy!

Summer Hills-Painter (California) posted her in-progress photos of this incredible inked background and everyone was excited to see the finished card. This is an incredible mix of the House Pivot Panels and Twist Panel for a fabulously eerie neighborhood. I love how Summer used the brick stencil feature of the House & Fence set to put a brick texture on the small houses. Amazing!

Helen Cryer (England) also mixed the House & Fence with the House Pivot Panels for a charming neighborhood. Helen has such a talent for mixing pretty patterned papers and creating such sweet scenes. I love the bunting on the front of the fence and the clever way she used the small foliage piece from the House Pivot Panels to fill in the larger Tree. Helencredible!

What amazing inspiration for home-themed cards! We're proud of our amazing team, representing five different states and five different countries. Join us next month on Wednesday, October 10th for our Designer Challenge with a theme of "Happy Fall, Y'all!" - the team will be making autumn-themed cards.

Happy Crafting!

Karen Burniston Designer Challenge 02 - Halloween Easel Card

Happy October!

For our Designer Challenge this month we are making Halloween Cards and you'll be very impressed with the cards from the team. Since I made a rather elaborate Halloween card last month for the Signature Style challenge, I wanted to teach a more simple card this month. 

Watch the video to learn how to make an easel card using the creepy hands die from the Halloween Elements die set as an easel stop.

Here are a couple of photos of the finished card.

The card measures 4.25" x 5.5" when closed and mails easily in an A2 envelope. I decorated my envelope with the same dies as used on the card.

I found the patterned paper in my stash - it's a Moxxie paper called "Midnight Dreary" from many years ago. Any patterned paper will work for this design, or it could be made with solid cardstocks or inked backgrounds.

Here are the supplies used for this card:

 

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Get ready for some fun and spooky inspiration by the design team. Click on each team member's name to go to her blog and see more photos and supply lists.

Shelly Hickox has step-by-step instructions on her blog for how she made the amazing elements in this Katherine Label window card with a custom background and fun flying ghosts.

Kelly Booth created this delightfully wicked haunted house scene and I love all the boo-tiful details!

Karen Aicken went all out for this fabulous Katherine Label window card with a round window made into a ghost wreath! How clever! 

Helen Cryer doesn't normally make Halloween cards but you wouldn't know it by seeing this fabulous Charm Accordion. I love how Helen combines patterns. 

Summer Hills-Painter created a Katherine Label window card and decorated it fabulously for Halloween. As the label lifts, the ghosts fly and the graveyard is revealed. Love it!

Fran Sabad filled a flower pot with ghosts and it's fabulous! She incorporated the iron fence from the House & Fence die to the scene. Fabulous!

Frances Byrne created a delightful scene on her Halloween Charm Accordion. I love how she incorporated the "to you" die from Word Set 3 to create a "Boo! to you!" greeting. Clever!

Well I hope you feel inspired to make a few Halloween cards this year. Join us back here on November 8, 2017 for our next Designer Challenge, called "Gingerbread" - the team will be incorporating gingerbread elements into their projects. What fun!

Happy Crafting,

EDITED TO ADD: Whoops! I completely forgot to include the information about last month's Secret Word Giveaway winner. Congratulations to Marty F. whose comment was chosen by random draw to win the Christmas Tree and Tree Pop-up die sets. 

Amazing samples from the Design Team and so fun to see everyone's personal style. Love the tree pop-up and how you can make more than one style of tree with it! So glad to see you with these talented ladies again :-)

 

If you'd like to be included in this month's drawing, make sure you're subscribed to the newsletter (big blue button in the left sidebar of this blog) so you'll receive the Secret Word.