What to give to an all-star athlete who enjoys playing a variety of team sports? A basket of sport balls of course.

This pop-up birthday card features some of Karen Burniston’s December 2022 release die sets – Wide Woven Basket Box Card, Bam Box and Sports Charms.

Wide Woven Basket: This die set makes it easy to create a rectangular pop-up basket. (Prior to this set you had to die cut an extra set of pieces to widen the basket sides and grass. See video.) When used with the previously released Woven Basket Box Card, you cut two sets of the original size sides and two sets of the wide size sides. Follow the directions on the package or the assembly video to weave the basket and join the sides together. (I choose to leave the top decorative full width rather than folding over as directed in the video.)

Adding Crossbars of Grass: The Wide Woven Basket Box Card includes the wide grass crossbars used to attach the various balls. (I cut four to make a full basket.)

Sports Charms: In the Sports Charm set there are a softball and bat, a golf ball and tee, a basketball, a volleyball, a soccer ball and an American football. All but the softball and golf ball use two dies to create the stitching patterns of the various balls. The softball has embossed stitching lines that I highlighted with a fine-tipped red marker. I inked the golf ball’s indentations lightly with a black ink. (See assembly video for Sports charms.)

Sentiments: I cut an extra set of the weaving panels from the original basket set and folded the two-prong piece in half to glue behind the “T” piece to create a signpost to glue “ALL STAR” from the mini alphabet set. When I glued the signpost onto the back of the basket, I laid it out over the A7 envelope to know how tall I could make it and still fit into the envelope. The “Happy Birthday” used both the sentiment set and its matching shadow set cut from a contrasting color. (I used Glassy Accents on the “Happy Birthday” to make it have some shine which doesn’t show very well in the photos.) The shadow piece is popped up on two foam dots to give some dimension from the basket.

Bam Boxes: To animate the basket when it comes out of the envelope and pops into shape, two small “Bam Boxes” were used. (Assembly video) These easy to make rectangular boxes are powered by a small rubber band. (I used #8 size bands.) These go in diagonally opposite corners of the basket. Once glued in, the basket will only fold flat in one direction.

Envelope: As with all my cards that are sent in an envelope, I have stamped the back flap to hint at what’s inside. This is an A7 envelope.

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Materials Used:

Dies

• Karen Burniston in cahoots with Riley and Company – Wide Woven Basket Box Card – 1223
• Karen Burniston in cahoots with Riley and Company – Bam Box – 1222
• Karen Burniston in cahoots with Riley and Company – Sports Charms – 1219
• Karen Burniston in cahoots with Riley and Company – Mini Alphabet and number – 1197
• Karen Burniston in cahoots with Riley and Company – Happy Birthday Shadow – 1179
• Karen Burniston in cahoots with Riley and Company – Woven Basket Box Card – 1080
• Karen Burniston in cahoots with Riley and Company – Happy Birthday – 1030

Papers

• Colored Cardstock Scraps
• Light-Weight Yellow and Orange Cardstock
• A7 White Envelope

Pens, Inks & Stamps

• Red Fine-Tipped Marker
• Catherine Pooler – Premium Dye Ink – Spa Collection – Mandarin Spice
• Fun Stampers Journey – Rubber Stamp – Winners -SS-0362

Miscellaneous

• Neutral PH Adhesive by LINECO
• Fine-Tip Glue Bottle
• Die Cutting Machine
• Foam Dots
• Ranger – Glossy Accents