Card for Pi Day – March 14th

It’s the Karen Burniston design team challenge for November 2023 with the theme of “What’s Cooking” using the Oven Pop-Up die set. I chose to celebrate Pi Day with apple pie making in my card.

The card uses dies by Karen Burniston including Oven Extras and Oven Pop-Up, Picnic Elements, Tree Fruit, Bam Box Pop-Up, Street Lantern Pop-Up and crosshatch rectangles.

Before starting, I recommend watching the assembly videos of the pop-ups which are usually near the bottom of the linked pages for the various dies used.

Cardbase: I started with two rectangles of heavy weight cardstock one piece 5-inches by 7-inches and the second piece 5-inches by 11-inches, scored and folded at 7-inches. The short panel was glued to the back of the 5×7 rectangle to form an A7 top fold card. (The weight of this extra long tab is used to weigh down the floor of the card when open.)

Card Back

I cut a rectangle of the red and white tablecloth paper using the large crosshatch rectangle in the Rectangle and Labels – Crosshatch die set to cover the card front. Because I cut the front decorative paper on an angle, I had some triangles of the paper left over and so I made a table on the back of the card.

Oven/Stove: I followed the basic way to make the oven and cabinets on the assembly video using the cabinet doors from the oven extra’s set. The black mirror cardstock used for the oven can be hard to get glue to stick to, so I often use double-sided tape to stick on the burners, knobs, and window acetate and Glossy Accents to attach the door handle.

Cabinets: Once the stove is attached, you can add the side cabinets. I cut the cabinets from apple green cardstock and then inked them with a brown ink to age them. The upper cabinets and lower cabinet door fronts are cut using the larger rectangle die in the Oven Extras set and then covered with the small rectangle die pieces. Upper cabinets are attached with foam tape to add some dimension to them. A stove hood was cut from silver cardstock and is hidden mostly behind the small upper middle cabinet.

Table: The table is a combination of Karen Burniston’s pop-up island using a bam box and Sandy Diller’s idea to trim lampposts from the Street Lantern Pop-Up set for the turned table legs. I used the original Bam Box Pop-Up with two of the oven cabinet pieces glued on each side of the bam box. The drawers and knobs are from the Oven Pop-Up set as well.

To make the table legs more stable, I added a piece of wood grain cardstock under the tabletop connecting the two legs as well as a thin strip of clear acetate plastic near the bottom of the legs. Tabletop is the second smallest crosshatch rectangle in Rectangles-Crosshatch set. All tabletop parts are cut from woodgrain embossed cardstock and inked with brown ink to bring out the grain.  (I think if I made this card again, I would use two layers of cardstock for the tabletop and glue the items on to the tabletop before assembling it so the top would lay flat.)

Decorations: Between the two oven sets are lots of fun pieces that add dimension and realism to the pop-up scene. The Oven Pop-Up set includes the oven mitt, stove burners and knobs, oven rack and door handle. The Oven Extras set includes the cutting board and roasting pan that I used to make a small rolling pin, the knife and the green bowl that holds the apple slices. as well as three pop-up cube strips that I used to pop-up the oven rack, pie inside the oven and the items on the counter.

Apple slices are the leftover bits from cutting two burner plates. Pie crust on table was cut freehand and the burner circle die from the Oven Pop-Up set was rubbed to emboss the pie pan and then cut away to show the trimming of the piecrust. Burner circle is silver pie pan under the crust. The baked pies are cut from silver foil cardstock and brown kraft cardstock using the Picnic Elements set. Brown is inked around the edges of pie crust. The red apples are from the Tree Fruit die set.

Card Front

Sentiments: All the sentiments are either stickers, journaling cards or papers from the paper collection Sunflower Market by Carta Bella. The white rug inside the card is place for a personal message and is cut using the base blanket die in the Picnic Elements set.

Envelope: A strip of pie paper is glued to the back flap of the envelope to set the tone for the card inside and are from the paper collection. Two red apples left over from inside the card were also glued on the flap.

Thank you for reading this blog post. I hope this inspires you and makes you smile. Please like and leave comments 😊

Materials Used:

Dies

Papers

  • Carta Bella – 12×12 Collection Kit – Sunflower Market
  • Bazzill – 8.5×11 Textured Cardstock – Tiara -18-1002
  • American Crafts – 12×12 Embossed Wood Grain Cardstock – Dark Kraft
  • Silver and Black Mirror Cardstock
  • White Heavy Weight Cardstock
  • Black, Brown, Green and White Cardstock Scraps
  • Grafix – 8.5×11 Acetate .0075 – Clear
  • 6×9 Catalog Envelope – White

Ink

Adhesives

Tools

Laundry vs. Crafting Card

This card was made for Craft Roulette #182 whose parameters included a card with circles, vegetable garden colors, screen element and fuzz.

For this pop-up card for a crafting friend, I converted Karen Burniston’s new Oven Pop-Up and Small Script – Christmas, along with along with a number of her previously released dies into a laundry/crafting room.

Cardbase: I used a purchased A7 cardbase. Each of the inside panels are covered with papers from the Cosy Kitchen paper collection. The front of the card has a computer-generated panel while the card back uses scraps from the inside of the card including the lost sock.

Washer/Dryer: Watch the assembly video at the bottom of the linked page before starting the card. Both the washer and dryer are made the same way with different shaker contents and knobs using the Oven Pop-Up.

I created a double platform by cutting two oven platforms from white cardstock and trimming the sides that come together to a 1/4 inch or less. These cut sections are glued together making sure the tabs are all aligned straight. (Fold on all the score lines with a bone folder before gluing.)

Mark with a pencil the center point of the card fold. Center the double platform and attach the back tabs with glue. Fold the platform and front tabs as shown in the photo and add glue to tabs, close card to attach the platform to floor of card.

Cut two circle frames by using the smallest circle dies in the Circles – Crosshatch set from silver foil cardstock. Cut one of the stove burners from the Oven Pop-Up set and cut it in half for the clasp on the washer/dryer doors.

Cut two stove pieces from glossy white cardstock. Trim off one of the side tabs from each piece as shown in photo. Tape the oven door and window piece in place using packing tape on the backside. Glue the silver doors with clasps onto clear plastic and cut them out. (I used a piece plastic that had been a window in packaging.) Take foam strips and snip along one edge to make them bend easily. Place the snipped foam strips around the edge of two white circles (cut using the larger of the silver frame dies.) Cut socks from the gnome boots in the Gnome and Santa set. Use gel pens to add details to the socks. Glue four socks to the back of each white circle. Add circle confetti to washer shaker and a single black sock to dryer shaker. Glue the silver framed doors to the shaker circles.

Side Tables: Once the stove is attached, you can add the side tables which are made with the cabinet and drawer dies from the Oven Pop-Up. Cut a narrow rectangle in the middle of the long section of the cabinet piece to create the legs. attach to the stove and platform as normal. Pink ink was lightly sponged onto the tabletops and drawers.

TV: The TV set from the Memory Charms die set has had its antenna and feet trimmed off and Nuvo Drops added for knobs. I screen shot a photo from the Craft Roulette episode #182 and resized it to a 1-inch rectangle, print on white paper and die-cut it with the TV screen die.

Decorations: Actual dryer lint fuzz is glued to the top of the blue trash can cut from the Coffee Charms tall coffee cup. The laundry basket is the picnic basket cut from white cardstock covered with clear packing tape and stenciled with a teal permanent marker. A piece of thin white felt is the folded laundry in the basket. Two wall decorations are threaded needle and scissors from the Sewing Charms set. A tiny sweet pea green birthday card is the right table.

Sentiments: The front of the card sentiment “My Head Says Laundry” is computer generated. Inside the “my heart says Craft!” is a combination of die cut letters and tomato red heart with a computer generated “Craft!” (For “my” and “says,” I did word surgery using the words “merry christmas.”) The oval rug with its white label for a personal message come from the Crosshatch Ovals set. Blue ink was used on the die-cut letters and rug to make them standout from their backgrounds.

Envelope: To hint at what’s inside, the sentiment stamp of “Crafting comes before housework in the dictionary. As it should” is stamped in red on the back flap.

Thank you for reading this blog post. I hope this inspires you and makes you smile. Please like and leave comments 😊

Materials Used:

Dies

Stamps

  • Riley & Company – Funny Bones – Crafting Comes Before Housework -RWD-1037

Papers

  • Paper Discovery by Olga Direktorenko – A5 Paper Pad – Cosy Kitchen
  • White Glossy Cardstock
  • Silver Foil Cardstock
  • White, Black, Pink, Red, Green, Blue and Cream Cardstock
  • Clear Plastic Packaging
  • Park Lane Paperie – A7 Cardbase and Envelope – White

Ink

  • Stampin’ Up – Classic Stampin’ Pad – Cherry Cobbler
  • Ranger – Tim Holtz – Distress Ink- Salty Ocean and Saltwater Taffy
  • Sharpie – Permanent Marker – Ultra Fine Tip – Black and Teal
  • Pigma – Mircon 01 Fine Tip Pen – Black
  • Gel Pen – White and Yellow

Adhesives

Tools

  • Die Cutting Machine
  • We R Memories – QuickStick
  • Bone Folder
  • Ruler
  • Stamping Platform
  • LDRS – Stampendable Stamping Tool
  • Stamping Cloth
  • Sponge Dauber
  • Craft Mat
  • Scissors
  • Paper Cutter
  • Computer and Printer
  • Pencil

Miscellaneous

  • Nuvo Crystal Drops – Simply White
  • Nuvo – Pure Sheen Confetti – Crystal Cloud Circles
  • Dryer Lint Fuzz
  • White Felt

Summertime Fun

It’s time for the Karen Burniston design team challenge for July 2023 with the theme of “COLLECTION PACK CREATIONS” – using papers from collection packs of papers plus at least one die from the June 2023 release.

The collection pack that I chose to work with was Echo Park’s Best Summer Ever designed by Jen Allyson. The stickers reminded me of summers spent in the backyard with a blow-up pool, Dad grilling burgers, lots of watermelon and friends and family all around.

From the June release, I picked the Fence Landscape Accordion Add-On and Small Scenes Bam Box die sets. I also used two previously released die sets – Fireplace Pop-Up and Paper Frames Pop-Up.

Cardbase: I used a purchased A6 (4 1/2 x 6 1/4-inch) card base and cut papers to cover the four panels of the card.

Fence: The new fence add-on is a versatile die set. I cut one fence from a woodgrain embossed cardstock and did a partial die-cut to get one large post with the same die and cardstock. (I like the look the embossed cardstock gives to a white fence better than printed woodgrain paper which often has dark lines in it that makes the fence look pieced together.) Leave the tabs on the extra post and use them to glue to the fence so that it has three posts.

To make the fence pop-up I used the small strip pop-up mechanism in the Fireplace Pop-Up die set behind each of the three fence posts. Once the mechanisms are glued in place add grass from the fence set to the front of the fence.

Grill: I adhered the sticker to a piece of yellow cardstock and fussy cut it out. Next, I made bam box from the Small Scenes Bam Box die set. (See assembly video.) This smaller bam box is the perfect size for the grill sticker. I figured out which way I wanted the box to fold flat in the card and glued it in place. Grass (from fence set) was glued to the front of the bam box and then the grill over the grass.

Pool: I used two stickers to make the unicorn float in the pool. They were stuck together and then glued as one piece to yellow cardstock and fussy cut. I had a small bam box already made which was used behind the pool. (The key to installing bam boxes is to play with the positioning of the box and its attached element in both the open and folded positions.)

Decorations: There are lots of small stickers in the collection pack which makes decorating easy. I make some bluebell flowers to go behind the fence. Tweezers were needed to place the flowers after they were assembled. I ended up adding the pink flamingos because they were taller than the fence.

The string of lights was created using the circle banner dies in the Paper Frames Pop-Up set glued over a piece of baker’s twine glued to the corners of the card.

Sentiments: All the sentiments are either stickers or a journaling card which was used on the front of the card with sticker sunglasses added. A pink label was cut from the Paper Frames Pop-Up set for a personal message.

Envelope: The card fits into an A6 envelope with a slice of watermelon sticker on its back flap.

Thank you for reading this blog post. I hope this inspires you and makes you smile. Please like and leave comments 😊

Materials Used:

Dies

Papers

  • Echo Park – 12×12 Double-Sided Paper and Stickers – Best Summer Ever designed by Jen Allyson
  • MemoryBoxCo.com – 8.5×11 Embossed Cardstock – Woodgrain
  • Blue, Green, White and Yellow Cardstock
  • Park Lane Paperie – A6 Cardbase and Envelope – Ivory

Adhesives

Tools

Miscellaneous

  • Baker’s Twine – Pink and White
  • #8 Rubber Bands

Seasonal Cards

Recently, I had the honor of attending a workshop taught by Kittie Caracciolo who makes wonderful and detailed dimensional cards using Rubbernecker Stamps products. The workshop was part of the Stamp and Scrapbook EXPO – Orlando.

Rubbernecker Stamps makes some wonderful dies to create scenes that fit an A2 size card (4 1/4 x 5 1/2-inches). Using a sponge tool similar to an eye shadow applicator, Kittie showed us how to color our die-cuts using Color Fuse Inks to create shading that rounded objects and gave dimension to animals. Foam strips helped with the physical layering on the snowy scene and to make the white scalloped rectangle stand out on the pink flowers in the watering can.

I added eyes to both deer and a nose with a ultra fine tipped black pen and white spots to the fawn with a gel pen.

I added yellow Nuvo Crystal Drops to the flower centers.

As Kittie suggested, I went home and heat embossed the leaves with clear embossing powder to give them some shine.

A Strawberry Loving Friend

This card was made for Craft Roulette #159 whose parameters included a card type of my choice (5×7 pop-up), strawberry fields colors, plaid or gingham and a chair. It has a conservatory or fancy potting shed feel to it.

Karen Burniston’s Adirondack Chair die set is the basis for this pop-up card that uses a slipcover to convert it into an overstuffed chair. (See this video for technique.) I made a template that I can used to quickly create the slipcover.

First I glue strips of paper to the from of the legs and then glue the arms on pushing down the over hang tips to form the rounded arm fronts. Glue the slip cover to the chair base.

The plants are die cut from the Garden Charms set while the dog is from the Doghouse die set. All are popped-up using cubes made from strips of matching cardstock. The tiny bright strawberries are clay shaker elements adhered with dots of glue.

I like being able to use one paper collection for an entire card for coordinating colors and designs. The Graphic 45 Fruits & Flora set was perfect for this in the 8×8-inch size. It had journaling tags and border that were just the right scale for this card and envelope flap.

For more chair and seating blog posts click here.

Thank you for reading this blog post. I hope this inspires you and makes you smile. Please like and leave comments 😊

Materials Used:

Dies

Papers

  • Graphic 45 – 8×8 Double-Sided Paper – Fruit & Flora Collection
  • Terra Cotta and Green Cardstock
  • Paper Lane Paperie – A7 Cardbase and Envelope – White

Inks

Adhesives

Tools

  • Die Cutting Machine
  • Scissors

Miscellaneous

  • Dress My Craft – Clay Shaker Elements – Strawberry Slices

Train Ride Through The Canadian Rockies

It’s the Karen Burniston Design Team March 2023 Challenge and the theme is Vacation!

I’ve always wanted to take the train from Vancouver through the Canadian Rocky Mountains and this card pays tribute to that train trip using Karen Burniston’s Twist Panel Pop-Up and Train Pivot Panels.

First, I watched the assembly videos for Train Pivot Panel and the Twist Panel Pop-Up. (If I had been paying attention, I would have realized that when the train pivot panels installed on the twist panel mechanism would need a card base that has 6-inches from the fold to its outer edge. Hence my train engine juts out from the card bottom by 3/4-inch, and I had to hide it with ribbon.)

When adding the twist panel mechanism to card larger than 5-inches, I use a metal ruler and a craft knife to cut the ends of the arms free and I glue additional patterned paper behind the mechanism to hide the openings that the arms make.  My patterned papers have 3-inch-tall scenes that I cut to go inside the card at the top and bottom of the twist mechanism to added depth for mountains the train is going through. The actual train panels are cut from coordinating paper of fir trees.

While the Canadian Rail trains are diesel trains rather than steam, I tried to make the train have the Canadian flag colors and I found a tiny red maple leaf sequin in my shaker elements stash. The train track comes from the Train Elements die set.

For the outside of my card, I created some maple leaf paper on my computer and printed it. The “Enjoy the ride” sentiment was released by Karen Burniston as part of the train themed dies. I used her Mini Alphabet to finish the sentiment. (I find using removable paper tape to line up the lettering works well with a t-ruler.)

For the card back, I used a vintage Canadian railway sticker and a heart sticker to hide the ribbon end.

A piercing tool (an ice pick) was used to poke the holes for the ribbon.

Thank you for reading this blog post. Please like and leave comments 😊

Materials Used:

Dies

Papers

  • Craft Consortium – Premium Quality Papers – 12” x 12” – In The Forest by Clare Therese
  • Colored cardstock scraps
  • Copy Paper
  • Paper Lane – 5 x7 white card

Inks

  • Sharpie Permanent Marker –Fine Point – Black

Miscellaneous

  • Neutral PH Adhesive by LINECO
  • Fine-Tip Glue Bottle
  • Quickstik Too
  • Scrapbook.com – Double-Sided Adhesive 1/4 Inch Tape
  • Die Cutting Machine
  • Computer and Printer
  • Craft Knife
  • Piercing Tool
  • Pencil
  • Dollar Tree – Craft Clips
  • Removable Paper Tape
  • Red Organza 5/8 Inch Wide Ribbon
  • Kat Scrappiness – Shaker Elements – Shimmering Fallen Leaves

Happy Hour at the Beach

It’s Sneak Peek week for Karen Burniston’s February 2023 release!

Every hour is happy hour at the beach is the sentiment of this mini-slimline card. It uses the new beach themed dies from Karen Burniston’s February 2023 release including Beach Borders, Word Set 16 – Beach Happy Hour, and Sea Charms.

I started with a 3.5-inch by 11-inch rectangle and folded the card at 6-inches to make a 3.5×6-inch top-fold card base.

Watch assembly video before die cutting the Adirondack Chair into the card base. I marked on the backside of the sand print paper (3.5×8.5-inches) where slits need to be cut to cover the background where the chair is cut from the cardstock. (I cut the top edge of the sand print paper with a wavy sand dune vibe.) Adhere the sky-blue paper at the top of inside of the card base above chair. Slip the sand print paper with slits into place and glue.

Die-cut the chair again from wood gran cardstock making sure the grain goes from top to bottom of the chair and armrests. Cut just the seat of the chair with the woodgrain going sideways the length of the boards. Glue the woodgrain pieces onto the card base chair.

Adhere the ocean wave paper (3.5x11inch) to the outside of the card base. Die-cut sentiments from the new Happy Hour word set and assemble. (I cut the Happy Hour twice in different pinks.) Layout the words on the front of the folded card base before adhering.

The shell and crab elements are from the new Sea Charms set while the fruity drink is from the previously released Happy Hour Charms set. I used a thin foam square cut in half to adhere the drink to the chair.

I find it fun to decorate the backs of cards with something small and whimsical. The jelly fish charm from the Sea Charms is cut from vellum and glued over a purple stenciled body.

Thank you for reading this blog post. I hope it inspires you and makes you smile. Please like and leave comments 😊

SEE other pop-up SEATING blog posts by clicking here.

Materials Used:

Dies

Papers

  • Park Lane Paperie – 12×12 Printed Paper – Nautical
  • The Paper Studio – 8.5×11 Printed Paper – Sand Photo
  • Honey Bee Stamps – 6×8.5 Double-Sided Premium Cardstock – Grain and Grunge
  • Pink, Magenta, Red, Orange, Purple, Brown and White Cardstock Scraps
  • Clear Vellum
  • Light Weight Cream Cardstock

Pens & Inks

Miscellaneous