Under the Christmas Tree

| ullycatdesigns

Welcome to our Karen Burniston Products – KB Riley LLC December 2023 Release Blog Hop. (See details at the end of this post for blog list.) The Design Team have come together with Karen today for a fun blog hop to celebrate the release of 7 new dies. Sneak peeks of the new release started last week, and the dies are available to order NOW!

For this fun and interactive Christmas card with two mini ornaments that can go on the recipient’s own Christmas tree, I combined two of the new die sets in Karen Burniston’s December 2023 release – Topper Tags and Raising Platform Pop-Up. I also used previously released sets – Small Script -Christmas, Pattern Plate – Holly and Holiday Charms – to decorate the card.

(PLEASE NOTE: While the video shows both the raising platform installed going up and a second card with it going down, this tutorial will focus only on the assembly of the platform raising UP. You can create a down version by turning the mechanism so the points of the mechanism arms point down.)

Cardbase: Cut two of the largest tags from the Topper Tags set from decorative paper that you want for your card outside. Repeat with another paper for the card inside. (Note: I had to piece one of my card fronts because I was shy about an inch with the red paper.) Cut a strip of decorative outside paper 1/2-inch by 2-inches, fold lengthwise in half and glue inside the front card tags to form a hinge. Glue the inside pieces over the hinge and match-up the tag edges.

Raising Platform: The Raising Platform Pop-Up has two main pieces – the mechanism and the label. Cut one of the L-shaped mechanism pieces from decorative paper. (I cut two diamond shaped pieces to cover the inside of back arm.) Train all the folds and follow the package directions only putting glue on the triangle I marked with an “x.”

Cut from white cardstock the largest of the labels in the set. Fold in half and burnish with a bone folder for a crisp fold. Glue the folded label into the mechanism. (This can be a fiddly bit making sure the mechanism’s triangular tab edges are matching the label’s folded edge.) Test the opening of the mechanism to see if all is aligned and opening as desired before gluing into the card. Be sure to point the tips of the mechanism arms up when installing in the card, as they point to the direction that the platform will move. (Please note this method of installing the mechanism will not allow the mechanism to open totally flat. Karen’s assembly video has an alternate installation method that will allow for a flat opening of the card.)

Tree Branches: Cut two 1-inch by 2 1/4-inch rectangles from a green paper. Fold the rectangles in half lengthwise and glue together. Glue the strips to either side of the white label’s back. Cut six branches from the Holiday Charms Set from a green paper (I used a green and white patterned paper that gives the effect of snow on the branches.) Glue two branches to each strip making sure they don’t extend outside of the card when closed. Snip the remaining two branches into smaller pieces to decorate the top of the label.

Ornaments:  The ornaments come from the Holiday Charms set. Cut two of both the circle and ornament topper piece for each ornament from foil cardstock Glue the circles back-to-back and then attach the ornament toppers onto the circle with them connecting back-to-back at their upper loop. You can add the snow flake decoration as I did on the one card or leave the shiny ornaments as they are.

Decorations: When using patterned paper collections that have journaling cards and other cut-out decorative elements, I use them to decorate. From the Topper Tags set I used the flower hole protectors both inside and out. The foiled holly leaves and berries comes from the Holly Pattern Plate trimmed regrouped.

Sentiments: Using the Small Script – Christmas word set, cut just the words “Christmas greetings” from red foil cardstock and adhere to the white label. (While you could adhere the words to the label before folding it. I find the mechanism works better when applying the words over the fold.)

Envelope: These large tag cards with their tied ribbons will fit nicely into #10 business envelopes.

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 Collection – ‘Twas The Night Before Christmas
  • The Paper Studio – 4.5in x 6.5in Single-Sided Textured Paper Pad – Old World Winter
  • Silver, Gold, Red and Green Foil Cardstock
  • White Cardstock
  • #10 Business Envelopes – White

Adhesives

Tools

Miscellaneous

  • Red Organza Ribbon – 1/4-Inch Wide
  • Red and Green Bakers Twine

GIVEAWAY:

To celebrate the release Karen Burniston and each of the Karen Burniston – KB Riley LLC Design Team members will be giving away a $25 Gift Certificate to some lucky person who comments on our blog posts, so make sure you join the hop and comment on everyone’s blog post. Winners will be randomly chosen from ALL of the blog hop comments received on our blog posts by Monday,18th December 2023. Lots of chances to win some goodies, so just leave a comment on this post or any other blog hop posts to enter! Don’t forget to leave some way for us to contact you, in case you are a lucky winner!

Karen Burniston – https://karenburniston.typepad.com/i_am_not_lefthanded/2023/12/karen-burniston-december-2023-blog-hop.html

Lois Bak – https://clownmomcreations.blogspot.com/2023/12/karen-burniston-new-release.html

Sue Small-Kreider – YOU ARE HERE

Frances Byrne – https://stampowl.blogspot.com/2023/12/karen-burniston-kb-riley-llc-december.html

Jennifer Webster – https://www.jlwebstercreations.com/2023/12/karen-burniston-kb-riley-llc-december.html

Fran Sabad – https://fransabad.com/cards/december-release-blog-hop-and-give-away/

Suzanne Smit – https://knutselsuus.blogspot.com/2023/12/kb-riley-llc-december-2023-release-blog.html

Nicky Foden – https://mymessycraftroomme.wordpress.com/?p=6397&preview=true

Sandy Diller – https://sandydiller.blogspot.com/2023/12/new-release-blog-hop.html

A Heartfelt Thank You

| ullycatdesigns

This card was made for Craft Roulette #192 whose parameters included a thank you card, roadside market colors, yard(s) element and confetti.

Heartfelt thanks is the emotion that this accordion-fold card expresses. Inspired by Karen Burniston’s December 2023 release Heart Add-ons pivoting panel, the card features a shaker element filled with confetti. Other Karen Burniston dies were used including: Fence Add-Ons, Thank You and Fancy Label Accordion.

Before starting, watch the assembly videos of the pop-ups which are usually near the bottom of the linked pages for the various die sets used.

Accordion Frames: Cut three accordion frames from heavy blue cardstock using the main large die in the Fancy Label Accordion set. Train the folds of each frame and set aside. (You will cut a fourth accordion frame under the Shaker section using the same heavy cardstock.)

Fence Panel: Using the largest of the label die in the Fancy Label Accordion set, tape it inside the accordion frame die and cut two from decorative paper. Save the inner fancy labels for use on the fence panel. From the decorative paper accordion frames, trim the smaller panel frames away from the larger frame leaving the small tabs attached to the frames. Set both accordion frames and small frames aside for later use. From brown decorative paper cut one fence using the fence die in the Fence Add-Ons set. Cut flowers and grass to decorate fence with using dies also in the Fence Add-Ons set.

Attach a fancy label to the center panel of one of the blue accordion frames. Trim fence to fit panel and adhere to panel. Decorate the fence with grass and flowers. Glue the remaining fancy label to the reverse side of center panel. Set the piece aside.

Heart Pivot Panel:  Glue the tab of one blue accordion frame to the backside of the remaining blue accordion frame. Cut from a lightweight teal blue cardstock the Hearts-Add-Ons panel. Train the folds of the hearts panel. From the blue accordion frames cut off half of the center panel leaving them attached at their pivot points. (See photo)

Put glue on the left back side edge of the teal blue hearts panel before attaching to the left blue center panel of the blue accordion frame. Match up the fancy curved edges of the panels. With the blue connecting post of the accordion frame behind the teal blue hearts panel, attach the right side of the hearts panel to the right accordion frame panel.

Cut a hearts panel from decorative paper. Trim out the string of hearts and save to decorate the backside of hearts. Glue decorative panel to the front side of hearts panel. Using the smaller decorative heart dies in the set, cut a number of hearts from patterned paper. Decorate both front and back sides of panel.  

Glue the panel frames to the front of the hearts panel with the panel tabs being covered with decorative paper. Trim off the parts of the frames at the center of the hearts panel that are not attached.  Set piece aside.

Shaker: Using the largest of the label die in the Fancy Label Accordion set, tape it inside the accordion frame die. Cut the fourth frame piece from the blue heavy cardstock. Keep the dies tapped together to cut four heavy cardstock frames and two decorative paper frames. Use smaller pieces of the heavy cardstock for the four panel frames. Cut the full accordion frame with the decorative paper. Trim the panel frames from the accordion frames and save the decorative paper frames for later. Cut two squares of clear acetate or plastic slightly larger than the panel frames.

To assemble, glue two blue panel frame pieces together. Using 1/8-inch wide double-sided tape around the blue frame, adhere the acetate to frame. Trim off overhanging acetate. Attach decorative pink paper frame over the acetate with more double-sided tape matching up edges. Glue the assembly to the accordion frame panel matching blue frame to blue frame. Repeat with the remaining two blue frames, pink decorative paper frame and acetate piece, but DO NOT attach to accordion frame panel.

Using an anti-static tool, swipe powder over all of the acetate inside the frame and the sides of the shaker frames. Add confetti/sequins to the frame attached to the accordion frame. Glue the remaining shaker frame over the confetti filled frame. Leave undisturbed until glue dries. (To listen to commentary about the anti-static products I used go to my video.)

Accordion Assembly: With all the accordion frames decorated, assembly can begin. Collect the four decorative paper accordion frames previously cut in the Shaker and Fence Panel sections. Cut four more frames from decorative paper, trimming out the inner panels which can be saved for later.  Glue the fence panel accordion frame tab to the backside of the first heart panel accordion frame. Glue the second heart panel accordion frame tab to the backside of the shaker accordion frame.  Trim off the unused tab on the shaker accordion frame. Cover the backs of all the accordion frames with the decorative paper frames. (This should hide all the tabs.) Glue decorative paper frames to fronts of the accordion frames.

Once all the decoration of frames is completed, glue the center panels of fence and shaker accordion frames to the heart panels. (Note: the tabs that attach to the shaker panel are glued to the front of the shaker panel, while the fence tabs are glued to the back of the hearts panel.)

Cut one of the decorative paper inner panels in half to cover the backsides of the panels cut in half that the hearts panel is attached to. (Green paper in the photo.)

Sentiment: “Thank You” is a die-cut that was cut twice from the same double-sided paper with the blue side used as an off-set shadow behind the pink patterned paper.

Envelope: The card is thick and would require a padded bubble envelope if not hand delivered.

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

  • Hot Off The Press – 12×12 Double-Sided Paper Pad – Sweet Life
  • Spellbinders – 8.5×11 100 lb Cardstock – Waterfall
  • Teal Blue 65 lb Cardstock
  • Grafix – 8.5×11 Acetate .0075 – Clear

Adhesives

Tools

Confetti

  • This Calls for Confetti – Bokeh Bliss Teeny Tiny Mix
  • This Calls for Confetti – Crystal Metallic Aqua Violet
  • This Calls for Confetti – Opaque Iridescent Celadon
  • Diamond-Cut Tiny Green Metal Confetti

Celebrating A 9th Birthday

| ullycatdesigns

Growing a year older should be celebrated. This show-stopper card is for a 9-year-old.

For this card I used two new dies from Karen Burniston’s December 2023 release – Birthday Candle Add-Ons and the Topper Tags – as well as her Fancy Label Accordion, Fancy Winter Frames, and a few other previously released die sets to decorate.

Before starting, watch assembly videos for the linked die sets. The videos are towards the bottom of the linked pages.

Accordion Frames: Cut four accordion frames using the Fancy Label Accordion die set. They will be decorated AND THEN assembled. It is much harder to decorate a fully assembled accordion card when you cannot flatten the various moving panels and frames. (I assembled this card as I would normally, but the candle and heart add-ons are designed to be assembled with with the accordion frame behind the add-on panel and not as I did by putting the frame’s center post in front of the panel.)

Candles Add-Ons: The Birthday Candles Add-On cut a pivot panel that attaches to two Fancy Label Accordion panels. It also has dies to cut and stencil four candles and their flames. Cut one candle panel from a solid color cardstock. Cut another from decorative paper. Train the folds on the solid color panel as directed on the packaging. Using the largest decorator label from the Fancy Label Accordion set, cut a frame from the decorative paper. (The section between the two label cut outs will fall out and the frame can be cut down the center fold.) Glue the frame onto the panel matching up the edges.

Assemble and decorate the candles using the die stenciling feature or use decorative papers. (Because I needed to celebrate a 9-year-old’s birthday, I did not use all twelve candles that the panel will hold. I decided to add a number 9 as another candle by cutting a “9” using the Numbers die set and cut the top of a candle with the flame attached to the back top of the number.) The flames I cut from a background paper I had made using glitter ink and drew the black burnt wick onto them.

Once the panel is fully decorated, work on the accordion frames that it will be glued onto. Glue two frames together using the outer long tab. From one panel cut the label panel along the pivot point making sure to keep the label attached to the pivot bar. Cut the other label, but the cut will look different than the other panel. See photo below. Add glue to the back side of the candle panel and attach it to one of the label panels. Add glue to the other end of the candle panel and attach it to the other label panel. (See 2nd photo under tags for what the back side of the attached candles panel into the accordion frames.)

Tags: Cut two tags using the second from the smallest tag die in the Topper Tags. (If your paper is a single-sided decorative paper like mine was, cut two more tags that cover at least the part of the tag that will not be covered by the fancy label panel. Glue the tags together as shown in the photo below.) Attach the back of the tags to the fancy label panels on their backsides.

Decorations: The Birthday Charms die set are used for balloons, party hats and cupcake. Three colors of bakers twine are used for the balloon strings and for tag ties. A thin black pen was used to draw the balloon strings onto card back. The frame borders are cut from white copier paper backed with a wide double-sided tape using the polka-dot frame die from the Fancy Winter Frames.

Once the frame borders are adhered, attach the end accordion frames to the candle frames. Add balloons to the folds and then glue the fancy labels together.

Sentiments: Add the sentiments once the accordion frames and fancy labels are all attached together. “Happy Birthday” uses two dies – Happy Birthday Shadow and Happy Birthday. “Just for You” uses three die sets – Word Set 15, Word Set 8 and Mini Alphabet. The “You” is cut from a phrase die and its shadow is created by tracing the outside of the die and fussy cutting. (You could use other word dies for the “You.”)

Envelope: The closed card fits into an A7 (5×7-inch) envelope.

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

  • Violet Studio Designs – 8×8 Single-Sided Paper Pad – Hoppy Easter
  • Yellow 110lb. Cardstock
  • Blues, White and Cream Cardstock
  • White Copier Paper

Ink

  • Sharpie – Permanent Marker – Ultra Fine Tip – Black
  • Sharpie – Permanent Marker –Fine Tip – Blue. Green, Orange and Yellow
  • Pigma – Mircon 01 Fine Tip Pen – Black
  • Gel Pens – Multiple Colors
  • Sakura – Gelly Roll Pen – Medium – White
  • Spectrum Noir – Sparkle Glitter Ink – Candlelight

Adhesives

Tools

Miscellaneous

  • Three Colors of Bakers Twine

Naughty or Nice?

| ullycatdesigns

It’s the Karen Burniston design team challenge for December 2023 with the theme of “Naughty or Nice” using Christmas stockings and the idea that naughty persons get coal in their stockings while people who have been good/nice will get presents and sweet treats in their stockings.

While I used Karen’s Fireplace Pop-Up and Fireplace Extras 1 dies I did not make it a pop-up, but I did have Santa’s boots swing in the fireplace.  Inside, two greenery wreaths pop-up using the Twist Flower Pop-up and Crosshatch Circles, Christmas Borders 2, Holiday Charms, Big Birthday Charms, Adirondack Chair Pop-Up and Small Script – Christmas were used for decorations and sentiments.

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 folded a 7 3/4-inch by 8 3/4-inch rectangle of white cardstock long-wise in half for the cardbase. Because my decorative papers were 4 1/2-inch by 6 1/2-inch, I centered the papers on each of the four panels.

Fireplace: The fireplace main piece was cut using white ink rubbed on the die before cutting. The mantel piece was die cut and folded in half and glued together to add dimension. Christmas decorations – candles, stockings, greenery, bows, fireplace guard and tools are all in the Fireplace Extras 1 set. I cut down the pail from the Adirondack Chair Pop-Up set to be a coal shuttle next to the fireplace. For the picture of Father Christmas, I fussy cut it from the decorative paper collection I used.

Santa’s Boots: The boots are cut from black and white cardstock using the dies in the Fireplace Pop-Up set. Use the tab atop the boots to attach red pants that were cut free-handed with a holed punched and widened to accommodate a small foam dot. The boots were coated with glitter gloss before attaching to the card. Follow the pictures above for order of assembly of fireplace and Santa’s pants and boots. The fireplace was attached with two layers of foam tape to be slightly taller than the foam dot so that the boots would swing freely.

Wreaths: Using the second largest crosshatch circle, I cut two from heavy white paper. The greenery was made by cutting off the fir needles from the branch piece in the Holiday Charms set. Stockings and their coal, teddy bear and candy cane come from the same charms set. The wrapped gift is from the Big Birthday Charms set.

Inside Pop-Up Mechanism: I added extension arms onto the Twist Flower Pop-up mechanism to form a “W” shape. (Watch this Halloween card video to see how to make the mechanism.) The circle wreaths were folded in half and glued to the two “V” arms, playing with the positioning of the circles so there are no catchpoints.

Borders: The inside border of candy canes comes from the Christmas Borders 2 die set while the coal comes from the Holiday Charms. For the back borders, the branch die from the Holiday Charms set was used. Leftover strips of decorative papers were added to the card front as borders.

Sentiments: Clear tape over red cardstock is the secret to the glossy script letters with plain white cardstock shadows. The sentiments all come from the Small Script – Christmas die set. On the front is “ho ho ho” with “Christmas greetings” inside the card.

Envelope: The stocking border from the Christmas Borders 2 set was cut from the same striped paper that was used on the fireplace stockings and glued to the back envelope flap to hint at what’s to come.

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

  • The Paper Studio – 4.5in x 6.5in Single-Sided Textured Paper Pad – Old World Winter
  • Bazzill – 8.5×11 Embossed Polka Dots – Phoenix
  • My Colors – 12×12 Textured Metallic Cardstock – Black Bear
  • White and Black Cardstock
  • #10 Business Envelope

Ink

  • Craft Smart – White Ink Mini Cube
  • Sharpie – Permanent Marker – Ultra Fine Tip – Red, Orange and Yellow
  • Pigma – Mircon 01 Fine Tip Pen – Black
  • Sakura – Gelly Roll Pen – Medium – White
  • Nuvo – Aqua Shimmer – Glitter Gloss

Adhesives

Tools

  • Die Cutting Machine
  • We R Memories – QuickStick
  • We R Memories – Scoring Board and Trimmer
  • Craft Mat
  • Scissors
  • Hole Punch – 1/4-inch
  • Clamping Reverse Tweezers

Sneak Peek – Bag and Box It Up!

| ullycatdesigns

It’s the start of SNEAK PEEK Week for Karen Burniston’s December 2023 Release. Today we’ll focus on the Mini Gift Bag and the Candy Heart Box die sets.

These bags and boxes go together quickly and have two main surfaces that allow for creative decorations. It doesn’t matter whether you use solid colored cardstock or decorative patterned papers, the bags are great fun for tucking in gift cards and other small items like jewelry, small toys, car keys, candy, or crafting supplies.

12 Days of Christmas Gift Tree
Valentine’s Day Candy Hearts Box and Mini Gift Bag – both fit a gift card
Tag Card with Mini Gift Bag to hold a gift card

Look for tutorials on these projects in the coming weeks.

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