animals

What’s New Kitty Cat

| ullycatdesigns

It’s time for the Karen Burniston Design Team December 2025 Challenge whose theme is SONG LYRICS. I made an A2 (4.25×5.5-inch) card using the new die and stamp sets – Playful Pop-Up, Dog and Cat Playful Add-Ons, Cat Borders, Greeting Labels and Cat Sayings along with other Karen Burniston dies.

Watch the process video to see how I made this card.

Cardbase: I cut a 5.5×8.5-inch rectangle from orange 100lb. cardstock. Then I scored and folded in half to create a 4.25×5.5-inch A2 side-fold cardbase. Using the largest die in the Rectangles – Crosshatch die set, cut four panels of decorative paper to cover the four card panels. (I ended up cutting three panels and using a large scrap of the decorative paper for the card back.)

Sentiments: Word surgery (i.e. – Die cut words being cut apart and glued back together to form new words) was involved to make the custom words for this card’s front. “What’s” is made from the “W” from the Go Wild die set and the “hat” from the word “Christmas” in the Merry Christmas die set. “New” is from the Happy New Year die set. Word Set 4 -Just A Note used the words “up” and “to say” as well as the words “Blessings” and “color” from Word Set 7 – Autumn, to make the words “pussy cat.” The three “WHOA” inside used the Mini Alphabet and Numbers set.

The stamped sentiments “Happy Purr-thday” and “HOME is where the CAT is” are from the new stamp set Cat Sayings. They were stamped in black ink on white cardstock and die cut using the Greeting Labels and Hearts – Crosshatch die sets. Cut an oval for a personal message to go on the inside.

Paw Print Border: Using the Cat Borders die set, cut one paw print die from black cardstock and one paw back die from pink cardstock. glue the two pieces together. Trim border to fit the card front as shown in the photos and video. Use the extra paw prints to decorate inside the card.

Playful Pop-Up: Cut one of the large die, one of the face plate and one of the “K” shaped mechanism in the Playful Pop-Up set from black cardstock. Assemble as show in the video above.

Cat: Using the Dog and Cat Playful Add-Ons die set, cut from black, the large cat ears, paw arms, nose/mouth, and small oval eyes. From pink cardstock cut, the small cat ears, nose, tongue and paw back pieces. From white cardstock cut one set of large oval eyes and one set of whiskers. Assemble and install as show in the video. Use a white gel pen to add the eye and nose highlights. I

Envelope:  The card fits into an A2 (4.25×5.5-inch) size envelope whose back flap was stamped “Hope your day is PURR-fect!” from the Cat Sayings stamp set.

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Thank you for experiencing this blog post.

I hope this inspires you and makes you smile.

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Disclaimer: Karen Burniston products are provided free of charge by the manufacturer for review and use. All other items were personally purchased. Compensated affiliate links used where or when possible, meaning I will receive a small percentage commission from these manufacturers at no cost to you. This will allow me to add more content to my YouTube channel and help out a lot. Thank you.

Materials Used:

Dies

Stamps

  • Karen Burniston in cahoots with Riley and Company – Clear Stamps – Fall Phrases

Papers

  • Ms. Sparkle & Co. Paperie – 5.5×7.5 Single -Sided Paper – Rainbow
  • Recollections – 8.5×11 100 lb. Cardstock – Orange
  • Black, Pink and White Cardstock
  • Fraser Papers for William House – A2 Envelope – Genesis Text Milkweed Smooth

Ink

Adhesives

Tools

  • Die Cutting Machine
  • Paper Trimmer
  • Bone Folder
  • Score Board
  • Stamping Platform
  • Stamping Blocks used as paperweights
  • Scissors
  • Paper Masking Tape
  • Tweezers
  • We R Memories – QuickStick

Autumn Pop-Up Card with Animals

| ullycatdesigns

It’s time for the Karen Burniston Design Team November 2025 Challenge whose theme is FUN FACES. I made a slimline Thanksgiving card using two new stamp sets – Fall Phrases and Fun Faces 1.

Watch the process video to see how I made this card.

Cardbase: I cut a 7 1/2×8 5/8-inch rectangle from white 65lb. cardstock. Then I scored and folded in half to create a 3 3/4×8 5/8-inch slimline cardbase.

Animals: Using the Woodland Animals and Winter Animals die sets make two bears, one raccoon, one fox and one squirrel. Use the Fun Faces 1 to stamp on the animals eyes, noses and mouths. Make four red apples from the Tiny Fruit set and add to all the animals except the squirrel. Make an acorn for the squirrel using the tiny acorn die in the Woodland Animals set.

Leaf and Acorn Border: Cut eight oak leaves from the Tree Pop-Up set and seven acorns using the tiny acorn die in the Woodland Animals set. (I cut a bunch of leaves from orange and brown cardstock and four more acorns knowing I would use the leftovers to decorate the inside of the card.) adhere to front border strip as shown in the photos and video.

Pumpkins: Cut three pumpkins from orange patterned paper. Dry emboss them using the pumpkin die from the Autumn Elements set in your die cutting machine’s embossing sandwich. Cut two of the pierced labels for the Little Labels Pop-Up side labels from green patterned paper. Layer together a pumpkin onto the green label and decorate with leftover leaves and acorns. Adhere the remaining pumpkin to the card back.

Label Pop-Up: Cut one of the large die in the Little Labels Pop-Up set from green cardstock. (Watch the assembly video located at the bottom of the linked page.) Assemble as show in the video above.

Sentiments: The inside stamped sentiments are from the Fall Phrases set. The die cut “Happy Thanksgiving” is cut from orange pattern paper using the Word Set 7 – Autumn set. From white cardstock, cut two medium sized labels from the Labels – Crosshatch, the center label and three banners from the Little Labels Pop-Up set to stamp. Adhere the largest two labels as places to write a personal message.

Envelope:  The card fits into a #10 business size envelope whose back flap was stamped in brown ink “Thankful Grateful Blessed” from the Fall Phrases stamp set.

___________________________________

Thank you for experiencing this blog post.

I hope this inspires you and makes you smile.

Please subscribe, like and leave comments 😊

___________________________________

Disclaimer: Karen Burniston products are provided free of charge by the manufacturer for review and use. All other items were personally purchased. Compensated affiliate links used where or when possible, meaning I will receive a small percentage commission from these manufacturers at no cost to you. This will allow me to add more content to my YouTube channel and help out a lot. Thank you.

Materials Used:

Dies

Stamps

Papers

  • Bazzill – 8.5×11 Cardstock – Candy Corn
  • Bazzill – 8.5×11 Cardstock – Rain Forest
  • Hot Off The Press – 12×12 inch Single-Sided Papers – North Country
  • The Paper Studio – 8.5×11 65 lb. Cardstock – White
  • Black, Gray, Kraft and Red Cardstock
  • #10 Business Envelope – Kraft

Ink

  • Memento – Fade Resistant Dye ink – Rich Cocoa
  • Ranger – Tim Holtz – Distress Ink- Gathered Twigs
  • Pigma – Mircon 05 Fine Tip Pen – Black
  • Sakura – Gelly Roll Pen – Medium – White
  • Stampin’ Up – Stampin’ Blends Marker – Dual Tip – Light Copper Clay

Adhesives

Tools

  • Die Cutting Machine
  • Paper Trimmer
  • Bone Folder
  • Score Board
  • Stamping Platform
  • LDRS – Stampendable Stamping Tool
  • Stamping Blocks used as paperweights
  • Scissors
  • T-Ruler
  • Sponge Dauber
  • Paper Masking Tape
  • Tweezers
  • We R Memories – QuickStick

Potted Pets Baby Pop-up Card

| ullycatdesigns

This card was made for Craft Roulette#206 whose parameters included Project type of card with a heart, vintage colors, plant(s) element and lace on the base.

In honor of Craft Roulette’s host Mary Gunn’s new grandchild, I made a new baby card using the parameters listed above.

Cardbase: I used a 5×7-inch purchase cardbase and covered all four panels with vintage green patterned paper. The decorative stripes and lacy decorations were scraps from the opposite side of the paper.

Potted Plants: I decorated the panels with potted animal planters that were made from solid color cardstock using My Favorite Things Potted Pets die set.

Pop-Up Twist Panel: I used Karen Burniston’s Twist Panel Pop-Up die set. Watch video below for instructions.

Sentiments: I used Karen Burniston Welcome and Baby Charms die sets to create the “Welcome Baby.” In the video above I explain how I used Karen Burniston’s Connectors word set dies to perform “word surgery” to create the phrase “oh baby.”

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Thank you for experiencing 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 Pack – Spice Market
  • Bazzill – 8.5×11 Textured Cardstock – Tiara -18-1002
  • Black, Browns, Greens, Pink and White Cardstock
  • Park Lane Paperie – A7 Cardbase – White

Ink

  • Sharpie – Permanent Marker – Ultra Fine Tip – Black
  • Spectrum Noir – Tri-Blends – Orange Blend
  • Stampin’ Up – Stampin’ Blends Marker – Dark Daffodil Delight

Adhesives

Tools

  • Die Cutting Machine
  • Bone Folder
  • We R Memories – QuickStick
  • Tweezers
  • Craft Clips
  • Stamping Blocks used as paperweights
  • Corner Punch
  • Scissors
  • T-Ruler
  • Pencil

All That Jazz

| ullycatdesigns

Needing a birthday card for a fun loving and jazz enthusiast gentleman who always supports concerts in the park, was the inspiration for this card.

It uses a variety of animals and scene dies as well as a pop-up bench by Karen Burniston. This was my first time using the Pear Blossom Press EZ-lights which are also available on the Karen Burniston website.

EZ-Lights:  To start the card, I had to plan out how the lights were to be installed knowing that the switch/battery piece had to be surrounded by foam strips and that I wanted lights on both the front of the card and inside the card. I don’t like to have wires going across the card-fold, so everything needed to be above the fold on this top-fold A7 (5×7-inch) card. (I also watched some assembly videos on using the EZ-Lights.) I made my front decorative panel and added decorative papers to the inside of my card base before poking the holes for the one light on the card front and two lights on the inside top panel.

Front Panel:  The front panel uses the fronds pattern plate cut from a dark green cardstock over a grass printed paper.

Lampposts:  These are cut using the street lantern pop-up die set using a glossy black piece of cardboard packaging which gives nice dimension as well as highlighting the embossed features of the dies. The edges of the lampposts I colored with black markers. For the lamp itself I used both clear vellum and golden parchment to allow the light to show through. (Assembly video)

Bench:  For the bench, I used the garden bench pop-up die set. I found a piece of glossy black paper that looks like metal, and I adhered it to some brown cardstock and then die-cut the bench. This pop-up is a glue-in pop-up, so I watched the assembly video several times to get the installation of the bench correct for this card. The monkeys are attached using foam squares.

Animals:  The jazz duo of a bass playing elephant and a giraffe playing the sax are from the safari animals die set with a beret cut down from an engineer’s cap and sunglasses from the three tiny accessories die sets. The musical instruments come from a die set from Doxie Craft Supply. The monkeys are from the monkey and lion die set. All the animals have stencils within the dies to add details like hoofs, eyes, mouths, ears and tails.

Bushes:  To create bush behind the bench, the large and small frond branches were cut from the landscape scene die set and inked with brown Distress ink. Three small fronds were used to cover up mistakes around the ground under the bench and for a decoration on the lower right corner.

Sentiments:  In order to turn on the lights two “Press me” labels were created -a yellow moon on the front and a green bush on the inside. The moon come from the landscape scene die set while the bush is the lion’s mane from the monkey and lion die set. A stamp was used for the “press me” stamped in brown ink.

“All that jazz” uses the mini alphabet die set. A strip of paper tape was used to provide a straight edge to line up the letters when adhered to the card front.

“Celebrate” and “Happy Birthday” are die sets also from Karen Burniston cut from yellow and tan cardstock.

This card is to be hand delivered, so no envelope.

Thank you for reading this blog post. I hope it provides inspiration and joy. Please like and leave comments 😊

Materials Used:

Dies

Stamps

  • Lawn Fawn –Clear Stamps – Push Here

Papers

  • Colored Cardstock Scraps
  • Black Glossy Cardboard Packaging
  • Keep It Simple – Back to Basics – 12×12 Double-Sided Cardstock – Jade Collection
  • The Paper Studio – Clear Vellum for Printers
  • Hunkydory Forever Florals – Autumn Days Printed Parchment
  • Park Lane – A7 White Card and Envelope

Pens & Inks

  • Sakura – Gelly Roll Pen – Medium – White
  • Pigma Micron 05 – Brown
  • Sharpie Permanent Marker – Ultra Fine Point – Black
  • Sharpie Permanent Marker –Fine Point – Black and Light Green
  • Ranger – Tim Holtz – Distress Inks – Vintage Photo
  • Stampin’ Up – Classic Stampin’ Pad – Early Espresso

Adhesives

  • Neutral PH Adhesive by LINECO
  • Fine-Tip Glue Bottle
  • Scrapebook.com – Double-Sided Permanent Tape ¼-Inch Wide
  • Fun Stampers Journey – Journey Dots
  • Stampin’ Up – Mini Stampin’ Dimensionals (Foam Squares)
  • Queen & Co. – Foam Refill Scraps (Foam Tape)

Miscellaneous

Dancing Animals

| ullycatdesigns

Nothing says “Hello Spring” like dancing bunnies and newly hatched baby ducks. These two cute interactive cards were made with the Spellbinders Spring Together with Lever Pull Cutting Dies set.

This is a great set of dies to use up those small pieces of cardstock scraps for the animals. I used a bluish opal polish on the eggshell to give it some luster. (I watched the assembly video for this die set before making these cards.)

The levers/mechanism pieces are cut twice and glued together to be sturdy.  For the Hello Spring sentiment, the words were cut twice from white and once from purple and then glued together.

The printed leafy mat was cut an 1/8 of an inch smaller than the solid green card base and the floral top background is 1/4 of an inch smaller than the card base. Once the position of the lever mechanism was decided, the line slit and pull-tab notch were cut on the floral layer. The notches were then cut on the leafy green mat and cardbase using the floral layer to line up the notches.

The thin trimmings of the mat layer were used as lever guides using dots of glue at the ends of the strips.

Two additional brads are used to attach the slotted levers to the floral background.  Foam strips were placed on the back to raise up the mechanism from the matting layer.  The leafy green mat layer was glued directly to the card base.

Using the decorative scraps trimmed from the front card layers, the backs of the cards were finished.

The back flaps of the cards’ envelopes were stamped with a bunny stamp from Craft Consortium.

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

Materials Used:

Dies

  • Spellbinders – March 2021 Large Die of the Month set Spring Together with Lever Pull Cutting Dies – DOML-MAR21

Stamping

  • Craft Consortium -English Garden Clear Stamps by Hackney & Co.
  • Stampin’ Up – Classic Stampin’ Pad – Pear Pizzazz

Papers

  • Park Lane – 8.5in x11 in 100# smooth white core cardstock – Watercolor Floral
  • Colored cardstock scraps
  • A2 green card base and envelope

Miscellaneous

Good Morning Farmstyle

| ullycatdesigns

Greetings it’s Sue here from the Dies R Us design team with a barn pop-up easel card.

Using PoppyStamps’ new Country Barn Pop Up Easel Set and lots of PoppyStamps’ Whittle animals and sun, this is an easy card to make.

Cut:

1 – largest barn die out of brown card stock

1 – middle barn die out of cream

1 – smallest barn die out of red (Save all the doors and windows cut out for the backing of the “X” frames)

2 – small “X” window from white

1 – doors “X” die out of white

1 – roof trim die out of white

1 – straight line out of white

Cut animals/sun and color with markers, black gel pen and Distress Ink.

Glue white “X” frames to doors and window cut outs to form doors. Glue on roof trim.

If you plan on having doors that open, ink blend the cream barn piece edges and door/window openings.  

Using clear tape, make hinges for all the doors and windows to open.

Position and glue cow to inside of barn. Glue barn to middle cream barn piece making sure not to glue any doors that are hinged to open. Glue flying chicken inside open barn door and other animals to front of barn.

Glue tab of brown base piece to back of cream piece. Test the barn in pop-up easel position. Using foam squares adhere green grass with eggs glued to them to the brown base to act as easel stops. Don’t have grass in front of the door that opens. Glue sun on to back of cream piece as if sun is rising behind the barn roof. (Make sure that sun top is no higher than the roof tip so card will fit in envelope.)

Stamp a sentiment on card base and back flap of envelope.

Hope this fun card has provided some inspiration for your crafting. 😊

SUPPLIES Used from Dies R Us:

Other Supplies:

  • Red, brown, cream and white cardstock
  • Foam squares
  • Clear tape
  • Scrap green paper for grass
  • Staples – Invitation Brights 24 lb.- Gummed Envelope – 4 3/8 x 5 3/4 inches
  • Crayola Signature Brush & Detail Dual-ended Markers
  • Simply Made Crafts by Helen Griffin – Fun Sentiments Stamp Set
  • Vintage goat stamp
  • Stampin’ Up – Early Espresso ink pad
  • Ranger – Distress Ink – Vintage Photo
  • Sponge dauber
  • Stamping platform
  • Scissors

Don’t forget to come join in the fun at the Dies R Us Challenge Blog. There’s a new challenge theme offered on the 1st and 15th of each month and one lucky randomly drawn winner will receive a gift voucher prize to the Dies R Us Store.  

 For your convenience, all the important Dies R Us links are provided below.

click below for:

STORE

CHALLENGE BLOG

FACEBOOK

INSPIRATION BLOG

FRIENDS OF DIES R US PINTEREST PAGE

When Pigs Fly

| ullycatdesigns

In honor of all newly minted sixty-year-olds, this card is in tribute to you (whether you want to believe it or not.)

Flying Pig:  Bonnie Krebs has designed this delightful flying pig as one of Art Impressions Flutters cards. The set comes with dies to cut out the pig and the two wings as well as punching holes in the pull strip and cutting the slot for the pull arm. This pig and wings were stamped in permanent black ink and colored with watercolor pencils. The instructions on the packaging are good, but watching a video or two helps with the exact assembly using the tiny brads that are included in the stamp and die set and either twine or thread. The pull arm is a piece of heavy cardstock that is ¾ inch wide and at least 6 inches long. (You can trim the arm shorter once the card is assembled.)

Card base:  The foiled pink plaid card base is one from a boxed set of 50 cards and envelopes size A2. Once the pig was assembled onto its pull arm, a slot was cut using the slot die and the half circle finger hole was cut through the front and back of the card base. (I recommend laying-out and pencil marking where the inside insert papers will be and cutting the half circles on them, before you do the final assembly of the flying pig pull arm onto the card base.) The pig is adhered to the card front using tiny foam squares, once the pull arm is through the slot in the card base.

Front decorations – 60 and Pull Here:  The 60 was cut from a foiled chocolate box using dies designed to be birthday cake candles. The flame and stand were trimmed off the 6 and 0. Once the pull arm has been installed to the card base, trim it off to fit inside the card base and round the corners with a corner punch. Stamp or write “Pull” with a directional arrow. (The stamp used here was from Concord & 9th)

Inside:  With the flying pig mechanism installed, adhere the inside papers using double-side tape making sure to leave a gap for the pull arm to move through freely. Add the die-cut birthday sentiment using glue.

Envelope:  I stamped the back of the envelope with birthday cake stamp to set the stage for this milestone birthday card.

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

Supplies

Dies/Stamps

Ink

Paper

Miscellaneous

A Tiger Thank You

| ullycatdesigns

What kind of a thank you card do you make for someone who has sent an amazing gift and loves tigers? You make them a four-panel card that can act as a candle shade or screen.

Tonic Studios Tropical Rainforest silhouette die set was a perfect match for the card that cats as something more than a card. I had seen on Pinterest a lantern made from some of the Tonic Studios other forest silhouette dies sets and knew from my experience of making a house luminary Christmas card, that this die set would be easy to make a four-panel card/candle shade.

I cut four vellum panels and then using three shades of green cardstock and a sheet of brown, I cut the silhouette frames using the lightest shades for the front panels and the darkest as the panels at the back. I cut the panel with the tiger and toucan bird from white scrap cardstock and colored with markers. Next, I fussy cut them and glued in place on their panel. I also cut and colored a butterfly from white cardstock scrap.

The vellum panels were laid out in a row and taped together using clear removable tape on the back side of the vellum. Next the silhouette panels were glued on to the vellum.

As a finishing touch, I die cut the words “Thank You” to glue to card. Next, I pieced together from words in the same Moonstone word die set the name of the recipient. The card fits into a mini slim envelope.

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

If you enjoyed this Luminary card, check out some of my other luminaria:

The First Sign of Spring – Crocus Tealight

Victorian Trim House Luminaria

Holiday House Luminaria

House Luminary

Materials Used:

Dies

Papers

Inks

Miscellaneous