Autumn Pop-Up Card with Animals

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.

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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

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

Winnie-The-Pooh Card

This card was made for Craft Roulette #216 whose parameters included for A2 project, baseball game colors, number(s) element and charm(s).

After I completed the process video I added thin strips of decorated paper to even out the borders of the front background paper as well as adding a second jump ring to the charm to have it hang more in the center of the frame.

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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

  • Echo Park – 6×6 Double-Sided 65 lb. Cardstock – Winnie-The-Pooh
  • Echo Park – 12×12 inch Double-Sided Papers and Sticker Sheet – Winnie-The-Pooh Collection Kit
  • Echo Park – Frames and Tags – Winnie-The-Pooh
  • Cardstock Warehouse Paper Co. – 12×12 inch Solid Textured Cardstock Value Pack
  • Fraser Papers for William House – A2 Envelope – Genesis Text Milkweed Smooth

Ink

  • Pigma – Mircon 01 Fine Tip Pen – Black

Adhesives

Tools

  • Die Cutting Machine
  • Bone Folder
  • Stamping Blocks used as paperweights
  • Scissors
  • Pencil
  • We R Memories – Piercing Tool

Miscellaneous

  • Two Round Jump Rings – 6 mm

Winter Bag Bear

Needing something cute to put a gift card in with a winter theme, I quickly created this mini gift bag with a polar bear holding a heart.

Karen Burniston’s December 2023 release includes the Mini Gift Bag die set that makes a collapsing bag that will hold a gift card and fit in the palm of your hand.

If you use a patterned paper that doesn’t have a design with a distinct up and down to it, you can cut the entire bag from a 6×6 piece of paper.

I use red vellum to cut a heart with the heart die in the set.  The bear is from the Winter Animals set and the tiny heart he holds comes from the Safari Animals sets.

For the bag handles, I used 1/4-inch wide organza ribbon tied as a loop for each side with the knots hidden inside the bag.

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

  • Ink N’ Splatter – 6×6 Double-Sided Paper Pad – Winter Blues
  • The Paper Studio – 8.5×11-inch – Red Vellum
  • White, Red and Gray Cardstock

Ink

Adhesives

Tools

Miscellaneous

  • Blue Organza Ribbon – 1/4-inch wide

Sleighing It Accordion Style

It’s time for the Karen Burniston Design Team Challenge for August 2023 with the theme of ACCORDION dies.

I choose to use the Fancy Label Accordion die with the sleigh from the Sleigh Pop-Up and reindeer from the Christmas Animals set as add-ons similar to the new Cupcake or Fence Add-ons for the Landscape Rectangle Accordion set. I also used the snowflake frames from the Fancy Winter Frames set.

There are several ways of assembling this accordion card – prepare frames and attach them all together and then add the sleigh and reindeer – OR – prepare frames (adding snowflake frames to fronts of accordion frames only), make all the animals, sleigh and gifts and assemble each panel as you go adding the back snowflake frame pieces after you attach the accordion frames. The latter is the method I choose to follow. Watch the assembly videos for the Fancy Label Accordion and the Fence Add-ons (located towards the bottom of the linked pages.)

Frames: Cut four accordion frames from the Fancy Label Accordion set from heavy white cardstock. With scissors cut off the sides of the fancy label to form a pivot post on each accordion frame. Cut a total of 16 snowflake frames pieces from the Fancy Winter Frames set from blue cardstock. (I sprayed my frames with mica spray to get the metallic shiny frames.) Brush the accordion frame sides and the pivot post with glitter gloss. (I recommend doing both sides of the frame at this stage.) Glue blue snowflake frames onto the fronts only of the accordion frames. (Watch assembly video for the Fancy Winter Frames.)

Sleigh: Using red cardstock cut two sleighs. (If using decorative cardstock with a different pattern on each side, cut one red in reverse.) Cut two more of the lower portions, of the sleigh from silver foil cardstock making sure one is the reverse of the other. Fussy cut off just the sleigh runners. Glue runners to red sleigh bases.

Gifts: From the Sleigh Pop-Up set, cut a total of six gift boxes and four bows, making sure you have pairs of matching papers for each box and bow. (I used a glitter marker to add some accents to the bows.) Play with the layout of where the packages and bear will go in the sleigh and still fit inside the accordion frame.

Bear: Cut two bears from white cardstock and two of the tummy and nose pieces from gray using the Winter Animals set. Cut from red two hats and scarves and two pompoms from white. Assemble as shown on the package. Use the main die to stencil the pink ears and black eyes, and the nose die to draw the mouth and nose in black. Assemble with the hat covering the opposite ear from the other bear.

Reindeer: Cut 12 reindeer from brown cardstock and 12 pairs of antlers from darker brown cardstock using the Christmas Animals die set. With a fine tipped black marker use the reindeer die as a stencil to color hooves and faces of the six of the deer and a white gel pen to color the ears. Repeat with the remaining six reindeer, but on the reverse side. Color all the tail as shown on package with white gel pen. Glue on antlers to one set of six reindeer. You will glue the remaining six pairs of antlers on when you assemble the card matching up the fronts and backs of them. (I made one reindeer have a red nose by using red Nuvo drops.) Cut six strips of red cardstock 6-inchs long and 1/4-inches wide for the sleigh shafts that the reindeer will be harnessed to.

Assembly: Play with the layout of where the packages and bear will go in the sleigh and still fit inside the accordion frame. Glue the packages and bear to the back of sleigh. Start with the first frame and position the sleigh so that the front curling tip of sleigh is just inside the frame and a small portion of the back of the sleigh is over the other side of the accordion frame. (I placed my sleigh so that the shaft that will connect the sleigh to the reindeer will be approximately in the middle of the frame.) Glue the frame tab to the second frame. ( I used crafting clips to hold the frames together until the glue set-up.

Flipping the two frames over, I glued a shaft onto the back of the sleigh making sure it was long enough to reach the edge of the next frame. Next, before I glued the blue frames on , I brushed all the accordion frame sides with a glitter gloss then I attached the blue snowflake frames to the back sides of the accordion frames covering over where the tab is. Use weights to keep the frames from curling as the glue dries.

Cut two pieces of baker’s twine 6-inches long and ten pieces 5-inches long. (Use the 6-inch piece of twine for the rein deer that attach to the sleigh.) To make the harness on the reindeer start with the end of the twine on the back side going over the neck and back under the belly. Glue the end and bend to back of reindeer. Pull twine around the front of the animal and with a dot of glue, adhere the twine to the rear end of the reindeer. Glue the lead reindeer to to the second frame and glue the end of the harness twine to where it will be covered with the reindeer with with a 6-inch harness. Adhere second reindeer and wrap end of twine around the bear’s paw.

Add the next two frames following the same instructions for the second frame and reindeer. (In hindsight, I think it may be easier to assemble all the accordion frames together, adding one sleigh and attaching all the shaft pieces together. Then you can start adding the reindeer starting with Rudolph in the front, gluing down his twine harness, and adding the next reindeer and so on with each frame.)

When all the frames have been added with blue frames on both sides and front side of reindeer added, flip over and cut off the unused tab on fourth frame. Glue red shafts to the back side of shafts. (This covers the different patterned paper for my card, but also adds some strength to the folding mechanism.)

Glue the packages to the backs of the first packages matching them up. Then adhere the bear. Finally glue the sleigh in place matching up the edges and runner swirls. Use clips to keep the pieces in place until the glue dries.

Glue the remaining reindeer in place. Train all the folds. (I decided that the back side of the reindeer would look better with faces so I stenciled them on after the card was assemble.)

This card will easily fit into an A7 envelope, but it is thick, so a padded envelope or hand delivery is recommended.

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

Click here to see other Accordion cards

Materials Used:

Dies

Papers

  • My Mind’s Eye – 6×6 Double-Sided Paper Pad – Cozy Christmas
  • White, Brown, Gray, and Light Blue Cardstock
  • A7 ivory Envelope

Ink

  • Sharpie – Permanent Marker – Fine Tip – Pink
  • Sharpie – Permanent Marker – Ultra Fine Tip – Black
  • Sakura – Gelly Roll Pen – Medium – White
  • Nuvo – Glitter Marker – Fired Brick – 193
  • Nuvo – Aqua Shimmer – Glitter Gloss
  • Nuvo – Mica Mist – Nebula Blue

Adhesives

Tools

Miscellaneous

  • Baker’s Twine – Red/White
  • Nuvo – Vintage Drops – Postbox Red

Go Bears Father’s Day Card

It’s time for another Karen Burniston Design Team Challenge. This month we were asked to use the Fireplace Pop-up die set to celebrate a specific holiday.

I have Father’s Day, which in the USA is in June which is not necessarily when American football is played, but once a fan of a sports team, always a fan of a team. GO Bears!

Card Base: The card base is an A7 size. I took a medium weight piece cardstock cut to 10 x 7 inches and folded in half. The base was what I glued decorative papers to as well as attaching the fireplace pop-up mechanism and floor flap.

Bears and Accessories: The bears, their football helmets and footballs, beer mug, and pizza are all Karen Burniston dies – colored to match the Chicago bear’s uniforms. Beer mug is made from Coffee Charms (mug) and Happy Hour Charms (foam) and a pizza (circle from a snowman set). Pizza box is my own creation. (You could change up the sport by using any of the new Sports Charms.)

TV:  The TV is the fireplace mechanism with a print of bears game covering the top portion while the bottom portion acts a table.

Flip Floor: I have made another flip floor for a Halloween card using the furniture from the family room die set. What I learned from my previous card is to use strong tape. I used duct tape on this card and full pieces of suede paper (for carpet) and wood-grain to make the flap have a sturdy hinge. The flap is cut to stop just before the TV table and locks under the right end table.

Lamps:  To make the lamps feel in proportion to the size of the room, I placed them on end table cubes which also act as the locking device for the flip floor. The lamps are part of the Karen Burniston Family Room die set. I placed a thin foam square under the lamp shades to made them curve round.

Furniture: I turned the chair of the Family Room dies set into a table by gluing a rectangle over the arm rests instead of adding the seat back. The back of the sofa is just the seat portion left flat. I cut pieces to cover the black base of the sofa.

Sentiments: Using contrasting colors to cut background plaques for the front sentiment of “GO Wild!” makes them standout on the busy patterned paper. The Father’s Day sentiment comes with its own shadow background in the die set.

CRX Sheet: Because of the flip floor and locking mechanism being atypical for what most card recipients expect, I have included a sheet with directions for opening and locking the card open. (You can download for free.)

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

Materials Used:

Dies

Papers

  • Photoplay Paper – 12 x12 Double-sided coated cardstock – 1st and Goal-FBL3192
  • Hot Off The Press – 8.5 x 11 – Smoke Suede – 10434
  • Spellbinders – Santa Lane – 6×6 Paper Pad – Wood Boards
  • EKSuccess – Martha Stewart Crafts – 12×12 Double-sided Paper Pad – Gothic Manor – 48-20301Colored Cardstock Scraps
  • Computer and color printer
  • White A7 Envelope

Pens & Inks

  • Blue, Red, Yellow and Blue Fine-Tipped Markers
  • Gelly Roll 08 Pen – White
  • Pigma Micron 05 – Archival Ink .045mm – Dark Brown
  • Ranger – Tim Holtz – Distress Ink – Antique Linen and Fossilized Amber

Miscellaneous

A Cabin Father’s Day Card

Designed for a gentleman who use to take his sons up to a mountain cabin in the 1960s, this card should help evoke memories of good father and son times.

The mechanism for this triple panel accordion card is by Karen Burniston. The 12-inch by 12- inch double-sided paper pad in the In The Forest Collection by Clare Therese for Craft Consortium has a page with three narrow panorama scenes that work for the main panels. The smaller framed animals are from the cover of the 6-inch by 6-inch pad of papers from the same collection while the wood grain paper is from the larger pad. The large panorama scenes were cut with scissors from the die-cut frames and glued to the woodgrain frames’ center panels that pivot.

To make the card frame sturdy the woodgrain paper was glued to the back of the scenic paper. I followed the assembly video for the accordion fold card. (I found it useful to layout the card and its decorative pieces before gluing as sometimes a tab that connects the various panels needs to be hidden by a decorative piece so the order of gluing all the tabs together needs to be thought through before assembly.)

For the black “Happy Father’s Day” I used another Karen Burniston die and glued it in place letting the edges of some letters overhang the panel but making sure they would not impede the pivot mechanism. The small white rectangle can be written on with a personal message and then glued to the card. It is cut with a rectangle die from another coordinating Karen Burniston die set.

The card fits into a mini slimline envelope which has been stamped on the front with pine trees in both green and brown ink. The back of the envelope has a trail signpost stamped in brown ink. The stamps are coordinating ones from the In The Forest Collection by Clare Therese for Craft Consortium.

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

Materials Used:

Dies

Stamps

  • Craft Consortium – Clear Stamps – In The Forest by Clare Therese

Inks & Pigments

  • Stampin’Up – Classic Stampin’ Pad – Soft Suede and Tranquil Tide

Papers

  • Craft Consortium – Premium Quality Papers – 12” x 12” – In The Forest by Clare Therese
  • Craft Consortium – Premium Quality Papers – 6” x 6” – In The Forest by Clare Therese
  • Mini Slimline Envelope – white
  • Black and white cardstock scraps

Miscellaneous

A Fishing Father’s Day

Hi, it’s Sue here from the Dies R Us Design Team with an interactive Father’s Day card.

This card is made with Karen Burniston dies focusing on the Tiny Trees Pop-Up in a 3 3/4 inch x 8 3/4 inch card base. (I used a thin white card base cut 8 3/4 inch by 7 1 /2 inch folded in half and covered with four panels of 3 3/4 inch x 8 3/4 inch decorative papers.)

Cut the number of trees you plan to use and assemble using the packaging directions. Decide on placement of trees based on where they will be in the folder position. (For slimline cards the trees must be place on the center fold rather than using the offset piece which allows for trees to be added off the center card fold.) Glue down tree frames and wait until glue has set to attach trees.

Die-cut four bears (Winter Animals) stenciling through the die with a black fine tip pen the eyes, nose and mouth. Run the stenciled bears back through the machine with the embossing mat and plate for your die-cutting machine to emboss the face and bottom feet. To make a baby bear, cut the bear just below its paws and then slide the bottom piece up under the arms and trim off excess edges. Glue together. The baseball caps are made by die-cutting the engineer’s cap from the Tiny Accessories 3 die set and rounding off the puffy crown and bill of the cap. (I tried to make the logo of the recipient’s favorite baseball team on the caps.) The fishing poles are described below. Drops of Glossy Accents were added to the bears’ eyes and nose to made them standout on the dark brown cardstock.

The stream is made with a long scrap of shiny spray painted paper in blue, gold and silver that was die-cut several times using the hill die from the Long Nature Edges die set. These wavey pieces were then glued to a strip of blue cardstock and fish cut from the Camping Charms die set, were added to the stream flow. The same fish were embossed, and their eyes stenciled in black ink and then glued to a piece of string or cording which was glued to the stick charm from the same die set. The rings were all cut off of the charms.

To make the bears stand under the trees inside, a small strip of green cardstock was cut and scored to form a cube. The cube is glued to both the card base and the tree frame and then the bear is glued to the font of the cube.

Decorations to the card include one tree front with leaves and three birds cut using the dies from the Tiny Trees set, two apples from the Tree Fruit set, and a white blanket from the Picnic Elements set. The blanket could be used to write a personal message on.

The “Happy Father’s Day” was cut three times from thin cardstock using Karen Burniston’s Alphabet dies. The layers were glued together and then glued to the front of the card using a T-ruler to keep the letters in a straight alignment.

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

A

Other Father’s Day cards on my blog

A Tool Box Father’s Day

A Fishing Father’s Day

A Father’s Day Waterfall Pop-Up

A Work Bench Father’s Day Card

In-Vested Father’s Day Card

SUPPLIES Used from Dies R Us:

Other Supplies Used:

  • Textured green and blue cardstock
  • Trees and sky printed paper from Die-Cutting Essentials issue 32
  • Colored and shimmer cardstock scraps
  • Ranger Glossy Accents
  • Natural colored cording
  • Black fine tipped pen
  • Stampin’ Up – Early Espresso ink pad
  • Stampin’ Up Best Catch stamp set
  • Neenah Social –No. 10 envelope – Natural kraft

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

Warmish Winter Wishes

Sending warm wishes for the holiday season is what this card is all about.

It is a simple card made with pre-printed white snowflakes on brown kraft paper card, holographic snowflake glitter and red stamped images adhered with foam squares.

I made 24 of these cards in one day. The stamping was done first using a Tim Holtz stamping platform by Tonic Studios. I had cut 8 ½ x11 inch white cardstock into 4 ¼ x 5 ½ inch pieces to make it easy to stamp two sets of images per piece and never have to move the stamps, except to stamp the two sentiments and the fox on the envelope flaps.

I fussy cut the images and placed tiny and large foam squares from my stash on the backs of the images.

Once the cut images were adhered to the card fronts, I glued the snowflake glitter to the cards matching up with the centers of the printed snowflakes.

SUPPLIES

Stamps

Ink

Paper

Miscellaneous

Ride the Birthday Train

train ride- inside

Get on board the Birthday Train!  This was my first attempt at using Karen Burniston’s Train Pivot Panels and companion Train Elements.  Having made other of KB’s pivot panels I found it an easy assembly. (If you haven’t made a pivot panel card before, please look at her assembly videos.)

train ride- front

I used bright primary colors for the card using lots of scraps bits for the words and tiny decoration pieces. “Enjoy” and “ride” are double cut from red and blue papers and off-set to give a shadow effect.  The card base is from Karen Burniston’s Circle Tag Book Pop-up.  The red grosgrain ribbon hides the tiny portion of train’s “cow catcher” and tracks that show beyond the rounded edge.

train ride- inside wide

Two pearl-like domed dots were used for the railroad crossing sign.(I removed these dots and replaced with red circles of cardstock when I sent the card to a two year old because of the fear he would try to eat them.) Bears are from KB’s Winter Animals die set.

Watch a Video of card

SUPPLIES USED:

Dies

Paper:

  • Cardstock scraps from my stash including black glitter cardstock for wheels

Miscellaneous: