It’s SNEAK PEEK Week for Karen Burniston’s December 2023 Release. Today we’ll focus on the Heart Add-Ons and Happy Valentine’s Day Shadow die sets.
Look for tutorials on this project 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 😊
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
Ink
Adhesives
Tools
Miscellaneous
It’s SNEAK PEEK Week for Karen Burniston’s December 2023 Release. Today we’ll focus on the Birthday Candle Add-Ons die set.
Look for tutorial on this project 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 😊
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
Ink
Adhesives
Tools
This card was inspired by Craft Roulette episode #191 whose parameters were a drop-down card, supper table colors, seasons element (Christmas), and shiny.
It also takes inspiration from Karen Burniston’s Oven Pop-Up.
It uses the Mini Pops-Pop-Up tiered platform die by Karen Burniston, Gingerbread Pals stamps by Kindred Stamps and Nested Rounded Corners Square Small Stitched dies by Rubbernecker Stamps.
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
Papers
Ink & Embossing Powder
Adhesives
Tools
Miscellaneous
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.)
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.
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
Ink
Adhesives
Tools
“Stepping out with my baby!” coons Fred Astaire in his top hat and tails. “Putting on the Ritz!” the monster in Young Frankenstein moans with his top hat and stick. These were the sights and sounds that serve as the theme of this wedding anniversary card for a couple married close to Halloween.
The card brief was for some interactivity that was spooky (but not too spooky) and included the word “BOO!” as well as “Happy 15th Anniversary.”
Cardbase: Starting with an orange 8 1/2-inches wide by 7-inches tall rectangle folded in half for a top-fold, slimline cardbase of 3 1/2 -inches tall by 8 1/2-inches wide. The front and back panels of the card base has mats cut using the three crosshatch dies from Karen Burniston’s Long Rectangles – Crosshatch die set and papers from Graphic 45. They are glued together and then glued to the cardbase. (I found placing weights – stamping blocks or cell phone – on the mats to keep them flat as the glue dried very helpful.) The inside has a piece of white computer paper cut to 6 3/4 -inches tall by 8 1/4 -inches wide and folded in half before being adhered to the cardbase with thin double-sided tape.
Card Front: Using the Creative Expressions Skeletons by Sue Wilson cut two each of the three skeletons dies from thick white cardstock and glued them together. Die cut just the hats/heads from black glitter cardstock. Fussy cut the hats from the heads and glue them in place. Cover one side of the wobbler springs with patterned paper to match the center mat of the card front. Glue the skeletons onto the patterned paper side of the spring and allow the glue to dry before gluing the springs to the card front.
Sentiments: The sentiments come from two different Karen Burniston die sets – Halloween Elements and Word Set 12 – Anniversary. The numbers are The Greetery’s Cake Pops Number Candles die set and fussy cut of their tabs and flame. The “th” superscript is from Karen Burniston’s Numbers set. (I cut two “Boo!” from black glitter and orange cardstock and offset them to create a shadow. For the anniversary greeting I used one layer of orange foil cardstock.)
Envelope: Karen Burniston’s jack-o-lantern border decorates the back flap of the envelope. It is cut in two pieces – the top orange and the bottom full outline from black glitter cardstock.
Thank you for reading this blog post. I hope this inspires you and makes you smile. Please like and leave comments 😊
Materials Used:
Dies
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Miscellaneous
I have a crafty friend who loves Halloween. This card was made for her using Poppy Stamps Neighborhood Home Pop Up Easel set along with their Whittle Monsters, Whittle Creatures and Boo Poe Script dies.
It took just a morning to make. The die cutting of the Whittle creatures and monsters took the most time, but they went together easily and used up leftover scraps. For the house I had to make some decisions on open or pained windows. I decided some of the creatures should be outside rather than behind windows.
The easel stop is four layers of green and orange cardstock die-cut using the Boo Poe Script die.
I included a CRX sheet to show how to open the card. (You can download the CRX sheet for free.)
The back of the envelope is stamped with Tim Holtz Halloween pumpkin stamps.
Thank you for reading this blog post. I hope this inspires you and makes you smile. Please like and leave comments 😊
Materials Used:
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Making a gingerbread house always involves candy and white icing. Half the fun of making a gingerbread creation is sampling the construction elements.
This Christmas card is one that I hope the recipients won’t try and taste the ingredients. I used Queen & Co.’s Holiday House Kit to make this shaker card. In the kit you get dies to decorate the foam shaker base with pre-cut acetate window cover as either a gingerbread house or a Victorian house. I chose to use polymer clay shaker elements that are from Queen & Co. but not included in the kit. (There are solid color shaker beads included in the kit as well as stamps.)
Cardbase: I used a purchase brown kraft cardstock and matching envelope in an A7 size. The card I cut it down to a 6×4 3/4-inch side-fold card so that there would be room in the envelope for the foam shaker. The front panel was covered with a 4 1/2×5 3/4-inch piece of patterned red paper from the Queen & Co. Happy Holly Days mat stack. The inside white panel is the same size cut from white copier paper.
House: Brown patterned paper from Queen & Co. Homemade Holiday mat stack was use for the gingerbread house and man. The white icing and candies were cut from white cardstock and made sparkly with a wash of a glitter gloss aqua brush. The stripes on the candy can were drawn on with a red marker while the round peppermint candies have a die to cut the red swirl. Gum drops on the roof ridge were cut using a die in the kit and brushed with glitter gloss. The tiny peppermint candies are polymer clay shaker elements from Buttons Galore More.
Once the house front is made, position the foam frame on the cardbase to allow for the gingerbread man and candy cane to hang off the house, but not the card. Adhere foam to cardbase. Add strips of leftover foam to the inside of the frame to section off areas where the windows are. Add shaker elements to the sections. Place the acetate piece over the foam frame to seal in the elements. Color the exposed sides of white foam with a brown marker. Using double-sided tape, attach the decorated house front to the acetate piece.
Decorations: Glue candy pieces to decorate the house. The gingerbread man is cut in two pieces – bottom white with glitter gloss and the top from the brown patterned paper. Attach the man with thin foam squares to fit over the polymer clay candies.
Sentiment: The inside sentiment is a clear stamp included in the kit stamped in red ink.
Envelope: A gingerbread man from a Joanna Sheen card making kit was stamped in dark brown ink and brushed over with glitter gloss 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
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Shaker
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