Karen Burniston Designer Challenge -- Bottom Fold

It's time for the Karen Burniston Designer Challenge for August, the theme of which is "bottom fold."  I'm not sure I've ever done a bottom fold card, but I dove right in.  My sister was visiting recently from Illinois, and her birthday was shortly after she got home.  Try as I might, I wasn't going to be able to get her birthday card into the mail in time for it to arrive on or before her birthday.  Fortunately, one of Karen Burniston's stamp sets has a "belated" sentiment in it.  I used it on the inside of her card.

I also used the new Display Helpers die on this card.  They help to hold the card open when you display it.

I wasn't really sure how I was going to handle this challenge and was experimenting with ideas.  This card was actually the second one I made for it.  The first one was a little simpler.  It's called a Matchbook Card, as you can see by the way it opens.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today to look at my two bottom-fold cards.

Christmas in July

Who doesn't like Christmas in July?  And for that reason, I have a Christmas card made with the new Karen Burniston Arch Pop-up die along with several others.

The front of my 5" x 7" card features the Postage Pop-up, released earlier in the year, along with the Poinsettia die.  I thought the Echo Park I Love Christmas patterned paper was the perfect background.

When you open the card, the new Arch Pop-up takes center stage.

Decorating the arch is the smaller poinsettia, along with holly leaves from the Pattern Plate - Holly and pine sprigs from the Poinsettia set.  At each end of the arch is a Christmas tree made with the Christmas Tree Pop Stand set from a few years ago.  To make the tree skirts, I cut out circles from the Circles - Crosshatch set, cut them in half and notched out just a little bit at the center.  I then glued them back in place at the front and back of the upright pieces which hold the trees.  The garlands across the top of the Echo Park paper at the bottom are from Fireplace Extras 1.  The sentiments on the front and inside are from Karen's Season of Cheer clear stamp set, cut out with two different dies from Rectangles and Labels - Crosshatch set.

I had originally cut the arch from white cardstock but decided that some green behind all the foliage would look better, so I cut pieces from some patterned paper and glued it over the white arch.  I didn't realize until I was finished that a little strip of white is showing beneath the green.  I was going to try to trim it off but decided against it.  Here is a close-up of the arch.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today.  

Movie Night with Harry Potter

I haven't played with the new Movie Night Charms very much, so I thought I would make a card using them today.  One of my favorite dies is the Fancy Label Accordion, which was one of the very first Karen Burniston dies I purchased many years ago.

As you may or may not know, I am a big Harry Potter Fan.  I had some of the journaling cards left from a recent Karen Burniston on-line class.  I cut it down to fit the first panel of my card.

I thought the panels of the Fancy Label Accordion were just a bit too large to use the charms as is, so I cut off the charm rings and layered them on the panels.

The filmstrip in the set was perfect for showing off my Harry Potter characters.  These are digital images I downloaded many years ago from Bugaboo Stamps.  I sized them to fit perfectly in the individual sections of the filmstrip.  The sentiment is from Karen's Birthday Magic stamp set.

And here is the whole card.  Movie Night Fun!

I'm giving this card to my daughter-in-law for her birthday later this month.  She is also a big fan of Harry Potter.

Karen Burniston Designer Challenge -- Rainbow

It's time for the Karen Burniston Designer Challenge for July.  This month our theme is "Rainbow," the perfect reason to pull out the new Arch Pop-up die and Rainbow Add-ons.  

The front of my card is rather simple -- just a happy birthday greeting.  However, keeping with the theme I did use rainbow paper.  I also added some enamel dots in rainbow colors.

For the inside I popped up the Rainbow Arch, adding a pot of gold using the cauldron from the Witch and Cauldron set.  The sentiment is from the new Rainbow greetings stamp set.

Here's a close-up of the pot of gold.  As you can see, I scored across the cauldron and glued the top portion to the rainbow and the bottom portion to the card base.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today.

Karen Burniston New Release Blog Hop

 Hi Crafty Friends,

Welcome to our Karen Burniston Products - KB Riley LLC June Release Blog Hop. The Design Team have come together with Karen today for a fun blog hop to celebrate the release of 10 new dies and 5 new stamp sets. Sneak peeks of the new release started last week, and the dies are available to order NOW!

This release includes:

1 new Pop-up Die Set
1 new Interactive Die Set
1 new Pop-up Add-ons Die Set
2 new Charm Die Sets
4 new Stand Alone Die Sets
5 new Clear Sentiment Stamp Sets

Dies are available to order now on the website.

I chose the Graduation Elements to feature.  They are made to fit the previously released Paper People.  For my first card I combined these two sets with the Label Charm Pop-up.  My high school colors were red and blue -- thus the color scheme on this card.  I also used one of the new stamp sets -- Grad Greetings.

As you can see on the inside, there are two sizes of graduation caps.   The banner mounted across the top includes the word "congrats," but it is sized to fit the Mini Alphabet and Numbers set as well.

I did make a second card for the Hop.  I must give full credit to another design team member, Sandy Diller, for the inspiration for this card.  My 62-year-old son recently received his degree in information technology.  I am very proud of him and made this card to celebrate his achievement.  In addition to the new Graduation Elements, I also used the new Whirly Wheel.

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, 23rd June 2025. 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

Lois Bak  (that's me)

Sue Small-Kreider

Frances Byrne

Jennifer Webster

Suzanne Smit

Nicky Foden

Sandy Diller

Karen Burniston New Release Sneak Peek Day 6

This has been a fun week.  Karen Burniston's dies are so cleverly designed that designs come easily.  Today's sneak peek is a slimline card using the Movie Night Charms and the Graduation Elements.  The Movie Night Charms are on the front . . . 

. . . and the Graduation Elements on the inside.

Only a couple more days before you can purchase the dies.  I hope you have been making your list.

Karen Burniston New Release Sneak Peek Day 5

Today's Karen Burniston sneak peek is a patriotic card made with the new Arch Pop-up and Party Balloons.

I love making Fourth of July cards with their bright red, white, and blue colors.  On the front I added some Karen Burniston fireworks and a Taylored Expressions sentiment die.

Inside is where you find the Arch and the Balloons, along with another Taylored Expressions sentiment die and another firework.

Can't wait to send this to someone in July.