CCEE2018 - World Penguin Day

Frances ends her month as hostess for the CCEE Stampers by telling us that April 25 was World Penguin Day, and asking us to feature penguins on our cards.  If we didn't have any penguins, we could just create a black and white card.

I have a couple of penguin stamp sets and pulled out the largest penguin image for my card.  I decided that I wanted a pop-out card, so I used the Karen Burniston Rockin' Rectangle for my card base.

The Stampendous penguin that I used has a matching die, so I cut out the front of my card and lined it with an acetate sheet.  The pop-out penguin can be seen through the acetate and says "hi" when you open the card.

For some more penguin fun, check out the CCEE Stampers blog.

Scor-Pal Pinspired Project - Exploding Box

I've got a project on my blog today that was inspired by another project from the Scor-Pal Pinterest Board -- an Exploding Box from 2006.

When I started my box, I decided that my theme would be a favorite of mine -- a certain boy wizard and his friends.  My box differs from the original in that there are only two layers of explosion rather than three, and also there is a 3-D object on the inside.

To start my project, I scored a piece of 12" x 12" cardstock at 4" and 8" on both sides . . .

. . . and a piece of 10 1/2" x 10 1/2" cardstock at 3 1/2" and 7" on both sides.

I then cut the four corners out of each piece.

I chose some wizard-related patterned paper and cut eight pieces 3 3/4" square and eight pieces 3 1/4" square.  As you can see, the patterns represent all four houses at the magic school.

Scor-tape is attached to the bottom of the center square of the smaller panel, the pieces are glued together, and the patterned paper applied appropriately.

The next step was to make the lids for the two layers.  The larger lid is made from a piece of matching yellow cardstock 6 5/8" square.  The smaller lid is made from a piece of matching dark gray cardstock 6 1/8" square.  I then scored each piece 1 1/4" in from all four sides.

After cutting tabs on all four corners, I added some Scor-tape.

This was done to both the yellow lid and the dark gray lid.

I then stamped and colored the images (4 teachers and 4 students).  I cut them out with a Spellbinders Labels One die with a slightly larger Labels One die for the matting.

Following the video instructions for the Karen Burniston Castle Pop-up, which you can find on her website here, adding the additional trimwork.

After the castle was completed, I attached it to a 3 3/4" square of patterned paper, using the tabs created with one of the dies in the Castle Pop-Up die set.  I then cut a hexagonal piece of the same patterned paper, inserted the free-standing turret, and glue it inside the castle.

As you can see from the photos, the teachers are glued to the first layer of explosion. . .

. . . and the students are glued to the inside layer.

I hope you enjoyed my tutorial and will try to make an Explosion Box yourself.  It was a really fun project.

CCEE2017 - Interactive Cards

Frances has a great challenge for the CCEE Stampers this week!  She says, "Anyone who knows me knows how much I love cards that pop, slide or move in any shape or form.  For our challenge this week, let's create an interactive card -- what type you make is up to you."

I LOVE this challenge; like Frances, I am a big fan of interactive cards.  Another one of my favorite things is the world of Harry Potter.  I combined these two passions in my card today.  Using some digital stamps from Bugaboo and Witt & Sass, plus the Photo Collage Pop-Up die from Karen Burniston, I created this card.  The castle on the front is a digital stamp from Kindred Stamps.

To show how the collage works, I have a short little video.

For some more interactive fun, stop over at the CCEE Stampers blog.

Gnomes and Paper Tole

I just received my first Riley & Company Mushroom Lane stamp and its accompanying die set.  I bought this so I could do some paper tole, which is always a lot of fun.  I decided that the front of the card shouldn't be too "busy," or it would take away from the inside.  So on the front I used the new Karen Burniston Tile Pattern Plate and a small little scene with a couple of the Mini Gnomes, also from Riley & Company.

I wanted the mushroom cottage to pop up, so I cut the pop-up mechanism from the Karen Burniston Tree Pop-Up twice in the grass section of the inside.  The navy blue and patterned papers on the inside are very light-weight because I didn't want much bulk.  After cutting the clouds across the top, I sponged on some white pigment ink and sprinkled detail white embossing powder over the ink.   I brushed some of the powder off to give it a lighter, sparing look.  Then I heat embossed it.

The die set has four different dies, allowing you to make several layers in your paper tole project.  As I didn't want the inside of my card to be too bulky, I have only two layers on the house.  I stamped the image twice, fussy cutting the entire image and then die-cutting the top mushroom.  I used small foam dots to attach the smaller piece to the larger mushroom.

I did add two foam dots to the gnome so that he would stand out from the mushroom.  You can see that the door and windows also are layered.

I didn't have any sentiments that would work for the inside of my card, so I created one on my computer.  I love dafont.com for unusual fonts.  I downloaded one called Alien Mushroom, which I thought would work well for the sentiment.  I printed it on white paper and mounted it in a similar manner as the little scene on the front -- with the Karen Burniston Crosshatch dies, matted in navy.

I hope to do a full-blown paper tole card with this cute Mushroom Lane house sometime in the future; but in the meantime, I got my fix on this cute little card.

CCEE2016 - Stencils

Frances continues as hostess for the CCEE Stampers this week.  She reminded us that there are so many fun stencils out there these days to help decorate our cards.  She asked us to create a card that uses at least one stencil, either for a background or a focal image.

I don't have a whole lot of stencils, but one that I really like is this fun bubble one from Kindred Stamps.  It makes a great background for these cute Hero Arts goldfish.

Be sure to check out the CCEE Stampers blog to see some more stenciling.

CCEE2015 - Unicorn Day

According to our CCEE Stampers hostess Frances, today is Unicorn Day; and she asked us to feature unicorns on our cards this week.

This was a fun one.  I had just bought some cool unicorn paper at Hobby Lobby, and it was perfect for this challenge.  On the front of my card is a Karen Burniston animal die cut . . .

. . . and the inside is a sneak peek at one of the new Karen Burniston dies -- the Paper Frames.  The stamps are from Mama Elephant.

The new dies were supposed to be released back in March; but because of the virus pandemic, shipment was delayed.  They are finally available for pre-order and will begin shipping next week.

Check out the CCEE Stampers blog for some more unicorn fun!

Karen Burniston Designer Challenge - Tree

It's time again for the Karen Burniston Designer Challenge.  This month's theme is "TREE."    As Easter is right around the corner, I chose to make an Easter card -- using the Woven Basket as well as the Tree Pop-Up.  Before I added the leaves to the tree, I sponged them with a darker green distress ink while they were still in the die.  It gives some definition to each leaf this way.   Once the leaves were glued to the tree, I mounted the entire tree onto a piece of heavyweight acetate to make sure it would stand tall and not tip over.  The acetate is long enough that it goes to the bottom of the basket.

I filled the basket with some Spring Animals as well as tulips from the Garden Charms.  The sentiment on the front is from the Easter Charms.  I mounted it on a Crosshatch Oval die cut.

One feature of the Woven Basket that I really like is that, even though it's a 3-dimensional card, it folds flat for mailing.

This die is one of my favorite Karen Burniston dies.  I hope you like it as well.

Karen Burniston New Release Blog Hop

After a much-too-long delay, the new Karen Burniston dies are ready for pre-order, and the Design Team has been chomping at the bit to be able to show them to you.  The card I have to show you today features two of the new dies -- the Paper Frames Pop-Up and the Cruise Charms.

             

I found a nautical scrapbook kit at Hobby Lobby on clearance a few weeks ago and decided the papers would be perfect on a card using these dies.  I used one of the smaller prints for my background and cut out the sentiment with some circle dies, adding the gold anchor from the Cruise Charms in the center.  The trim at the top and bottom are from one of the Border Blends across the top and bottom.

The inside is where the interest comes in.  Aren't those great frames for the other Cruise Charms?  The little banners strung across the top are also included in the Paper Frames Pop-Up die set.  The panel on the right is where a personal message could be written.

I had made a card for my sister using both of these die sets when I first received them.  She had been planning a cruise with several of her friends; but, unfortunately because of the current health situation, they had to cancel.  She did enjoy the card though.  The ocean paper was also part of that nautical scrapbook kit.

There are eight new dies in this release -- two pop-up dies, three background dies, and three charms/sentiment dies.  

Something you might find helpful when deciding which dies your NEED, here's a link to Karen Burniston's newest catalog.

To celebrate this 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 the 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, April 13, 2020.  Lots of chances to win some goodies, so just leave a comment on this post and/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.  

Here are the links to all the blog hop participants:

Karen Burniston

Frances Byrne 

Karen Aicken

Lois Bak  (you are here)

Fran Sabad

Kelly Booth
Sandy Diller

CCEE2014 Garden Month

Frances starts off her month as hostess for the CCEE Stampers with this message:  According to the Days of the Year web site, April is Garden Month.  So for our challenge this week, be inspired by a Garden -- flowers, plants, trees, insects, garden shed, etc.  Anything that you might find in a garden is good for this challenge.

Here is my card:

I love the background paper with its rustic wood and pretty flowers.    I added a few more flowers,  yellow -- for a splash of bright color.  On the inside is a fun pop-up of garden tools and plants.

Be sure to check out the CCEE Stampers blog for some more garden delights.

Scor-Pal "More Than One Score" - Florals

April's theme for the Scor-Pal "More Than One Score" challenge is Florals.  I'm the first one to admit that I do not have a green thumb.  I do, however, have one flowering bush in my back yard -- a hibiscus, which I planted almost 20 years ago.  With not much help from me, this bush continues to bloom every year.  I wanted to show some gratitude for its resilience by using it as the starting point for this month's challenge project.

My card for this month was inspired by a card by Laura Williams, which I saw on Facebook.  It initially looks like an envelope; but, when you open it up, it IS actually a card!

When you remove the belly band, you can see how it looks very much like an envelope.

But when you open it up, VOILA!  It's a card.

Check out the Scor-Pal blog to see some more floral creations from our design team.  If you'd like to play along with us, be sure to post your project at the end of the post; and you might win a $25 gift certificate!