October Karen Burniston Designer Challenge

Karen Burniston just had a special new release of five new sentiment stamps -- just in time for the October Designer Challenge, the theme of which is "Peek-a-Boo."  When she released the Arch Pop-up several months ago, she said she thought it would make a cool monster.  So I took her up on her challenge by making a monster and including a couple of the new stamps from the set Halloween Phrases. The front just has the Happy Halloween w/Shadow set and one of the Border Blends.

But the inside has lots of dies -- the Arch Pop-up for the body of the monster, the pennants from the Graduation Elements, the bats from the Halloween Borders, the eyes from the Mini Ball Pop-up, the Boo from the Halloween Elements, and the rectangles from the Rectangles Crosshatch.  

And you can see that I met the challenge theme by having my monster saying "Boo" when you open the card.  

I was glad to accommodate Karen and her wish for an Arch Pop-up monster!

Hug in a Mug

It's been a while since I've made a clear-front card using the Karen Burniston Rockin' Rectangle die, so I thought I would give it a go.  Have you seen Karen's new sentiment stamps?  One of them is devoted to coffee drinkers.  I'm not a coffee drinker, but lots of people I know couldn't function without that first cup or two in the morning,  The Tea & Coffee Pop-up mug was mounted onto the Rockin' Rectangle, so that it pops out of the card when you open it.

I added the Tea & Coffee Borders on the inside to frame the coffee cup.  And I just love that brown and red plaid paper from Creek Bank Creations.

I've been having lots of fun with the new sentiment stamps.  There are five sets in this new release.

Karen Burniston Designer Challenge - Letter

It's time again for the Karen Burniston Designer Challenge.  This month's theme is "Letter."  We could interpret this any way we wanted -- use a letter in the mail, or maybe just a letter of the alphabet.  I chose the second and made a birthday card/gift for a 3-year old -- some letter blocks.

Using both the Alphabet set and the Mini Alphabet and Numbers set, I made a Slider Box with pop-out blocks, adding a matching birthday card.  Google images provided the small blocks on both the card and the box.

Be sure to check out the "Letter" cards made by the rest of the team, and maybe you'd like to play along with us.  It was fun!

Happy Fall, Y'All

Even though the temperatures are currently in the 90s, autumn is right around the corner.  Because Karen Burniston's new Whirly Wheel die is so much fun, I thought I'd like to make an autumn card using it,  Her Autumn Elements set was the perfect accompaniement.

The matching Whirly Wheel sentiments stamp set has three one-word vertical sentiments that fit perfectly on the strip.  I attached a piece of acetate to the top of the strip and glued on several leaves from Autumn Elements.  The "Happy Fall, Y'All" is from a very old, retired stamp set from MFP Stamps, which is no longer in business, but I use stamps from those sets quite often.  The grass along the bottom was cut using KB set Nature's Edges.  

Here's a little video showing the Whirly Wheel in action.

I recently discovered white acrylic paint pens, which work so much better making accents than white gel pens.  I used an acrylic paint pen to make the arrows on the Whirly Wheel and the accents on the pumpkin, acorns, and picture frame.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today.

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.