Karen Burniston Designer Challenge - First 100 Dies

Happy New Year and welcome to the first Karen Burniston Designer Challenge.  This month's challenge is "The First 100 Dies."  We were to use any of Karen's dies from #1001 through #1100.  It was fun using some of the dies we may have not used for some time.  This is my card.   The dies used on the front of my card are #1030 Happy Birthday and the balloons from #1069 Explosion Pop-up.  I added some accents to the "Happy Birthday" and the heart balloons using a white gel pen.

The inside of my card uses quite a few of those "oldies but goodies:"#1004 Birthday Charms, #1023 Tag Book Pop-up, #1050 Sweet Treat Charms, #1055 Ovals Crosshatch, and #1090 Border Blends - Argyle.

It was fun pulling out some of the dies I haven't used in a while.  Sometimes you get so busy using the newer dies that you forget about some of the previously released ones.  This challenge gave us that opportunity.  I'm glad you stopped by my blog and hope you will remember some of those older dies you haven't used lately.

December Designer Challenge

It's Designer Challenge Day for the Karen Burniston design team.  The theme this month is "Happy New Year."  It's hard to believe that 2024 is almost over.  For my card I created a little Christmas scene on the front . . . 

. . . and a festive Happy New Year fireworks display on the inside.  I decided to use a die that I hadn't used in a while -- the Spinner Square.  

 I was so happy when I saw that the latest release included these really cool fireworks.  I don't know if you can tell, but I used glitter paper on them -- they really sparkle!

Thanks for stopping by today.

Karen Burniston New Release - Day 3

Another new die in this release is the reworked Lorna Label Pop-Up.  I confess that I did not have the original version of this pop-up die, but I am enjoying using the new version.  Also used on this card is one of the new border sets, Baking Borders.

We can always use another birthday card for our stash, so I pulled out the previously released Cupcake Pop-up and went to work.  I had an old cupcake stamp set in my inventory and knew it would work perfectly.  After creating my cupcake, I added some candles from the Birthday Charms to make it a little bit festive.  Pink/brown is one of my favorite color combinations, and it works perfectly for this card.

On the inside the bunny from the Spring Animals set sits on the Lorna Label, holding a single cupcake snipped from one of the Baking Borders.  His chef's hat is from that same border set.

Thanks for stopping by and looking at my new card.  I hope you keep checking back all week.  And don't forget to check out the Blog Hop on Monday.  You'll have lots of chances to win a $25 gift certificate to Karen Burniston's webite.

Christmas Train

Earlier this week as part of the Karen Burniston Designer Challenge, one of the other designers Sue Small-Kreider made an accordion card which I just loved.  She took the Fancy Label Accordion and cut it in a similar manner as what you do to the Landscape Rectangle Accordion when you use one of the new Add-on dies (Fence and/or Cupcake Add-ons).  Her card had Santa's Sleigh and Reindeer going through the accordion.  See her card here.

I thought that was such a cool idea that I decided to try a similar technique, using the Landscape Rectangle Accordion and the Train Pivot Panels.

When you alter the panels to accommodate the Add-ons, you normally leave just a "post" down the center, as seen in this photo.

But, as you can see in the photo below, I left part of the panel to support the train tracks.

I want to congratulate Sue for her creativity and thank her for the wonderful idea.

Final Karen Burniston Sneak Peek

Tomorrow is the day the new Karen Burniston dies are available for purchase.  For my post today I've got two relatively simple cards for you -- no pop-ups -- just two cards made using the new Rectangles and Labels Crosshatch set.   These dies actually make larger cards than the standard A2 size (4 1/4" x 5 1/2").

My first card is a 5 x 7.  I made a layered frame by using the two largest dies in the set, cutting them together.  It is popped up, using foam strips.

Also used on this card are the Santa and Gnomes, Happy Birthday, and Birthday Charms.  The gnomes and gifts are popped up on foam tape.

My second card is a 4 x 6, using the next two layered rectangles, decorated with the flowers and leaves from the Flower Pot Pop-Up set.

In this photo you can see the difference in the sizes.

Tomorrow is the day!  All of the new dies will be available for purchase on the Karen Burniston website then.  Don't forget about our Blog Hop tomorrow.  You will have many chances to win a $25 gift certificate to Karen's website just by commenting on each of the blogs in the hop.

Karen Burniston Designer Challenge - Birthday Cake

 It's time for the first Karen Burniston Designer Challenge for 2022.  The theme for this month's challenge is "Birthday Cake" -- make a birthday card featuring a cake or cupcake.  I chose to feature a cupcake from the Cupcake Pop-Up die on the front of my Circle Tag Book, adding Happy Birthday from Word Set 2 - Birthday.

After cutting the polka-dot paper with the outside tag die, I drew a pencil line along the inside of the die and cut off the edge -- thereby making a "matted" piece.  

I cut four cupcakes from the Birthday Charms set for my circle pop-ups.  I added a splash of black to my card to go along with all the pink by cutting black "stripes" and using black ribbon.

I hope you decide to play along with the design team this month.  You always need a birthday card, and cupcakes make it so much fun!

C4C588 Cupcake Day

The Crazy4Challenges team is celebrating Cupcake Day, which is Monday, June 14th.  I tried my hand at a mini slimline card with the Karen Burniston Tag Book Pop-Up on the inside.  I found an old cupcake-related stamp set in my stash which was perfect for this card.

Check out the Crazy4Challenges blog to see how the rest of the team celebrates this yummy holiday!

CCEE2042 Dictionary Day

For our CCEE Stampers challenge this week, Frances asked us to create a card that includes words  -- maybe a scripty word background either stamped or using patterned papers, large focal sentiment, speech bubbles with words inside, etc.

I created my background using Word and repeating the sentiment to cover the entire card.  I then added a large word die-cut and cupcake from Karen Burniston to complete it.

Check out the CCEE Stampers blog to see how the rest of the team handled this interesting challenge.

CCEE1949 -- Big, Bold Christmas Statement

Lynn is the hostess for the CCEE Stampers for our two challenges in December.  This week she challenged us to create a holday card where a BIG and BOLD sentiment is the star on the front.  Karen Burniston has a wonderful big, bold Christmas sentiment, which I used on the front of my card.

I did, however, add lots more to the inside -- using the new Karen Burniston Parcel Pop-Up die, as well as a stamped Santa, a gingerbread man, and some Christmas packages.

Check out the CCEE Stampers blog for some more big and bold Christmas sentiments.