Karen Burniston Designer Challenge -- Song Lyrics

The theme of this month's Karen Burniston Designer Challenge is "song lyrics."   That's pretty wide open.  I decided that a song sung in December more than likely would be Christmas-related.  For this reason, I chose the Bing Crosby classic White Christmas.

I've been following along with Karen and her on-line classes for a while.  October's class was two Halloween cards, but I liked them so much that I decided to use the instructions for one of them to make a Christmas card and use it for this month's Designer Challenge.

The second verse of White Christmas goes like this:

            I'm dreaming of a white Christmas

            With every Christmas card I write.

            May your days be merry and bright,

            And may all your Christmases be white.

The front of my card actually contains part of the lyrics.  All the papers I used are from a 12 x 12 paper pad that I found in Michaels on sale.  They really worked well for this card.

And the inside carries through with the theme.  The main die set used on this card is the Charm Accordion, as well as the Christmas Tree Pop-up.

The original card had two skeletons on the inside.  This one has a penguin and a polar bear, made using the Winter Animals set.   It was really fun transforming Karen's Halloween card into a Christmas one.

After I decided on this card for this month's Designer Challenge, two things happened:  1) The new release with that awesome Pine Cone die set; and 2) A gorgeous 12 x 12 Christmas patterned paper pad I found at Hobby Lobby.  I was compelled to make a second card with the "song lyrics" theme.  You can see pieces from the Pine Cone die set and the Pattern Plate - Holly within the Postage Pop-up on the front.

The inside really shows off that pretty paper.  More of the Pine Cone and Holly die cuts are there as well.

Here's a close-up of the "song lyrics" of the Osmonds' version of It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas.  The first line of the second verse is "Pne cones and holly berries."

Happy Thanksgiving

I recently followed along with Karen Burniston for her October Virtual Class.  We made two Halloween cards using the Charm Accordion die and some really cool Halloween paper from Graphic 45.  This is one of the cards we made.

 

It was such a fun class that I decided to make a second card using the instructions -- only this time I made a Thanksgiving card.   It gave me the opportunity to use some of the fall papers that have been in my stash forever.  On the last page is the cute turkey from the Feathered Animals set.   The acorn in the charm frame is from Autumn Elements.

The back of the card is just as colorful.

There is also a charm on this side which was made with parts from the Baking Borders.   It was easy to make charms out of "non-charm" pieces by using the  dies in the Charm Rings set.  I used the smallest rings.

If you haven't followed along with Karen in one of her on-line classes, you should give it a try sometime.

Birthday Cupcakes

I haven't used the Charm Accordion die set from Karen Burniston for quite a while and figured it was time to bring it out again.  Karen has several new "add-on" dies in her latest release, one of which was the Cupcake Add-on.  These were made specifically to use with the Landscape Rectangle Accordion, but her dies are so clever that you can use them with others as well.

In this case, I actually cut the background piece apart and mounted the cupcakes on the individual pieces.  Also in the latest release were those cute Baking Charms which appear on the small panels at the top.

The Charm Accordion die actually cuts a card 3 1/4" x 4 1/4" when closed.  But, if you use the narrow Sizzix Strip Cutting Plate, it's possible just to cut the square holes without cutting off the bottom of the card base.

I cut two of these and hinged them together to get my 4-panel card.  I added the Baking Charms to the square panels and the charm holders and charms from the set between the panels, hanging them with metal jump rings.

Sometimes it's fun to use a die set in a completely different way.  Little hint:  next month I will have another card using another die set in a way not originally designed.  I hope you'll stop by and see what I did on that card.

Designer Challenge -- ICYMI (In Case You Missed It)

For this month's Karen Burniston Designer Challenge we are revisiting a previous challenge -- any one of them!  In case you missed it, my card for the November 2019 challenge (Holiday Accordions) was celebrating Christmas.  For my new card, I am celebrating St. Patrick's Day and honoring my Irish ancestors.    Last year I did an Ancestry.com DNA test to see if there was something in my ancestry that I didn't know about.  Guess what!  There were NO surprises -- 42% Ireland/Scotland, 50% England/Wales, 8% other.  Anyway, here's my challenge card, using the Charm Accordion die and some fun Irish-related stamps.

Like my original card, I put a full panel on the front with the accordion following.

I have accumulated quite a few $1 stamps from Michaels; and, aside from the fun leprechaun on the front, all the stamps I used on my card are very inexpensive ones -- which shows that you don't have to spend a ton of money while still have fun creating.

There were no Irish-related charms in this die set, so I chose the stars to hang between the panels.  A closer look at the accordion shows them off.

My original Christmas card for November's "Holiday Accordion" Designer Challenge used a gingerbread man and the Karen Burniston Alphabet dies.  The only Irish word I knew that I could possible spell out on my new card was Eire (the Gaelic word for "Ireland"), so that's why I went in a new direction.  Another change I made was to have the charm panels line up rather than stagger them.

It's always fun to take an old idea and update it.  I hope you try it with one of your cards.  Check out how the rest of the Design Team handled this fun challenge by visiting the Karen Burniston Pop-Up Peeps page on Facebook and visit their blogs if you have the time.

Karen Burniston Designer Challenge -- Holiday Accordions

It's time again for the Karen Burniston Designer Challenge.  This month's theme is Holiday Accordions.  I have used the Fancy Label Accordion die many, many times; so I decided that I should use the Charm Accordion die for this month's challenge.

Who doesn't love a gingerbread man at Christmas time?  Not me, that's for sure.  And red and green Christmas plaid is always a classic.

Using the stitched letters, I spelled out NOEL on the accordion portion of my card, placing several charms in the small frames joining the letters together.

Here's a close-up of the first two letters so that you can see the small charms.

The little Christmas tree on the back charm frame is mostly hidden, but you can see it peeking through.  This was a fun card to make.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today.  Be sure to check out the blogs of the rest of the Design Team as well.