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."

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 5

Included in the Karen Burniston new release are three add-on sets, one of which is the Christmas Tree Add-on.  It has new pieces for the tree itself plus ornaments and a tree skirt.

One of the samples I had made for the previous release was an explosion box for the Pirate Ship.  I enjoyed making it so much that I decided to make one for this release as well.

When you remove the lid, it reveals the Christmas tree inside.  One of the panels includes a Mini Gift Bag, in which can be placed a gift card.  On the opposite panel is one of the sentiments from the new stamp set, Season of Cheer.

Here's a short video.

Thanks for stopping by today.  Don't forget about the new release blog hop on Monday.  You could win a $25 gift certificate to Karen Burniston's website.

Karen Burniston Designer Challenge - Snowman

The theme of the Karen Burniston Designer Challenge this month is "Snowman."  I've lived in Florida for over 50 years and haven't made a real snowman in many, many years.  But Karen has several die sets that give me an opportunity to make a paper snowman at least.  I pulled out several previously released dies for my card -- the Snowman Pop-Up being the main one, along with the Christmas Tree Pop-Up.  That said, the snowman on the front was actually made with circle dies approximately the same size as the Snowman Pop-Up.  I used the smallest plain circle from Crosshatch Circles for the head and one of the dies from the Circle Tag Book for the body.  I did bring in smaller dies from the Snowman Pop-Up for the rest of him -- his hat, features, scarf, and arms.  The tree is the one of the larger tree dies from the Christmas Tree Pop-Up.

To accommodate both the snowman and the tree, my card is 5" x 8".  Because of where the tree needed to be placed, I balanced out the layout with the snowflake die from Long Nature's Edges 2.  There was not enough room for the arms or boots that come with that die set.

It's hard to see in the photos, but both of those white rectangles are embossed with snowflakes.  I used the Crosshatch Rectangles for the small panel on which you can write your name. 

Be sure to check out the cards made by the rest of the Karen Burniston Design Team for this challenge.  

Karen Burniston Blog Hop - New Release

Welcome to our Karen Burniston Products - KB Riley LLC August Release Blog Hop. The Design Team have come together with Karen today for a fun blog hop to celebrate the release of 14 new dies. Sneak peeks of the new release started last week, and the dies are available to order NOW!

This release includes:

4 new Add-Ons Die Sets - Character Add-ons 1; Character Add-ons 2; Gingerbread Tiny House Add-ons; Haunted Tiny House Add-ons
4 new Pop-up Die Sets - Garden Bench Pop-up; Iron Fence Pop-up; Snowman Pop-up; Street Lantern Pop-up
4 new sentiment sets - Hello; Happy Halloween; Word Set 13 - Snow; Merry Christmas Shadow
1 new Stand Alone Die Set - Tiny Gnomes
1 new Slimline Die Set - Long Nature Edges 2

Dies are available to order now on the website.

GIVEAWAY:
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, August 16th 2021. 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!

My gatefold slimline card uses several of the new dies -- the Iron Fence Pop-Up, the Street Lantern Pop-Up, Tiny Gnomes, and the Long Nature's Edges 2, as well as several previously-released ones -- Christmas Tree Pop-Up, Border Blends/Party, and Word Set 3/Holiday.  The street lantern is a pop-up die, but I used it flat.  I wanted to give the impression of frosted glass in the lantern, so I cut a second glass piece from vellum, glued it to the back of the black lantern and then glued the white piece with the flame behind the vellum.  I added some small red flat-backed pearls to the wreath.

The inside of my card expands the fence to the full 9", breaking up in the center for the Christmas tree and carolers, made from the Tiny Gnomes.  Check out Karen Burniston's instructional video to see how to make a caroler from the Tiny Gnomes set.  I added a wreath to each section of the fence, gluing it only in the center for the ones on the pop-out sections of fence.  I used a silver marker to camouflage the white slider panel behind the fence.

I had also made a similar A2-sized card using many of these same dies, adding a few cardinals and lantern swags.

Check out the blogs from the entire team and be sure to comment on each one to increase your chances of winning a $25 gift certificate.  Make sure you leave contact info on your comment so that we can get in touch with you should you be a winner.

Karen Burniston

Frances Byrne

Lois Bak (that's me)

Karen Aiken

Sandy Diller

Fran Sabad

Kelly Booth