Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Everybody's Irish on St. Patrick's Day!  (I do have Irish ancestors.)  I made this card for a good friend who happens to be Polish; but today she's Irish, and she loves gnomes!

The base of this card is the Karen Burniston Circle Tag Book, a very generic die set that can be used for anything you'd like.  I had found some cute St. Patrick's Day patterned paper with lots of gnomes on it at Hobby Lobby some time ago and finally found a use for it.  I picked out four of the gnomes, fussy cut them out, and glued them to the circles.  I added a small oval that I found in the Popcorn die set and stamped a little shamrock on it.  I can sign the card there.

I wish you the Luck of the Irish today and every day.

Karen Burniston New Release Day 3 - Cupcake Add-on

The second add-on set for the Landscape Rectangle Accordion is the Cupcake Add-on.  

As with the Fence Add-on from yesterday, this card has two panels with the add-on feature and one original panel.  There is a die included in this set that makes the cute little sprinkles on those center cupcakes.

Another way to use this add-on set is inside one of the Tag Book sets.  In this card, I used it with the Circle Tag Book Pop-Up.

On the inisde I used the new Baking Charms on the circles.

Another versatile die set.

Don't forget our Blog Hop on Friday, June 23rd.  You get multiple chances to win a $25 gift certificate by commenting on each of the design team members' blogs.

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.  

CCEE2226 - Dotsy's Birthday

I'm starting my month as hostess for the CCEE Stampers with a personal challenge.  Tomorrow is my sister Dotsy's birthday.  She is an avid card maker and scrapbooker, and she also helps with wedding floral arrangements with her friend.  In her honor, I asked the team to make either a birthday card or a wedding card.  

I chose a birthday card.  July actually has two birth flowers -- larkspur and water lily.  I don't have any larkspur stamps, but I have a couple water lily ones.  This one is from an old MFP Stamp Shop stamp.  The frog on the front and the card base are from Karen Burniston (Bayou Animals and Circle Tag Book), as is the "Happy Birthday" sentiment.

I used the water lily from Bayou Animals on the inside panels.

Be sure to check out the CCEE Stampers blog to see how the rest of the team treated my sister's birthday.

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!

CCEE2129 -- National Hot Dot Day

Continuing with my CCEE challenges, I informed the team that yesterday (7/21) was National Hot Dog Day.  I asked them to include this national treasure on their cards; or, if they didn't have a hot dog image, they could use any kind of fast food item.

Fortunately, Karen Burniston has a set of charms which includes a hot dog; so I used it and the rest of the Fast Food Charms on my card.

Be sure to check out the rest of the team's creations over on the CCEE Stampers blog.

Karen Burniston Designer Challenge -- Tag Books

The Karen Burniston Designer Challenge for July is to use one of the KB Tag Books -- either as the card itself or as an element inside a standard-size card.  I went the second route, using the Circle Tag Book inside my A2 card.  

The front of my card lets you know that July is National Picnic Month.  Using the Alphabet set, I spelled out JULY.  Then I added a picnic blanket and some other picnic elements. "National Picnic Month" was done with a label maker.

After cutting the grass panels using one of the dies in the Nature's Edges set, I glued in the Circle Tag Book and added some more picnic items -- a watermelon slice, some fruit, a cupcake and a pie from various KB die sets.

I hope you like my tribute to National Picnic Month.

Karen Burniston Designer Challenge -- Yummy!

 The theme of this month's Karen Burniston Designer Challenge is "YUMMY!"  We were to make a card that incorporates "yummy," using dies such as the Ice Cream Sundae, Sweet Treat Charms, Cake Pop-Up, Cupcake Pop-Up, etc.  I made a birthday card using the Cupcake Pop-Up (without the pop-up).    The "sweet" is part of the Home Sweet Home die set.

                            

The inside of the card is made with the Circle Tag Book Pop-Up and the Sweet Treat Charms.  And don't you just love that yummy patterned paper?  I've had it in my stash for many years and decided that this challenge was the perfect time finally to cut into it!

Here is a short video showing off the "pop-up" mechanism of my card.

Thanks for visiting my blog.  I hope you liked my yummy creation.

St. Patrick's Day

 Next week is St. Patrick's Day, and my Irish ancestors would be disappointed if I hadn't made a fun card to celebrate.  Karen Burniston has several accordion-type die sets, and one of my favorites is the Circle Tag Book Pop-Up.  I used it for my card today, but it's inside a standard A2 size card rather than a tag.  Almost all of the fun images on my card are stickers I found at Hobby Lobby.  I love this patterned paper from Creek Bank Creations -- both on the front and on the inside.

I attached the Circle Tag Book Pop-Up element on the inside of my card.  

I cut holes in the two center circles so that you can see the stickers mounted behind the "accordion."

I added a few "puffy" shamrocks in there as well.

Happy New Year!!!

 It's time to say goodbye to 2020 -- and I'm sure we all are anxious to do that.  Here's hoping 2021 will bring the Covid virus under control so we can all get back to normal. 

I have a New Year's card for you today -- made with the Karen Burniston Circle Tag Book dies and the Wine Charms.  I cut the outside panels three times (twice in the blue and once in white).  After stamping the fireworks on the white panel in several different colors, I glued it to one of the blue panels before assembling the outside of my card.

I added the "Cheers" die cut, and the stamped champagne glasses to the front, along with the small circle and flower around the hole.

I cut the two inside panels using a heavy patterned paper in a coordinating color and, following Karen's video instructions (which I watch almost every time I make a pop-up card) I constructed the inside of my card.

I cut the wine charms and added them to the layered circles.  The "Happy New Year" was created on my label maker.  I constructed the circles prior to adding them to the card.  I find it easier to do it that way.  Then I added the rest of the small pieces and tied the ribbons on the ends.

Here's wishing you a Happy and Healthy New Year!  Thanks for stopping by my blog and hope you will continue to do so in the future.

Designer Challenge for May -- TREASURE

It's time again for the Karen Burniston Designer Challenge -- and this month the design team was able to play with some new dies.  The theme of this month's challenge is TREASURE, and there are two sets which are perfect for this theme -- Treasure Chest and Treasure Charms.  I used both of these sets for my card, along with the Circle Tag Book Pop-Up.  As you can see, the Treasure Chest set includes a lock to ensure that your treasure will be safe.  I cut the lock from both silver paper and stiff acetate.  The acetate was to keep the piece from tearing when locking and unlocking the treasure chest.

When you open the chest, you can see all the treasure inside -- gold coins, gemstones, a string of pearls, and even a ruby-encrusted gold crown.

On the inside of the card are many of the treasure charms included in that set -- a tiara, a trophy, an emerald ring, and a ruby pendant.

I couldn't have a treasure chest without a pirate, now could I?   If you look closely at both sides, you might be able to see Changito the Pirate wielding his sword and holding his parrot.  I haven't used those Stampendous images in a long time, and it was time to bring them out again.

This was such a fun project for the challenge.  Thanks for stopping by to look.

Karen Burniston Designer Challenge - Beach Day

It's time for the Karen Burniston Designer Challenge once again -- this month it's all about the beach.   That's a great place to be when you live in Florida!  I pulled out the Circle Tag Book and some fun fishy stamps for this one.

Using several different pieces of patterned paper, I created this little beach scene -- stamping some sea gulls above the palm trees from the Tropical Scene set.

But inside is where the fun part lies.

I love those sweet little stamped fish, framed in the twisted frames from the Circle Tag Book, as well as a few small seashells from the Tropical Scene.  Here's a closer look at them.

Somewhere my brain stopped working, and I didn't remember that I had done this card; so I made a second card, which I will also share today -- this one using the Palm Tree Pop-Up, the Rockin' Rectangle, Tropical Scene, and Sea Animals.

Thanks for stopping by today.  Hope you can plan a trip to the beach sometime soon!

CCEE1906 Amethyst for February

Maryann is the CCEE Stampers hostess for the month of February.  She reminded us that the birthstone for February is the amethyst and asked us to make a card using a shade of purple and include gem stones or charms.   Purple is one of my favorite colors (along with orange), so this challenge was a delight!  I pulled out a new Karen Burniston die -- the Circle Tag Book Pop-Up -- and made an Easter card.

I added some gem stones to the front, and on the inside I used some of the new Karen Burniston Easter charms -- the chocolate bunny and the Easter eggs.

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