Karen Burniston New Release Sneak Peeks -- Day 3

When I saw the new dies in the new Karen Burniston release, I fell in love with the Pine Cone set. 

I realize it's not a pop-up, which is Karen's forte; but I think it's my favorite from this release.  I recently was introduced to a new-to-me fun fold card called a Split Easel Card.  I've become obsessed with it and have made many cards using this technique.  I thought it lent itself very well to the Pine Cone set.  The ones I have seen have all been A2-sized cards (4 1/4" x 5 1/2").  This one, however, is a 5" x 7" card.  I also used one of the new stamps from the new Quiet Forest stamp set on the base.

You can see the "easel" in the photo below -- and it folds flat for mailing.

As I said before, I just love this set; so much so that I have made quite a few cards with it.  Here's another one -- this time using the Arch Pop-up.

Be sure to check out the Blog Hop next Monday.  You could win one of many $25 gift certificates to the Karen Burniston website merely by commenting on one or more of the design team members' blogs.

Karen Burniston Designer Challenge -- Naughty or Nice

This month's Karen Burniston Designer Challenge is titled "Naughty or Nice?"  We were to make a Christmas card incorporating a stocking.  I decided to use the Fireplace Pop-Up and Fireplace Extras 1, which includes stockings.

About 10 years ago I saw a card by Grace Nywening which she called a Center Easel Card.  I thought it was such a clever take on the easel card that I printed out her blog post so I would have the instructions.  This month's challenge was perfect for this type of card.  The Fireplace Pop-Up fit perfectly in the easel section . . .

. . . and the "Merry Christmas" was the perfect "bumper" to hold the card open.

I'm so glad I hung onto those instructions.

I have a bonus Designer Challenge card for you, one which uses one of the new dies -- the Raising Platform Pop-Up.  The stocking part of the challenge is on the front of the card -- along with various other Karen Burniston dies.  By the way, do you see that embossing on the front?  That was made with the Pattern Plate - Holly die, run through my Cuttlebug with the rubber embossing mat.  (Yes, I still use my Cuttlebug for embossing.)

The sneak peek part of this card is on the inside.  The Raising Platform pops up to wish you a Merry Christmas.

As I already had the Pattern Plate - Holly die out on my table, I decided to cut some greenery to decorate the inside.  I used one of the Christmas Borders for some more stockings.

I hope you like my cards.

Scor-Pal "More Than One Score"

I recently participated in an on-line card class, and one of the cards we made was a split easel card.  I thought I would make another one for our May "More than One Score" challenge.  A split easel card is basically the same as a regular easel card, except that the "easel" does not go all the way across the base.

 Check out the Scor-Pal blog for some more "more than one score" inspiration.

Scor-Pal "More Than One Score" Challenge

It's time for the Scor-Pal "More than One Score" challenge again.  As Easter is this month, I thought an Easter card would be appropriate.    I haven't made an easel card in quite a while, so I thought that would be fun.   In addition to the two scores required for the card base, I also scored the crease lines on the ribbon.  

The bow and the Easter eggs are from Cottage Cutz, and the border die across the top is from Karen Burniston . . . 

. . . as is the Happy Easter sentiment inside.

C4C557 Sketch Challenge - Circle Card

This week's Crazy4Challenges challenge is a sketch challenge/a circle card.

A good technique for this sketch is a Circle Easel Card.  My card was made using several Karen Burniston dies (Crosshatch Circles and Triple Flip).

Check out the Crazy4Challenges blog to see how the rest of the team handled this sketch.

CCEE2012 - Wedding/Anniversary/Celebration

Maryann continues as hostess for the CCEE Stampers this week.  Our challenge for today is to create a Wedding, Anniversary or Celebration card in white and black plus one other color.

I chose a wedding card and made it a round easel.  My "one other color" is the flesh color of the bride and groom.  I don't have any weddings coming up on my calendar, but I'll be ready when I need one!

Check out the CCEE Stampers blog to see what kind of cards my fellow team members chose to make.

CCEE1941 World Rainforest Week

Kelli continues this week as hostess for the CCEE Stampers.    She tells us that this is World Rainforest Week (October 10-16).  Her challenge:  create a card showing the rainforest or any animal you'd find in a rainforest (and/or trees, rivers, rainforest animals, etc.).

One of the trendy images right now is the sloth -- definitely a rainforest inhabitant.

Stop over at the CCEE Stampers blog to see what else from the rainforest we have today.

Scor-Pal Pinspired Calendar

Each month one of the members of the Scor-Pal design team looks back at Scor-Pal's Pinterest page and recreates a project, using their own design.  This month is my turn.  As I looked through the Pinterest page, I came across this fun project -- an Easel Calendar card, made by Virginia Nebel.

Many of my friends are avid Harry Potter fans (as am I), and I thought it might be fun to recreate Virginia's project with a Harry Potter-inspired one.

To start my card I scored an 11" x 8 1/2"  piece of red 110-pound cardstock at 5 1/2" and 8 1/4".

I then Z-folded at the score lines.

After adding strips of Scor-Tape to the last panel . . .

. . . I adhered a 5 1/2" x 8 1/2" panel to the front.

I cut a yellow mat panel 5 1/4" x 8 1/4" and some Harry Potter-themed pattern paper slightly smaller . . .

. . . and adhered them to the card base.

Using images from Kindred Stamps' Students of Magic stamp set and patterned paper, I created a little scene -- adding a small calendar to a black banner.  The "Platform 9 3/4" was stamped with some Just Rite letters and numbers, and the sentiment was computer-generated.

I then adhered this completed scene to the easel front and added the owl "bumper," which holds the easel open.  I used large foam pop-dots to adhere the "bumper."

Here is a side view of the easel.

It's always fun to find a project you like and make it your own by changing the theme or the colors or the images.

New Kindred Stamps Release - Forest Elves

I was so excited when I saw this new Kindred Stamps set -- Forest Elves, which is a companion set to one I already own -- Size Doesn't Matter.  It's a relatively small set (4" x 4"), but has three wonderful characters and several clever sentiments.  As a HUGE fan of these characters, I had a grand time creating.  In fact, I was creating in my mind before I even had the stamps in my hand!

My first card centers around the beautiful, ageless royal elf.  I used two different stencils on this card.  The gold stars on the navy background was done by using some gold embossing paste; the sunburst on the card base was achieved with sponging some Ranger Fossilized Amber distress ink.  Because I didn't want to run the navy cardstock through my die-cutting machine for fear of smashing the gold stars, I instead cut the circle from the card base and mounted the entire navy panel on the inside.  I then just cut the gold circle and glued it onto the front.

The royal elf is popped up on foam squares.  After I colored her with Copic markers, I added some clear Wink of Stella to her clothing.  Hopefully, you can see the shimmer.

My second card is an easel card -- with a little bit of a twist.  To go along with the sentiment "you have my bow and my heart," I made the easel from a heart.  I sponged the background trees using Ranger Mowed Lawn distress ink and the Kindred Stamps Forest Stencil, adding some grass patterned paper at the bottom.  I colored the two forest elves with Copic markers, cut them out, and placed them strategically on the heart.    I added a couple of die-cuts to the sentiment panel.

I had so much fun with my third card.  I recently purchased a Lawn Fawn Magic Picture Changer die and thought it would work well with the two forest elves.  When you pull the tab on the right-hand side of the card, the picture inside the frame changes.

I recently bought a camera with video capabilities, and I think I've figured out the process.  You can see how the picture changes in this short video.

The entire Kindred Stamps April release will be available Friday, April 26th at 8am PST/11am EST.  Be sure to subscribe to the Kindred Stamps blog to see a daily line up of sneak peeks from our amazing Design Team and see the full product release on Friday!  Come join the Fan Club and release event to be part of the release fun, and you may just win some Kindred Stamps credit!!

CCEE1915 Drop Everything and Read Day

Lynn chose a subject close to my heart as the CCEE Stampers challenge this week.  She told us that tomorrow is Drop Everything and Read Day.  That could be any day of the week for me.  I love to read!  She asked us to create a design which features a favorite book, favorite book character(s), or has a reading theme.  One of my favorite series of books is all about hobbits, elves, larger-than life characters, and perseverance.  I have read J. R. R. Tolkien's books several times each and have seen the movies which were made from several of them many, many times.  Whenever I have to make a card based on a book theme, I always pull out Spellbinders Label Seven dies.  They are the perfect shape!

Be sure to check out the CCEE Stampers blog to see what books inspired the rest of the team this week.

Boldy Celebrate Your Birthday

It's always fun to be able to share a Kindred Stamps card with you.  I'm such a geek, and their stamps are right up my alley.  Today is no exception.  Today I have an easel card made with The Next Space Explorers set.  Easel card are so easy to make and yet make a great impression.

I had found a great pad of patterned paper called Stargazer in Hobby Lobby several months ago -- with lots of designs that lend themselves to several of the "outer space" sets that Kindred Stamps has released.   After creating the easel, I stamped, colored and cut out the character for the front and popped him up on foam dots.  The "Happy Birthday" sentiment die is from Karen Burniston.  I cut it out five times (four from gray cardstock and one from silver paper) and layered them together so that the sentiment would stand out from the background.  Then added a few sequins for good measure.

I used one of the coordinating stickers for the "bumper" on the inside to make the easel stand up.

Actually, what I did was put the sticker onto a scrap of heavyweight white cardstock and cut it out so that the bumper would be very sturdy.  There's a large foam adhesive pop-dot on the underside of the sticker.  As you can see, the easel stands up very nicely.

HINT:  To conserve on the more expensive silver paper, I cut the sentiment from one of the matting panels.  It was going to be covered up anyway!

Candle Easel Card

It's hard to believe that Thanksgiving is this week -- and with that comes Christmas right around the corner.  I'm still making Christmas cards, and that's what I have for you today -- using one of the dies from the CottageCutz Christmas release as well as a couple of older dies.

As you may know, I love making fun fold cards -- today's is an easel card.

To start my card, I cut all the die pieces from white cardstock.

I lightly sponged the glass candle holder pieces with Ranger Distress Tumbled Glass ink.  The rest of the pieces were colored using Copic markers.  When they were all colored, I assembled my candle holder.

I then cut the cardstock and patterned paper for my card.

Red - 4 1/4" x 8 1/2", 4 1/4" square
Patterned paper - 3 1/2" x 3 1/2"
White - die cut the largest Pierced Wide Square Frame

The large red piece of cardstock was scored at 2 1/8" and 4 1/4".

After folding on the score lines, I placed some Scor-Tape on the first 2 1/8" x 4 1/4" panel.  This is where the square panel will be attached.

I then adhered the patterned paper to the square red panel and attached it to the folded base.

I placed foam tape on the back of the frame and the candle holder . . .

. . . and attached them to the card front.

At this point I decided I wanted to add another element to the card, so I cut some additional pieces from the die, colored and constructed a small sprig of foliage, and attached it to the upper left-hand corner of the frame.

With an easel card, you need something to act as a "bumper" to hold the easel erect.  I often use a sentiment to do that.  I cut "celebrate" five times from red cardstock.

After gluing the die-cut pieces together, I placed the sentiment on the under panel on which I had placed a 4" square of patterned paper.

The word "celebrate" is high enough to hold the card open for display.

CottageCutz used on my card are: