Karen Burniston Designer Challenge -- For the Birds

It's time again for the Karen Burniston Designer Challenge.  This month's theme is "For the Birds."  Even though the new release has a bird -- the Peacock Add-on, I went in a totally different direction and used the birds from an older set, Outdoor Scene.

I did not ignore the new release, however; the base die for my card is the new Stage Pop-up along with the Sea Stage Add-ons.  

Like a parent, I'm sure that, as a DT member, I'm not supposed to have a favorite; but I must admit that the Stage Pop-up is definitely my favorite of this release.  It was the first one I used as soon as we received our dies, and I have made quite a few stage cards since then.  This is my "For the Birds" card:

Karen Burniston has an excellent video on construction of this stage.  Be sure to check it out.  In addition to the two new die sets, I also used the Palm Tree Pop-up and a sentiment from the Cruise Greetings clear stamp set.  My sea gulls are flying high, attached with acetate strips.

This was such a fun release -- make sure you check out the rest of the cards made by the team.  I'm sure you'll find at least one with the new Peacock Add-ons to the Arch Pop-up.

 

CCEE2111 - International Day of Forests

 Frances continues as hostess for the CCEE Stampers challenges.  She told us that March 21st is International Day of Forests.  For our challenge this week, we were to include a tree or trees on your cards.  I made a slimline card, using several of Karen Burniston's slimline dies, one of which (the Long Nature's Edges) contains several trees.

Be sure to check out the CCEE Stampers blog for more trees.

Gnomes and Paper Tole

I just received my first Riley & Company Mushroom Lane stamp and its accompanying die set.  I bought this so I could do some paper tole, which is always a lot of fun.  I decided that the front of the card shouldn't be too "busy," or it would take away from the inside.  So on the front I used the new Karen Burniston Tile Pattern Plate and a small little scene with a couple of the Mini Gnomes, also from Riley & Company.

I wanted the mushroom cottage to pop up, so I cut the pop-up mechanism from the Karen Burniston Tree Pop-Up twice in the grass section of the inside.  The navy blue and patterned papers on the inside are very light-weight because I didn't want much bulk.  After cutting the clouds across the top, I sponged on some white pigment ink and sprinkled detail white embossing powder over the ink.   I brushed some of the powder off to give it a lighter, sparing look.  Then I heat embossed it.

The die set has four different dies, allowing you to make several layers in your paper tole project.  As I didn't want the inside of my card to be too bulky, I have only two layers on the house.  I stamped the image twice, fussy cutting the entire image and then die-cutting the top mushroom.  I used small foam dots to attach the smaller piece to the larger mushroom.

I did add two foam dots to the gnome so that he would stand out from the mushroom.  You can see that the door and windows also are layered.

I didn't have any sentiments that would work for the inside of my card, so I created one on my computer.  I love dafont.com for unusual fonts.  I downloaded one called Alien Mushroom, which I thought would work well for the sentiment.  I printed it on white paper and mounted it in a similar manner as the little scene on the front -- with the Karen Burniston Crosshatch dies, matted in navy.

I hope to do a full-blown paper tole card with this cute Mushroom Lane house sometime in the future; but in the meantime, I got my fix on this cute little card.

Karen Burniston and Pear Blossom Press Collaboration Blog Hop

Thank you so much for hopping along with us on the Karen Burniston and Pear Blossom Press Collaboration Hop! Be sure to comment along the way to be entered to win one of two great prizes: Snowman Twist Circle Die Set with a 5-pack of EZ-Lights, or 
Cake Pop-Up Die Set with a 5-pack of EZ-Lights!  

I was so excited when I heard that the Karen Burniston design team would be collaborating with the Pear Blossom Press design team on this blog hop.  I have become somewhat addicted to those EZ Lights that Pear Blossom Press has just released.  And they work so well with the Karen Burniston Pop-Up dies.  You can just feed the wires up through the pop-up mechanisms on your card to create some pretty cool effects.

I have made a bunch of cards using them, two of which I am showing in today's hop.  The first one uses the House Pivot Panels die, along with the Twist Panel die.  The front of the card is pretty simple -- just the snowdrift and deer from the Outdoor Scene die set, along with Crosshatch Ovals and a sentiment from Word Set 3 - Holiday.

When you open the card, that's where all the action takes place.

In addition to the houses, I added some trees from the Evergreen Pivot Panels and another greeting.  Do you see that sign down at the bottom that says, "Push Here"?  When you push it, magic happens.

I made a short video showing my card in action.

My second card is also a Christmas card.  I started by using the Karen Burniston Christmas Pop Stand, but I couldn't get it to cooperate.  So I salvaged the light-wired trees and used the pop-out mechanism from the Tree Pop-Up.  This worked much better.

This video shows the trees lighting up.

Now don’t worry if you aren’t drawn as one of the winners; we’ve got a special gift for everyone! Just enter the code POPANDLIGHT for 15% off your purchase at karenburniston.com or pearblossompress.com. One code works for both shops! (Coupon code valid until November 2, 2019.)

Karen Burniston

Pear Blossom Press

Karen Aicken

Niccole Kulig

Frances Byrne

Jessica Shier

Lois Bak  (that's me)

Lynnea Hollendonner

Fran Sabad

Jenn Paar Gross

Sandy Diller

Jess Francisco

Kelly Booth

Lisa Golzbein

Summer Hills-Painter

Prizes & Official Contest Rules

Two prizes will be awarded to two separate winners, chosen at random, from comments left on participating blogs and videos. No purchase necessary. Comments must be posted by 11:59 pm PDT on October 26, 2019. Only one comment per blog or video will be counted, but you can comment on multiple blogs and videos in the hop for additional entries. (This is to prevent spam.) Contest open internationally to participants over 18 years of age. Void where prohibited by law. Any personal information collected will only be used for the purposes of contacting winners, your information will never be shared or sold. Comments left on YouTube videos must not violate community guidelines. This contest is not sponsored by YouTube. Winners will be announced on November 28, 2019 here and prizes must be claimed within thirty days of announcement, or new winners will be drawn.