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."

Christmas in July

Who doesn't like Christmas in July?  And for that reason, I have a Christmas card made with the new Karen Burniston Arch Pop-up die along with several others.

The front of my 5" x 7" card features the Postage Pop-up, released earlier in the year, along with the Poinsettia die.  I thought the Echo Park I Love Christmas patterned paper was the perfect background.

When you open the card, the new Arch Pop-up takes center stage.

Decorating the arch is the smaller poinsettia, along with holly leaves from the Pattern Plate - Holly and pine sprigs from the Poinsettia set.  At each end of the arch is a Christmas tree made with the Christmas Tree Pop Stand set from a few years ago.  To make the tree skirts, I cut out circles from the Circles - Crosshatch set, cut them in half and notched out just a little bit at the center.  I then glued them back in place at the front and back of the upright pieces which hold the trees.  The garlands across the top of the Echo Park paper at the bottom are from Fireplace Extras 1.  The sentiments on the front and inside are from Karen's Season of Cheer clear stamp set, cut out with two different dies from Rectangles and Labels - Crosshatch set.

I had originally cut the arch from white cardstock but decided that some green behind all the foliage would look better, so I cut pieces from some patterned paper and glued it over the white arch.  I didn't realize until I was finished that a little strip of white is showing beneath the green.  I was going to try to trim it off but decided against it.  Here is a close-up of the arch.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today.  

Gingerbread Men in the Kitchen

The theme for this month's Karen Burniston Designer Challenge is "What's Cooking?"  During the next two months a lot of what's cooking will be Christmas cookies.  So I took that opportunity to feature the new Oven Pop-Up set to make my card.

The front of the card is relatively simple -- just a wreath and some gingerbread men.  I cut a dark green circle using a couple of the Circle Crosshatch dies.  I then cut out the Pattern Plate - Holly and snipped it into many pieces, placing them around the circle to create my wreath.  After cutting out a strip of gingerbread men from the Christmas Border set, I placed them around the wreath and attached a bow.

 The inside of my card is where the "cooking" action takes place.

I fell in love with that Oven Pop-Up when I first saw it.  And there is a set of extras so you can go all out!  My card is 6" x 7", so I was able to add a couple extra cabinets by extending the base under the oven and cabinets.  Karen Burniston has a great video describing how to construct the Oven Pop-up - (7) Karen Burniston Dies 1250 Oven Pop-up and 1251 Oven Extras Assembly - YouTube.  On the countertop you can see the mixer and a tray of gingerbread cookies.  

Do you see that little semi-circle and message at the bottom right-hand side of the card?  If you follow the directions to "pull out," you find a surprise.

I included a recipe card with directions for baking some gingerbread cookies.  And when you open the oven door, you can see some more cookies baking.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today.  If you have this die, I hope I've given you some inspiration to use it.

Karen Burniston Designer Challenge and Sneak Peek 2

It's time again for the Karen Burniston Designer Challenge.  This month's theme is "Rock, Spin, Pop, Swap."  We were to use of the these pop-up dies:  Spinner Square, Rockin' Rectangle, Parcel Pop-Up, or Pop 'n Swap.   I used the Rockin' Rectangle and took the opportunity to incorporate a couple of the brand-new die sets.  These new dies will be available for purchase on August 9th.

It's Christmas in July -- at least on my blog it is.  The front of my card features the Tiny House Pop-up, decorated with some of the dies from the brand new Gingerbread Tiny House Add-on set.

One of my favorite pop-up dies is the Rockin' Rectangle, which can be used for any theme at all.  The sentiment appearing on the pop-out is also a brand-new die set, Word Set 13 - Snow.  I love that the shadow for Snow is included in this set.

The background on each side of the inside of my card is Pattern Plate - Snowflakes, and peeking out from under the pop-out is a Crosshatch Oval on which you can sign your name.

Be sure to stop back tomorrow for another sneak peek.

Karen Burniston Designer Challenge - New Dies

This month's Karen Burniston Designer Challenge is all about the new dies.  Karen just released 12 new dies, and the challenge is a way to show them off.

I chose to put the spotlight on the Flower Pivot Panels.  However, before I get to that part of my card, I wanted to talk about the front of the card.  I've fallen in love with ink blending with distress oxide inks.  That's what I did on my card -- blended Ranger Squeezed Lemon, Wild Honey, and Kitch Flamingo Distress Oxide inks on the entire front of the card.  I then cut the Pattern Plate - Flowers from white cardstock and glued that on top, allowing the color to show through.

The Happy Mother's Day sentiment is a brand-new die from the newest release.  The shadow is also part of the die set.  The flowers and bee are part of the Flower Pot Pop-Up set.

The inside has the other new die -- the Flower Pivot Panels.    The pivot panels dies have proven to be very popular, this one being the sixth in the series.

I brought the pink, orange and yellow colors from the front onto the inside of my card, adding those two rectangular pieces from the new Slim Flaps and Frames.   I added one of the Border Blends to the front and inside as well.  I love the way you can mix and match pieces from many different die sets on one card.  The "love you" sentiment is from another KB set -- the Pop 'n Swap.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today.  I hope you come back again.

CCEE2114 Zoo Lovers Day

 Frances continued her month as hostess for the CCEE Stampers by telling us that apparently today is Zoo Lovers Day.  She asked us to create a card that includes at least one animal you might find in a zoo.

The animal I chose for my card was an elephant -- actually THREE elephants.  On the front of my card are a mama and baby elephant from My Favorite Things. They are attached to the front of the Karen Burniston Frame Pull Pop-Up  I used one of Karen's Pattern Plate dies (Fronds) for the background.  

When you pull that tab with the arrow, the little frame pops up, revealing a die cut elephant (also from Karen Burniston) celebrating his birthday.

Be sure to check out the CCEE Stampers blog for some more zoo animals.

Snowflakes and Ornaments

 I've been playing around with the new Karen Burniston release.  The card I have today uses two of the new sets (Pattern Plate - Snowflakes and Holiday Charms) as well as one of the word sets (Word Set 3 - Holiday). 

I like using the Pattern Plates on 5 x 6 1/2" cards because it allows a border around the 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" die-cut.  The shimmer white cardstock I used for the snowflakes is mounted on some light blue copy paper, and then  I cut the dark blue border using some Spellbinders A2 dies.    I just got that yummy blue Christmas paper that I used on the Christmas balls.  After constructing that panel, I mounted it on the white card base with foam tape, adding some sequins over the holes in three of the snowflakes.

This is not necessarily a Christmas card, so I just added the words "Winter Greetings" from Karen Burniston's Word Set 3 - Holiday.

Karen Burniston Blog Hop - Winter Release

Welcome to our Karen Burniston Products - KB Riley LLC October 2020 Release Blog Hop. The Design Team have come together with Karen today for a fun blog hop to celebrate the release of 10 new dies. Sneak peeks of the new release started last week, and orders will start shipping the first week in November.

This release includes:

• A new interactive die set - Mini Pops Pop-ups
• Add-on die set for the Surprise Ball Pop-up and Bitty Ball Pop-up die sets - Animal Add-on 3 (creates a Penguin; Deer and Moose)
• 3 Slimline Sized Die Sets - Crosshatch Long Rectangles; Long Nature Edges and Slim Frames
• 2 New Pattern Plate - Snowflakes; Holly
• A new charm sets - Holiday Charms
• New frames to work with Fancy Frames Accordion - Fancy Winter Frames
• Stand Alone Die Set - Holiday House

Pre-orders are available now on the website. Shipping of pre-orders starts the first week of November in the order received.

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, November 2nd 2020. Lots of chances to win some goodies, so just leave a comment on this post or any other blog hop posts to enter!

I actually have two cards for your today.  In case you weren't aware, I am obsessed with Slimline cards.  And I was so happy when I saw that included in this release were several Slimline dies.  I created this Sympathy card using the Crosshatch Long Rectangles, along with a word phrase from an earlier release.

The flowers and leaves are from the Flower Pot Pop-Up and/or the Flowers and Bees set.  It looks like my card has many layers, but in reality there are only two.  I created that inner section by cutting a "frame" by using the second set of slimline layers to cut just the frame and then colored it with a Copic marker to match the color I added to the outside of the card base.

My second card is a fun one!  This release includes another Animal Add-On set -- this one makes a penguin, a reindeer, and a moose.  My favorite moose is Riley, so he's on the front.   Also on the front is the new Pattern Plate - Holly (cut in half and mounted to each side of the gatefold).

And the fun happens when you take off that belly band see what pops up.

The ornaments on the sides of the base and the candy cane he's holding come from the new Holiday Charms, and the "Merry Chrismoose" was created using my label maker.

Remember to comment on each of the stops along our Blog Hop for a chance to win a $25 Gift Certificate.  Here is the list:

Karen Burniston Frances Byrne Lois Bak (that's me) Karen Aicken (next stop) Fran Sabad Sandy Diller Kelly Booth

Karen Burniston Sneak Peek - Day 2

In this new Karen Burniston release are two more cover plates -- one with Holly and the other with Snowflakes.  Today I'm using the Holly one for a relatively simple card.

I liked the white border around the sample card on the packaging, so I emulated it with a 5" x 6 1/2" card.  I also used one of the smaller Long Rectangles - Crosshatch dies for the sentiment panel.

As you can see, there is a separate die for the red holly berries.  The sentiment is from Word Set 3- Holiday, and the little bows are from the Easter Charms.

Don't forget, this new release is available for pre-order now on the Karen Burniston website and will be shipping the first week of November.

Happy Birthday, Wild Thing

I recently saw someone do a very cool technique -- putting a lattice work die-cut behind the openings in a slimline card -- and I knew I had to give it a try, using just some new Karen Burniston dies.

After cutting my 3 1/4" x 8 1/4" lime green panel, I cut three circles in it, using one of the Crosshatch Circles dies.  I then backed the outside two circles with pieces cut from a panel which I had previously cut using the Fronds Pattern Plate.  I stamped the sentiment at the middle of a 3 1/4" x 8 1/4" white panel and overlaid it with the lime green panel, using foam tape to raise the lime panel just a bit.  I then glued it down onto the darker green card base.

After the card was constructed, I added the giraffe from the new Safari Animals set, a couple of leaves from the pattern plate, and several sequins.  This just shows that you really don't need slimline dies to make a slimline card.

C4C544 Sketch Challenge

This week's Crazy4Challenges has a sketch challenge.

I used several new, soon-to-be-released dies from Karen Burniston on my card.  The cover plate, which is called Pattern Plate - Fronds, and the cute little giraffe (from a set called Safari Animals) are the new dies.  They are available for pre-order now and will be shipping on August 3rd.

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

CCEE2026 - National Bald Eagle Day

Vicky ends her month as hostess for the CCEE Stampers by telling us that today we celebrate the Bald Eagle.  She asked us to make a card with a bird on it . . . extra points if it's a Bald Eagle.

I'm always in for the extra points!  I have a couple of bald eagle stamps  The one on the front of my card is from an old MFP Stamp Shop set.  The background for my card is one of Karen Burniston's new Pattern Plates -- this one is Tiles.  Before adhering the Tiles cover plate on the front of my card, I sponged on some red and blue Distress Oxide ink and then glued down the die cut.

The inside of my card has another bald eagle as well as some fireworks and an American Flag mounted on the Karen Burniston Paper Frames die cut.  I added the two banners at the top.  Those little "pennants" are part of the die set as well.

Check out the CCEE Stampers blog for some more birds (eagles or otherwise).

Karen Burniston & Dare2BArtzy Blog Hop

Welcome to the KB Riley - Karen Burniston Dies and Dare 2B Artzy Collaboration Blog Hop! Our Design Team members are excited to share their inspiring creations using some of the fabulous products from both these companies.

To celebrate our blog hop we have four great prizes to give away. You will have the chance to win one of two $25 Gift Certificates to use on the KB Riley - Karen Burniston Dies website or one of two $25 Gift Certificates to use on Dare 2B Artzy website.

For my card I chose the Dare2BArtzy BEE-utiful stamp set and two Karen Burniston dies, the Pattern Plates - Tiles and the Rockin' Rectangle.

I love the way sponged backgrounds look behind this Tiles die cut.    Using several distress inks, I created the background and then adhered the white die cut on top.  I placed the sentiment panel in the center and popped up the cute little bee from the stamp set at the corner.  The curly flight path is stamped in gray.

The inside of my card has the flower image from the Dare2BArtzy set, stamped on the pop-out panel from the Karen Burniston Rockin' Rectangle, with the small sentiment on the cross piece.  You can see that I used the same colors from the front on the flower.  I added some blue sequins to both the front and the inside of the card.

Make sure you join the hop and comment on everyone's blog post for your chance to win one of these prizes. Winners will be randomly chosen from the comments left on ALL THE POSTS
received by Friday 26th June 2020. Here is the line-up for the hop:

Dare 2B Artzy

Lois Bak (you are here)

Kendra Sand

Frances Byrne

Melody Blake

Karen Aicken

Karen Ostergard

Fran Sabad

Avra Williams

Kelly Booth

Chris Pozzi

Sandy Diller

Tasha Jorgensen

KB Riley - Karen Burniston Dies

June Designer Challenge -- Pattern Plates

It's time again for the Karen Burniston Designer Challenge, and this month's theme is "Pattern Plates."  These are the new A2 cover plate dies in the latest release.  There are three of them  -- Flowers, Swirls, and Tiles.

Usually, I have one card for the Designer Challenge; but I had made three different cards (one with each die) and couldn't decide which one to use.  So I'm going to show you all three of them!  Each one will include one of the Pattern Plates, as well as at least one other Karen Burniston die set.

The first one I made was using the Swirls Pattern Plate.  I decided to challenge myself to make a card without using pattern paper, which is normally a staple for my cards.  I achieved some depth on this card by inking around the edges of the card.  After cutting out the Swirl Pattern Plate, I carefully cut it in half and mounted one half on the front of my card.  The mermaids are from the Princess and Mermaid set and mounted in front of a sentiment panel cut from the Katherine Label die set.  The little tropical fish swimming in the waves are from the Camping Charms.

I placed the other half of the Swirls Pattern Plate on the inside of the card and attached another Katherine Label to the inside.  I added some more tropical fish and an anchor from the Cruise Charms.  Sentiments on both of the label panels are from Stampendous.

My second card uses the Flowers Pattern Plate.  As this card is for a 25th anniversary, I cut two panels -- one in white, and one in silver.  Reversing the panels, you can see both of them.  I cut two panels from the Rectangles - Crosshatch and mounted Celebrate and 25 on it.

On the inside, I glued some patterned paper to each side and mounted the Heart Pivot Panels.  I cut some silver hearts and placed them appropriately across the pivots.  To have a place to sign the card, I placed a small Oval Crosshatch and another small heart.  I added the sentiment using a label maker and clear tape.   Across the bottom I added one of the Border Blends combination die-cuts.  This was made by attaching two of the Argyle borders together to create the hearts.  As an afterthought, I added two more hearts to the front of the card.

As Father's Day is right around the corner, my third card is a Father's Day card, using the Tiles Pattern Plate.  The front is decorated with the crown from Tiny Accessories 1 and the Word Set 5 - Royalty.

For the inside I added another section of the Tiles Pattern Plate.   I used the Rockin' Rectangle and the knight from the Knight and Dragon set.  I added another crown from the Tiny Accessories 1 set to the cross-piece.  The sentiment was made using a label maker with clear tape.

I hope you enjoyed looking at my cards.