Hug in a Mug

It's been a while since I've made a clear-front card using the Karen Burniston Rockin' Rectangle die, so I thought I would give it a go.  Have you seen Karen's new sentiment stamps?  One of them is devoted to coffee drinkers.  I'm not a coffee drinker, but lots of people I know couldn't function without that first cup or two in the morning,  The Tea & Coffee Pop-up mug was mounted onto the Rockin' Rectangle, so that it pops out of the card when you open it.

I added the Tea & Coffee Borders on the inside to frame the coffee cup.  And I just love that brown and red plaid paper from Creek Bank Creations.

I've been having lots of fun with the new sentiment stamps.  There are five sets in this new release.

Snowy Cards

I recently participated in a 4-day Card Maker Success Summit online.  It was a great experience, and I learned a lot of new techniques.  

I don't often make one-layer cards, but Justine Hovey's tutorials prompted me to do some.  I actually did four of her cards, two of them included a Karen Burniston pop-up die on the inside.  I also made them two-layer cards, popping up the front panels on foam strips.  

Two of them have snow.  Justine's tutorial called for an embossing folder, which I did not have.  I did, however, have a snowfall stencil; so I used that with some glittery embossing paste.  The coloring on the cards was done with blending brushes and distress oxide inks and masking paper.

As I said, two of the cards also included a Karen Burniston pop-up, as well as smaller versions of the front image.

Here are close-up photos of the other two cards.

I did not have two different deer silhouette stamps, but I did have a set of Impression Obsession deer.  I cut those out of black cardstock on which I had placed some 3" Elizabeth Craft two-sided tape -- making them stickers.  I added some tiny gemstones to each of the cards.

I thoroughly enjoyed the four-day experience and will use many of the techniques I learned in the future.

Two Gifted Stamp Sets

My sister Dotsy and I share a common malady -- purchasing items that we already own.  I couldn't tell you how many times I have purchased a stamp set and subsequently found out that I already had it.  Fortunately, we also share a common interest -- stamping.  So when either of us duplicates a purchase, we can share the extra one with the other person.  I have two cards today that I made using shared products.

The first one is a cute little stamp set from Kindred Stamps based on the movie Up!  As I was trying to design something to use this set on, I wondered if the Karen Burniston Raising Platform would work with it.  Guess what -- it does!  I found a small scrap of balloon paper that I just couldn't throw away, and it was just enough for the front of this mini slimline card.

The Raising Platform Pop-up was actually the perfect base for the house/balloons on the inside.  I added a few clouds to the sky and stamped an appropriate sentiment on the strip across the bottom, adding a balloon from Karen's Big Birthday Charms set.

Dotsy's second duplication was a cute tennis player named Gigi from StampAnniething.  It had been a while since I used Karen Burniston's Rockin' Rectangle set, and I love making acetate-front cards using it.  I love the way you get a hint of what's on the inside with this type of card.  I have one really old vertical "Happy Birthday" stamp, and it worked great on this card.

There's a little play-on-words on the inside.  I'm not a tennis player, but I know that "love" is the word for no score in tennis.  And that little tennis ball is mounted on a short strip of acetate so that it looks like Gigi is ready to hit it away.

It's nice that, when our brains don't quite remember what is in our stamping arsenal, we have someone with whom to share our duplicate purchases.  I have done the same with Dotsy as well.

Happy Star Wars Day

It's Star Wars Day!!!   May the 4th be with you!

I made this card using a digital image from Paper Nest Dolls . . . 

. . . and the Rockin' Rectangle die from Karen Burniston -- with a little help from a clip art image of the Millenium Falcon.

Here's a short video showing how that die works.

CCEE2214 - Look Up at the Sky Day

I love all these weird "holidays."  Today is another one I've never heard of -- Look Up at the Sky Day.  Liz asked the CCEE Stampers to recreate something you love as a beautiful part of God's huge canvas (maybe a starry night, a bright rainbow, sunrises or sunsets, or beautiful cloud formations).  I decided on a rainbow.

One of my favorite Karen Burniston dies is the Rockin' Rectangle.  There is no theme to it, so you could use it on any type of card.  I thought it would be fun to give a sneak peek at the rainbow on the front . . . 

. . . with the full view when you open the card. 

Stop over at the CCEE Stampers blog for some more looks at nature's beauty.

CCEE2139 - Classical Music Month

I finished up my month as hostess for the CCEE Stampers by telling them that September is also Classical Music Month.  I asked them to create a card with a musical theme.  It doesn't have to be classical music though; it could be Jazz, Country, Rock 'n Roll -- anything musical, even a musical instrument.

Back in June I attended a stamp show and was introduced to a new-to-me stamp company (which ironically is located not too far from where I live in Florida), Sugar Pea Designs.  I fell in love with this Juke Box set and knew it would go really well on a Karen Burniston Rockin' Rectangle card.

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

CCEE2131 International Beer Day

Frances Byrne started her month as hostess for the CCEE Stampers with a bang.  She told us that tomorrow (Aug. 6th) is International Beer Day, so for our challenge today we were to include something beer or wine-related on our cards.  

As it happens, I just bought a new Taylored Expressions stamp/die combo called Hoppy Days (get it, "hoppy"/"hops"/"beer."    I combined it with the Karen Burniston "Cheers" sentiment die and Rockin' Rectangle die for this fun, interactive card.  Another new purchase was that Cosmic Shimmer Fluffy Stuff that I used for the foam.

Be sure to stop over at the CCEE Stampers blog on your "beer run."

Karen Burniston Designer Challenge - "Hearts"

 Here it is -- the first Tuesday of February -- and time again for the Karen Burniston Designer Challenge.  As Valentine's Day is right around the corner, Karen challenged the team to make cards with the theme of "hearts."

One of my (many) favorites of Karen's dies is the Rockin' Rectangle.  I often make cards with acetate fronts using this die, but today's card wasn't one of them.  I found that cute glittery heart in Hobby Lobby a couple of weeks ago and thought it would look nice on the front of my card.  During that same trip to Hobby Lobby I bought a couple of sheets of Valentine's Day paper.  (I fell in love with the black one.)  So in keeping with the black & red theme, I decided to make a shadow to put behind the big Happy Valentine's Day phrase.  It was pretty simple to do.  I just laid the die onto some black paper, traced around it with a pencil, and fussy cut it out.  That really makes the sentiment stand out on the glittery red heart.  I cut two of the arrows from the Love Charms set and placed them "through" the heart.

To make the heart border across the top, I taped two of the Border Blends together to create the border.   That expands the choices you get with these two sets.

After sizing a Paper Nest Dolls digital image to fit the pop-out panel, I colored her with Copic markers.  There's that awesome black & red paper in the background.

I added some more of the heart border across the top and a couple of short panels of the striped paper at the bottom.  To leave a place to sign the card, I added an oval and one of the "conversation hearts" from the Love Charms.

C4C559 - Non-orange Pumpkins

Rebecca Ednie finishes up her month as hostess for the Crazy4Challenges blog by telling us that she loves decorating her home in the fall with pumpkins of unusual colors.  Hers are purple, ivory, and gold.  For this week, she asked us to make a card or other project using pumpkins or gourds in any colors EXCEPT yellow or orange.

This was a fun challenge.  My pumpkins or purple, cream, and teal.  The front of the card is heavyweight acetate, allowing the pumpkins take center stage.

I used the Karen Burniston Rockin' Rectangle to make my card.  So, when you open the card, the colorful pumpkins pop out at you.

See what colors the rest of the team chose for their pumpkins by visiting the Crazy4Challenges blog.

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

C4C535 Sketch Challenge

I'm continuing this week as guest designer for the Crazy4Challenges blog -- this week's challenge is a sketch challenge.

I love these Honey Bee Stamps Build-a-Bee stamps and dies, and I thought they would look cute for this challenge.

The Karen Burniston Rockin' Rectangle is actually the perfect pop-up for this card as well.  It brings the large panel from the sketch into the inside of the card.

Stop over at the Crazy4Challenge blog to see some more cards based on this sketch.

CCEE2019 - Fiesta!

Kelly is the hostess for the CCEE Stampers in May.  She started off the month by telling us that Tuesday was Cinco de Mayo.   She said, "Let's continue the celebration with anything fiesta!  The word fiesta, the colors (red, green, yellow), pinatas, sombreros, etc.  Feel free to simply create a celebration card."

I pulled out the Karen Burniston Rockin' Rectangle die and the llama die from Cottage Cutz to make my card.  I like the look of this type of card using a piece of heavyweight acetate for the front.  You get a peek at what's on the inside.

And you can see the festive banner across the top, starting on the outside and continuing onto the inside.  This was made using another Karen Burniston die -- one of the Border Blends. What's a fiesta without a sombrero?  So I added one to the cross piece.

Be sure to check out the CCEE Stampers blog for some more festive cards.

CCEE2018 - World Penguin Day

Frances ends her month as hostess for the CCEE Stampers by telling us that April 25 was World Penguin Day, and asking us to feature penguins on our cards.  If we didn't have any penguins, we could just create a black and white card.

I have a couple of penguin stamp sets and pulled out the largest penguin image for my card.  I decided that I wanted a pop-out card, so I used the Karen Burniston Rockin' Rectangle for my card base.

The Stampendous penguin that I used has a matching die, so I cut out the front of my card and lined it with an acetate sheet.  The pop-out penguin can be seen through the acetate and says "hi" when you open the card.

For some more penguin fun, check out the CCEE Stampers blog.

CCEE2008 - Paper Piecing

For her challenge this week, Anne asked the CCEE Stampers to make a card for a friend using a fun technique -- paper piecing.  She also instructed us to mail it!!!

I pulled out a cute stamp from Paper Nest Dolls and the Karen Burniston Rockin' Rectangle die to make this card for my sister, who is also a paper crafter.  It may be a little difficult to see, but this crafter's skirt is paper-pieced.  I had purchased those sentiment stamps at a stamp show many years ago and thought they would be perfect.  In case you can't read the inside sentiment, it says, "She who dies with the most stamps wins!"  We can all relate to that one.

By the way, I have already mailed this card to my sister, who will be visiting me from Illinois next month.  We will be attending the Orlando Stamp & Scrapbook Expo while she's here.

Stop over at the CCEE Stampers blog for some more examples of paper-piecing.

Last Christmas Card of the Season

I'm sharing with you today my last Christmas card for the season -- one which uses the Karen Burniston Rockin' Rectangle and an enlarged window on the front.  I had seen a card made by Francesca Florio on the Karen Burniston Pop-Up Peeps page on Facebook the other day, which I really liked.  She had a very large window on the front of her card, actually taking up almost the entire front.  I wanted to try my hand at a similar one.

I still had to make a card with the Three Wise Men for my neighbor (I always try to make her one with the Magi on it.)  So I thought a card with what looked like a church window would be the right choice.  I used some Spellbinders Arched Window dies.  I stamped an image from a Stampin' Up set from many years ago -- Holy Triptych -- and colored it with Copic markers.

To accommodate the largest Arched Window die, my card is 5" x 7".  After cutting out the opening, I used some gold stickers to dress up the front.   I placed a piece of acetate in the opening before adhering the patterned paper on the inside.

I added a few more stickers to the inside and popped up the sentiment, which is from My Favorite Things' Bitty Holiday Wishes stamp set.

Here's a little video showing how the mechanism works.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today, and I hope you have a wonderful Christmas.

Karen Burniston Designer Challenge -- Autumn

It's Designer Challenge day for the Karen Burniston team.  This month's theme is Autumn, which leaves a lot of room for interpretation.  For my card I chose Thanksgiving and used the Rockin' Rectangle and lots of fall colors.  All of the images are from Autumn Elements, and the sentiment is from Word Set 7 - Autumn.

I added a bit of whimsey on the inside, with Bennie the Cow on the Rockin' Rectangle, some stamped harvest images from KB Riley and more words from Word Set 7.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today.  I hope you liked my card.

CCEE1935 - Card of Encouragement

For her last challenge for August, Anne asked the CCEE Stampers to make a card of encouragement. That's a great reason to make a card -- to give someone a pat on the back or some support when they need it.

I pulled out an old stamp set from MFP Stamps (no longer in business) which conveyed this exact sentiment --  Black-Eyed Susans for Encouragement -- for my card.

The inside continues the theme.  I used the Karen Burniston Rockin' Rectangle for a bit of interest.

Be sure to check out the CCEE Stampers blog for more cards of encouragement.

CCEE1928 - Cheer up the Lonely Day

Vicky continues her month as hostess for the CCEE Stampers with this challenge.  "Most of us probably know an older person who may or may not live alone.  Let's make a Thinking of You card and actually send it out.  If you don't know anyone, send it to a local nursing home and address it to 'Someone Special' or any phrase you can think of.  Let's cheer up some people today!"  What a great idea!!!

Here's my card, using one of my favorite Karen Burniston die techniques -- the Rockin' Rectangle with an acetate sheet for the front cover.

Check out the CCEE Stampers blog for some more inspiration . . . and maybe you'd like to take us up on this challenge and cheer someone up!

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!