Karen Burniston New Release Blog Hop

Hi Crafty Friends,

Welcome to our Karen Burniston Products - KB Riley LLC December Release Blog Hop. The Design Team have come together with Karen today for a fun blog hop to celebrate the release of 12 new dies. Sneak peeks of the new release started last week, and the dies are available to order NOW!

This release includes:

• 2 new Pop-up Die Sets
• 1 new Ball Add-on Die Sets
• 4 new Border Die Sets
• 2 new Sentiment Die Sets
• 1 new Word Set Die Set
• 1 new Tiny Accessory Die Set
• 1 new Stand Alone Die Set

Dies are available to order now on the website.

My card was inspired by the fact that I live in Florida, where we enjoy the sun, sand, and surf almost all year long.  The front of the card is relatively simple, using a bit of surf for the background.  I used the "Enjoy the Ride" die set, substituting the word "sunshine" from Word Set 6 for "ride."  There is one new item on the front -- the surfboard from Beach Elements.

The inside carries forward that surfing theme with a surfing alligator!  I had made a more simple card using that same alligator from Bayou Animals.  I liked him so much that I used him again.  The main feature of the inside of my card is the double Lorna Label and it's "floating floor." Additional previously released sets included on this card are the Mini Alphabet & Numbers, Beach Borders and the "stand-up piece" from House & Fence onto which the alligator is attached.

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.  That's nine chances to win!  Winners will be randomly chosen from ALL of the blog hop comments received on our blog posts by Monday, February 26, 2024. Lots of chances to win some goodies, so just leave a comment on this post or any other blog hop posts to enter! Don't forget to leave some way for us to contact you, in case you are a lucky winner!  Your e-mail address is the best way to do this.

Karen Burniston

Lois Bak  (that's me)

Sue Small-Kreider

Frances Byrne

Jennifer Webster

Fran Sabad

Suzanne Smit

Nicky Foden

Sandy Diller

Karen Burniston Designer Challenge - "Vacation"

 This month's Karen Burniston Designer Challenge is all about vacations.  Where would you like to go for vacation -- to the beach, to the mountains, to a big city you've never visited?  I decided that a "dream vacation" would be a trip around the world.  How fun and exciting would that be?!

For the front of my card I used the little photo frames from the Photo Collage Pop-Up and the Circle Crosshatch, adding the sentiment using the Mini Alphabet & Numbers die and one of the dies from Word Set 6 - Summer.  And just for the record, my first choice of a destination would have been those pyramids in Egypt.  That's really the only place outside of the U.S. I've ever had a desire to visit.

And my world tour continues on the inside of the card.

I'm not much of a traveler, but I have been to several of these places in my life -- not many, but some.  I was born in Philadelphia, so the Liberty Bell was a no-brainer.  I now live in Florida and have visited the Kennedy Space Center on several occasions.  The only other three places I've seen for myself were the Grand Canyon, New York City (Statue of Liberty), and Washington DC (Washington Monument).

I hope you enjoyed sharing "my dream vacation."  The rest of the members of the design team are also sharing their vacation dreams today.

C4C591 - Picnic Month/Barbecue Day

Apparently July is Picnic Month and the 4th of July is Barbecue Day, so the challenge for the Crazy4Challenge team members is to create a card incorporating either a picnic or barbecue theme.   I recently picked up some BBQ stickers at Hobby Lobby, and they were perfect for my challenge card.  The sentiment, picnic blanket and cute little parade of ants are from Karen Burniston.

The Hobby Lobby stickers fill up the inside of my card, adhered strategically on the new Karen Burniston Flower Pivot Panels.

Check out the Crazy4Challenges blog for some more picnic/BBQ fun.

C4C587 Great Outdoors Month/Camping Month

The Crazies are starting a new month of challenges, and we start off by honoring both Great Outdoors Month and Camping Month.  So we're creating cards inspired by the Great Outdoors.  

My card uses a new die (the Karen Burniston Slip Flaps & Frames) and an old die (the Karen Burniston Camping Pop-Up.  After seeing some cute Flamingo paper clips used by Kelly Booth, I scoured Amazon and found these Deer Head paper clips, which hold the flaps closed.

After removing the paper clips, the flaps will open revealing this campsite.

Be sure to check out the Crazy4Challenges blog for some more homage to the Great Outdoors.

Beach Hut

 In yesterday's Blog Hop post, Karen Burniston mentioned that the new Tiny House/Mushroom House Add-on dies could be used to make a beach hut.  The idea started some gears turning in my brain, and I ran with them.  I cut both the Tiny House Pop-Up from some patterned paper and constructed it, using the windows, door and roof from the Mushroom House Add-On.  I then cut the Tiny Trees out and did a bit of pruning on the branches -- removing them totally.  Using the smaller fronds die from the Palm Tree Pop-Up, I made two palm trees.  I had never used the new Fold Splitter (from the Tiny Trees Pop-Up), so this was a new adventure.  I'm pretty pleased with the result.

The front of the card is made using the larger palm tree from the Palm Tree Pop-Up and some of the Tropical Scene dies and Word Set 6 - Summer.

Those cute little crabs were stamped on some Shrinky Dink plastic and heated so that they shrunk down to size.

This is actually the second card I made.  The first one was 5 1/4" x 5 1/4" square; but it was too small, and the elements on the inside were bumping into each other.  So I salvaged the palm trees and the hut and made a second card -- this one is a 5" x 7" card.

The inside turned out much better on this larger card.

I've been having lots of fun using Karen's new dies.

Florida in the Summer

The other day Frances Byrne had a card on her blog using the new Karen Burniston Family Room die along with a Christmas Tree pop-up.  As I live in Florida, I wondered how the Family Room die would work with a Palm Tree pop-up.

I used the same technique as Frances did -- a Gatefold card, which gives you two folds for the pop-ups.

When you take off the belly band, you can see the entire front of the card.  I used the grass border from Karen Burniston's Nature's Edges border dies and the smaller palm tree.

When you open the card, you get a look at someone's back yard, complete with lawn furniture and the palm tree -- along with their dog.

I want to thank Frances for her inspiration.

Karen Burniston Designer Challenge -- Picture This

The Karen Burniston Designer Challenge this month is "Picture This," the perfect choice for one of the brand-new dies being released this month -- the Photo Collage.

My daughter and several of her friends have annual passes to some of the local theme parks, one of which is Sea World.  They recently were at the opening of the Sesame Street-land section and posted many photos on Facebook.  I took the opportunity to grab some of her photos and put together my card, which I gave to her the other day.  (I may have created a monster because she said her friends my very well want one of them, too!)  The front of the card gives a little hint as to what is inside.  I used a couple of the dies from Word Set 6 - Summer, as well as one of the Crosshatch Squares.

When you open the card, BAM!

It just amazes me how the mechanism works and displays all those photos without binding up.  I made a quick video to show how this works.

These dies will be shipping mid-July, so get ready to have some fun!!!