Happy 70th Birthday

I have a friend celebrating her 70th birthday this week, and I wanted to make a special card to commemorate the occasion.  I thought the Karen Burniston Explosion Pop-Up would be perfect.  I pretty much copied the card Karen used in her video demonstrating this die, adding the 70 on the inside.  I used lots of bright colors and balloons.

The borders on both the inside and the outside are from one of the new Border Blends dies, and the circles are the Crosshatch Circles dies.

I hope she likes this card.

CCEE1904 Gold

Liz continues as hostess for the CCEE Stampers with a challenge this week to commemorate the discovery of gold in California on January 24, 1848.  She asked us to include some "gold" on our cards this week.  I am of an age where many of my friends have already or will soon celebrate their golden wedding anniversary.  So I'll be prepared!

Check out the CCEE Stampers blog for some more golden creations.

Kindred Stamps New Release - Science Geeks

As a big fan of the TV series that influenced this brand-new stamp set from Kindred Stamps, I was so happy to be able to create some cards for Release Week!  Science Geeks has my kind of nerdy characters.  I have three cards to share with you today.

My first is an Explosion card.  How appropriate is this type of card for a sentiment that says "I hope your birthday goes off with a bang!"  The front looks pretty normal, but . . . 

. . . when you open the card, you get the explosion!  BANG!

My second card is dedicated to the astrophysicist in the group of friends.  The designer paper I used for this card is associated with another Kindred Stamps product -- the Space Heroes box, but it worked perfectly for this card!

For my third card, I used another brand-new toy in my arsenal -- a door die from Lawn Fawn.  I used the Kindred Stamps Brick Stencil for the wall.   This card was inspired by one of the many idiosyncrasies of this fandom.

I must admit I had lots of fun with this set, and you will probably see many more creations from me using it in the future.

The entire Kindred Stamps January release will be available Friday, January 25th at 8am PST/11am EST.  Be sure to check out the Kindred Stamps blog on Friday for the full product release as well as the complete line up of all the Kindred Stamps Design Team projects from release week!  If you visit and comment on all of the designers' blogs this week, you could win $15 in Kindred Stamps shop credit!  So join the Fan Club and release event, show the design team some love, and get ready to empty those wallets this Friday!

National Popcorn Day

Kindred Stamps has a series of fun Wacky Holiday stamps -- one is released each month to celebrate a holiday for the following month.  I'm using one of those stamps to celebrate National Popcorn Day, which is today.  In addition, I'm giving you a sneak peek at a fun new die set from Karen Burniston called the Rockin' Rectangle.  If you cut a window in the front of the card, you can see a bit of what's on the inside.  Talk about a sneak peek!

And when you open up the card, the panel pops up and rocks to the side!

Karen Burniston is accepting pre-orders for her new release starting on Monday, January 21st, and they should start shipping on the 31st.  Here's a look at all 18 of these new dies.  If you're like me, you'll have a hard time picking only a few!

You're Nifty!

Today's my day on the Kindred Stamps blog with one of my favorite KS sets, Catcher of Beasts.  To show off this set, I have used a fun Karen Burniston die -- the Spinner Square.

As you can see, I started by sponging the KS Distress Brick Stencil as the "floor" on which the "beast catcher" is standing.  I colored him with Copic markers and cut him out.  Then I cut out the window and constructed the mechanism on the inside for the spinner (you can see all of that on the inside).  The "beast catcher" is popped up on foam dots.

I added the other "beast" to the drop-down section of the spinner and stamped another sentiment on the inside.  I've got to say that these are the two cutest "beasts" I have ever seen!  Don't you agree?

CCEE1903 Favorite Hot Beverage

Once again Liz has a fun challenge for the CCEE stampers.  This week she asked us to reach for our favorite hot beverage and make a card that lets others know what it is.  When I got married, I tried to learn to drink coffee -- my husband drank it morning, noon and night.  But I just couldn't develop a taste for it.  A cup of Earl Grey tea is my choice.   So hot tea at a mad tea party is the theme of my card.

Karen Burniston's Frame Pull Pop-Up makes a fun little card.

Check out the CCEE Stampers blog to see how the rest of the team handled this challenge.

Kindred Stamps Color Challenge

This month's challenge on the Kindred Stamps Fan Club Facebook page is a color challenge.   This year's Pantone Color of the Year is Living Coral.  As a design team member, I'm probably not eligible for a prize; but I thought I would make a card to entice others to enter.  I'm using a set from one of my favorite fandoms (Catcher of Beasts) and a fun technique (Z-Box Fold card).

In looking at the front of the card, you can barely see the coral on the card base; but when the card is open fully, you can see more.

As I was coloring the images for this card, I thought I could give both characters some coral -- the sweet witch's coat and the baker's tie.  I found a piece of patterned paper I used as the basis for my color combination, pulling out the turquoise for the other color.  If you like this style of card, here's a link to a tutorial which explains how to make one.

Why don't you join in on the fun and make a card for the Kindred Stamps color challenge?