Karen Burniston New Release - Day 5

As mentioned in my previous post, my sneak peek project today coordinates with that card.  I've used two of the new dies -- the Candy Hearts Box and the Mini Gift Bag. 

As I mentioned yesterday, I've had two weddings in my family over the past month.  Today's projects could be used as wedding favors.  I put some jelly beans in mine, but you could put any kind of filler in them. 

The little conversation hearts scattered in front of the bag and box are part of the Candy Hearts Box set.

Only three more days until Release Day.  Be sure to check out the Blog Hop on Monday and comment on as many blogs as you can for multiple chances to win a $25 gift certificate to Karen Burniston's store website.  Each DT member is giving one away.

Karen Burniston New Release - Day 4

I love Sneak Peek Week!  The Design Team has been playing with the new dies for several weeks, and we can now show them off.

My card today is a wedding card, using the Raising Platform Pop-up.

This pop-up can be used in either a standard or slimline card.  My card is a slimline.  The front is relatively simple -- just a couple of hearts and the Happily Ever After die.  The "once upon a time" and "and they lived" stamps are ones that I bought maybe 15 years ago.  It's always nice to be able to pull out something that doesn't get used for a while.

As you open the card, the platform panel pops up and out.

I actually used two of the pop-up panels on this card -- a slimline gives you that option.  The die set includes those little "squiggles" and stars attached to the lower panel.

This die set is very generic.  You could use it for many different occasions.  I've had two weddings in my family over the past month, so weddings have been on my mind.

Thanks for visiting my blog today.  I hope you come back tomorrow for another sneak peek.  Little hint --  tomorrow's sneak peek actually coordinates with today's card.

Karen Burniston New Release - Day 3

The new release includes two add-on sets (Hearts Add-ons and Birthday Candles Add-ons).  These sets coordinate with the Fancy Label Accordion die.  My card today uses the Birthday Candles Add-ons. 

I pulled out some very old Stampin' Up patterned paper for my project.  I love the brown and pink color combination of this paper.   The front of the card looks exactly like the original Fancy Label Accordion.

It's the inside that has been up-graded!

As you can see, the candles replace the two center panels of the accordion.  To accomplish this, you must first alter the Fancy Label Accordion die-cut, as shown below.  This is very similar to the way the Landscape Rectangle Accordion die-cut is altered when you use the Fence or Cupcake Add-ons.

After connecting the two pieces, you simply glue in the candles panel to each side of the altered panels and continue making your card.  I used two dies from Word Set 9 - Love, adding one on each end panel.

Be sure to check out the Blog Hop on release day, Monday, Dec. 11th.  You will have 9 chances to win a $25 gift certificate to the Karen Burniston store website by commenting on each of the blogs in the hop.

Karen Burniston Designer Challenge -- Naughty or Nice

This month's Karen Burniston Designer Challenge is titled "Naughty or Nice?"  We were to make a Christmas card incorporating a stocking.  I decided to use the Fireplace Pop-Up and Fireplace Extras 1, which includes stockings.

About 10 years ago I saw a card by Grace Nywening which she called a Center Easel Card.  I thought it was such a clever take on the easel card that I printed out her blog post so I would have the instructions.  This month's challenge was perfect for this type of card.  The Fireplace Pop-Up fit perfectly in the easel section . . .

. . . and the "Merry Christmas" was the perfect "bumper" to hold the card open.

I'm so glad I hung onto those instructions.

I have a bonus Designer Challenge card for you, one which uses one of the new dies -- the Raising Platform Pop-Up.  The stocking part of the challenge is on the front of the card -- along with various other Karen Burniston dies.  By the way, do you see that embossing on the front?  That was made with the Pattern Plate - Holly die, run through my Cuttlebug with the rubber embossing mat.  (Yes, I still use my Cuttlebug for embossing.)

The sneak peek part of this card is on the inside.  The Raising Platform pops up to wish you a Merry Christmas.

As I already had the Pattern Plate - Holly die out on my table, I decided to cut some greenery to decorate the inside.  I used one of the Christmas Borders for some more stockings.

I hope you like my cards.

Karen Burniston New Release - Day 1

It's finally time to show off some of the new dies from Karen Burniston!  She has 7 new dies being released next Monday, and the Design Team will be showing them off all this week.  One of the new sets is Topper Tags -- a set of 4 tags, 4 grommets, and 2 borders.  

I decided that I'd like to make something with this set that was a bit different than just a tag, so I thought of a gift card holder.  

We all give gift cards at Christmas, so a different type of holder sounded interesting.  I took a piece of Christmas-y patterned cardstock, folded it in half, and cut it with the largest tag die -- making sure to off-set it a little bit so as not to cut the fold.  I added the bow and the sentiment.

On the inside, I used the second to the smallest die and cut off the top with the wavy border die.  After cutting out the Santa Claus for the inside, I taped this piece down on the inside, creating the holder for the gift card.

Santa gets hidden by the gift card, so he's a bit of a surprise when the card is removed.

I hope you liked my little experiment and will stop back tomorrow for my Designer Challenge card (and another sneak peek!).

Thanksgiving Turkey

I wanted to make a quick Thanksgiving card for my long-time neighbor, so I pulled out the Karen Burniston Landscape Rectangle Accordion.  I used some Photoplay fall papers that I had on my desk from having made another card earlier.  I think if I had to do it over again, I might have used different background paper on the center sections, but what is done is done.  I do like that little acorn from KB Autumn Elements on the front though.

Although you can make longer accordions with this die set, I like the way a two-panel accordion looks.  It gives lots of interest but doesn't take long to put together.  

I hope she likes this.

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.