From the Vault

This month's theme for the Karen Burniston Designer Challenge is "From the Vault."  We were to take a previous card we had made with one of Karen's dies and use it as inspiration for a new card.

As I was looking through my gallery of previous cards, I thought I might like to "re-make" one of the slimline cards I had made using the Little Labels Pop-Ups, but I couldn't really home in on one in particular.  After watching Karen's February virtual class with the triple Raising Platform, an idea came to me.

This is the card I finally used as my inspiration.

My new card is an A2 rather than a slimline, but it does have a reference to the 4th of July.

. . . and the inside has three panels with fireworks.  Only two of the platforms have fireworks, however; the third platform has a sentiment panel, similar to the way Karen's card had a sentiment panel on the center platform.

Here you can see exactly how the original card was my inspiration -- three panels with fireworks and patriotic paper for the background.

I think that triple Raising Platform technique is quite clever, and I'm glad I tried it.

Happy Star Wars Day

May the 4th be with you!!!   Happy Star Wars Day!

I hadn't played with Karen Burniston's Photo Collage Pop-up in a while, and I thought it would be perfect for a Star Wars Day card.  It's for my son, who is a Star Wars fan, as am I.

The stamps are from a couple of Kindred Stamps sets, Galactic Adventures and Galactic Travel.

I had to do a bit of word-surgery to create the sentiment for this card.  Obviously, we don't have a "Happy Star Wars Day" die, but we do have a "Happy Father's Day" die, which is what I used.  After cutting the sentiment and the shadow, I cut the words apart -- discarding "Father's" and gluing the words to the shadow.  I then carefully cut around "Happy" and "Day."  The other letters are from Karen's Mini Alphabet and Numbers set.

I decided that I would use the same color cardstock for each of the photos rather than make them multi-colored.  The blue is just slightly lighter than the cardstock I used for the base of the card (and the background for the characters).  I had to place the Millenium Falcon and the X-wing fighter strategically so that they would not create catch points when the card is opened.   That is the same reason the oval for my signature is oriented vertically rather than horizontally.

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.

Buzzing By

I recently watched a video of a card that Karen Burniston made using the Lorna Label, on which she cut a frame into the label.  I thought it was so clever that I wanted to try it.  

My card measures 4 1/4" x 4 1/4".  As there is no word die for the "buzzing by," I used the KB Mini Alphabet & Numbers set for that part of my sentiment.  The bee on the front of the card is from the Flower Pot Pop-Up set.  He is placed at the center of three dies from the Circles - Crosshatch set.

I didn't think the honeycomb would be easily seen if it were placed directly on the floral background, so I cut a white label and placed it behind the frame.

Here is a close-up of the frame.  This bee and the honeycomb are part of the Flutter Charms set.

I'm very happy with the result of my experiment.

Karen Burniston Designer Challenge -- "Thirst Quencher"

The theme of this month's Karen Burniston Designer Challenge is "Thirst Quencher."  The new Tea & Coffee Pop-Up was the perfect choice.  I was really happy when I saw a tea cup in the new release.  It seems that the world drinks coffee, but I'm a tea drinker.

I made a birthday card for my challenge card.  The front is pretty straight-forward with a congratulations wish for the recipient.  I did add a small teacup up in the corner from the Tea & Coffee Borders set.  The mat layers are shiny gold.  The "IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY" sentiment was computer-generated.

But the inside has a little play-on-words for the sentiment, using the Mini Alphabet set.  I decided to "fancy-up" the teacup with some gilding.  I sponged on some gold ink for the design and drew in the gold lines with a pen.  The cup handle and the spoon are gold cardstock.  

I had tried to use vellum for the steam behind the cup, but it didn't show up well, so I used a white cardstock of a different shade than the cup for some contrast.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

My Irish ancestors would be unhappy with me if I didn't make cards for St. Patrick's Day.  I don't want to be haunted so I always plunge right in.  This card was made with the Karen Burniston Landscape Rectangle Acccordion die and a couple of other previously released sets.

The backgrounds on the first and third panel were made by sponging ink through a Kindred Stamps stencil, while the middle panel is patterned paper.  I also cut out the cute gnomes from another section of the patterned paper and popped them up with foam squares.

I hope you have a very lucky St. Patrick's Day this year.  And, if you are so inclined, have a mug of green beer!

Karen Burniston Designer Challenge "Bunny Ears"

Easter is at the end of this month, so it was appropriate for the theme of the Karen Burniston Designer Challenge for March to be "Bunny Ears."  I chose the Landscape Rectangle Accordion die as the base for my card, making a little scene for the front, using the bunny rabbit from the Spring Animals set and some small flowers from Fun Flowers for the front panel.

I found some cute Easter egg paper in my stash for the second panel, just adding the Happy Easter and Shadow.  

The third panel is just a little different.  I used two of the small frames that come with the Landscape Accordion and added an Easter basket from the new Animal Add-ons 5 and a butterfly from the Backyard Charms.

As you can see, I used another one of the new dies, the Easter Borders, along the bottom edge of the entire card.

Thanks for stopping by my blog to see my Designer Challenge for March.