Designer Challenge

Karen Burniston Pop it Ups Designer Challenge – What a bunch of Characters!

August 20, 2014

Hi, it’s Karen Burniston with the August Pop it Ups Designer Challenge. Each month I challenge my Designer Challenge team to use Pop it Ups dies for a specific theme. This month the challenge was to use the Character dies (Hoppy the Frog, Poppy the Owl, Chilly the Penguin and optional Props1) to make any sort of project, pop-up or otherwise. You’re going to love the clever creations they’ve made.

For my project, I have used the new Spiral Circle Pull Card, the All Seasons Tree plus Poppy the Owl and Props 1 for an all-purpose Love card (or should I say “owl-purpose”?). This would make a great back-to-school card, too. Learn how I made it, along with general tips and tricks for the Spiral Circle Pull Card die plus several great decorated samples from the team in this video tutorial:

Here are photos of the finished card, which measures 5″ wide by 6″ tall and will mail for a single stamp in an A7 envelope (5×7).

Supply List:

916 Spiral Circle Pull Card die set by Karen Burniston
781 All Seasons Tree die set by Karen Burniston
910 Poppy the Owl die set by Karen Burniston
911 Props 1 die set by Karen Burniston
917 Clock & Gears die set by Karen Burniston (3″ circle die only)
Prima patterned papers, Core’dinations cardstock, washi tape, Hero Arts woodgrain stamp, Stampendous greeting stamp, write-on transparency, twine

Time to check out the amazing inspiration by the Designer Challenge Team.

Hoppy the Frog:

Caz Counsell got very clever making a card in the shape of a lily pad. Then she added the Lots of Pops Pop it Ups die inside to animate Hoppy the Frog, wearing Props 1.

Fran Sabad used Hoppy for a festive Thank You card using the Lorna Label pop-up and the Agatha Edges dies. Such fun colors in this card. See the front on Fran’s blog.

Helen Cryer’s Hoppy Fancy Accordion card is full of fun. Such great patterns and colors, including jump lines for Hoppy and little Props1 bows with pearl-centers in the corners. She had me at hello.

Raquel Mason doubled the Lorna Label pop-up die by cutting it into a folded card instead of an open card. This creates a double platform and she decorated it perfectly with Hoppy decorated as a tree frog. The All Seasons Tree makes a great branch for the Characters by turning it sideways. Raquel also used the Outdoor Edges on this card and she’ll be teaching it as a class in Florida in September. (details on her blog)

Frances Byrne created such fabulous movement with this Spiral Circle Pull Card featuring Hoppy and the lips from Props 1. Notice that she decorated the tuck slots with little flies. The coloring on the lilies is fabulous.

Karen Aicken also used Hoppy with the Spiral Circle Pull Card die, but for her card she did not use the spiral die and made a gate-fold double instead. She also added a spring feature behind the frogs so they jiggle. Love the use of the Props 1 to create a masculine and feminine Hoppy.

Summer Hills-Painter made a quick and easy card front using Hoppy holding the present from the Evergreen Pivot Card. The Character dies are a nice finished size (around 2.5″ tall) to fill the space for card fronts. She also took advantage of the emboss/stencil feature on Hoppy to add leg spots and nostrils.

Kelly Booth made these adorable lunch box notes for her grandkids. How sweet for them to get a special little note from Mom and Grandma each day in their lunch. She used Hoppy the Frog and Props 1.

Chilly the Penguin:

Fran Sabad used Chilly the Penguin to decorate a Bell jar to fill with candy. What a great way to present a gift. Six Chillys will fit perfectly on the jar. Fran also used the snowflake decorator die that is included with the All Seasons Tree and embellished with rhinestones. See the top of the jar on her blog.

Caz Counsell made a brilliant card featuring a scene with Chilly the Penguin making a snow penguin. She used the shadow layer of the Chilly die for the snowman and added Chilly’s scarf and the hat from Props 1. She created a background using the Outdoor Edges and snowflakes from the All Seasons Tree. Love this!

Frances Byrne is clever, clever, clever! I love that she used the Evergreen Pivot Card and the Outdoor Edges to make a snowy scene for Chilly the Penguin (wearing Props 1) and then used the greeting “Have a chillin’ birthday!” so it could be used any time of the year. Great color combo, too!

Poppy the Owl:

Kelly Booth made this adorable birthday card for my twins’ 16th birthday using Poppy the Owl and Props 1 on a doubled Lorna Label pop-up card. For the grass in the background she used the Outdoor Edges. Karl and Emma loved it!

Donna Wright was commissioned to make a Mr. & Mr. wedding card and used Poppy the Owl and Props 1 on the Spiral Circle Pull Card. Notice her use of different colors to create tuxedos for the owls – how clever!

Frances Byrne used the Happy Birthday Stand-up Helper die to create a great easel card and then decorated with Poppy the Owl perched on an All Seasons Tree used as a branch. Love the leaves especially!

Caz Counsell shows how perfectly the Characters fit on the Accordion Album dies. For her card she used the Oval Accordion and *NEW* Oval Clouds Frame Edges plus Poppy the Owl. She also mixed in some of the decorator dies from other sets. (I encourage this! Don’t think the decorator dies are just for the set they came with.)

Fran Sabad really had fun with Poppy and the Props1 die for this card, attaching all the props to swing-out arms so it becomes a fun interactive card for the recipient. She also made a kids’ art holder using Poppy dressed as a scholar. Amazing projects!

Karen Aicken has packed a lot of smiles into one awesome Heart Pivot Card. Poppy the Owl looks great in pink, along with the Props 1 glasses and perched on an All Seasons Tree. Notice the clever use of a dots stamp to fill in the foliage on the tree. She rounds it out with an Agatha Edges flourish along the bottom. Lovely!

Summer Hills-Painter created a great easel card in a wedding theme by using the Square w/Circle Frame Edges as a backdrop and filling in with a happy Poppy couple. The crown on the bride is made using a decorator die from the Katie Label Accordion die and the Props 1 die creates the rest of the accessories. How clever to use Poppy’s heart as the eyes! The Congratulations Stand-up Helper works perfectly to make this an elegant gift for the newlyweds.

Shelly Hickox created one of her signature Shellypieces for this month’s challenge. She used the new Ring Accordion album, Poppy the Owl, Props 1 and the Clock and Gears die for a fantastic steampunked birthday card. Poppy has a monocle and spats!

More than one Character:

Raquel Mason made this sensational gatefold Spiral Circle Pull Card to showcase two of the Characters – Poppy and Chilly, plus Props 1, the present from the Evergreen Pivot Card, the fence post (as a candle) from the House Pivot Card, and the Clock and Gears dies. So many amazing details in this card!

What a bunch of Characters, eh? Hopefully you feel inspired to make something with Hoppy the Frog, Chilly the Penguin and Poppy the Owl (plus Props 1).

I’ll be back next month on September 17th with another Designer Challenge. In September the Designers have been challenged to use Pop it Ups dies for Spooky September and inspire your Halloween creations.

Happy Crafting!

146 Comments

Pop it Ups Videos

Karen Burniston Pop it Ups Designer Challenge – Christmas in July

July 16, 2014

Hi, it’s Karen Burniston with the July Pop it Ups Designer Challenge. Each month I challenge my Designer Challenge team to use Pop it Ups dies for a specific theme. This month the challenge was Christmas in July (or other winter holiday) and I made a second optional challenge to design a second card as a simple reproducible design. You’re going to love what they came up with for both parts of the challenge!

For my project, I wanted to teach a fun hybrid card called a Pivot Accordion, where I cut the Evergreen Pivot Card into the pages of the Fancy Accordion Album. Watch the video to learn this technique, which would also work with the Katie Label Accordion and House Pivot Card.

Here are some photos and additional details about the project made in the video. One of the nice things about all the pieces in the Holiday House die is that they can be combined in different ways to make smaller houses, too. For the front of the card I used just the smaller house, roof, door-as-a-chimney and window.

When the card is opened you’ll see the full size Holiday House on Page 1, using all ten dies in the set. You can watch me assemble the Holiday House in this video:

Here is a top view of the Pivot Accordion plus a close-up of the trees. I didn’t mention this in the video but I used Copic markers to tint the glitter dots the same purple and blue colors as in the papers.

Elizabeth Craft Designs Supplies:

Other Supplies: White cardstock, Echo Park “Winter Wishes” Patterned papers, gray ink

Let’s check in with the amazing Designer Challenge Team to see what they came up with for both simple and not-so-simple holiday cards. Each one of these creations is featured with more photos, information, supply lists and general instructions on the designers’ personal blogs. Click each name to see the blog posts for each card.

SIMPLE FLATS:

Did you know that there are currently 33 dies in the Pop it Ups Collection and of those, only 15 of them are interactive card dies? The other 18 dies are accessory dies that will work great with the pop-ups, but can also be used on their own for flat cards and layouts.

Fran Sabad chose the new Outdoor Edges for a classy white and silver card front featuring a greeting stamp that works perfectly with the evergreen tree edge die. She cut the same edge from silver foil cardstock and offset it slightly behind the white one to create a detail shadow. What a great tip!

Donna Wright has an absolutely brilliant idea for maximizing card yield by using both the positive and negative sides of two die cuts, the Outdoor Edges and Merry Christmas dies. These are cards that would be both efficient and inexpensive to produce in multiples.

Caz Counsell used the new Chilly the Penguin die for this fun card front, also featuring the Outdoor Edges, the leaf from the Spiral Circle Pull Card, and a label made with the Agatha Edges. So sweet!

HOLIDAY PIVOT CARDS:

The new Evergreen Pivot Card is the fifth Pivot Card in the Pop it Ups collection. These dies are popular for their ease of use and for the way that they decorate the exterior and interior of the card with the same pivoting item. Many of the team chose to use Pivot Cards this month. Let’s see what they made.

Summer Hills-Painter used the Katie Label Pivot Card for a simple design suitable for any holiday. Here she shows both Christmas and Hanukkah. The snowflakes came from two other Pop it Ups die sets – the All Seasons Tree (smallest snowflake) and the new Spiral Circle Pull Card (two larger snowflakes). I always like to remind people that the accessory dies in Pop it Ups die sets are meant to be shared! Mix and match!

Raquel Mason shows that with the Evergreen Pivot card’s included decorator dies, you don’t need anything else! She made this entire simple, yet dynamic Christmas card using just the Evergreen Pivot Card set, which comes with the pivot card, three decorator trees, a die to cut 9 small ornaments, a die to cut 4 stars, a present and ribbon.

Karen Aicken went a different route with the Evergreen Pivot card, focusing on an outdoor holiday scene with simple embossed green trees. She also used the snowflakes from the Spiral Circle Pull Card and the Outdoor Edges. These three die sets are used together on a lot of the challenge cards this month. In the same blog post, Karen made a second Evergreen Pivot Card using glitter lines in fun designs to decorate the trees.

Helen Cryer used the same three dies as Karen’s green card – Evergreen Pivot Card, Outdoor Edges and the snowflakes from the Spiral Circle Pull Card. But check out the difference, not only between Helen’s card and Karen’s card, but between Helen’s card and Helen’s second, same-design-but-different-papers card! Ah the beauty of die cutting, where the colors, theme, textures, patterns and (in the case of Pop it Ups) placement is all up to YOU!

Caz Counsell and Frances Byrne also used the same three dies – Evergreen Pivot Card, Outdoor Edges and the snowflakes from the Spiral Circle Pull Card. They even chose similar stamps and themes, yet their cards are so unique. Caz chose to decorate her trees with the built-in emboss features and a few glittered ornaments. . .

. . . whereas Frances chose patterned paper and brightly colored ornaments and stars. Both cards are knock outs!

I’m sure you’ve already decided that the Evergreen Pivot Card is a must-have, but to seal the deal, check out how well it works with the tripling technique in this card by Fran Sabad. Once again you’re seeing the Outdoor Edges and the snowflakes from the Spiral Circle Pull Card used perfectly with the Evergreen Pivot Card. I just love Fran’s choice of red stars atop the trees.

Shelly Hickox used the Evergreen Pivot Card’s decorator trees to make 3D trees that can still fold flat for mailing. You’ll definitely want to check out her blog post to see a video of this card being opened. The Outdoor Edges work perfectly to create the rolling hills.

Summer Hills-Painter created a very unique card using the doubling technique with the House Pivot Card die to create a double fence pivot card. Then she bent the outer portions of the fences back in line with the card so they are only revealed when the card is opened. Behind the fence she added the largest Evergreen Pivot Card decorator tree, cut from Honeypop paper to make an expanding 3D tree. The new Holiday House die set finishes off this masterpiece.

HOLIDAY GENERAL POP-UP CARDS:

The new Lorna Label pop-up die is the fourth die in the category of “general” pop-up, joining the Garden Bench, Lucy Label and Lots of Pops. General pop-ups are the traditional style where the pop-up is revealed only upon opening the card, like a magic trick.

Raquel Mason created a stunner with the new Lorna Label, using the two separate platforms to full advantage to animate the new Holiday House and decorator trees from the Evergreen Pivot Card set. This card has a beautiful front, too, so click over to give it a look.

Karen Aicken layered her way into a breathtaking Christmas scene using the Garden Bench die. She mixed in pieces from several more Pop it Ups – a practice I encourage! The Outdoor Edges die set makes a gorgeous backdrop combined with one All Seasons Tree with glittery branches. She used the Christmas lights from the Holiday House to adorn the bench and added Agatha Edging and the new ECD Holly Flourish die at the bottom. The greeting is a Katie Label. So beautiful!

Another stunner comes courtesy of Helen Cryer, who shows off several of the new releases from the ECD line (Els and Joset) like the Crystal Flowers, Holly border, Merry Christmas and Candle dies. She created her scene on the new Lorna Label pop-up die. I love that this card is made entirely with dies!

HOLIDAY ACCORDION CARDS:

There are two new Accordions in the Summer Release – the Ring Accordion and the Katie Label Accordion plus new Frame Edges to fit existing accordions, the Oval Clouds Frame Edges and the Fancy Seasons Frame Edges.

Kelly Booth shows off the new Fancy Seasons Frame Edges on this classy simple 2-page, 2-color Fancy Accordion card, which also features the Outdoor Edges and a decorator tree from the Evergreen Pivot Card die.

Helen Cryer‘s color scheme on this Ring Accordion card is simply beautiful. She added acetate panels to be able to “float” the new ECD Ornaments #3 die set, which works perfectly with the Ring Accordion. Once again the snowflakes from the Spiral Circle Pull Card work perfectly with other sets.

Raquel Mason created a super fun 3-page Ring Accordion with some very clever die combinations, like the holly leaves from the new ECD Candle die used as the hands for the new Clock & Gears die. She made a fun scene for Chilly the Penguin in the center panel with decorator trees from the Evergreen Pivot Card set and Chilly holds the strand of lights from the Holiday House.

HOLIDAY SPIRAL CIRCLE PULL CARDS:

The Summer Release includes a brand new type of die from me – the Spiral Circle Pull Card. This die combines the opening mechanism of a z-fold flip card with an optional interior spiral to create a pop-up. Two little tuck slots keep the card closed so you won’t get an accidental reveal. To open, simply pull.

Frances Byrne wanted to show two options with the Spiral Circle Pull Card. The first is a very simple flip card using a decorator tree from the Evergreen Pivot card. For her second version, she stepped up the design with a few additional elements, like the Holly Border die and the spiral, embellished with holly leaves and berries. Either card would be quick to make.

Kelly Booth made this adorable Spiral Circle Pull Card using a perfectly colored stamped image on the front, embellished tuck slots, and cute stamped envelopes flying on the spiral. With this die you’ll be able to choose your card size and placement along the fold.

Kelly Booth made another wonderful Spiral Circle Pull Card, this time with holly on the spiral that peeks out in the closed position. Then pull the card open and see the holly fly. (Check her blog for the “open” photos)

Donna Wright drops the mic with this AMAZING Spiral Circle Pull Card featuring a joyous snowman dancing on the spiral. The two larger snowflakes come included in the set and then Donna used the small snowflakes from the All Seasons Tree to fill the background with bejeweled snowflakes. What a fabulous card!

Hopefully we have inspired you to start planning your holiday cards and incorporating some Pop it Ups dies. The dies are shipping this week to independent stores worldwide, so check with your local store to see if they have ordered. For customers without local stores you will be able to order from the website here: Pop it Ups Dies

I’ll be back next month on August 20th with another Designer Challenge. In August the team will be showing off the Character dies (Hoppy, Poppy, Chilly and Props 1) with any type of project they can dream up.

Happy Crafting!

20 Comments

Pop it Ups Videos

Karen Burniston Pop it Ups Designer Challenge – Photo Accordion Cards

June 18, 2014

Hi, it’s Karen Burniston with the June Pop it Ups Designer Challenge. Each month I challenge my Designer Challenge team to use Pop it Ups dies for a specific theme. This month the challenge was to create an Accordion Album showcasing a photo or photos.

For my video I wanted to show how to make Accordions with clear inner pages. I am using the new Katie Label Accordion die in the video. This die will be available in stores next month, so be sure to ask your favorite retailer to order it. You can use the techniques in the video with any of the Accordion dies, so don’t feel limited to just the Katie.

Topics covered in the video:

Showing off the Designer Challenge Team’s collaborative 11-page Oval Accordion album
Snipping tips for the accordion dies that come with stitching dies (Oval Accordion, Katie Label Accordion and Ring Accordion)
How to achieve a raised embossed stitch using an embossing sandwich
How to make clear inner pages for Accordion albums
Using brads to connect clear tabs
Assembling accordions in a layered sandwich style that hides the long tabs and the clear frames
How to repair an accidental break
Envelope sizes to mail Accordion Albums

Here are some photos and additional details about the project made in the video:

I made sure to add a solid white decorator label to the back of Page 2 so that when the album is closed the clear title will be easy to read against the white. I added the same colorful brads to the left side of the page to balance the ones on the right.

Counting_by_5s_open

My twins, Karl and Emma, are 15 years old and have certainly come a long way since being born seven weeks early (Emma was 4 lb. 9 oz. Karl was 2 lb. 9 oz.) to their current size (Karl is taller than me, Emma is getting close!) I thought it would be fun to show photos from their birthdays at ages 5, 10 and 15. Notice that Karl was still shorter than Emma on their 10th birthday. Clearly that changed in 5 years!

Because I didn’t have a vertical shot of them at Age 5 I had to crop a horizontal one. I covered the seam with Glitter Borders. For the age numbers, I printed them on transparency and then outlined them with a silver paint pen on the back of the transparency before cutting them out. The brightly colored mini-brads are both functional and decorative. Some of them go through the small tabs to join pages together. I thought the visible brad prongs from behind the album added a festive touch to the album, almost like a colored staple, so I didn’t trim them. Instead, I just made sure I chose brads that had painted prongs.

Elizabeth Craft Designs Supplies:

#903 Katie Label Accordion Die (available 7.15.14)
Black Glitter Borders
Die Snips
Die File Set

Other Supplies: office transparencies, Carta Bella Patterned Paper “Homemade with Love” Collection, colored mini-brads, white gel pen

Time to see what the incredibly talented Designer Challenge Team, plus three Guest Designers, created for the challenge.

This compilation photo accordion album is featured in the video. I asked each member of the team to create one Oval Accordion page. They were instructed to include a photo of themselves and their blog address on the page, but otherwise could design it with any colors, any theme, any embellishments. The results are fantastic! If you’re in any of my classes for the rest of the year you’ll be able to see it close up, as it will travel with me.

First let’s look at the albums the team had to choose from. Three styles are available now: Circle Accordion, Oval Accordion and Fancy Accordion. For each style there are optional companion frame edge dies that coordinate: Square w/Circle Frame Edges, Oval Dots Frame Edges, Oval Flourish Frame Edges and Fancy Frame Edges.

Last week I posted a Sneak Peek Part 1 showing the first 10 of 16 new dies that will be available in stores July 15, 2014 as part of the Pop it Ups Summer Release. Included in that Sneak Peek were two new Accordion Albums and four new Frame Edge dies. The Designer Challenge Team received advance copies of the new dies and were allowed to use them for the Challenge if they liked.

All of the Accordion Album dies work the same and you can learn how to assemble them in this video. The beauty is that YOU decide how many pages to add to the album. They can be as short or as long as you like. For the projects below, I’ve sorted them by number of pages to illustrate the different looks. Click on each designer’s name to go to their blog posts to see more photos, instructions, supply lists, etc.

TWO-PAGE ACCORDIONS:

Helen Cryer made this two-page Circle Accordion project to give to her husband for his desk at work. She included recent pictures of the family on vacation. I think this is brilliant idea and will be making something similar for my husband’s desk!

Karen Aicken‘s little grandson Ethan will be turning 2 soon so she made this very cute card using the Katie Label Accordion. She also mixed in the ECD balloon die. Notice the balloon string wrapped around the 2 – so cute!

THREE-PAGE ACCORDIONS:

Caz Counsell used the new Katie Label Accordion for a beautiful 3-page album featuring her niece’s wedding photos. She used the Butterfly Embossing Folder and Butterfly Accessory dies to create an elegant first page for the album.

Frances Byrne chose the new Ring Accordion for a Christmas album using photos of her granddaughter. The Ring Album comes with two sizes of ornament top die as well. Frances did some clever combining of letter pieces to create the date.

Jenn Dove is back this month as a Guest Designer and used the Circle Accordion for a three-page album featuring a brilliant cardinal and a great photo of the two of us in Yosemite last month. I love the color combo and the sweet sentiment.

Jenn Mock is also back as a Guest Designer for this challenge and borrowed my Katie Label Accordion die to make this fabulous 3-page beach card with photos of her grandsons. The coral on page one is a section of the All Seasons Tree die – how clever!

Kelly Booth also chose to use the new Katie Label Accordion for a 3-page SUPER card featuring her grandson dressed up as a superhero. She used the Katie Stars Frame Edges and mixed in decorator dies from the Katie Label Pivot Card. (Note: the decorator dies between the two Katie Label dies fit either die but do not duplicate, so they can be mixed for a ton of possibilities.)

Shelly Hickox made a beautiful and elegant Ring Album and turned it into a pocket watch with a clever addition of a printed winder and loop at the top of the first page. She used photos from her daughter’s wedding, turning them black and white for a timeless feel. You can see a Vine video of this card in action if you click over to her blog.

Summer Hills-Painter shows how wonderfully Pop it Ups dies interchange with each other. Here she used the Katie Label Accordion but mixed in decorator dies from the Katie Label Pivot Card and Fancy Accordion. She also used the ECD Pumpkin die. Her two older boys look like they found the perfect pumpkins!

FOUR-PAGE ACCORDIONS:

Raquel Mason created this wonderful mixed album using the Oval Accordion and the Katie Label Accordion. She also used the new Oval Clouds Frame Edges and a fun technique that Karen Aicken showed us for filling in the first page as a solid front to the album. Love these sweet beach photos of Raquel and her son.

Frances Byrne made a second project to focus on her grandson. What a fabulous mixed album! She mixed the Katie Label Accordion with the Oval Accordion, using perfect boy colors and elements to document William’s cubby construction.

Helen Cryer made this fun 4-page Katie Label Accordion for her Dad. Starring in the photos are his parents, his bride, his kids and his grandkids – who wouldn’t love a gift like this?!

Kelly Booth is the queen of color! This 4-page Fancy Accordion using the new Seasons Fancy Frame Edges is the perfect showcase for everyday photos of her grandkids.

Raquel Mason made a very unique 4-page Fancy Accordion by stacking two 2-pagers on top of each other! She used the new Poppy the Owl and Props 1 dies to highlight the silly photos she took with her son. What a great project!

Summer Hills-Painter recently had her third son and showcased her cute boys in this 4-page Fancy Accordion using the new Fancy Seasons Frame Edges. Awesome boy colors!

Gretchen Schmidt also used the Fancy Accordion Album for a four-page album celebrating a four-legged friend. The crisp colors of this album are very striking. The scalloped frame from the Fancy Frame Edges die is a great choice.

SIX-PAGE ACCORDIONS:

Karen Aicken knocked my socks off with this fabulous blooming cactus Fancy Accordion project. She created a solid cover to the album. Click over to her blog to see it in the closed position. Great photos, great techniques!

Fran Sabad created a 6-page Oval Accordion using fun photos from a trip to Universal Studios. Notice the clever star garlands strung between the pages. She also embossed every page with the Trendy Tiles 1 Embossing Folder.

Donna Wright created a gorgeous 6-page Circle Accordion generations album, using the All Seasons Tree to set the scene. Such a lovely project and so powerful to see the women of Donna’s family going back several generations.

TWENTY-PAGE ACCORDION:

Sandy Diller drops the mic with this absolutely stunning, fantastic, awesome, amazing, impressive 20-page Fancy Accordion album celebrating her 50 years of marriage. You just really need to click over to her blog to read more about it and see the photo of it stretched out. ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS! Thank you, Sandy for Guest Designing with us again.

So there you have it. Amazing inspiration for using the Pop it Ups Accordion Album dies with photos to make amazing cards, gifts and memory albums. Which Accordion die is your favorite?

The Designer Challenge Team will be back the week of July 14th with Christmas (or other winter Holidays) in July projects. My compilation post and video will be posted July 16th. This is a great chance to let the team inspire you to get an early jump on your holiday cards. The new dies will be available in stores at that time.

Happy crafting!

143 Comments

Pop it Ups Videos

Karen Burniston Pop it Ups Designer Challenge – FLY!

May 21, 2014

Hi, it’s Karen Burniston with the May Pop it Ups Designer Challenge. Each month I challenge my Designer Challenge team to use Pop it Ups dies for a specific theme. This month the challenge was to interpret the word “Fly” any way they choose using Pop it Ups dies.

For my project I’m using the Butterfly Pivot Card, Butterfly Accessory Die and Butterfly Embossing Folder (all of these products coordinate perfectly with each other) to teach a fun technique I’m calling a Triple Pivot Card.

Here are photos of the finished card from the video:

Interested in using some of the other Pivot Card dies for a Triple Pivot Card? Here are some examples using the Heart Pivot Card, Katie Label Pivot Card and House Pivot Card.

Elizabeth Craft Designs Supplies:

Other Supplies: Cardstock: Bazzill, Patterned Papers: Glitz, Glossy Accents: Ranger, Clear stamp greeting: Lawn Fawn, Washi Tape: source unknown

Now let’s see what the amazing Designer Challenge Team plus three Guest Designers came up with for the theme.

Let’s start with the designers who chose to use Pivot Card dies.

Raquel Mason created an amazing Z-fold card with the Butterfly Pivot inside the card. Shimmer Sheetz on the butterflies give everything a bit of sparkle.

Summer Hills-Painter also used the Butterfly Pivot Card die and combined it with the Agatha Edges for a gorgeous look. The butterflies look so elegant cut all in white.

Summer Hills-Painter also made this fun card with the Katie Label Pivot Card. What a perfect interpretation of the theme!

Karen Aicken made two great House Pivot Cards for the challenge. On this first one the house is styled as a bird house and all the elements for the card came from a piece of patterned paper. Smart!

In Karen Aicken‘s second card, she’s used adorable stamps and the perfect sentiment. Notice the fun way she created a fence for the left half of the card by using the extra picket die that comes in the set.

I had a great time teaching earlier this month at the Great Yosemite Stamp Escape and it was especially fun to meet Jenn Dove. We really hit it off and I am in absolute awe of Jenn’s artistry and coloring skills. She agreed to join this month’s challenge as a guest designer and check out what she whipped up with the Katie Label Pivot Card. (Her blog has full instructions, so make sure you click her name to head over there)

We were also lucky enough to join our new Texas friends Joy and Deb for a quick trip into Yosemite after the retreat. Here’s a photo of Jenn and me in front of a little baby tree.

Helen Cryer has such a way with combining elements. This gorgeous Butterfly Pivot card is no exception. She’s added in the Butterfly Accessory dies and the Agatha Edges for an explosion of color and flight. Beautiful!

Remember how I said that the designers could interpret the word “Fly” any way they wanted? Leave it to Frances Byrne to have the perfect stamps to make a housefly bug card! This card features the Katie Label Pivot card.

Frances Byrne also made a second challenge card, this time with the House Pivot Card and some cute stamped kids floating in the sky with balloons. Frances bent the fence back in line with the card and extended it. This is a great alternate use for the fence side of the pivot card.

Fran Sabad created a stunning acetate Butterfly Pivot card with pretty floral elements. Click her name to head to her blog and see all the photos and angles of this breathtaking card.

This next batch of cards uses the general pop-up dies:

Caz Counsell sent hedgehogs into the sky for this fun Garden Bench card, complete with soft fluffy clouds and a fabulous mosaic-look grass. You can’t help but smile at a cute card like this!

Raquel Mason always comes up with clever ways to use the dies differently and this month her imagination flew (see what I did there?) to converting the Lucy Label die into a standing pop-up. She has full instructions and a short video on her blog.

By now I am thoroughly convinced that there’s nothing Kelly Booth can’t color to perfection! Check out her adorable Lucy Label pop-up card with adorable stamped and colored critters. That background is marvelous!

Fran Sabad pieced together a hot air balloon for a Lucy Label pop-up with bright colors and loads of fun. All of the elements work beautifully together . . . bravo!

Donna Wright also used the Lucy Label this month to make a tall skinny card (8″ tall by 3″ wide) to create a soaring kite scene. Pop it Ups dies can be used in any size card anywhere along the fold and Donna illustrates that perfectly with this pretty card.

Donna Wright also made another Fly card with the Lucy Label, this time mixing in the butterfly dies and embossing folder plus edging the card with the Agatha Edges. Such a pretty card!

My good friend and fellow crafter Jennifer Mock has recently started working with me one day a week making class kits. Having Jenn to help has been a life saver! I asked her to be a guest designer for the Fly challenge and she created this cozy little Coffee card to illustrate the expression “Wouldn’t you love to be a fly on the wall?” (Notice the fly on the wall!) The friends, deep in gossip, are also “flying” on a clear Lucy Label platform. Check out that wood floor! Love this.

For the final batch of cards, let’s look at what the designers did with the Accordion Album dies:

Caz Counsell made this bright and fun Oval Accordion card with some super cute flying bug stamps. The dotted border on the ovals adds a nice touch and the brightly colored bugs mirror the colors in the paper.

Gretchen Schmidt made this absolutely perfect illustration of the Fly theme using stamps on the Circle Accordion Album. She also used the companion Square w/Circle Frame Edges to add a mitered patterned paper frame to each page. I love her use of the little hearts for Houston and her family in Kansas.

When Helen Cryer creates it’s always incredible (or, as I like to say; Helencredible!) and this project definitely fits that bill. I love how she’s decorated the Oval Accordion album with the clouds from the All Seasons Tree and everything is done on a warm kraft color. The layering of the stamps gives them such dimension.

Sandy Diller has joined the challenges as a Guest Designer in the past and was available to add a Fly card this month. And what a fly card! She chose a “Time Flies” theme and created this stunning Circle Accordion project. The detailing and elements in this card really give it a vintage masculine feel.

And finally, check out this stunner from Shelly Hickox (a true Shellypiece!) using the Fancy Accordion Album and Fancy Frame Edges dies. Such a fabulous masculine card featuring Shelly’s signature faux finish techniques. She also has a Vine video on her blog post showing this card in action. You’ll definitely want to check it out!

Thank you to the amazing team and our three guest designers for posting incredible creations this month. Join us on June 18, 2014, for the next Karen Burniston Pop it Ups Designer Challenge. The June theme is to use the Accordion Albums to show off photos and I’m sure we’re in for a treat with the talent assembled here!

Stay in the loop on all the other amazing cards being posted daily using Pop it Ups dies by Liking my Facebook Page, signing up for my mailing list on my Blog, and following my Pinterest Boards.

18 Comments

Pop it Ups Videos

Karen Burniston Pop it Ups Designer Challenge – Mamas & Babies

April 17, 2014

Hi, it’s Karen Burniston with the April Pop it Ups Designer Challenge. Each month I challenge my Designer Challenge team to use Pop it Ups dies for a specific theme. This month the theme is Mother’s Day and/or Baby cards. You’ll find eighteen inspiring projects below from the DC team.

A few weeks ago we attended the Collins Rep Group Spring Training event in Boston. We decided to release a new die as part of that show. The House Pivot Card Die (#902) is shipping this week to stores who ordered it at the show. Starting next week the orders will go out to stores who didn’t attend the show but ordered the die.

For my project I decided to use the new House Pivot Card die for a Mother’s Day card. In addition to the House Pivot Card die (which comes with the pivot card die plus 7 accessory dies) I also mixed in decorator pieces from three other Pop it Ups dies; the All Seasons Tree, Fancy Accordion and the grass from the Garden Bench.

Watch this video tutorial to learn how to use this die as I create the following Mother’s Day card. If you watch till the end you’ll also see additional House card samples.

For my card I kept the front pretty simple, with just a couple of clouds, an extra chimney and some grass.

The card’s interior features the All Seasons Tree (the “cloud” dies that come with the tree can be used for clouds or for foliage), the grass from the Garden Bench die, and the Fancy Labels from the Fancy Accordion die. I computer-generated the greeting in the style of the inspiration item (a mug) that I purchased for Mom.

In this next photo you can see a close-up of the details on the house. The brick emboss is created by the House decorator die by rolling it back through a die cutting machine with an embossing sandwich. (Watch the video to see this done) The little window frames have built-in window boxes which will also look like awnings if they are turned to the top. (Wouldn’t this die make a cute little bakery?) The extra fence picket can also be used as a birthday candle.

Some of the footage that ended up on the cutting room floor showed a couple of variations for using the House Pivot Card die, where you can make a double house pivot card or a double fence pivot card. However, I know that Raquel Mason has some examples of this technique coming up soon on this blog, so stay tuned for that!

Supplies:

Elizabeth Craft Designs Products

902 House Pivot Card Die set (call your local store to order!)
781 All Seasons Tree
780 Garden Bench (grass die only)
771 Accordion Fancy Label (decorator labels)
7018 Glitter Dots – Black/Silver
Die Snips
Die File Set
Detail Fine Pointed Tweezers
Detail Fine Pointed Scissors

Other Supplies – Bazzill cardstocks, My Mind’s Eye “Lost and Found Market Street” Papers, pop dots, fine line glue, Copic E47 marker (back of white pickets for distressed bleed-thru look), computer-generated greeting

Time to see how the Designer Challenge team interpreted the Mamas & Babies challenge. I will share one photo of each project, but know that the designers have full blog posts on their blogs (linked with their names) for these projects, including supply lists, instructions and additional photos. I encourage lots of clicking to fully experience the beauty.

Let’s start with MAMAS!

Fran Sabad has created the mother of all Mother’s day cards! This three-page Circle Accordion album, with matching Frame Edges, knocks my socks off! Such a pretty and spectacular card. As I would say . . . Frantastic!

Frances Byrne also created a stunning Mother’s Day Accordion album by mixing two Circle Accordion pages with one Fancy Accordion page. She explains how to do it on her blog and the results are amazing. Love the use of the coordinating Frame Edges dies for each page and the beautifully glittered and colored Roses Peel-off Stickers.

Summer Hills-Painter just had her third little boy, so I was expecting to see a Baby card from her, but she went with gorgeous Mother’s Day cards instead. Both of her creations feature bold striking colors that work so well together. First up is her Oval Accordion card featuring the Oval Flourish Frame Edges. The Roses in Oval Peel-off Sticker has been glittered and colored to match the red/white/black color scheme. Love this!

Now let’s look at what Helen Cryer created with the same Oval Accordion die. This is the beauty of die cutting, where YOU choose your colors, textures and theme. This is also a Mother’s Day card, but with more of a homespun country feel. I love Helen’s choices of embellishments for her Mum.

With no prior consultation the designers managed to make cards with all three Accordion Album shapes and all four Pivot Card shapes (my House card is the fourth Pivot Card). Let’s check out the designer creations using the other three Pivot Card shapes, the Katie Label, Butterfly and Heart.

First up, Shelly Hickox with a drop dead gorgeous Mother’s Day card using the Katie Label Pivot Card. She’s added some decorator dies from the Butterfly Accessory die and the Agatha Edges. On the front of her card (click over to see!) she’s done a brilliant whitewash technique with the Damask Embossing Folder. You can also see this card in action on Shelly’s blog courtesy of a short Vine video.

Raquel Mason used the Heart Pivot Card die perfectly for this sweet Mother’s Day card featuring a suspended chain of hearts and the included key die. She has a ton of clever techniques in this card and you’ll definitely want to click over to her blog post to read them all. Fabulous!

Summer Hills-Painter made a second Mother’s Day card, this time with the Butterfly Pivot Card die. She also used the Agatha Edges and the Katie Label decorator dies for her greeting. The colors again are non-traditional, but work so well together. The edging effect is very striking.

Kelly Booth made this sweet Mother’s Day card for her daughter. The Lots of Pops die is perfect for creating layered pop-up scenes like this one, featuring glittered and colored Peel-off stickers. The die set includes the pole and a few banners as well.

Donna Wright went with bright bold colors for this Mother’s Day card, using the Lucy Label pop-up die and Agatha Edges, and embellishing the front of the Lucy Label with the Katie Label decorator dies. (In real life Katie and Lucy are only marginally good at playing nicely together, but in die form they blend spectacularly) I love her use of other ECD dies to create the vase of flowers.

Karen Aicken made this adorable birthday card for the challenge. How does it fit the theme? Her daughter was born on Mother’s Day! Karen has used the Lots of Pops die and the Agatha Edges flourish along with some adorable stamped, glittered and colored bird stamps to celebrate the occasion.

Gretchen Schmidt made a lovely Mother’s Day card using an embossing folder and decorator dies from several Pop it Ups dies, but not for a pop-up card. What a perfect illustration of the possibilities (not just pop-a-bilities) with the Pop it Ups collection. This uses the Butterfly Embossing Folder, Butterfly Pivot Card and Fancy Accordion dies.

Next up: BABIES!

Kelly Booth knows a thing or two about color, that’s for sure! Check out the ombre mottled coloring on the onesie, created with an ink/water splash technique. So perfect! She’s used the Lucy Label Pop it Ups die to create her little scene, but also embellished with decorator dies from the Katie Label Pivot die.

Helen Cryer created an explosion of celebration with her Lots of Pops new baby boy card. The pole and banners come included with the Lots of Pops die and she’s used the clouds from the All Seasons Tree in the background. I particularly like her choice to use big bold letters and have them hang off the edges. What a great celebratory feel!

Once again the designers (with no consultation) represented all three Accordion Album shapes into their baby cards. Karen Aicken has this stunner using the Fancy Accordion Album for a 3-page baby boy card for her new grandson Zachary. What amazing details! The Fancy Frame Edges are also used on this card.

I like to refer to the cards made by Frances Byrne as “downunderful” (because she’s Australian and her cards are wonderful – you dig?) and this Oval Accordion baby card is no exception! She incorporated the Oval Dots Frame Edges on the album and super cute perfectly colored stamped images. Downunderful!

Fran Sabad created this soft and lovely baby card using the Circle Accordion die with the Square w/Circle Frame Edges. All of the Accordion Albums will work with any number of pages. I am super impressed with Fran’s attention to detail on the Frame Edges for the striped page – she made the pattern line up!

Caroline “Caz” Counsell was recently featured in the Daily Mail for her awesome craft shed (crafty palace). You’ll definitely want to click to Caz’s blog to see photos of our resident celebrity! For her DC card she used the Trendy Tiles 1 Embossing folder on the edge of a sparkly Heart Pivot Card celebrating baby. Click to her blog to see the inside.

Donna Wright used the Katie Label Pivot Card for this adorable baby girl card with the Agatha Edges. Check out that cute clothespin holding up the onesie! I really like that Donna illustrates that card size is completely up to the crafter – here she’s used a short long card.

Thank you to the amazing team for posting incredible creations every month. Join us on May 21, 2014, for the next Karen Burniston Pop it Ups Designer Challenge. The theme will be “FLY” and the designers may interpret the theme any way they choose. This will make for some fun cards, I’m sure!

Stay in the loop on all the other amazing cards being posted daily using Pop it Ups dies by Liking my Facebook Page, signing up for my mailing list on my Blog, and following my Pinterest Boards.

127 Comments

Pop it Ups

Elizabeth Craft Designs March Designer Challenge – Flowers

March 31, 2014

Welcome! Today is challenge day and the theme for this month is Flowers! Our wonderful Design Team created the following projects for this month. You can find all the instructions on each designer’s blog by clicking on the link below the pictures.

To celebrate our first Designer Challenge we will be giving away some great prizes! What to do? Subscribe to our blog and leave a comment on today’s blog post. At the end of the week we will draw 5 winners who will each receive a $50 gift certificate to use on our Online store.

The first project I would like to share with you is from Karen Aicken. Karen used the Lots of Pops die to create the base of her card. She then decorated the card using different flower dies. I love this card as it is so elegant and detailed and I love how Karen used the flag pole die (included in the Lots of Pops die set) to create the fence! Very pretty!

Link to Karen’s Blog

Another very beautiful and elegant card. Helen Cryer used the Lucy Label Pop Up die for the base of her card and decorated the inside of the card using some of our smaller flower and leaf dies. As always, a perfect combination of colors and the little butterflies really finish off the card. The outside of the card is also really pretty, so make sure to check out Helen’s blog post!

Link to Helen’s Blog

Next project is from Raquel Mason. Raquel made this gorgeous glittery card using the Rose die and the Cool Diamond Silk Microfine Glitter and colored on top of the glitter. I love how Raquel used the rose die overlay to create her images. Again a very elegant card. Find out how to make this card on Raquel’s Blog!

Link to Raquel’s Blog

There is something special about coloring on top op the Silk Microfine Glitter. I just love it!
Debra Hensley picked the perfect Peel-Off stickers for this technique and this month Flower theme challenge. She used her Copic markers on top of the Warm Diamond Silk Microfine glitter to color. Make sure to check out Debra’s blog for more wonderful projects!

Link to Debra’s Blog

A gorgeous card by Jackie Smith. I love the mix of colors. Jackie used Shimmer Sheetz for the leafs and the rose silhouette and Black Velvet Adhesive Sheets for the rose overlay. This is just the front of the card, wait until you see the inside! A must visit to Jackie’s blog!

Link to Jackie’s Blog

Next project is from Kelly Booth. She made this gorgeous Accordion card using the Accordion Oval Card die, 2 of our oval Peel-Off stickers and the Rose die. I love the colors and the details on this card; the trellis behind the rose, the little bee and butterfly. Very pretty! The front of this card is also stunning so make sure to check out Kelly’s blog post for more pictures!

Link to Kelly’s Blog

Frances Byrne made this wonderful card using the Katie Label Pivot Card die. Frances picked the Daisy die to create the flowers and the Bee die set to create the bee embellishments. The lace fan is a Peel-Off sticker and looks really pretty. Make sure to check out Frances’ blog post as well for more pictures!

Link to Frances’ Blog

Mary Prasad created this gorgeous Lots Of Pops card using our smaller flower dies to create a bed of flowers. The colors are absolutely beautiful! Mary is a professional photographer so make sure to check out her blog post for more stunning pictures!

Link to Mary’s Blog

Next project is from Rita Edwards. Instead of a card Rita decided to create this gorgeous vase with flowers! The vase is made of Shimmer Sheetz and for the flowers Rita used the Daisy die and Silk Microfine Glitter. A wonderful project! Check out Rita’s blog for instructions.

Link to Rita’s Blog

Last project I want to share with you is this beautiful box card from Candy Spiegel. Who doesn’t want to receive a box full of flowers! I love all the little details. Very pretty and colorful! The flowers and leaves are die cut out of Shimmer Sheetz and Velvet Adhesive Sheets.
Check out Candy’s blog post for instructions and more detailed pictures.

Link to Candy’s Blog

I hope you all enjoyed the wonderful projects created by our talented Design Team. Make sure to subscribe to our blog and leave a comment for your change to win a prize!

Next Designer Challenge is April 30th so hope to see you then!

Thank you for stopping by!

106 Comments

Pop it Ups Videos

Karen Burniston Pop it Ups Designer Challenge – Spring & Easter!

March 12, 2014

Hi, it’s Karen Burniston with the March Pop it Ups Designer Challenge. Each month I challenge my Designer Challenge team to use Pop it Ups dies for a specific theme. This month the theme is Spring or Easter cards. You’ll find eighteen inspiring projects below from the DC team plus one guest designer.

The Karen Burniston Designer Challenge Team is a group of eleven designers who were already participating in my challenges for a previous company. When I made the leap to Elizabeth Craft Designs I was thrilled that the team came with me and we were able to pick right back up again with monthly challenges.

Recently, an Elizabeth Craft Designs Design Team was formed and five of those designers are participating in both teams. The KBDC team focuses primarily on Karen Burniston dies for the monthly challenges, mixing in whatever other products they like, including (and encouraging) other ECD products. The Elizabeth Craft Designs Design Team promotes ALL ECD products and will post many types of inspiring projects, not just Pop it Ups cards. Hopefully this will clear up any confusion about the teams.

OK back to the Spring/Easter challenge. For my project I decided to combine the Garden Bench with the Lots of Pops die to give me additional platforms for creating my Easter scene. Then I started mixing in decorator pieces from many other Pop it Ups dies, like the All Seasons Tree, Butterfly Accessory, Katie Label Pivot Card, Oval Accordion and Fancy Frame Edges.

The video tutorial will show you how to extend the length of the Fancy Frame Edges to make a frame to fit a 6×6 card:

The video will also show how to use the Garden Bench and the Lots of Pops dies together, plus how to get the black/white texture on the Poles. Continue Reading

110 Comments

Pop it Ups Videos

Doublehigh Katie Label Pivot Cards

February 26, 2014

The Karen Burniston Designer Challenge for February was to use any of the Pop it Ups Pivot Card dies for a card of any theme. The Designer Challenge Team knocked it out of the park with their creations and you can see them all on the post here.

As part of the monthly Designer Challenges I create a new video tutorial meeting the theme and teaching some sort of new twist or technique with the dies. My video tutorial for February was how to use a folding technique with the Katie Label Pivot Card to double the height of the pop-up labels, allowing space for larger embellishments. Here’s that video in case you missed it:

10 Comments

Pop it Ups

Karen Burniston Pop it Ups Designer Challenge – Pivot Cards

February 12, 2014

Welcome to our very first Karen Burniston Pop it Ups Designer Challenge.

I’m Karen Burniston and each month I will challenge my Designer Challenge Team to use Pop it Ups dies in some specific way. For our first challenge I gave them an easy one – simply use one of the three Pivot Card Dies to make a card of any style, any theme. Here are the three dies they could choose from:

Before I send you around the web to see the Designer Challenge Team’s creations, let me share a new project and video from me.

For my Challenge Card, I wanted to show a technique for doubling the height of the Katie Label Pivot Card by folding your paper first. This gives you a larger pivot area for decorating.

104 Comments

Newer Posts

Karen Burniston Pop it Ups Designer Challenge – What a bunch of Characters!

Supply List:

Hoppy the Frog:

Chilly the Penguin:

Poppy the Owl:

More than one Character:

Like this:

Karen Burniston Pop it Ups Designer Challenge – Christmas in July

SIMPLE FLATS:

HOLIDAY PIVOT CARDS:

HOLIDAY GENERAL POP-UP CARDS:

HOLIDAY ACCORDION CARDS:

HOLIDAY SPIRAL CIRCLE PULL CARDS:

Like this:

Karen Burniston Pop it Ups Designer Challenge – Photo Accordion Cards

TWO-PAGE ACCORDIONS:

THREE-PAGE ACCORDIONS:

FOUR-PAGE ACCORDIONS:

SIX-PAGE ACCORDIONS:

TWENTY-PAGE ACCORDION:

Like this:

Karen Burniston Pop it Ups Designer Challenge – FLY!

Like this:

Karen Burniston Pop it Ups Designer Challenge – Mamas & Babies

Like this:

Elizabeth Craft Designs March Designer Challenge – Flowers

Like this:

Karen Burniston Pop it Ups Designer Challenge – Spring & Easter!

Like this:

Doublehigh Katie Label Pivot Cards

Like this:

Karen Burniston Pop it Ups Designer Challenge – Pivot Cards

Like this:

Designer Challenge

Supply List:

Hoppy the Frog:

Chilly the Penguin:

Poppy the Owl:

More than one Character:

Share on:

Like this:

SIMPLE FLATS:

HOLIDAY PIVOT CARDS:

HOLIDAY GENERAL POP-UP CARDS:

HOLIDAY ACCORDION CARDS:

HOLIDAY SPIRAL CIRCLE PULL CARDS:

Share on:

Like this:

TWO-PAGE ACCORDIONS:

THREE-PAGE ACCORDIONS:

FOUR-PAGE ACCORDIONS:

SIX-PAGE ACCORDIONS:

TWENTY-PAGE ACCORDION:

Share on:

Like this:

Share on:

Like this:

Share on:

Like this:

Share on:

Like this:

Share on:

Like this:

Share on:

Like this:

Share on:

Like this: