With the holiday season drawing near there are sure to be people on your shopping lists who have asked for a gift card. These often seem a bit impersonal, but if you make a gift card holder you can show the recipient just how much you care.
Here I have used the Katie Label Accordion for the place where the card is kept and below I explain how I did it.
Happy Wednesday and Happy July! It’s Karen Burniston here with a different type of Wednesday post. As the Pop it Ups collection grows larger, it may be a little overwhelming to understand all the different mechanisms and how they are different. Today I’ll explain it all!
It’s a good ol’ fashioned Pop it Ups Category Breakdown! (cheer! applause! fireworks!) For each different category of die I have a visual reference of the available choices in that category plus any coordinating dies/folders shown below the die. (Pssst – want to make yourself a catalog/wish list? Got a printer?)
Pivot cards were designed to be a quick and easy interactive card. A fun feature of Pivot Cards is that the same decoration on the front of the card then pivots inside as the card is opened. This provides double-duty decoration, saving time and materials. Pivot Cards work by lining up the alignment nubs on the die over the fold of any size card, anywhere along the fold. This allows for complete customization of card size, shape and pivot card placement. There are currently six available styles of Pivot Cards.
767 Butterfly Pivot Card
768 Katie Label Pivot Card
775 Heart Pivot Card
902 House Pivot Card
912 Evergreen Pivot Card
973 Tags Pivot Card
Introduction to Pivot Cards
Seamless Pivot Card Backing Cards
Double Heart Pivot Card
Double Katie Label Pivot Card
Double Evergreen Pivot Card
Triple Pivot Card Technique
House Pivot Card
Doublehigh Katie Label Pivot Card
Karen Burniston’s Pivot Cards Pinterest Board
Karen Burniston’s Blog: Pivot Card Posts
Pull cards are Z-fold flip or swing cards with a few extra features. They have tuck slots to keep the card closed to avoid an accidental reveal. They also have alignment nubs and the ability to cut the mechanism anywhere along the fold of any size card. They also have an optional pop-up element – the Circle comes with a spiral pop-up die and the Rectangle comes with a spinner pop-up die. Pull Cards differ from Pivot Cards because in this case, the item flips over when the card is opened, so you have front/back decorations. There are currently two available styles of Pull Cards.
916 Spiral Circle Pull Card
974 Rectangle Pull Card
Spiral Circle Pull Card
Introduction to Spiral Circle Pull Card (slide to 7:30)
Introduction to Rectangle Pull Card (slide to 6:43)
Rectangle Pull Card – Buster Plays Dead
Rectangle Pull Card – Rocky Doffs his Cap
Karen Burniston’s Pull Cards Pinterest Board
Karen Burniston’s Blog: Pull Card Posts
Whereas Pivot and Pull Cards are immediately identifiable as interactive cards from the front of the card, the General Pop-ups are the traditional pop-ups where the recipient has no idea that something will happen until they open the card. These are the traditional “magic trick” cards, since they offer the most surprise to the recipient. All of the dies in this category have alignment nubs allowing them to be placed anywhere along the fold of any size card. They are viewed best when the card is open to 90 degrees. There are currently six available styles of General Pop-up Cards.
778 Lots of Pops
779 Lucy Label Pop-up
780 Garden Bench Pop-up
915 Lorna Label Pop-up
947 Happy Birthday Pop-up
975 Adirondack Chair Pop-up
Introduction to General Pop-ups
Garden Bench
Double Lorna Mummy Card
Explosion Birthday Pop-up Card
Adirondack Chair
Karen Burniston’s General Pop-up Cards Pinterest Board
Karen Burniston’s Blog: Lucy Label Posts, Lots of Pops Posts, Garden Bench Posts, Happy Birthday Posts, Lorna Label Posts, Beach Collection Posts
Pop Stands are another type of General Pop-up card, but whereas the General Pop-ups are viewed in cards at 90 degrees, Pop Stands are viewed in cards that open all the way flat to 180 degrees. Another feature of Pop Stands is that the main item (tower, tub, barn, hay) is independent of the pop stand mechanism so it can be used on its own for flat cards, layouts, place cards, 3D items, etc. A Pop Stand die comes included with each design, and when lined up over the fold of any size card, anywhere along the fold, will cut tabs to fit the decorative item and turn it into a pop-up. There are currently four available styles of Pop Stand Cards.
978 Eiffel Tower Pop Stand
980 Bathtub Pop Stand
1021 Barn Pop Stand
1025 Hay There Pop Stand
Introduction to Pop Stands (slide to 1:30)
Eiffel Tower
Barn Pop Stand with Floating Floor
Karen Burniston’s Pop Stands Pinterest Board
Karen Burniston’s Blog: Pop Stand Posts
Accordion albums are a special category of Pop it Ups dies because they do not have alignment nubs and you do not line them up over the fold of a card. Rather, you use the Accordion die to cut a single page of your card/album and there is an integrated tab system to connect as many pages together as you desire. This makes the Accordions very versatile, as the same die can be used for a quick 2-page card or a 20-page masterpiece. In addition, each Accordion comes with decorator dies included, so right out of the package you’ll have what you need to start making incredible interactive cards and albums to impress and delight your friends and family. There are currently seven available styles of Accordions and more styles in the works.
Add-on dies (separate purchase) that are sized to coordinate with the Accordions (but can also be used on their own to make flat frames) are the Frame Edges. Frame Edges work by cutting four of each piece (square/circle designs) or two of each long/short piece (rectangle designs) and lining them up around the perimeter of the Accordion for fun decorations. Each Frame Edge packaging lists which Accordions it fits. The easiest way to adhere Frame Edges is by using ECD Double-sided adhesive on the back of the paper/cardstock before die cutting, so that the frame edges can be applied like stickers.
769 Circle Accordion
770 Square w/Circle Frame Edges
771 Fancy Label Accordion
971 Star Accordion
774 Fancy Frame Edges
907 Fancy Seasons Frame Edges
976 Star Fancy Frame Edges
772 Oval Accordion
776 Oval Dots Frame Edges
777 Oval Flourish Frame Edges
906 Oval Clouds Frame Edges
903 Katie Label Accordion
972 Rectangle Accordion
905 Katie Holly Frame Edges
913 Katie Stars Frame Edges
977 Katie Flourish Frame Edges
904 Ring Accordion
950 Ring Frame Edges 1
Introduction to Accordions
How to add Clear Pages to Pop it Ups Accordions
Pivot Accordion Technique
How to turn Portait Accordions into Landscape Accordions
Stacked Accordions
Barn Accordion Card
Karen Burniston’s Accordion Albums Pinterest Board
Karen Burniston’s Blog: Accordion Posts
The Characters all feature similar construction, with a shadow layer and a detail layer, and then accessory dies, like eyes, tails, etc. Using ECD double-sided adhesive on the back of the paper or cardstock before die cutting makes assembly of the Characters very quick and easy. A signature look to the Characters are their big cartoon eyes, but they are also easy to style with other eyes for a completely different look. There are currently eleven available styles of Characters and four Props styles.
908 Chilly the Penguin
909 Hoppy the Frog
910 Poppy the Owl
946 Dutch the Fox
948 Honey the Bear
983 Whiskers the Cat
984 Buster the Dog
985 Rocky the Crab
1022 Brownie the Cow
1023 Cheepers the Chicken
1024 Virgil the Pig
911 Props 1
949 Props 2
986 Props 3
982 Props 4
Introduction to Characters
Honey the Bear as a Panda
Honey & Dutch as Woodland Animals
Karen Burniston’s Characters Pinterest Board
Karen Burniston’s Blog: Character Dies
Edge dies are decorative dies that cut just the edge of the item so the height is customizable by the user. It also allows for easy decorative-edges cards. There are currently four available styles of Edge Dies.
782 Agatha Edges
914 Outdoor Edges
979 Paris Edges
981 Beach Edges
Accessory dies are flat designs meant to complement the interactive cards and/or be used independently. There are currently five available styles of Accessory dies and five available styles of Embossing Folders.
773 Butterfly Accessory Dies
917 Clock and Gears
918 Holiday House
781 All Seasons Tree
987 Palm Tree and Pail
KB101 Butterflies
KB102 Trendy Tiles 1
KB103 Trendy Tiles 2
KB104 Damask
KB105 Clouds
In Spring 2015 I released my first set of Clear Stamps – the Farm Greetings Clear Stamps – meant to coordinate with the Farm collection as well as fit some of the other interactive dies. Look for more clear stamps coming soon!
So there you have it! The entire Pop it Ups Collection broken down by category with a ton of video and inspiration links. Speaking of inspiration links, I post cards daily on the Karen Burniston, Designer Facebook Page.
Happy Crafting!
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 I invited each of the ten team members to invite one of their blogger friends to join the challenge. The ten guests each picked out an Accordion Album die and it was up to each pair if they wanted to coordinate their projects or do something completely different. You’re in for some amazing inspiration and are sure to find new blogs to bookmark as you peruse the work of the talented team and guest designers.
I just returned from the Collins Rep Group Spring Retailer Training Event in Boston where I launched a mini Farm Collection that will be shipping to stores at the end of April. I thought they would be perfect for my Accordion. I used the new Barn, Hay There, Brownie the Cow and Farm Greetings Clear Stamps.
Here is the video tutorial:
When the album is closed you can see Brownie peeking through the upper window. Slide open the barn doors and you see a haystack.
One of the techniques in the video shows how to create a debossed frame for an Accordion Album using Frame Edges. For my project I used the Katie Flourish Frame Edges.
Elizabeth Craft Designs Supplies:
Other Supplies:
Time to send you on a journey to 20 blogs to see amazing inspiration from the Designer Challenge team and 10 distinguished guests. In all cases you can click on the designer’s name to travel to their blog post for more information about techniques and supplies used. Have fun!
Helen Cryer is the queen of patterned paper and her creation for this month’s challenge is no exception. Check out these bright fun colors and the clever way she adapted Honey the Bear into a sock monkey! I love this project!
Rita Edwards is Helen’s guest. “I was so pleased that Rita agreed to be my guest for this challenge! We ‘met’ each other when we were both on the Elizabeth Craft Design DT, and I love all her work – she colours exquisitely, and the details on her cards are just beautiful!” writes Helen. I agree! Check out this Rectangle Accordion by Rita:
Shelly Hickox can create one heck of a tunnel card using a technique with the Accordion albums. She has a link to her tutorial for this effect on her blog post. This month she incorporated the new Barn die into her scene. Love it!
Lisa Hoel is Shelly’s guest this month. Lisa also converted the Rectangle Accordion into a tunnel card, but vertical for her “under the sea” creation. So clever! Writes Shelly; “When we were asked to invite a blogging friend to join in the Accordion die challenge, I knew immediately that I would choose Lisa Hoel. I’ve been a longtime admirer of Lisa’s and love the way she uses Karen’s dies. Her unique vision is a breath of fresh air – I knew she’d wow us and she definitely has!”
I must say that when I saw Caz Counsell‘s creation for this month’s challenge I squealed with delight. Caz modified Dutch the Fox and Honey the Bear so they would be sleeping! What a clever idea and such a sweet card. She used the Circle Accordion.
Caz invited her friend Suzy Q to join the challenge and Suzy made this WOW! mixed Oval/Rectangle accordion. Says Caz; “This for me was a “No Brainer”. I chose my friend Suzie Q who I work with at Crafts U Love. Suzie makes lovely cards but unfortunately has suffered from lack of time and lack of mojo, I hoped in that choosing Suzie she might find her mojo and believe me she has!!” I agree!
Fran Sabad styled Brownie the Cow so sweetly for this 3-page Rectangle Accordion also featuring the new Farm Greetings Clear Stamps. The yellow and brown color scheme is fabulous!
Vicki O’Dell is Fran’s guest this month. Says Fran; “I met Vicki online and she is one of the most creative and upbeat people I know! She is all about DIY and gets involved in almost every craft out there!” Vicki chose the Circle Accordion and created a clever 3-page card with two connected pages and a third free-flowing. I love the serene feel.
Donna Wright made an adorable baby album using the Star Accordion and matching Star Buddies peel-off stickers. She also incorporated the Star Fancy Frame Edges on her second page. What a sweet project!
Sandy Diller is Donna’s guest and they both used the Star Accordion. Donna describes Sandy as “wonderfully talented” and I couldn’t agree more! Sandy not only flipped the pages to give the star a different look, but attached a clear spiral shooting through the album to suspend her floating stars. This is brilliant!
Frances Byrne shows off the new Cheepers the Chicken and Farm Greetings Clear Stamps on this fun 3-page Rectangle Accordion with Katie Star Frame Edges. I just love the colors and styling of this congratulatory album.
Maryann Einam joined the challenge as Frances’ guest. Maryann makes the coolest cards and this time used the Rectangle Accordion for a 4-page homage to shoes. Great sentiments, colors and imagery! Frances writes, “I chose my friend Maryann to be my guest for this month’s challenge as I know how much she loves Karen’s dies. We get together each month and enable each other when we go shopping out our favourite craft store.”
Kelly Booth made this superhero birthday card using the Star Accordion. Kelly has the greatest way with color and this Star Accordion project is no exception! She used the Star Fancy Frame Edges to make it a bright fun explosion of stars. It’s super!
Alice Wertz is Kelly’s guest. Writes Kelly, “I love the way Alice’s coloring brings things to life and she has been a friend of mine for many years.” Alice colored some adorable pups to use on her Star Accordion. She used the striped frame edges from the Star Fancy set. Absolutely fabulous!
Raquel Mason made this wonderful mixed Accordion to show off the new farm collection. She used all three new Characters and the Farm Greetings Clear stamps, plus Props1 and Props2. Love these party animals!
Debra Hensley was invited to the challenge by Raquel. “I like Debra’s work because she has a great eye for the little details. There’s always something extra or interesting on her cards,” says Raquel. Debra made this wonderful Star Accordion featuring the Star Buddies Peel-off stickers and the Palm Tree & Pail die. The glitter is so sparkly and I love the balloons!
Alicia, Raquel’s 12-year-old neighbor, also participated in the challenge as Raquel’s guest. She did a great job with the Star Accordion making this birthday album. Says Raquel, “I enjoy crafting with Alicia because she’s so eager to learn and loves glitter just as much as I do!”
Summer Hills-Painter made this hilarious anniversary card featuring a “Hogs and Kisses” theme with Virgil the Pig (And Virgilina!) on the Fancy Accordion album. The color scheme is perfect! Summer’s guest had something come up and was unable to participate.
Karen Aicken made an absolutely brilliant 4-page beachy Rectangle Accordion featuring Buster the Dog and the beach dies. She made the beer bottles using the Props2 Party Blower die. Brilliant!
Jackie Smith was Karen’s guest for the challenge. “I always looked forward to Jackie’s posts on the ECD Blog, as she has amazing way with texture and layers on her cards.” says Karen. Jackie made this amazing 4-page Rectangle Accordion with a Paris theme. All the layers are so intriguing! Love it.
Hopefully you’ve found plenty of inspiration this month and found some new designers to follow as well.
Join us May 13, 2015 for the next Designer Challenge, which is titled BARNS! BARNS! BARNS! The team will be using the new Barn die in a variety of clever ways.
Happy crafting!
Hello Friends!
It’s Debra today with a post for Susan’s Garden. Spring is right around the corner but not quite here yet. The cold and dreary winter has left me yearning for the beauty of flowers. Susan’s Garden -Garden Notes dies are the perfect way to bring those gorgeous flowers into your cards. I was inspired to create a card with Garden Notes – Peony and a lovely sentiment stamp from Susan as well.
Here’s how I made this card:
Card base
1. Fold 5 1/2″ x 8 1/2″ piece of white cardstock in half to form a standard A2 size card.
2. Die cut one frame panel from the Katie Label Accordion die and one decorator label from pattern paper.
3. Clip out the center, trim off the tabs and adhere the frame and center piece to your card base.
4. Stamp sentiment on smaller label with Versamark ink close to the right edge. Add black embossing powder and emboss until smooth.
5. Adhere sentiment label to center label closer to the right edge.
Peony
6. Die cut 1 base and 3 sets of petals from Garden Notes – Peony from pink cardstock.
7. Die cut 1 stamen from yellow cardstock. Cut individual stalks in half to the base strip for a finer fringe.
8. Die cut 2 stems and 2 sets of leaves from green cardstock.
9. Ink petals with dark pink ink at the base for dimension. Ink 1 stem and leaves with dark green ink.
10. Shape and pinch the petals and shape and vein the leaves with the All Metal Tool Set. For detailed instructions Susan created a video of how to assemble the Peony here.
11. Adhere the stem to the card front toward the left of the sentiment. Build the Peony and peony bud directly on the card base. Add leaves.
Here is a close-up of the finished Peony below:
12. To complete the card, die cut 4 decorative corner pieces from the Katie Label Accordion die. Add to corners of card. Add glitter dots to corners and center piece as shown on finished card.
I hope you enjoyed making this card with me today. Garden Notes dies are so easy to use and gorgeous when assembled. Once you are familiar with the basic shaping of the petals and leaves, you are on your way to create any one of these flowers. Don’t forget to check out the Elizabeth Craft Designs YouTube channel for instructional videos from Susan on each Garden Note flower.
SUPPLIES:
Elizabeth Craft Designs:
996 Garden Notes- Peony
RS008 Take Time – Rubber Stamp
903 Katie Label Accordion
808 Susan’s Garden All Metal Tool Set
809 Mini Molding Pad
7018 Glitter Dots Assorted Colors
Other:
Cardstock- Bazzill – white, green
Pattern Paper
Versamark Ink
Black Embossing Powder
Heat Gun
Embossing Buddy
Distress Ink – dark pink, dark green
Hello! This is Christine from Dexter, Maine. Boy, has it been cold and snowy here with more snow on the way! I am wanting spring to arrive as I am sure many of you are. I have created this card with Susan’s Garden Notes – Rose 2 die. I have chosen the rose as my first post because I love roses and I really wish they were in bloom in my gardens right now!
Making the card:
1. Cut cardstock to 5-1/2″ x 8-1/2″ then fold in half and ink all edges with distress ink.
2. Take the main die from the Katie Label Accordion die set and cut 1 accordion page from white cardstock. Trim the label from the center flush with the frame and trim off the long tab as shown below.
3. Take two accessory label dies from the same die set and lay them together to cut out a label as shown below. Ink the edges.
4. Cut a piece of Red Metallic Shimmer Sheetz 4″ x 5-1/4″. Emboss with the Heart Strings embossing folder and sand lightly. Attach this piece to the front of the card base using Transparent Double-Sided Adhesive.
5. Stamp the label from step 3 with Winter Spring sentiment in black ink closer to the right side of the label then attach in the center of the card.
6. Attach foam tape to the back of the frame from step 2 and place on card front.
7. Die cut the rose using Garden Notes – Rose 2. Using white Pan Pastel, lightly ink the rose petals and shape the petals, leaves and stems using the toolkit (which will be in stock soon!)
8. Finish by attaching the rose and the red pearls to the card.
I hope this post will inspire you to try these great products from Elizabeth Craft Designs!
SUPPLIES:
Elizabeth Craft Designs
RS006 Rubber Stamp – Winter Spring
E112 Embossing Folder Heart Strings
SS0214 Red Metallic Shimmer Sheetz
Transparent Double-Sided Adhesive 6mm
Other
Close to My Heart cardstock – New England Ivy, White Daisy and Tulip
Vintage Photo Distress Ink
Close to My Heart black ink
Pan Pastel in white
6mm Red Adhesive Pearls
Sanding Block
Foam Tape
Clear glue
Hi, it’s Karen Burniston with the December 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 give year-round inspiration. We split up the months among the team so we could make sure that you have at least one inspiring card for every month of the year.
The Designer Challenge Team includes members from the USA, Canada, U.K. and Australia, so I encouraged them to craft for their own country’s holidays and dates (U.K. Mother’s Day is in March, Canadian Thanksgiving is in October and Australian Father’s Day is in September) so our challenge would be internationally inspiring. They did an amazing job!
August didn’t have much by way of international holidays, so it was the perfect month for Birthday cards. (My twins’ birthday is in August) I wanted to create a new twist on an old classic – the Explosion Card. This video tutorial will show how to make explosion sides for a traditional pop-up card. I used the Happy Birthday die in the video, but this technique would also work with the other general pop-up dies; Lorna Label, Lots of Pops, Lucy Label, Garden Bench and the new general pop-up being released in a few weeks at CHA. (Does the anticipation have you on the edge of your seat?)
Here are a few photos of the video project. For a card like this, where the inside is so spectacular, I saw no reason to do too much decorating on the front – a few stripes to tie in with the inside colors and then let the magic be in the discovery of the explosion pop-up card. After all, this card will most likely be displayed open, not closed.
To attach the twine I simply punched small holes on each side of the explosion, threaded the ends of the twine through the holes and then tied the ends in a knot.
I hung two Props2 birthday hats from the twine using tiny safety pins. I chose safety pins so I could seat the pins onto the twine and they wouldn’t slide to the middle. To make sure the hats could hang vertically, I made a slotted hole in each hat to accommodate the bottom part of the safety pin.
Anything that is attached to the “bellows” (as my husband John calls them) will also pop-up, so you can see in the photo below where I added a couple more Props2 Birthday hats attached randomly to the explosion side pieces.
Elizabeth Craft Designs Supplies:
Other Supplies:
Let’s get inspiration for a year’s worth of cards, courtesy of the 2014 Karen Burniston Designer Challenge Team and Guest Designer Sandy Diller.
Fran Sabad starts off the year with a shiny golden New Year’s Card. She used the Katie Label Accordion and turned it into landscape orientation by following the instructions in my video tutorial. So elegant!
Frances Byrne is our resident wonder from down under! She always makes the most amazing cards, and this Australia Day card is no exception. She combined the Spiral Circle Pull Card with the All Seasons Tree and then styled Honey the Bear as a Koala. G’card, Mate!
Raquel Mason used the doubling technique from last month’s video to make a Double Heart Pivot Card for Valentine’s Day inspiration. She also styled Honey the Bear as a chocolate bear. Perfect colors and styling.
Frances Byrne made this gorgeous Happy Chinese New Year card by mixing pages from the Circle Accordion and the Fancy Accordion with the Frame Edges for each album. What perfect colors and stamps!
Kelly Booth‘s birthday is on St. Patrick’s Day so naturally she chose March and crafted this glittery green magical card. The Ring Accordion, Poppy the Owl, Props1 and the Clouds Embossing Folder all make an appearance, along with the ECD 4-leaf clovers die.
Helen Cryer is from the U.K., where Mother’s Day is celebrated in March. She made this lovely 4-page Oval Accordion card, also incorporating the Oval Dots Frame Edges. Her color and image choices are perfection, as usual!
You had me at amazing, Caz Counsell! I just love what Caz did for an April Fools Day card – everything is backwards, from the way the card opens to the greeting itself. But fear not . . . you can read it in the mirror if you hold it just so! AMAZING! I also love her choice of the Ring Frame Edges on the sides of the Katie Label Accordion (done Landscape style) to give the labels a different look.
Raquel Mason will make you smile with this bright fun landscape Oval Accordion Easter card featuring Hoppy the Frog dressed like a bunny. She also used the Oval Flourish Frame Edges.
Shelly Hickox made a drop-dead gorgeous Mother’s Day card with a very cool technique for notching together gutted Oval Accordion pages to make a tunnel card. Can you see all the layers of goodness in the card? Make sure you click on Shelly’s name to see more photos on her blog. She also used the fence from the House Pivot Card and the banner from the Lorna Label die.
If you notice a Landscape Accordion theme going on this month, it all started with a video tutorial I posted last month teaching how to convert the portrait-style Accordion Album dies (Oval, Katie Label) into Landscape orientation. Learn this technique on my blog post: Video Tutorial: Converting Portrait Accordions into Landscape. I am always so flattered when the team likes my videos enough to try the techniques.
Donna Wright is from the U.K. where they also celebrate Father’s Day in June. She used the Landscape Accordion technique with the Katie Label Accordion to make a World’s Greatest Dad card. What a great use for the ECD Wheelbarrow die!
Everyone needs graduation cards in June and here is some fabulous inspiration courtesy of Summer Hills-Painter. She used the graduate’s school colors with the landscape technique on the Oval Accordion, plus Oval Flourish Frame Edges. Check out that mini tassel!
Karen Aicken combined the Spiral Circle Pull Card with the Damask Embossing folder and the little maple leaf from the All Seasons Tree die into a spectacular Canada Day card. I love all those little leaves flying on the spiral.
This 4th of July card by Shelly Hickox is patriotic and perfect. She used the Katie Label Accordion and Katie Stars Frame Edges along with decorator ovals and the banners from the Lots of Pops die. Notice the glittered banner behind the word celebrate and the occasional glittered silver stars in the Frame Edges.
Sandy Diller always makes such amazing cards when she guest designs for the Challenges. This month is no exception with this fabulous tutorial for how to elongate the Katie Label Accordion die to make this 5-panel card for her friend turning 70. She cut SEVENTY candles for the card. What a great friend! The Agatha Edges and flourish work great atop all her interactive pages. Make sure you click her name to go see the tutorial.
Frances Byrne also made a landscape accordion, this one with the Katie Label Accordion and Katie Stars Frame Edges, to celebrate Father’s Day, which is in September in Australia. Having the landscape orientation gave her the right size panels for her perfect stamps.
Summer Hills-Painter shows a great September Back-to-School card using the Ring Accordion. What a wonderful way to kick off the year with your child’s teacher. As usual, Summer picked the perfect combination of papers and elements.
Karen Aicken is Canadian, where Thanksgiving is celebrated in October. She made this lovely card using a technique first seen on a card by Raquel Mason, where a transparency on the first panel of a Katie Label Pivot Card reveals a greeting when the card is closed and disappears when opened.
Shelly Hickox mentioned that Halloween came and went before she got a chance to use this gorgeous Graphic 45 patterned paper. This challenge was the perfect reason to pull it back out and fussy cut all the scenery for an amazingly complex-looking, but easily-assembled Lots of Pops card. You can see a video of this card in action by clicking Shelly’s name.
Fran Sabad got very clever with her punches and fashioned a turkey to fit the Circle Accordion Album. On the front of her album (click her name to see it) she added the Ring Frame Edges around the circle opening – a very clever way to use those edges.
This is my original project from the video tutorial, which not only shows the technique for making the portrait albums into landscape, but also for how to style Dutch the Fox and Honey the Bear as woodland creatures instead of Characters. It’s all on this blog post: Video Tutorial: Converting Portrait Accordions into Landscape.
Donna Wright created a spectacular Fancy Accordion Advent Calendar card with adorable little jeweled numbered doors. Each door has a little image behind it, so you should definitely click over to see it. She also used every one of the frame edges from the Fancy Frame Edges and the Fancy Seasons Frame Edges die sets. This is AMAZING!
Caz Counsell wanted to show a quick and easy Christmas Pivot card for a December idea. She used the Katie Label Pivot Card and the Agatha Edges.
Karen Aicken made this fabulous Hanukkah card for her daughter recently. She used the Spiral Circle Pull Card and added little dreidels on the spiral when the card is pulled open. (Click her name to see the inside of the card)
Sandy Diller also made a Hanukkah card using the Fancy Accordion and Fancy Frame Edges and traditional Hanukkah symbols. What a gorgeous album!
Kelly Booth made this delightful 6-page Oval Accordion card recently featuring a variety of snowman stamps colored to perfection. She used the Oval Clouds Frame Edges on each page in her signature color (teal!)
So there you have it! A year’s worth of inspiration using Pop it Ups dies.
On a more personal note, I really want to thank everyone at Elizabeth Craft Designs, my amazing Designer Challenge Team and all my fellow crafters, customers and students for making my first year with ECD so successful. Joining this family has truly been like coming home and I am so inspired to bring you more innovative die designs in 2015.
Join us next year (see what I did there?) on January 21, 2015 when the team will be showing off new dies being released at CHA Winter 2015 in a challenge I’m calling “Triple Categories” (Mixing dies from at least three categories)
Hi everyone,
It’s Frances here. My project today was inspired by the Quartet and Carousel style of cards I used to create many years ago. I originally had planned to create a card but during the creation process my card ended up being an ornament that I can hang on my tree.
I love when a die can be used for more than what it is intended. For example, the Katie Label Accordion Card die set (and the other Accordion Card Die sets) can be used to create this style of ornament/card.
I have decorate my ornament/card so that it has a candle on two sides. On the other two sides between the candle panels I added the Merry Christmas and Happy New Year greetings as per the photos above.
Here is how I created my card:
1. Using the main die from the Katie Label Accordion Card, die cut 4 pages from Red card.
2. Use a Score Board to find the center of the page and score and fold each page in half.
3. Use the Katie Holly Frame Edge dies to die cut 16 frame edges from Green card (8 of each size). Tip: Apply Double Sided Adhesive Sheet to the back of the green card prior to die cutting to make it easier to apply to your card. Add frames around each of your 4 red pages.
4. To turn your card into an ornament, add ribbon to the back of one of the pages now. Cut an 18-inch length of ribbon, fold in half and secure to the back of the page, allowing for a loop at the top and ribbon tails hanging below the page.
5. Add glue to one half of your folded pages and adhere this to the back of half of one of the other pages. Continue joining your pages until they are all joined.
6. Die cut from white card 4 of the large labels from the Katie Label Accordion Card die set. Fold each of the labels in half lengthwise as per photo above. Add foam tape to the back of each label and adhere to the folded ornament/card.
7. From the Candle Die set, die cut the following: 4 pine boughs from Green card, 4 Holly leaves from Green card, 2 medium flames from Orange Iridescent Shimmer Sheetz, 2 large flames from Yellow Iridescent Shimmer Sheetz, 2 Flower Centers from Yellow Iridescent Shimmer Sheetz, 2 Flowers from Red card, 2 Candles from white card which has been covered with Double Sided Adhesive Sheet and 2 Candle Drips from white card which has been covered with Double Sided Adhesive Sheet.
8. Remove the protective backing from the candle and candle drips and cover with Warm Diamond Silk Microfine Glitter. Polish the glitter using your finger. Assemble candle as per photo of main card, folding the main part of the candle in half.
9. Create tabs for each of the candles by cutting card which measures 1/4 inch x 1/2 inch. Fold tabs in half and add 4 tabs to each of the candles at the top and bottom as per the photo above. Apply adhesive to each tab and use these tabs to secure the candles onto the white labels on the ornament/card.
10. Die cut Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from green card. Adhere these to the remaining labels on your ornament/card.
Thanks for stopping by today!
Supplies:
Elizabeth Craft Designs
Katie Label Accordion Card (903) designed by Karen Burniston Katie Holly Frame Edges (905) designed by Karen Burniston Candle Die (919) Merry Christmas Die (944) Happy New Year Die (943) Warm Diamond Silk Microfine Glitter (639) Double Sided Adhesive Paper (502) Orange Iridescent Shimmer Sheetz (SS 0109) Yellow Iridescent Shimmer Sheetz (SS 0108) Other White Card Red Card Green Card Foam Tape Green Ribbon
Hi, it’s Karen Burniston with the October 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 make cards suitable for the men and boys in our lives.
Normally you would also see a new card and video from me, but then this happened…
Thankfully it all worked out and we arrived home in the early hours of this morning. Gonzalo was only a tropical storm when he passed over the island, but later strengthened into a hurricane. There were straggling black clouds hurrying to catch up the next morning, but otherwise the skies turned bright and sunny and the airport reopened.
My card and video is delayed, but luckily my amazing team of ten designers, plus a guest designer, are providing fabulous inspiration this month for your masculine cards. For each card you can click on the designer’s name to visit her blog post, where you will find additional photos, supply lists and (in some cases) instructions for the cards.
Many of the designers this month chose to use the Spiral Circle Pull Card die for their masculine cards.
Summer Hills-Painter made this hilarious “Shake your Booty!” card that is wonderfully interactive. I love that you can see his disco hand in both positions. Plus, his booty really shakes!
I’m happy to welcome back Sandy Diller as a guest designer for the challenge this month. Sandy combined the Spiral Circle Pull Card with the Clock & Gears die set. Notice her clever use of all the knock-out numbers peppered all over the card and the flying gears effect created by using the spiral. What a perfect sentiment to use for this card!
Frances Byrne also used the same two dies – Spiral Circle Pull Card and Clock & Gears, but the results look completely different. Frances also found the perfect patterned paper to go with her “Make Every Moment Count” card. Notice the word “Time” is visible in the closed position. Clever!
This next card is extremely clever and fun. Donna Wright reproduced a Westminster clock for her masculine card. She shaped the outer portions of the clock with the Outdoor Edges and embellished with the Agatha Edges. Her signature tiny clothespins are used as clock weights.
The brand-new Happy Birthday Pop-up die is now available and the designers have provided some wonderful ideas for it.
Shelly Hickox is the queen of faux finishes and this card is no exception. She creates leather and metal and rivets and faux eyelets and she explains it all! Definitely check out her blog post to see more of this Shellypiece.
The first time I met Raquel Mason it was at a store in Florida where I was teaching classes. She brought some of her cards to show me and I was blown away. Check out this clever creation using Shimmer Sheetz as a mirror to reflect the Happy Birthday in the mirror. Raquel also lengthened the poles from the Lots of Pops die by stopping the cutting pad short of the end of the die and cutting the bottoms with scissors. Fabulous!
Karen Aicken also used the Happy Birthday pop-up die, but added pen outlining around the words for definition. What a great tip! You’ll want to click over to Karen’s blog post to see the front of this card, which is also very masculine!
Karen Aicken made another card for the challenge and chose to do a card for a younger boy. This one is a Lorna Label pop-up card using the doubling technique. She used some of the brand new Puppies Peel-off Stickers and added the birthday hat from the Props 2 die set. What a great idea! She also used the script word dies from the Happy Birthday set to create the greeting.
What could be more masculine than cowboys? Helen Cryer made this great Lorna Label pop-up card with the perfect combination of papers. Love the denim on the pop-up!
Kelly Booth also chose to make a little boy’s card and used both of the brand new Character dies – Honey the Bear and Dutch the Fox. She also used the new birthday-themed Props2. The front of her card features the Outdoor Edges combined to make a great dirt and grass ground. Honey the Bear holds the present from the Evergreen Pivot Card.
The inside of Kelly’s card is just as bright and fun as the outside. Dutch is sitting on the Lorna Label Pop-up die and Kelly used the decorator dies from the new Happy Birthday pop-up to create the greeting.
Another great card for a man or boy is this sensational Dr. Who-inspired card by Raquel Mason. She was very clever using pieces of the Holiday House to create the Tardis. She also used the gears from the Clock & Gears die set.
The interior of Raquel’s card uses the Lots of Pops to animate a Dalek, created from the new Tags & More die set plus more gears and the speech bubble from the Lorna Label set. Such a fabulous creation!
Kelly Booth made a fun Katie Label Pivot Card for her husband as an anniversary card. I love how Kelly combined the decorator hearts from several Pop it Ups dies on this card. Pivot Cards are the quickest of the interactive card dies and since the same decoration pivots from the front of the card to the interior of the card, crafters often choose Pivot Card dies when they want double-duty decoration.
Fran Sabad used the same Katie Label Pivot Card die as Kelly, but she used a folding technique to double the height of the label so she would have more real estate for decorating. She added circle decorations in a nautical theme – very masculine!
Speaking of Katie Labels – did you know that the same shape (the Katie Label) is offered as a Pivot Card die (see the two examples above) but also as an Accordion Die (see the three samples below)? The die sets have different mechanisms (pivot cards are not the same as accordions) but because the shapes are the same, the decorator dies from both sets can be mixed together. They do not duplicate.
Frances Byrne made this brilliant 3-page Katie Label Accordion as a Father’s Day card. What a perfect stamp for page 2! She also used the Katie Stars Frame Edges on the second page. Love this!
I never met a pun that I didn’t like, so this next card by Fran Sabad is right up my alley. She made a 2-page Katie Label Accordion using the Katie Holly Frame Edges, a giant ‘stache’d Nutcracker, and a greeting to fit. Notice the fun detailing on the Nutcracker’s hat!
Caz Counsell also used the Katie Label Accordion for this hilarious birthday card featuring the Katie Stars Frame Edges as well. Caz chose the perfect masculine colors for this card.
I know that I’m inspired by all these great ideas, how about you? Now I know what you’re thinking – men and boys are not always appreciative of handmade cards. Ah, but interactive cards appeal to their mechanical sides and they will be quite impressed with your crafty abilities when you present a Pop it Ups card!
My final teaching trip of the year is coming up next week. I’ll be heading to North and South Carolina and here is a video preview of the cards I’ll be teaching. Head over to my blog post for links to the stores.
I’ll be back next month on November 12th with the RED, WHITE OR BLUE challenge. No, we’re not making patriotic cards – we’re making single-color cards! This is the all-white, all-red or all-blue challenge and the designers may choose which color to use. It should be a really fun challenge.
Happy Crafting!
