Karen Burniston Designer Challenge -- Song Lyrics

The theme of this month's Karen Burniston Designer Challenge is "song lyrics."   That's pretty wide open.  I decided that a song sung in December more than likely would be Christmas-related.  For this reason, I chose the Bing Crosby classic White Christmas.

I've been following along with Karen and her on-line classes for a while.  October's class was two Halloween cards, but I liked them so much that I decided to use the instructions for one of them to make a Christmas card and use it for this month's Designer Challenge.

The second verse of White Christmas goes like this:

            I'm dreaming of a white Christmas

            With every Christmas card I write.

            May your days be merry and bright,

            And may all your Christmases be white.

The front of my card actually contains part of the lyrics.  All the papers I used are from a 12 x 12 paper pad that I found in Michaels on sale.  They really worked well for this card.

And the inside carries through with the theme.  The main die set used on this card is the Charm Accordion, as well as the Christmas Tree Pop-up.

The original card had two skeletons on the inside.  This one has a penguin and a polar bear, made using the Winter Animals set.   It was really fun transforming Karen's Halloween card into a Christmas one.

After I decided on this card for this month's Designer Challenge, two things happened:  1) The new release with that awesome Pine Cone die set; and 2) A gorgeous 12 x 12 Christmas patterned paper pad I found at Hobby Lobby.  I was compelled to make a second card with the "song lyrics" theme.  You can see pieces from the Pine Cone die set and the Pattern Plate - Holly within the Postage Pop-up on the front.

The inside really shows off that pretty paper.  More of the Pine Cone and Holly die cuts are there as well.

Here's a close-up of the "song lyrics" of the Osmonds' version of It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas.  The first line of the second verse is "Pne cones and holly berries."

Karen Burniston Blog Hop

 Hi Crafty Friends,

Welcome to our Karen Burniston Products - KB Riley LLC November Release Blog Hop. The Design Team have come together with Karen today for a fun blog hop to celebrate the release of 15 new dies and 5 new stamp sets. Sneak peeks of the new release started last week, and the dies are available to pre-order NOW!

I

This release includes:

1 new Pop-up Die Set
2 new Playful Add-on Die Sets
1 new Ball Add-on Die Set
3 new Ball Access Tab Die Sets
3 new Word Die Sets
3 new Border Die Sets
1 new Greetings Label Die Set
1 new Stand Alone Die Set
5 new Clear Sentiment Stamp Sets

Dies are available to order now on the website.

I think the first Karen Burniston die that I purchased many years ago was the Fancy Label Accordion, and it remains one of my favorites.  I combined it with my favorite new die set from this release -- the Pine Cone set.  I scattered the pine boughs and pinecones throughout this card.  I recently started to add full panels at the front and/or back of the accordion.  Today's card has both.

The front panel really shows off the larger pine bough.  I added both pinecones and the small branch as well as a sentiment from the Christmas Wishes clear stamp set.

The three middle panels have the smaller pine boughs and pinecones as well as one of the sentiments from the new Quiet Forest clear stamp set.

The back full panel features a combination of two sentiments from the previously released Season of Cheer stamp set.

GIVEAWAY:

To celebrate the release Karen Burniston and each of the Karen Burniston - KB Riley LLC Design Team members will be giving away a $25 Gift Certificate to some lucky person who comments on our blog posts, so make sure you join the hop and comment on everyone's blog post. Winners will be randomly chosen from ALL of the blog hop comments received on our blog posts by Monday, 1st December 2025. Lots of chances to win some goodies, so just leave a comment on this post or any other blog hop posts to enter! Don't forget to leave some way for us to contact you, in case you are a lucky winner!

Design Team members are listed below:

Karen Burniston

Lois Bak (that's me)

Sue Small-Kreider

Frances Byrne

Jennifer Webster

Suzanne Smit

Nicky Foden

Karen Burniston New Release -- Day 5 Sneak Peek

Today's sneak peek uses dies I've already shown you -- the Playful Pop-up and the Pine Cone.

As I mentioned the other day, this Pine Cone set is my favorite of the release.  I think it makes such lovely, peaceful cards for fall, winter, and Christmas.  I added the Merry Christmas and Merry Christmas Shadow to the front . . . 

. . . and used all of the pieces from the Pine Cone set on the inside -- as well as one of the labels from the new Greeting Labels.  I did cut off one of the "arms" from the Playful Pop-up mechanism.

. 

BTW, I found this pretty patterned paper on Amazon.  I thought it coordinated really well with this die set.

Only one more day and all the dies will be available for purchase.  And be sure to check out the Blog Hop, which starts on Monday as well.  Comment on each of the team members' blogs for more chances to win a $25 gift card to Karen Burniston's website.

Karen Burniston New Release -- Day 4 Sneak Peek

Much of this new release focuses on the various pop-up balls, with both Add-ons and utilitarian Ball Access Tabs.  My card today is made with Bitty Ball Pop-up and the Mini Ball Pop-up, along with the new Animal Add-ons 6, to create this cute grasshopper card.

The front of the card is relatively plain, with just a parade of grasshoppers from the new Bug Borders set and a sentiment.

Also included in this release are 5 coordinating stamp sets and a set of dies (Greeting Labels), which are actually additional sizes of label dies in several different previous sets.  The ones I used on this card are the same shape as the Katherine Label.

Also used on this cute grasshopper were the Access Tabs for both the Bitty Ball Pop-up and the Mini Ball Pop-up.  These make it so easy to get access to the inside of the ball for possible repairs.

Karen Burniston New Release Sneak Peeks -- Day 3

When I saw the new dies in the new Karen Burniston release, I fell in love with the Pine Cone set. 

I realize it's not a pop-up, which is Karen's forte; but I think it's my favorite from this release.  I recently was introduced to a new-to-me fun fold card called a Split Easel Card.  I've become obsessed with it and have made many cards using this technique.  I thought it lent itself very well to the Pine Cone set.  The ones I have seen have all been A2-sized cards (4 1/4" x 5 1/2").  This one, however, is a 5" x 7" card.  I also used one of the new stamps from the new Quiet Forest stamp set on the base.

You can see the "easel" in the photo below -- and it folds flat for mailing.

As I said before, I just love this set; so much so that I have made quite a few cards with it.  Here's another one -- this time using the Arch Pop-up.

Be sure to check out the Blog Hop next Monday.  You could win one of many $25 gift certificates to the Karen Burniston website merely by commenting on one or more of the design team members' blogs.

Karen Burniston New Release Sneak Peeks - Day 2

 Again I'm using several dies from the new Karen Burniston release -- Playful Pop-up and Dog & Cat Playful Add-ons.

I have a friend who is not quite a "crazy cat lady," but she's bordering it.  I used today's dies on this card for her.  

The front of the card is relatively simple using Word Set 4 and the cat from Cat and Dog . . .

. . . but the inside is where the action happens.  As you could see from the video above, his paws, ear, and tongue move when you open and close the card.  My friend's cat is a tri-color, so I tried to blend the black and brown to match her cat.

That big MEOW is also a new die as are the small mouse border and the greeting label.  The label set contains additional sizes of many of the labels in various Karen Burniston die sets. The sentiment is part of one of the new stamp sets.

I hope my friend likes her card.

Be sure to check out the Karen Burniston Blog Hop starting Monday, November 24th.  Comment on any or all of the blogs, and you could win a $25 gift card to the Karen Burniston website.

Karen Burniston New Release - Day 1 Sneak Peek

It's finally time for the sneak peeks to begin, and Karen Burniston outdid herself this time.  15 new dies and 5 new stamp sets!  There are three Add-ons for the pop-up balls.  They can all be pre-ordered on the 24th.

One of the new dies makes three cute bugs -- a ladybug, a bee, and a grasshopper.  There is also a border set that coordinates with it.

My card today features the ladybug along with the Bitty Ball.  The front of the card has the border along with a sentiment from one of the new stamp sets.

When you open the card, up pops the cute ladybug.  I held the card closed using the Flap and Closure set with a small magnet on the back.

As shown in this photo, I had mounted the ladybug on a circle so that it can be removed from the card.

One nice thing about this Add-on set is that everything you need (except the ball) is included  -- things like the eyes and the mouth.

Included in this release are three utilitarian die sets which allow you to open the pop-up balls (one set for each ball size) to get to the rubber bands.  I, of course, used the one for the Bitty Ball.  It cuts out two sets of access tabs that you would use to replace the smaller tabs on the ball die cuts.

I'm glad you stopped by today to see my card.  I'll have more sneak peeks as the week progresses.  I hope you stop back.