Calendar Challenge - March

My stamping friend Sue Small-Kreider recently asked me if I wanted to join in with her new calendar challenge.  It sounded like fun.  She provided us with the monthly calendar pages that she stamped with the Spellbinders BetterPress, and we would decorate them.  She had made her calendar pages for January and February, but I didn't join her group until March.  Here is her calendar page.

My Irish ancestry always shows itself in March.  I love to make St. Patrick's Day cards, so I continued this tradition by making my calendar page in a similar theme.

I didn't have a leprechaun in the right proportion for the page, but I did have a small Riley & Company gnome who I dressed in green.  The pot of gold is part of the Karen Burniston Good Luck Charms die set; the clouds are part of her Tropical Scene die set; and the grass is from her Nature's Edges set.  I have several rainbow dies, and the one that worked the best for this scene is Trinity Stamps' Rainbow Builder.  I stamped the birds with a stamp I have had for many years; and unfortunately, I have no idea who made it.  In honor of St. Patrick's Day, I stamped a very small shamrock on March 17th on the calendar.

I'm looking forward to continuing this challenge for the rest of the year.  I hope you'll come back on the first of every month to see my calendar pages.

Karen Burniston New Release Sneak Peek - Day 7

Tomorrow is the big day; the new dies from Karen Burniston will be released.  My final sneak peek was made with the Raising Platform Pop-Up and some Whimsy Stamps slimline patterned paper. 

As it's a Valentine card, this cute little Tiny Gnome couple seemed appropriate, adding the Happy Valentine's Day sentiment.

The only other "pink" design left in that paper pack was this one.  It sort of looked like a circus, so I added a couple of circus animals standing on the platforms and added a few hearts here and there to carry through with the Valentine theme.

Be sure to check out the new release blog hop tomorrow and comment on each blog in order to get many chances to win a $25 gift certificate to the Karen Burniston store website.  Each member of the Design Team is giving one away.

Karen Burniston New Release Day 2 - Fence Add-on

This new release from Karen Burniston includes two add-on sets to be used with the Landscape Rectangle Accordion set.  There is a Fence Add-on and a Cupcake Add-on.  Today's cards are made with the Fence Add-on.   

My first card is a three-panel one, with two fence features and one original panel.  The small flowers are included in the Fence Add-on, and the vines are from the Monkey and Lion set.

Here is a close-up, showing how the fence is added to the original panel.  After cutting the Landscape Rectangle panel, the ends of the inner panel are removed and the fence is glued onto the remaining pivot strip of cardstock.

During a discussion with the Design Team, Karen Burniston mentioned an alternate way of using this Fence Add-on -- half fence/half original panel.  So I decided to give it a try.  Here is the result.

As you can see, only the center section of the card contains the Fence Add-on.  The outer halves of the inner panels are from the original die-cut.  The flowers on this card are from another new set, Fun Flowers.

CCEE2137 National Mushroom Month

I'm continuing as hostess for the CCEE Stampers today.  I told them that September is also National Mushroom Month and gave them an easy challenge:  include a mushroom on your card.

Karen Burniston recently released some cute Tiny Gnomes dies, and they fit so well on slimline cards.  I made two of them and positioned them on some cute background paper from Whimsy Stamps.  The paper already has some mushrooms on it, but I added a few more for good measure.

Check out the CCEE Stampers blog to see what the rest of the team did with this easy-peasy challenge.

Karen Burniston Blog Hop - New Release

Welcome to our Karen Burniston Products - KB Riley LLC August Release Blog Hop. The Design Team have come together with Karen today for a fun blog hop to celebrate the release of 14 new dies. Sneak peeks of the new release started last week, and the dies are available to order NOW!

This release includes:

4 new Add-Ons Die Sets - Character Add-ons 1; Character Add-ons 2; Gingerbread Tiny House Add-ons; Haunted Tiny House Add-ons
4 new Pop-up Die Sets - Garden Bench Pop-up; Iron Fence Pop-up; Snowman Pop-up; Street Lantern Pop-up
4 new sentiment sets - Hello; Happy Halloween; Word Set 13 - Snow; Merry Christmas Shadow
1 new Stand Alone Die Set - Tiny Gnomes
1 new Slimline Die Set - Long Nature Edges 2

Dies are available to order now on the website.

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, August 16th 2021. 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!

My gatefold slimline card uses several of the new dies -- the Iron Fence Pop-Up, the Street Lantern Pop-Up, Tiny Gnomes, and the Long Nature's Edges 2, as well as several previously-released ones -- Christmas Tree Pop-Up, Border Blends/Party, and Word Set 3/Holiday.  The street lantern is a pop-up die, but I used it flat.  I wanted to give the impression of frosted glass in the lantern, so I cut a second glass piece from vellum, glued it to the back of the black lantern and then glued the white piece with the flame behind the vellum.  I added some small red flat-backed pearls to the wreath.

The inside of my card expands the fence to the full 9", breaking up in the center for the Christmas tree and carolers, made from the Tiny Gnomes.  Check out Karen Burniston's instructional video to see how to make a caroler from the Tiny Gnomes set.  I added a wreath to each section of the fence, gluing it only in the center for the ones on the pop-out sections of fence.  I used a silver marker to camouflage the white slider panel behind the fence.

I had also made a similar A2-sized card using many of these same dies, adding a few cardinals and lantern swags.

Check out the blogs from the entire team and be sure to comment on each one to increase your chances of winning a $25 gift certificate.  Make sure you leave contact info on your comment so that we can get in touch with you should you be a winner.

Karen Burniston

Frances Byrne

Lois Bak (that's me)

Karen Aiken

Sandy Diller

Fran Sabad

Kelly Booth