Karen Burniston Designer Challenge - Photo

Hi all! It's been awhile since I've been able to join in with Karen Burniston's monthly Designer Challenge, but I'm so excited that I finally have been able to find some time to craft and created a card for the challenge using one of my favorite dies from her new release - the Photo Collage Pop-Up. I paired it with papers from Graphic 45's Imagine collection for a pretty birthday card for my daughter-in-law.

The front is fairly simple, with a panel cut from the paper and embellishments that were fussy cut and adhered to the corners.

The front might be simple...but the inside is anything but! I love the mix of butterflies and other elements. It's such a fun card to open.

And here it is! There are so many ways you could style this die. I can't wait to try some more themes with it!

 You can purchase the new Photo Collage Pop-Up die HERE.

Make sure you check out Karen's blog tomorrow for a great new video from her and lots of inspiration from the team!

Basket Full of Love

Hi all! I have a sweet Valentine's Day pop-up card to share with you today. Originally it was supposed to be for this month's Designer Challenge, but I was on vacation and totally lost track of time, and forgot to post it! The beach tends to have that effect on me, what can I say?!

I am absolutely in love with Karen Burniston's new Woven Basket die - it's such a cool take on the pop-up box card. I decided to make my husband a somewhat masculine feeling Valentine's card, using the heart dies from Karen's new Heart Pivot Panels die and stamps from Tim Holtz. All the elements are attached to the card using strips of clear transparency.

I love that this folds completely flat for mailing. What a fun treat to send someone! And the possibilities are endless. You could style this in a cute, spring theme; shabby chic; holiday; etc. Oooh, and imagine it filled with some Graphic 45 fussing cutting!! It's really so versatile. I can't wait to play more with this die!

You can find the dies I used via the links below.


Thanks so much for stopping by today - have a great week!!

New Die Release From Karen Burniston!

Hi all! I'm so excited to share a card I made with a few of the dies from Karen Burniston's latest release. There are so many incredible dies in this collection - you are going to want them all!

For this card, I used the new Oval Frames Pop Up die, the new Argyle and Party Border Blends, and the Rectangle - Crosshatch die from an earlier release. On the front of the card, I used the Rectangle die to cut a panel of canvas paper. On top I layered a collage paper from Tim Holtz. I used one of the new Border Blends (you are going to LOVE these!!) along the bottom. I used one of the ovals and a frame die from the Oval Frames set for the center embellishment.

Here is the inside of the card - amazing, right?! As you open the card, four oval panels drop down and pop out, and the center two frames form a 3D accordion. You really have to see this one in action! The die set includes a small tree, which I used as branches for the fussy cut birds to perch on. Along the top, I used another one of the new border dies. The frames on the ovals were embossed with silver embossing powder to give them a metallic look.

Here you can get a better idea of how the frames pop out. It's seriously cool and surprisingly easy to use.

Check out Karen's tutorial video on the border dies and prepare to be amazed!!

I hope you enjoyed my first card from this new collection. The dies are available now for preorder and will ship on the 31st.

You can order the supplies I used via the links below.




Thanks so much for stopping by! Have a great week!

Karen Burniston Designer Challenge - New

Happy New Year, everyone! I'm back today with my card for this month's Karen Burniston Designer Challenge. The theme is 'New' and, since I'd just found this 'new' paper at Tuesday Morning, it would be perfect for the challenge.

Also a bit new to me is Karen's Circle Charm Pop Up die. I've had it for awhile, but for some reason I hadn't used it it. After I started my card, I was amazed at how easy this pop-up die was to use! I used my other new favorite die set, the Crosshatch Rectangles, to cut my front and inside panels. They perfectly fit an A2 card and I love the crosshatch detail on the border.

The front circle panel was stamped with a compass rose from Tim Holtz. I stamped a small hot air balloon image twice, then cut both out and sandwiched a piece of fishing line between them for the middle section. The hello is from Karen's Summer Word Set.

You can find all the supplies I used via the links below.

Be sure and check out Karen's blog for a fun new card technique and some fantastic inspiration from the whole team!

Karen Burnsiton Designer Challenge - Ink It!

Hi all! Hope your December is off to a great start. It's time again for the Karen Burniston Designer Challenge. This month our theme is 'Ink It.' I love this challenge because I've gotten lazier and lazier in my cardmaking - using lots of designer paper and not much in the way of inks and stamping. Not good for a blog called Stamptramp! It was really nice to pull out all of my supplies and get creative - I haven't been doing that enough lately and I really miss it.

I decided to create a woodsy feeling Christmas card. The base is plain kraft cardstock. On the front, I stamped a woodgrain image from Tim Holtz and embossed it with Ranger's Weathered White embossing powder. I love the look of weathered wood it gives!

The chunky letters were created by cutting multiple letters from thin cardstock with dies from Karen's Alphabet set. I stacked about five cutouts, gluing each one down securely. The top letter was cut from foil covered cardstock and glued on last. The edges were colored with a silver Sharpie so that they blended in. To give it an aged appearance, I dabbed it with black and silver paints. The wreath was created from a piece of wired greenery.

Oooh, the best part, right?! I told Karen I feel like I'm overusing this Twist Panel die, but it's so much fun and so easy to use! And SO perfect with Tim Holtz's Blueprint stamps.

I just got Tim's small stamping platform and thought I'd experiment with using it to color the Blueprint images. Especially when stamping on watercolor paper, it's so nice to be able to restamp if the image isn't very clear the first time you stamp it. For this card, I stamped first with Archival ink - very important to use a permanent ink since I knew I wanted to watercolor these images.

After that, I colored the stamp with markers and stamped again. I used a waterbrush to pull the color into the image, but it wasn't intense enough, so I ended up coloring it directly (I still think it give it a cool look tho!). After it dried, I reinked the stamp, this time with clear ink, and embossed with clear embossing powder. I think the embossing really makes the image pop and kind of redefines the lines. I'm quite sold on stamping platforms now!

Don't those images just pop now?! You can barely see the shine from the clear ep, but it really adds a lot of dimension. The background on the card was made by coloring the greenery and pinecone stamps with markers and then stamping randomly. On the bottom I used a text stamp to give more interest. Finally, I used a greeting from Karen's Holiday Word Set to add a sentiment.

You can find the supplies I used via the links below. Oh, and Simon Says Stamp is offering an adorable Tiny Wreath Builder stamp and stencil set from Gina K free with ANY purchase right now! If you haven't seen the wreath builder stamps and stencils, they are so cool. And of course perfect to use with your stamping platform! I think I am going to go do a little shopping. :-)


Thanks so much for stopping by today! Be sure and check out Karen's blog tomorrow for a fantastic new tutorial and lots of inky inspiration from the whole team!

Karen Burniston Designer Challenge - Happy Fall, Y'all!

Hi all! Today I'm sharing a pretty fall accordion card I made for this month's Karen Burniston Designer Challenge. Our theme is 'Happy Fall, Y'all' and I thought that a flurry of colorful leaves would be perfect for this theme.

I combine a couple of different techniques for my card. First was Karen's Staggered Charm Accordion, where she flipped the orientation of the panels. To that, I added the 'floating gear' idea from a card I made a few years ago. Since it might be hard to figure out from just looking at it, I thought I'd do a quick tutorial (I'm on a roll!) so you could make one of your own, if you wanted.

Read on to see how it all came together...

Begin by cutting two panels from kraft cardstock and two panels from transparency/acetate using Karen's Charm Accordion die set.

Cut the kraft panels in half and cut out the center pivot panels. Cut just the center pivot panels from the transparencies, leaving a tab on each end to attach to the card.

Stamp the kraft panels with a woodgrain stamp and ink the edges with brown ink. Cut three charm frame connectors from transparency. Cut six hinges from black cardstock and heat emboss with silver powder.

 To create the leaves, use the wrinkle-free distress technique to color two panels of watercolor paper.

Next, using a small brown ink pad, apply ink directly to the cutting side of the leaf dies from Karen's new Autumn Elements die set. Be sure and get it on the embossed veins.

 Die cut leaves from your prepared paper.

Sponge brown ink on the outer edges of the leaves. Sponge additional ink on the leaves, if desired.

Assemble the card as shown above, first linking the panels with the hinges and brads. Adhere the clear panels using the small tabs, being sure to align them carefully. Add the leaves and clear charm frame connectors to complete your card.

To finish the front (and to hide the tabs and brad ends!) I cut a panel from kraft core'dinations using the Charm Accordion die, cut it in half, removed the center, and adhered it to the front. The sentiment is from the new Word Set 7 - Autumn.

You can find the supplies I used via the links below.

Thanks so much for stopping by today! I hope you enjoyed my tutorial. Be sure and check out Karen's blog tomorrow for an awesome video and lots of fall inspiration from the whole team!

Graphic 45 September Challenge - Pop-Up/3D

Hi everyone! Sorry I've been so absent lately - it seems like this summer has flown by. I've had a lot of different things going on and just haven't had a lot of any time to spend in the studio. I always plan to enter something into Graphic 45's challenges, but it seems like I always run out of time and never get something made. This month, I actually have something to share!

Recently, my friend Cyndi came up with the coolest idea for a pop-up tunnel card and taught our little group of crafty friends how to make it. I had just bought the Imagine paper collection and couldn't wait to dig into it for this card.

I mean....right?!? Unfortunately Cyndi's been really busy and hasn't had a chance to post a tutorial for this card. I am bugging her though, and hopefully she'll get one made up, because everyone needs to make this card. It's so much easier than it looks and you can keep it simple (no clue how to do that!) or go crazy with the embellishments (I am well-versed on that).

Here is a top view so you can see all of the layers. The windows are cut with graduated sizes of label dies. I believe these are by Spellbinders.

So many layers! I have always been so obsessed with tunnel cards/books...it's so much fun making little scenes.

This is such a fun card if you enjoy lots of fussy cutting. The Imagine collection has to be one of my all-time favorites from Graphic 45. There are so many great elements to cut out! It's hard to see, but even the house and tiny balloons on the very back of the card are 3D. This is truly one of those cards you have to see in person to really appreciate!

Thanks so much for stopping by today! You can find the supplies I used at Simon Says Stamp via the links below.

Karen Burniston + Darkroom Door Blog Hop!

Hi all! Today, the Karen Burnsiton Designer Challenge team has joined with the Darkroom Door Design Team for a fun blog hop, featuring Karen's dies and Rachel Greig's amazing rubber stamps!

Both Darkroom Door and Karen Burniston will be giving away a prize packs, with winners randomly chosen from ALL of the blog hop comments received by Sunday, July 29th, 2018. Lots of chances to win some goodies, so just leave a comment on this post or any other blog hop post to enter!

My first card features stamps from Darkroom Door's Gardening Vol 2 stamp set. Most of you probably know I love gardening so this stamp set really spoke to me! On the front of my card, I cut a panel from oatmeal cardstock using Karen's new Rectangles Crosshatch die set. I love that the largest of the rectangles fits an A2 card perfectly! To decorate the panel, I stamped the daisy repeatedly with Pumice Stone Distress ink. I stamped the flower pot three times, then colored each pot and cut it out. I used pop dots to attach them to the card. The sentiment is from Karen's new Word Set 6 die set.

Now for the really fun part - the pop-up! I used Karen's new Upsy Daisy set to really show off these cute stamps. The watering can and flower pot were both stamped on white cardstock with gray ink, and then colored with Distress inks. As the card is opened, the three panels raise up and out slightly. Such a cool die set and I love how well the stamps work with it.

Too cute! I love this paper from Carta Bella - it matches the stamps so perfectly. The fence was stamped on a neutral paper from the set and then cut out with an exacto knife.

It's a little overexposed, but I made a quick video of the card opening and closing, so you can see how the mechanism works. So fun!

Gardening Vol 2 Stamp Set

For my second card, I used DD's Cup of Tea stamp set. I was really excited to use this set...you'll see why in the next pic. :-)

For the front of my card, I stamped the teacup image three times on designer paper, heat embossed with Ranger's Watering Can powder, and cut them out. I used pop dots to adhere them to a canvas panel that I stamped with the silverware image from the set. The teabag was stamped on white cardstock and inserted into the top cup with a length of paper string attached.

Here's why I was so excited to get this set - the mechanism on Karen's Spinner Square die actually makes the teapot pour!! I mean, come on. How cool is that?!? And it's such an awesome teapot stamp! Like the teacups, I stamped it onto coordinating paper and then heat embossed with Watering Can embossing powder. The panel in front was cut with dies from Karen's new Squares Crosshatch set. The teacup was stamped and embossed in the same was as the cups on the front. The little spoon (adorable!) was stamped and then heat embossed with silver powder.

To give more interest to the background, I stamped the teabag stamp repeatedly with coordinating ink. I'm so excited to give this to my mom for her birthday. She is a tea lover and I think she'll really get a kick out of the interactivity of it. I just love the motion in this card!

Speaking of which - another video that's a bit overexposed, but you have to see this one in action!

Cup of Tea Stamp Set

If you're visiting my site and haven't seen the whole list of blogs participating in the hop, please make sure you start with Rachel's and work your way through everyone. There are so many inspirational artists to visit - I can't wait to see what everyone has created!

Darkroom Door / Rachel Greig

Karen Burniston and Tanya Kostynuk

Belinda Spencer

Summer Hills-Painter

Teresa Abajo

Karen Aicken

Anneke De Clerck

Frances Byrne

Godelieve Tijskens

Shelly Hickox *YOU ARE HERE*

Anna-Karin Evaldsson

Mary Prasad

Robyn Wood

Fran Sabad

Connie Mercer

Kelly Booth

Autumn Clark

Helen Cryer

Kymona Tracey

You can find the dies and other supplies I used via the links below.


Thanks so much for stopping by today! Be sure and leave a comment to be entered into the drawing!

Karen Burniston Designer Challenge - The Great Outdoors

Hi all! It's time once again for Karen Burniston's Designer Challenge. This month, the theme is The Great Outdoors. I decided to make a vintage camping-themed Father's Day card using Karen's new Tent Pop-Up die. Isn't it absolutely adorable??

The front is fairly simple, decorated with a frame that was cut with Karen's new Rectangles - Crosshatch die set. Dad was cut from plaid paper using the new Alphabet set. I added the sentiment using the Just a Note word set. The deer silhouette was cut from black kraft core'dinations. Finally, I used the new lantern charm from the Camping Charms set to add a bit of dimension.

When I was at my parent's house last year, I found a really cool picture of some of my father's relatives standing in front of a car. When I was thinking about how to decorate my card, I remembered this gent and was like - that's it! Isn't he just perfect? I love that hat!

 Here's the photo if you'd like to download it and use it in your own cardmaking/artwork!

What's so amazing about this card is that it folds completely flat for mailing. I'm excited that, this year, I don't have to mail my card to my dad - I get to hand deliver it!

You can find the supplies I used via the links below.

Thanks so much for stopping by today! Be sure and check out Karen's blog tomorrow for lots of great inspiration from the team, plus a fun new video tutorial from Karen!