Karen Burniston July Designer Challenge Day 2

Hi everyone,

As promised yesterday I am back today with another Accordion Photo Album for Karen Burniston’s Designer Challenge.

Check out the Elizabeth Crafts Designs blog on Wednesday when you will be able to see what all the designers created for the challenge this month, plus Karen Burniston will have another of her amazing video tutorials for us.

This time round for our theme Karen has asked us to create Christmas in July - (or Hanukkah, or Kwanza). Karen also asked us to create a  "wow" card to inspire people who need to make one or two cards for someone special - and the second be a more practical reproducible card to inspire people that need to make 50 holiday cards.

Yesterday I posted my version of the “wow” Christmas card, today I have the quicker more practical cards you might want to make if you are needing to create lots of cards. But I am sharing two versions of one of the cards I am showing today … one in case you need to make lots of them and the other a stepped up version of the same card in case you want to step it up for someone special.

All the dies I have used for my cards today are from the Karen Burniston/Elizabeth Craft Designs New Release and will be available in a store near you any day now.

First Up the practical version … I used the new Circle Spiral Pull Card Die Set and the large Christmas Tree from the Evergreen Pivot Card Die set both designed by Karen Burniston for Elizabeth Crafts Designs. The card measures 5 1/2 Inches (14 cm) x 7 7/8 inches (20cm), folded in half and the centre point of the Circle Spiral Pull Card is placed on the fold line which creates the second fold line.

I added the scallop circle layer from the Circle Accordion Card Die Set for the sentiment panels on the front and back of the circle layer. On the left hand side of the card I added a strip of decorate paper and on the right hand side I added a larger piece of designer paper. I did take the time to line up my designer paper with the closure semi circles on the card so I could still use these to close my card, however if you were making lots of these cards you could skip this step. I die cut the Christmas tree and also embossed the detail on the tree which is an optional extra for this die (again you could skip this step if you had lots to make). I then added Red/Gold Glitter Dots to the tree which is another quick way of decoration the tree, although the die set does include ornaments you can die cut if you wanted to use those instead.

For my “Stepped Up” version of my card I removed the strip of designer paper on the left hand side of my card and die cute a panel to fit the who panel. I also moved the Christmas Tree from the right hand panel  to the left hand panel.

I also added the new Elizabeth Craft Designs Holly Border Die set along the right hand side edge adding small Red/Gold Glitter Dots for the berries.

I stepped the inside of my card up further by die cutting the spiral portion (also included in the Circle Spiral Pull Card die set) and decorated this using the holly from the Stand Up Helpers 2 Die Set and the berries from the Tags Die Set.

I have one more card to share with you today … this time round a “flat card”. For this card I used the colors navy & silver. I used the Lots of Pops Embossing Folder to add texture to the navy layer. I then used my Silver Wink of Stella Pen to add sparkle to the dots.

To create the snow I used the Outdoor Edges Die Set, sponging the edges of each layer with blue ink.  The Christmas Tree is again from the Evergreen Pivot Card Die Set … I embossed the tree using the embossing feature included in the die and then sponge blue ink while the die was in place.

If you are looking to purchase Karen’s Pop It Ups dies in Australia you can find them at Photo Continental.

Don’t forget to check out the Elizabeth Crafts Designs blog on Wednesday when you will be able to see what all the designers created for the challenge this month. I will also be back tomorrow with another card to share with you for this challenge.

Stamps: Clearly Sentimental About Christmas; Ornament Banner Builder – MFT Stamps

Paper: White; Green; Red; Navy; Silver; Dots & Stripes DP – Echo Park

Dies: Circle Spiral Pull Card; Evergreen Pivot Card; Circle Accordion Card; Outdoor Edges – designed by Karen Burniston for Elizabeth Craft Designs; Tags; Holly Border; Stand Up Helpers 2 – Elizabeth Craft Designs

Other: Black Ink; Blue Ink; Elizabeth Craft Designs Red/Gold Glitter Dots; Silver Wink of Stella Pen; Foam Tape